Murder in Mind (34 page)

Ellie handed over the food and drink Philip had prepared for Angelika, and the picture of the clown.

Monique and Diana went into a huddle.

Angelika came out of her interview in tears and was led into the garden by Freya, to walk round and round. Now and then they paused to embrace. Sisters in distress. Both weeping for their losses.

Ellie watched Monique taking note of how well Freya was behaving.

Vera and Rose served up hot soup and ham sandwiches. Angelika said she was on a diet and asked for fruit. Diana ate, went to the cloakroom to throw up and, pale-faced but resolute, phoned the hospital for news of Evan, who had come through the operation ‘as well as could be expected' . . . whatever that might mean.

Stewart, summoned by Ellie, conferred with Monique and left to deal with the insurance people.

Ellie phoned the hospital to ask when Evan might receive visitors. She was told he'd be in intensive care for a while.

‘I'll go to sit with him,' said Diana, ‘and organize some accommodation for when he comes out.'

Monique nodded. ‘We can take our time, sort things out between us: the insurance, rebuilding the house, everything.'

Ellie could see that these two strong women could easily form an alliance; the past and the future, leaving Angelika out of it. She said, ‘I would like your assurance that Angelika will be fairly treated.'

‘Of course.'

‘Naturally.'

They didn't mean it. Well, Monique might. Diana didn't.

‘Otherwise,' said Ellie, ‘Angelika might well have to sell her story to the tabloids. That's right, isn't it, Angelika?'

For once Angelika was quick on the uptake. Her voice might be croaky from crying, but there was no doubting her firmness of purpose. ‘I've been in touch with my agency and they're looking into it, though I'm not sure I want to go down that road. But if I have to start out all over again, without a husband or a home, or a car, or anything, then I might have to.'

Monique produced a grim little smile. ‘Very well, my dear. We understand. I can fix you up with a furnished studio flat in Knightsbridge, rent free, till your solicitor can sort something out with Evan. Diana, you can arrange some sort of allowance for Angelika from Hoopers, can't you? Just till the divorce is through and alimony can be arranged.'

‘Agreed.' Diana also tried to smile. ‘I'm sure my mother can put Angelika in touch with a good solicitor to represent her interests.'

Ellie smiled, too. It served her right for interfering. She could guess who was going to have to pay the solicitor's bills, and it wouldn't be Angelika. Well, well. The child deserved some good fortune, after all.

What about Freya? ‘Don't worry about me. I expect I can stay with a school friend for a little while, just till Dad says what he'd like me to do.'

Monique looked as if she'd like to offer Freya a home there and then but decided against doing so. Really, Ellie reflected, Monique was too old and too busy to look after a teenager, though she might well keep an eye on her for the future.

T
he police left.

It began to rain again.

Diana and Monique departed, the tyres of their cars swishing in the rain.

Ellie waved them off and returned to find Angelika and Freya with their heads together.

Freya said, ‘We've been thinking. Mrs Quicke, you've been marvellous. We know you've got people coming to stay and will need our rooms, but you've got ever so much to do before they come and we'd like to help, if we may. If you could put up with us living here for a couple of days more, we could help you get the house ready for your guests. We promise to move out in good time.'

‘I can always go to a hotel.' Angelika wasn't going to accept Monique's offer of a flat? Mm. Well, perhaps not. Angelika would have to housekeep in a flat, and she'd be lonely, all by herself. She'd be lonely in a hotel, too, wouldn't she? Well, that wasn't Ellie's problem, was it?

Ellie said, ‘Bless you, my children. I accept with thanks. We've got till Saturday to get ready. If you're game to try it, then so am I.'

It struck Ellie that she might offer them both a home for a while. Angelika would probably get back into work soon enough, and she would have a reasonable income from Hoopers. Sooner or later she'd be bound to attract another sugar daddy.

Freya? Although she was growing up fast, she needed a stable background till her schooldays were over. Diana would probably want to send Freya off to a boarding school, which might or might not be a good idea. Freya would definitely not want to live with Diana, who was no one's idea of a cuddly stepmother.

Plenty to think about. She would talk to Thomas about it when he got home. Meantime, she would go into the quiet room and spend some time thanking God for all his goodness . . . for Angelika's courage, Freya's quick thinking, for their new-found respect for one another . . . for Mikey's intervention . . . for so many things.
Thank you, Lord. Oh, thank you. Praise be. Etcetera.

And, what were they going to have for lunch?

D-Day: Saturday, noon

D-Day was arrival day for Thomas's family. It was not D for Diana day, and yet, when Ellie was interrupted laying the table for lunch, it was Diana who rang the doorbell and stepped into the hall before Ellie could stop her. Diana was dressed in cream and blue. She looked tired. Was she beginning to lose her looks?

Diana looked around the hall. ‘No changes here, I see. The builders are starting on Evan's house on Monday, so I thought I'd better get an idea of what this Betsey woman can do before I get her started on the redecoration.'

She brushed past Ellie into the dining room, where the table shone with polish and new floor to ceiling curtains lightened the heavy Victorian decor. ‘Pleasant enough. What else has Betsey done downstairs? Your study? The library?'

Diana started off down the corridor, so Ellie put down the cutlery she'd been holding and followed. Before she could stop her, Diana opened the door to what had been Thomas's study. ‘What's this?'

‘This is our quiet room now. Thomas uses it all the time.'

‘What's a sleeping bag doing there?'

‘Mikey likes it in here, and Thomas doesn't mind.'

A twist of shoulders. ‘I knew there'd be trouble with that boy, the moment I laid eyes on him.'

Ellie didn't reply. Yes, Mikey could be trouble with a capital T, but he was also adorable, loving, hyper-clever and a blessing. Rose alternately hugged him and scolded him, which Thomas said was exactly what grannies were supposed to do. Mikey could often be found sitting on Thomas's knee while he was praying.

Mikey had begun to talk again. His first word, predictably, had been ‘no'.

Diana moved along to Ellie's study. Nothing had changed there, except that the piles of paper for Ellie's attention were even higher than before.

The library looked splendid, sombre and workmanlike with computers on large desks for Thomas and his part-time assistant, while their business files had been stacked on the shelves. A rampart of books cut Mikey's smaller desk off from the rest of the room.

As Diana opened her mouth to remark that Mikey seemed to get everywhere, Ellie got in first. ‘The men enjoy getting away from us women at times, don't they? How are you coping?'

‘At least I've stopped being sick. I did think about aborting the infant when I discovered Evan's recovery was going to be a long-term business, but it's too late for that, and this baby is such a determined little brat, I doubt if he'd allow himself to be thrown out with the garbage.' She turned back to the hall and climbed the stairs to the first floor.

Ellie considered it was an improvement that Diana was thinking of her child as a person and not as a ‘thing' any more. Perhaps she might not make such a bad mother this time round?

Little Frank's old bedroom had not been altered, except for a more grown-up wallpaper on one wall and the addition of bunk beds. Ellie explained, ‘For Thomas's twin grandsons.'

Next came the room which had once been Thomas's sanctum. One wall had been papered in a warm blue and white pattern with curtains to match; the floorboards had been stripped, waxed and polished, and the furniture was light oak, with white bedding.

‘Pleasant enough,' said Diana, bile in her voice. ‘Though not particularly striking.'

What had she expected? Ellie said, ‘This is for Thomas's granddaughter. And the end room, which was a depository for junk, has been made into a nice double bedroom with a similar colour palette. Betsey spruced up the bathroom at the end, too, with some wallpaper on one wall and a new basin. New lighting everywhere. The girls helped me, or I'd never have been able to get everything done in time.' Ellie looked at her watch. Half an hour till everyone arrived.

‘You could let these rooms out for a decent sum.'

Ellie shook her head. Once Thomas's family had departed, they would put a door halfway down the corridor, to turn the end rooms into a small flat for Vera and Mikey. Mind you, no one really thought Mikey could be contained that easily.

Diana opened and closed the other bedroom doors in turn. It seemed she had something on her mind but was having difficulty in getting it out. ‘I've lost track of Angelika and Freya. Do you know where they've gone?'

‘Angelika was offered some work in the Mediterranean at short notice. Freya's visiting a school friend. I can give you their addresses, if you like.' She didn't add that both girls had been invited to return and live with Ellie and Thomas when his family departed, and that both had accepted.

Diana shook her head. ‘Monique's dealing with their end of things. I wanted to ask you . . . No, I suppose I know what you'd say. If you put in a stairlift and altered the door frames, Evan and I could live in these rooms when he leaves the convalescent home.'

So that was why she'd come?

‘No way,' said Ellie. And left it at that.

Diana twisted the rings on her fingers, hesitating, not yet ready to leave.

‘Evan's getting a quickie divorce, and he still wants to marry me, but I'm not sure that I . . . . He's not going to be able to run the business for months, if at all. What do you think?'

Ellie blinked. Was Diana actually asking her advice? ‘Diana, I thought you'd be rejoicing. You're going to get exactly what you've wanted all along. A husband who'll be forever grateful to you, a son you can palm off on a nanny, and control of a successful business.'

For once Diana looked uncertain of herself. ‘Yes, but . . .'

Ellie wanted to say, ‘No gain without pain.' But decided against it. Although true, it was too harsh a judgement. She felt a rush of loving kindness for this difficult daughter of hers. She said, ‘You love Evan, don't you?'

‘Yes, of course.'

Perhaps she did, in her own way, but it would not be the sort of loving and giving partnership that Ellie had with Thomas.

‘Then you've got to keep that in mind. You are strong and can cope with the sort of difficult situation which would defeat other women. If you'll take my advice – which you probably won't – let Evan have his own way as much as possible, so that even in his convalescence he can feel he still counts. I'll go on praying for you.'

Diana looked as if she didn't know whether to smile, or cry.

Ellie glanced at her watch. ‘That's it, then. Now, if you don't mind . . .'

She watched Diana insert herself into her car and leave . . . even as the people carrier Thomas had hired for the duration of his family's visit turned into the drive.

She threw the front door wide. ‘Welcome home at last!'

ONE

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Murder My Neighbour