The Cat Next Door (11 page)

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Authors: Marian Babson

BOOK: The Cat Next Door
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‘Who's there?' They had been keeping their voices low, but not low enough. Lynette's voice rose in panic. ‘Who's out there?'
‘Oh, for heaven's sake!' Christa charged towards the doorway. ‘Who do you think is out here? What's the matter now? What do you want?'
It was only because she was so close behind Christa that Margot saw Lynette recoil. For an instant, blind instinctive terror flashed across the child's face.
‘N-n-nothing … n-n-no one,' she stuttered. ‘Wh-wh – ' She took a deep steadying breath. ‘Where's Nan?'
‘She isn't back from church yet,' Margot said. ‘Is there something I can do?'
‘You were going to find my father.' Lynette looked at her accusingly. ‘Where is he?'
‘He isn't here,' Christa said briskly. ‘He hasn't been here. He won't be here.'
Lynette flinched, then rallied. ‘How do you know?' Her glance was hostile with, yes, still a trace of fear.
Why should anyone be afraid of Christa? Of all the aunts, she was the least formidable. Emmeline was an absolute dragon – but the headmistress of an academy for teenaged girls almost had to be – when crossed. Even Milly could be fearsome at times, especially when she suspected someone of lying to her. But Christa? Christa,
with her easy-going theatrical ways? On the other hand, how likely was it that one could rise to the heights in that profession without the occasional show of temperament? Had Lynette had a taste of it before?
‘He said he'd be here.' Fearful or not, Lynette was still arguing. ‘He promised!'
‘He's a politician,' Christa said flatly. ‘They'll promise anything.'
Had Christa always disliked Kingsley?
Lynette suddenly squirmed down under the covers. ‘I don't feel well,' she announced. ‘I'm going to sleep now.' She pulled the covers over her head and turned her back to them.
‘Best thing for her,' Christa muttered, leading Margot out of the room. ‘Pity she can't sleep through the next few weeks.'
‘Does she know the trial starts tomorrow?' Margot asked.
‘Of course she does.' Christa threw open the door to the sewing room with unnecessary force. ‘There's nothing wrong with her intellect, you know. Only her nerves.'
‘You might as well sleep late in the morning, there'll be nothing you can do,' Nan had said as she went to her room last night.
Keep out of the way,
she meant.
‘There won't be much happening until after lunch. Wilfred and Richard will go along to the Crown Court first thing, but Chloe will have to be driven down from Holloway and she's unlikely to get there until ten, or later, depending on the traffic. I understand the first thing they do is select the jury. That may take a while, too. The family is so well known locally and Chloe did so much charity work that it may take longer than usual to empanel a jury. A lot of prospective jurors may have to disqualify themselves because they know her.'
Margot had not thought of that complication. Stifling a yawn, she tried to nod sympathetically.
‘Go to bed or you'll be fit for nothing in the morning. When we see how things are going, we'll be able to work out a roster, so there'll always be someone there to support Chloe … whether she acknowledges us or not.'
‘Will Aunt Milly – ?'
‘The best thing she can do is sleep late, too. Wilfred wants to keep her out of it as much as possible. He … we … all of us … are afraid she wouldn't be able to handle it.'
Nan suddenly looked her age – and then some. How well was she going to handle it herself?
‘You'd better get some rest, too,' Margot said impulsively.
‘I'm all right.' Nan gave her a wry look. ‘What about you? Are you going to be able to sleep?'
‘Oh, I'll sleep, all right.' No fear of that. It was staying awake that was the problem.
 
 
Well, it was the dreaded morning now. Margot dragged herself up reluctantly from the depths of sleep, knowing, from her very reluctance, that her dreams had been happy. The nightmares began when she awoke.
Even now, fresh ones hovered, spawned by the memory of Christa's ridiculous trumped-up praise for her imaginary achievements in the States. Her career there, her ambitions, had just been ticking over. Until she met Sven and they became a team, their dreams meshing, no future glory too impossible for them. Only Sven had accepted one last overseas assignment – and hadn't come back. Now all she had left of him was hidden in her suitcase, pushed to the back of her closet, the back of her mind, until she could decide what to do with it.
A low dull throbbing pulsed against her left temple, yet there was no pain. Not yet. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. Still no pain, but she became conscious of unusual warmth and a strange furry –
‘Tikki!' The amber eyes blinked at her, the tawny paws brushed across her forehead as he stretched.
‘Oh, Tikki!' Her spirits rose minimally, the hovering nightmare receded as she ruffled the soft thick fur. His loud answering purr vibrated under her fingers.
‘Come on, Tikki – ' She slid out of bed and gathered him into her arms. ‘Let's go downstairs and see what we can find for breakfast.'
Aunt Milly was walking along the lower hallway, reading as she went, immersed in the total oblivion of her book. Emmeline trailed uneasily in her wake,
watching her with an agonised earnestness, occasionally putting out a hand to steer her away from collision with a wall. Margot halted at the top of the stairs, watching their slow progress until Emmeline had shepherded Milly into the dining-room, no more aware of anyone around them than her sister.
Margot waited a few moments until they had had time to settle themselves, then went down, Tikki wriggling eagerly in her arms as the scent of kippers reached his delicate nose. He gave an anticipatory little mewl.
‘Good morning, Tikki.' Milly looked up and smiled, the first smile in ages, Margot realised. ‘Come and have a kipper.'
‘So you've got the little reprobate,' Emmeline said. ‘Where did you find him?'
‘On my pillow, having a cat nap.' She could hold on to him no longer. He hit the floor and in one bounce was at Milly's chair, pawing at her.
‘Who's a little greedy guts?' Milly smiled fondly, putting a kipper into a saucer and deftly boning it. ‘Don't be so impatient. It's coming.'
‘But the beast is
going
– ' Uncle Wilfred charged through the doorway like a maddened bull, caught up Tikki and plunged towards the window with the struggling cat.
She hadn't slept long enough, Margot thought. Uncle Wilfred hadn't left yet.
‘Fred –
no
!' Milly knocked her chair over in the rush to rescue Tikki. ‘Leave him alone!'
‘Sneaking the thing into the house behind my back!' Wilfred fulminated, struggling one-handed with the cat as he tried to swing open the casement window with the other hand.
‘It was my fault,' Margot said. ‘I mean, I didn't let him in, I don't know how he got in. I found him when I woke up and I brought him downstairs.'
‘Fred – stop!' Milly's voice rose in a shriek. ‘You'll hurt him!'
‘Hurt him? I'll
kill
– '
He broke off and deflated slowly, arms dropping to his side, Tikki dangling limply. There was a momentary horrified silence.
The shutters came down over Milly's face. She had heard nothing, noticed nothing. She turned away to right her chair and pick up her book. They had all ceased to exist.
In one quick squirming movement, Tikki twisted free and dropped to the floor. He dashed over to the saucer Milly had set down for him and, with a defiant glare at Wilfred, began gulping down his kipper.
Wilfred took a step forward, but the fight had gone out of him. ‘What's the use?' He looked from Margot to Emmeline and shrugged. ‘What's the point of anything?'
‘What are you doing here at this hour?' Emmeline watched coldly as he took a slice of toast and buttered it lavishly. ‘I thought you'd be – ' She broke off, glancing at Milly.
‘The QC rang to say there'd be a delay.' Wilfred's mouth twisted wryly. ‘It seems there was some sort of big do at the Law Society last night, so they're all making a late start.' He crammed the toast into his mouth viciously.
Of course. To the Law, this was just one more trial in a long procession of such cases. Another day, another job. Outside the court, life went on. For them.
‘All right for some,' Emmeline said tartly. The ensuing silence was broken only by the slight clatter of the saucer clicking against the table leg as Tikki vigorously pursued every last crumb of kipper.
There was a faint rustle of paper as Milly turned a page. Wilfred reached for another slice of toast.
Giving up on the empty saucer, Tikki looked around hopefully, avoiding Wilfred's eye. Margot avoided
Tikki's eye, afraid of setting Wilfred off again if she did anything to encourage the cat. Emmeline poured another cup of coffee.
The urgent summons of the bell came as a welcome distraction.
‘I'll go!' Both Margot and Emmeline started for the door. They stopped just short of colliding in the doorway and Margot retreated a step to allow Emmeline to precede her.
‘She's been awfully quiet, so far,' Margot murmured.
‘I think Nan gave her a sleeping pill to keep her out of the way,' Emmeline replied. ‘I can't really blame her. I'd have done the same myself, if I'd thought of it. There are times when that child tries one too far.'
Margot could not argue with that. She, too, would have done it herself. Since her arrival, Lynette had been preying on her already-frayed nerves. What must it have been like to have been living with her all these months, dancing attendance every time she chose to ring her bell?
‘Where's Nan?' Lynette demanded ungratefully of the two who had rushed to answer her summons.
It was a good question. Margot raised an eyebrow to Emmeline.
‘Nan … had an errand to do,' Emmeline said. ‘She'll be back soon. What do you want?'
‘I want to tell her something.'
‘You can tell us instead,' Emmeline said.
‘No, I can't!' Lynette's lower lip jutted out threateningly. ‘I can only tell Nan. And I want to tell her now!'
‘Well, you can't. She isn't here.'
Suddenly, Margot knew where Nan was. Standing outside the Crown Court, waiting for a glimpse of Chloe as she arrived with her police escort.
In loco parentis
, as she had so often been in the past, this time taking the place Milly should have occupied. Milly, poor Milly, once so strong and now …
‘Then where's my father? I'll tell him.'
‘Lynette, you know perfectly well where your father is, where Nan is and where most of us are going to be.' Abruptly, Emmeline reverted to headmistress mode, shooting from the hip and brooking no nonsense. ‘You know what day this is and what's happening. We all have enough to contend with without your playing up!'
Lynette looked stricken. Tears welled up in her eyes as she stared incredulously at Emmeline. It was quite clear that no one had spoken to her that way in a very long while.
Perhaps it was time they did. Margot found herself siding with Emmeline. Lynette might have had a hard ride but, for her own good, it was time she began toughening up.
‘Margot …' Lynette looked pleadingly to someone she obviously considered more sympathetic – or a softer touch. ‘Margot, stay and play cards with me.'
‘Margot has other things to do,' Emmeline said crisply. ‘You're going to have to entertain yourself today. You could always,' she added, giving no quarter, ‘try getting up and dressed and going for a walk. It would be an enormous help to everyone if you could even bring yourself to come downstairs for meals.'
‘No!' Lynette shrank down under the coverlet. ‘I can't! I can't! I don't feel well.'
‘None of us feel very well,' Emmeline said unforgivingly. ‘And we're likely to feel a lot worse before we feel any better.'
Lynette burst into tears and hurled herself to the far side of the bed, turning her back on them.
‘I suppose you think I was rather harsh with her,' Emmeline said as they descended the stairs.
‘I think she needed it,' Margot answered honestly.
‘She's been getting away with too much for too long. I can't blame her for the way they've spoiled her, but it won't do her any favours in the long run. I've had to
deal with too many of these little madams who think the world revolves around them. And the consequences when they discover it doesn't.'
The trace of wistfulness in her tone brought home sharply to Margot just how much Emmeline must miss being away from her work, her school, her place in the world.
‘You'll be glad to get back to school,' she said.
‘Will I?' Emmeline's mouth twisted wryly. ‘Get back, I mean. “Indefinite leave” all too often translates into early retirement. Especially when there's a whiff of scandal involved. The last thing the Board of Governors wants is three hundred excitable teenaged girls speculating about the relatives and private life of their headmistress - and whether homicide, like twins, can run in a family. Too, too unsettling for the whole school.'
‘Perhaps now. But later … after it's all over?'
‘Will it ever be over? Do you really believe that?'
No. No, it would never be over. Claudia would still be dead. Chloe would always be the woman who had been accused of murdering her twin sister. The family would always bear the burden of having been the family where two girls had grown up to come to such ends. Everyone had a high price to pay for what had happened.
‘But surely …' Margot fought against her own growing realisation of the costs involved. ‘If …'
‘If what?' Emmeline challenged her.
‘If Chloe is innocent …' Or not completely guilty – not of premeditated murder. Realistically, as Wilfred had pointed out, after Milly had left the table last night, the best they could hope for was a verdict of manslaughter. Possibly mitigated by diminished responsibility. In any case, Chloe would not be returning home for a long, long time.
It didn't bear thinking about – and yet, they had no choice. Margot felt such a wave of exhaustion that her knees buckled. She sank down abruptly on the lowest step.
‘Are you all right?' Emmeline asked with sudden concern.
Tikki, strolling along the hallway as though he owned the house, now that Wilfred was out of the way, came over to investigate. He rubbed his head against Margot's knee.
‘I'm all right.' She kept her head turned away from Emmeline, using the excuse of fussing over Tikki. ‘It … just all swept over me suddenly. You … the rest of you … have had more time to get used to it.' ‘I don't think you ever get used to it. You just learn to live with it.'

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