A Death in the Family (20 page)

‘I just wondered,’ I said, ‘if by any chance the
bike could have belonged to my friend, but he wouldn’t have been there then.’

Denzil finished his tea and got up. ‘Right then, I’ll be getting along. Mr Davis says he’ll have to order the carpet you want, but it shouldn’t be long. We’ll give you a ring when it’s in and I’ll try and fit you in as soon as possible. Thanks for the tea.’

After he’d gone I sat for a long time, trying to make sense of what he’d told me. I was quite sure that the bike Denzil had seen belonged to Luke. But Luke had telephoned Christine from the restaurant just before eight – she’d been quite positive about that – and even on a Laverda, there was no way he could have got all the way from Bristol in three quarters of an hour. Anyway, he’d been in the restaurant cooking delicious meals for his regular customers. But somehow I knew that Luke
had
been there.

On an impulse I picked up the telephone and dialled Janet’s number.

‘Sheila, how lovely to hear from you. I do hope we can get together soon, there’s so much going on here, it’s so exciting, I long to tell you all about it.’

‘Actually,’ I said, ‘I would rather like to come and see you. There’s something I want to talk to you about.’

‘Oh. Really?’ Her voice lost its enthusiastic note and she sounded wary.

‘Would tomorrow be too soon? About eleven?’

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that would be fine.’

I put the phone down and went back into the kitchen, emptied the teapot and washed up the two cups and saucers, trying not to think too much about what I wanted to say to Janet tomorrow.

When I arrived I found Luke was there too.

‘Wasn’t that lucky,’ Janet said brightly. ‘Luke’s just dropped in to bring me some of his marvellous cheesecake and when he heard you were coming he said he’d stay and say hello. Do sit down. Would you like some coffee – and a piece of the cheesecake, of course?’

‘Hello, Luke,’ I said. ‘You didn’t come on your bike then? At least I didn’t see it outside.’

‘No.’ He gave me a slight, nervous smile. ‘I walked – the restaurant’s not far from here. I need the exercise.’

‘It certainly is a remarkable bike,’ I went on, ‘in the sense, that is, of being remarked upon. On the night of the 23
^rd
of last month, for example, in the lay-by near the holiday cottage.’ There was an almost palpable silence. I waited for a moment and then went on. ‘I don’t know how you managed it, not with that very firm alibi, but I’m quite sure it was you who tried to kill your father.’

‘No, Sheila, no!’ Janet tried to get to her feet, but
Luke quietly restrained her and they sat side by side on the sofa, facing me.

‘Well, Luke,’ I said, ‘am I right?’

He nodded. ‘Yes, quite right.’

‘It wasn’t what you think,’ Janet said, becoming agitated. ‘It was my fault, not Luke’s – you must believe that!’

Luke put his hand over hers. ‘It’s all right,’ he said soothingly. ‘I’ll tell her. I’ll explain everything.’

‘I think I can understand why you did it,’ I said. ‘I just can’t work out how.’

‘Well, you know how things have been,’ Luke said, ‘and they were getting worse. He discovered that Mother and I had been meeting secretly. There was a terrible row and he forbade her to see me ever again. It was very difficult, he hardly let her out of his sight, but she did manage to phone me a couple of times. I tried to persuade her to leave him and come to us, Yves and me, but she was too frightened.’

‘He would have tried to destroy them,’ Janet broke in. ‘He said he could have the restaurant closed down, things like that, if I went away.’

‘Rubbish of course,’ Luke said, ‘but enough to frighten her. It couldn’t go on like that. There was only one thing to be done. Mother told me they were going down to Taviscombe for a bit and it seemed like an ideal opportunity to get rid of him once and for all. The moment Mother saw a chance of a perfect alibi for herself I’d come down and – and do it.’

‘He liked to spend the evenings going over his notes,’ Janet said. She seemed to have recovered her composure and spoke quite calmly. ‘So, even before he complained of being ill during the day, I’d arranged with Luke that I’d take the things round to you that evening.’

‘We – that is, I – had got it all planned. Mother took the key of the cottage and had a copy made in Taviscombe one day when she was doing the shopping, then she put it in an envelope and sent it to me. I was to let myself in and then, when I’d done it, I was going to break a window and make it look like a burglary that had gone wrong.’

‘I’d got a mobile phone,’ Janet said, ‘the man in the shop showed me how to use it. Bernard didn’t know I had it of course. As soon as I got into the taxi I phoned Luke on his mobile and let him know that I’d left the house.’

‘And you started out then?’ I asked Luke.

‘No. I was well on my way by then,’ he said. ‘I was at Brent Knoll service station waiting until a quarter to eight when I phoned Christine.’ He smiled. ‘I phoned her from the café there and said I was phoning from my restaurant. One lot of restaurant noises sound very like any other.’

‘That was neat,’ I said. He gave a sort of nod. ‘But the rest of your alibi,’ I went on. ‘Everyone seems to think you were in the restaurant all night preparing all that marvellous food.’

‘I’m afraid it wasn’t all that marvellous that
night,’ Luke said. ‘I cooked everything beforehand – casseroles of pheasant and pigeon, made-up dishes like that, things that Yves could warm up in the microwave. I was very upset at having to do that,’ he said earnestly. ‘I’ve always prided myself on everything being freshly prepared. People seemed to accept the food that evening, but it wasn’t something I was proud of doing.’

‘Unlike trying to kill your father?’ I suggested. He didn’t reply so I went on. ‘But you were back at the restaurant before all the customers left.’

‘That bike is amazing,’ Luke said, ‘perfect for minor roads, takes the bends like a dream – I made fantastic time. Yes, I was back in good time to do my usual round of the restaurant. It’s funny how people take things at their face value. They see what they expect to see. I was there at the end of the evening so they thought I’d been there all the time. Why wouldn’t they?’

‘I see.’

‘It was odd,’ Luke said thoughtfully. ‘I let myself in with the key and the lights were on and everything. I didn’t really know what to do. I’d been bracing myself for confronting him, having a scene and then – then killing him. But when I saw him in the chair, asleep as I thought, I was so relieved. I just hit him hard with the heavy mallet I’d brought and got out as fast as I could. I was halfway down the path when I realised I hadn’t broken the window and done all the things I was supposed to do to
make it look like a burglary. I went out into the back garden, through the kitchen and did what I had to and left.’

‘So you didn’t go back into the sitting room to make sure your father was dead?’

He shuddered. ‘Oh no, I couldn’t. I just went back to the bike and got away really fast…’

His voice died away and there was silence for a while. Then Janet spoke.

‘What are you going to do, Sheila?’

‘Do?’

‘Are you going to tell the police?’

‘Tell them what? You can’t be charged with killing Bernard if he was dead already. There may be some sort of charge – conspiracy or something, I really don’t know.’

‘If only we’d waited,’ Janet said. ‘Just one more day, then it would have been all right.’

‘Yes.’

‘But you do
see
,’ she said, ‘how desperate it was, how we had to do something!’

I sighed. ‘I can see why you thought so.’

Luke stood up. ‘You mustn’t blame Mother,’ he said. ‘None of it was her fault. You know how it’s been.’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I know.’ I stood up too.

‘So what
are
you going to do?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I really don’t know.’ I moved to the door. ‘I’ll see myself out.’

Janet came over quickly towards me and took my
arm. ‘Please, Sheila,
please
don’t spoil it all for us.’

I shook my arm free and went out, got into my car and drove away, along the road and up onto the Downs where I stopped because I was shaking. I turned the engine off and sat there, staring ahead of me but not really seeing anything. I must have stayed like that for a good five minutes, then my mind began to work again and I realised that my main feeling was that of anger. I was furious at the way they’d used me, a perfect alibi for Janet, a witness when she discovered the body. I thought of how upset I’d been for her, how much sympathy and compassion I’d shown her, of the charade that she and Luke had played out when he came to see her after the murder, and all the time…

I badly needed something to help me pull myself together. I couldn’t face going down into Clifton and trying to find a parking space so that I could get a drink in a pub or a cup of tea in a café. I scrabbled about in the glove compartment and found a rather old bar of chocolate and ate it all. When I’d finished I felt a bit sick, but more able to continue my journey. I put the car radio on and drove back along the motorway with music from blessed Radio Three blocking out the thoughts I didn’t want to consider.

At home I made the cup of tea I’d been longing for and sat for a while, feeling absolutely shattered. Tris and Foss, sensing my mood as they so often did, came and sat beside me on the sofa. I put the television on and watched, mindlessly, a cookery
programme and some sort of quiz show. After a while I got up and went outside. Walking round the garden, dutifully attended by Tris (Foss had taken one look at the cold, windy weather and remained indoors), I tried to think about things more calmly. I tried to remember the dreadful pressures Luke and Janet had been under, the appalling way Bernard had treated them both, the terrible things he’d done to Alma and her family and all the unpleasant things about him that had been revealed and I faced the fact that I, too, thought the world was a better place without him. I was glad he was dead and couldn’t hurt people any more; but murder? No. As Janet had said, if only they’d waited one more day.

I’d promised to have dinner with Michael and Thea that evening and as I looked out a bottle of wine to take for them and a picture book for Alice, I thought with a sudden rush of pleasure and gratitude of my own family and how lucky I was. Alice greeted me with enthusiasm and took me off to play shops, which involved a great deal of rather messy weighing out of lentils and split peas, a proceeding which Alice never seemed to tire of (‘Now
I’ll
be the shop-lady and you be the mummy doing the shopping’), and I found this repetition was the perfect antidote to the miseries of the day, as was sitting on Alice’s bed reading to her for the umpteenth time the adventures of
The Moose on the Moon.

When we were finally sitting down to Thea’s splendid steak and kidney pudding I exclaimed with pleasure, ‘Perfect comfort food!’

‘Oh dear,’ Thea said, ‘has Alice tired you out? She really can be exhausting!’

‘No, it was lovely having time with her – just what I needed, like this delicious steak and kidney. No, it’s just that I’ve had a very difficult day.’ I told them all about my visit to Janet in Bristol and said, ‘I really don’t know what to do about it.’

‘Well, you must tell Roger of course,’ Michael said. ‘He needs to know.’

‘Yes, I suppose he does,’ I said doubtfully, ‘and I want to in a way. But I can’t help thinking – well, of everything, all the awful things Bernard did to them and to other people. And if Janet and Luke can really start afresh and make a good life for themselves…’

‘I can see what Sheila means,’ Thea said. ‘At least
something
good will have come out of it.’

‘Of course,’ I said, ‘I suppose they shouldn’t profit from their crime, or whatever it was.’

‘Whatever it was,’ Michael said firmly, ‘it was wrong and you’ve got to tell Roger.’

So the next evening I rang him at home. In some way I felt it was less official than ringing him at work.

‘Oh, sorry, Sheila,’ Jilly said, ‘he’s away at a conference. Was it important?’

‘Not really. It can wait.’

‘It’s in Brussels – something to do with the EU, liaising or some such thing – so he won’t be back until next week. Honestly these conferences are the limit – we hardly ever see him.’

‘It does sound a bit much.’

‘Anyway, I’ll tell him you want a word. Forgive me if I dash but I’ve got to take Delia to a pony sleepover.’

‘Good heavens, what is that?’

‘Riding each other’s ponies and staying up all night talking about horses!’

‘I didn’t know Delia had her own pony.’

‘She hasn’t yet, but it’s only a question of time. She’s planning to ambush Roger about it when he gets back from Brussels!’

The following day Denzil came and laid the new carpet. I’d shut Tris in the kitchen, where the noise of hammering wouldn’t disturb him too much, and Foss I’d firmly put outside, so that a furious chocolate-coloured face appeared at each window in turn trying to find a way in. When it was all done and I was giving Denzil his tea in the kitchen I said, ‘What is it to be, a new bike or a car?’

He sighed heavily. ‘My cousin’s got an old Ford he’ll let me have cheap – that’ll keep Denise quiet and Mr Davis says I can have some more overtime and I can put that towards the bike.’

‘So what about the holiday?’

‘Oh, well, that’ll have to go. You can’t have everything in this life, that’s what I always say.’

After he left I poured myself another cup of tea and was sitting considering this pragmatic philosophy when the phone rang. It was Janet.

‘Hello, Sheila, I’d thought I’d give you a quick ring.’ Her voice was hesitant, almost wary. ‘We’re off to France tomorrow.’ Fleetingly I wondered why she felt it necessary to inform me about her holiday plans when she went on, ‘For good.’

‘What!’

‘We’re going to Normandy. Monsieur Picard – I don’t know if you remember about him, he owned the restaurant that Luke worked in first of all. Well, Luke’s always kept in touch, he was so grateful for the chance he got there. Anyway, Monsieur Picard’s getting on now and he wants to retire. He asked Luke if he’d consider taking over and Luke jumped at it. It’s got a very good reputation and they think there’s a chance of a Michelin star.’

‘I see.’

‘So we’re going straight away.’ Her voice was brisk now, almost business-like. ‘I haven’t got probate yet but I’ve left the house in the agent’s hands. Monsieur Picard is willing to wait until the money comes through. Luke will be a sort of manager until that happens.’

‘What does Christine think about it?’

There was a slight pause. ‘I haven’t told Christine yet. I’ll ring her from France. Luke says there’s nothing she can do to stop it.’

‘I see.’

‘It’s the new start we’ve all been wanting, Sheila. Luke and Yves and I,’ she was coaxing now, ‘and I couldn’t go without letting you know and hoping you’d understand – well about everything.’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I understand. But that doesn’t mean that I can condone what you’ve done.’

‘No. I suppose not,’ she said slowly. ‘Anyway,’ she went on, ‘I thought I’d give you our telephone number over there – just in case you ever come to France…’

I wrote down the number she gave me, said goodbye and put the phone down.

As I washed up the tea cups I decided that Janet would always be a puzzle to me – such a contradictory mixture, I really didn’t know what to make of her and probably never would. The telephone call did, however, confirm my decision to tell Roger everything I knew. And I would give him the telephone number.

My thoughts were interrupted by a ring at the door. Feeling that quite enough had happened for one morning I went to answer it reluctantly, but to my delight it was Rosemary in a state of great excitement.