Murder at the Maples: A Flora Lively Mystery (28 page)

‘Is she on something?’

‘Probably drunk.’

Flora shot the people behind her a withering glance. ‘She is not drunk. Or “on” anything.’ But when she looked back at her friend she started to wonder. What on earth made her get up there in the first place? Could the warden have slipped her some kind of pill, something that would make her behaviour erratic, reckless?

She elbowed her way around to the narrow stairway that led up to the gantry. Joy would have had to climb over a gate marked No Entry to get up there. Surely she wouldn’t have gone to such extremes just to see her favourite view? And now she was swirling around, taking imaginary dance steps with an invisible partner.

Or maybe he wasn’t invisible to Joy.

With a shuddering sigh, Flora climbed over the gate and ran up the metal steps. She kept her eyes to the left, away from the so-called stunning view – stunning to anyone without chronic vertigo. At the edge of the platform she stopped and crouched low, steadying her breathing. She made sure she had a firm hold of one of the metal bars, then she reached out her other hand and called to her friend.

‘Joy. Come on now. It’s time to go home.’

Joy’s ebullient mood evaporated instantly. ‘I don’t have a home anymore. You moved me out of it, remember? You moved me into that place, and that’s where I’m going to die.’

‘No. No, you’re not. But you can’t stay up here any longer either.’

Out of the corner of her eye Flora could see the bright yellow high-vis vests of the police, who were clearing the onlookers away from the wall. She kept her eyes trained on Joy’s legs.

‘You’re right, Joy,’ called the warden from the other side of the gantry. She was closer now: she’d climbed right up to the top of the wall and would be close enough to touch Joy’s feet if the old lady moved to the far end of the platform. ‘She was the one who made you leave your home.
She’s
behind all of the weird things that have been happening to you. The flowers, that postcard, what happened to your lovely dog. All her fault.’

Flora shouted out in indignation. How dare she? ‘Joy, take no notice of her. Come here. Come here right now. You know I hate heights. I can’t believe I’m doing this.’ She stood up and took a step towards her friend.

The gantry moved. It was the slightest shift, but Flora felt it beneath the thin soles of her sandals. She swallowed and took another step. It happened again. With a creak and an unmistakable lurch, the metal began to pull away from the wall.

‘Joy! We really have to get off here.’

‘It’s not made for more than one person,’ came a voice from below. Flora peeped out from behind her hands and saw the ticket man standing with his hands on his hips. He must have followed her up. Standing beside him, his wispy comb-over blowing off his freckly scalp in one piece, was Mr Felix. He was holding something up high and pointing at Joy. Flora looked closer. Then she looked back at her friend.

‘Oh no!’

Joy had slumped to the back of the gantry and was clutching her chest. Her face had pinked and each breath was becoming more and more laboured.

‘She’s having an asthma attack! We need help up here.’ Flora looked down at Mr Felix again. ‘Can you throw me her inhaler?’

‘No.’ Joy was crawling away, heading for the other side of the gantry and the warden. The metal creaked sickeningly.

‘Joy, what are you doing?’

‘I don’t trust him. He’s put something in it. I’m telling you, Flora. He’s trying to kill me.’

‘He’s not!’ Flora thumped her fist against her thigh in frustration. ‘Joy, he’s not trying to kill you, he’s trying to save your life.’ She turned back to the old man. ‘Throw it to me. Just hold on a minute. And you,’ she told Joy, ‘don’t move so much as a finger. If this thing comes away from the wall we’re both dead.’

Joy stopped crawling and looked up, terrified. The warden seemed about to climb onto the gantry, then clearly thought better of it. She threw a triumphant look at Flora, then began to clamber back down to the tea room terrace. She was going to get away, but there was nothing Flora could do about it now.

She wedged herself against the front of the rail and steeled herself to let go. She’d need both hands to catch the inhaler.

‘Oh, hurry,’ someone called from the walkway. Flora ignored them. She kept her eyes focused on Mr Felix. She nodded.

In the moment before he lifted his arm into an overhand throw, it occurred to Flora that if Mr Felix really was Aubrey this was his crowning moment. He could simply miss. He could fling the inhaler down the ravine and no one would be able to blame him. Stress. Pressure. Never any good at throwing, actually. Did his best and all that. She held her breath and watched the inhaler leave the old man’s hand and fly, up and up, then down and down, never taking her eyes off it until it landed safely in her outstretched palms.

She gripped it tightly the minute it made contact, just like her old PE teacher had instructed, and rolled back down onto the gantry, holding it out for Joy. The watching crowd cheered. Someone clapped. Joy grabbed hold of the blue plastic tube and stuck it in her mouth. And Flora looked down at Mr Felix and smiled. He was smiling right back up at her, triumphant.

Chapter 18

‘You sure know how to find the action.’

‘Marshall!’ Flora fought the impulse to throw her arms around his neck, so pleased was she to see him. ‘You took your bloody time.’

He smiled and reached out to touch her cheek. ‘Take it easy, Tiger. It’s all okay now.’

She ducked her head so he couldn’t see the threatening tears. So, she could overcome her fear of heights, climb up onto a dangerous gantry and rescue an old lady,
and
see off an evil mastermind – but Marshall being nice reduced her to tears?

Figured.

She nodded towards Joy to divert his attention. ‘She okay?’

‘Fine. That is, her breathing’s stable. The paramedics said she seems a bit hyper. I guess it’s all the excitement.’

‘I guess.’ Flora watched the old lady sip from a glass. She frowned. ‘Does anyone know what happened? I mean, how she got up there in the first place?’

Marshall shook his head. ‘Best guess – and this is the police talking, not me – is that the gate was left open.’

‘No way! That’s so dangerous.’

‘Wasn’t it open when you went up there?’

‘I didn’t even try it. I just assumed it would be locked. Stop smirking! There’s a great big No Entry sign on it. Who’d even think to try and open it?’

‘Erm, Joy?’

‘Very funny. But why did she go up there? How did she know it was open?’

‘Again, guessing, they think the warden arranged it somehow, planned it as some kind of treat for Joy and Eddie’s anniversary.’

‘Joy would have loved that. The view, this place, it means a lot to her. And she’s a right daredevil.’

‘Not the only one, hey?’

Flora shrugged. ‘I was terrified every second I was up there. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.’ She thought for a moment. ‘But only one of them.’

Marshall put an arm around her shoulders. She didn’t move away. ‘You made a pretty good catch too, I’ve heard. You’ll have to join our baseball team.’

‘Flora?’ Joy was waving her over. Flora slid out from under Marshall’s arm and made her way to the ambulance.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘I’ve been better.’

‘Joy?’ Flora knelt down and looked up at her friend. ‘What were you doing up there? What was really going on?’

‘What do you mean?’

The old lady sounded indignant, but Flora knew her too well.

‘I can swallow the stuff about the view and it being your anniversary and all, but really? When I arrived you were going pretty crazy. And why wasn’t the warden on the gantry with you, if it was her idea and all?’

‘Big scaredy-cat, she was, just like you. Couldn’t cope. She said she’d go and wait for me in the tea room, but I knew better.’

‘What do you mean?’ Joy’s blanket was slipping off her shoulders. Flora pulled it back on.

‘She thought I wanted to top myself. See – you’re not even surprised. You expected it too. I’d become a burden to everyone, of use to no one. She took me to see a solicitor, got me to sign a new will. She said there was still time for me to do something worthwhile with my life, told me about this charity for women who’ve suffered multiple miscarriages. Did you know that was why we never had children, Flora? I just couldn’t carry one to term. It was heartbreaking. As soon as I read all that wonderful stuff about that charity I knew I had to try and help someone else who’d been through it. It was another way I could make amends.’

Flora’s jaw tightened. She hadn’t known, but Cynthia had clearly done her homework well.

‘Joy, there’s a lot you need to know about the warden, and that charity. But now probably isn’t the best time. What you must know, you have to believe this, is that you are not a burden or useless. You’ve got everything to live for, and once we’ve got you sorted on your new tablets you’ll be absolutely fine.’

Joy smiled. ‘I do feel better, you know. Those tablets the doctor gave me have done wonders for my eczema already. Look.’ She peeled down a glove to show Flora her arm, which did look a lot less angry. But then Joy sighed. ‘I just don’t want to go into Special Care. Standing up there – something came over me, Flora. Some kind of euphoria. I thought I could be with Eddie instead. I could step off the edge of the world and dance with him for all time. That would be better than being sent to the third floor. Wouldn’t it?’

Flora nodded. She swallowed over the lump in her throat. ‘Joy, I think I can say with some certainty that you are not moving up to the third floor. The warden – well, I don’t think we’ll be seeing her again.’

‘Really? That’s good. She had some funny ideas, you know.’

‘Miss Lively? We need to take a statement.’

Flora stood and nodded to the policewoman. She called Marshall over. ‘Could you take Joy home?’

‘Sorry.’ The sergeant shook her head. ‘Mr Goodman is helping us with our enquiries too.’

‘I’ll take her.’

Four pairs of eyes turned to Mr Felix. Joy let out a sound that was half huff, half outraged laughter. Flora smiled.

‘Would you? That would be so kind.’

‘I’ve got the car just over there.’ Mr Felix looked down at Joy nervously. ‘I parked it in a disabled spot.’

‘I am not going anywhere with that man,’ said Joy, turning her head so far to the right it made Flora’s neck ache just watching.

But Flora’s patience had been stretched to breaking point, and the look on the old man’s face made her feel ashamed. ‘For God’s sake, Joy. You just saw him save your life. If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t even have had the damned inhaler! You dropped it back at the Maples. So could you just quit being so rude to the poor guy and give him a break? Please?’

Joy opened her mouth to protest. She got as far as ‘But how …?’ and then shut it again. She looked at Mr Felix, then at Flora and Marshall, then back to Mr Felix.

‘Okay. Okay, fine. Come on then. Let’s do it.’

‘Finally!’

Marshall helped Joy across the road and into the Fiat. ‘Drive carefully,’ Flora called when Joy was safely strapped in.

Mr Felix winked at her. ‘I always do. And you can bring her something nice when you’ve finished here. Maybe a bunch of flowers. Some narcissus, perhaps. She’d like that.’

‘He doesn’t seem like such a bad fella.’ Marshall stood at Flora’s side as they watched the car pull out into traffic.

‘No.’ Flora was chewing on a fingernail. ‘No. That’s what I thought.’

‘You shouldn’t do that, you know. It looks real ugly. Aren’t girls supposed to have like a French manicure or something? Your hands look like a boy’s.’

Flora wasn’t listening. She said, ‘Narcissus.’

‘Flowers, right? We can stop off at that supermarket and get some on the way back – Steve got the bus back to Shrewsbury, he’s left the car there for us.’

‘Right. Marshall, can we just sit for a minute? Somewhere out of the way?’

‘Sure. What’s up?’

They perched on a low wall overlooking a row of trendy cafes. Flora tucked her knees up under her chin.

‘He just said “narcissus”.’

‘O-kay. And?’

She shook her head. ‘Why would he say that? Get her a bunch of flowers, fine. But why those flowers? Does anyone even know what narcissuses are?’

‘Narcissi.’

‘Whatever. Listen, a couple of weeks ago Joy got a bunch of flowers left outside her door. She went totally crazy, refused to even have them in the house.’

‘Weird.’

‘They were just a perfectly ordinary bunch of daffodils, but she was stamping on them and then she picked up what was left and tore them into shreds. I mean, those flowers made her mad as hell. When she told me all that Joan of Arc club stuff she said the daffodil is a type of narcissus, which is also the name of one of the characters they’d studied – Roman or Greek or something. Someone who loved himself, I guess it’s where narcissistic comes from. It’s all really confusing, but I do remember that Joy was adamant – and I mean adamant – that Aubrey, the caretaker’s son, was the only other person who would know the significance of sending her a bunch of daffodils.’

Marshall stretched out his neck. ‘But this was a couple of weeks ago, right? And it is spring and all. Daffodils are a pretty common flower, aren’t they?’

‘Well, that was my argument exactly. But hearing him say it just then, it seemed so …’

‘Left field?’

She nodded. ‘And there’s something else. Back there, when we were trying to get her to go home with him, she was about to say something and then she stopped. I think I know what it was.’

‘What?’

‘She was about to say “But how did he know it was my inhaler?” And you know what, Marshall? She had a point. How did he know? I mean, no one at the Maples knew Joy had asthma until a few days ago, not even their own doctor. It was one of the things we argued about – I thought it was really dangerous that she hadn’t told them. Then on Monday I get a call from Joy and the warden’s raided her unit and Joy’s flushed all her tablets down the toilet.’

Marshall laughed. ‘Raided? Boy, I do not want to get old.’