Murder in Time (28 page)

‘That's such an old-fashioned point of view.'

‘Besides which, she could count and knew Dan was not the father.'

He frowned. He looked around the room. Seeking distraction? ‘Dan was delighted to be a father.'

‘Poor Dan. What happened to the real father?'

‘Dan was the father.'

Ellie waited. Evan huffed and puffed, his mouth working overtime on the dummy. He let the dummy fall out of his mouth and turned over on to his tummy, drawing his legs up under him, and then shooting them out again. Trying to crawl.

Red tinged Sam's cheeks. ‘You really shouldn't say such things.'

Ellie shrugged. ‘Dan is a good man. He must have realized eventually what Daphne was like but, so far as I know, he's not said a word against her.'

‘Neither should he. I admit I thought Daphne was too young to marry, but she had her heart set on it. She was besotted with Dan. She wanted a big white wedding and six bridesmaids. I admit I was concerned what would happen when the romance wore off and the reality of marriage to a teacher struck home, but she assured me that it was exactly what she'd always wanted out of life. I knew Dan would never let her down.'

‘And then, her bright little bubble burst.'

‘She grew up and realized that she'd committed herself to a man without ambition.'

‘As her aunt had done?'

Sam crossed and recrossed his legs. ‘I wouldn't have put it like that, but yes … I suppose so.'

‘Your aunt stayed married, but Daphne opted out. She found someone else, someone who would whisk her away into the sunset on the back of a white horse?'

A shadow of a smile. ‘It's true, he did have a white sports car. And she is a beautiful woman.'

‘Was this new man prepared to take on someone else's child? Or was it his own?'

The smile faded. No reply.

Ellie sighed. ‘It was his own child?'

‘I have no idea. He adopted her as his. That's all I know, or want to know.'

‘Poor Dan. He loved the child, even if he suspected she wasn't his.'

A wide gesture. ‘What would you …? Daphne needed wider horizons.'

She wanted a bigger income.
‘Is she content with her lot now?'

‘Well –' a slight but distinct stiffening of his shoulders – ‘as I said, she is a very beautiful and charming woman.'

Silence, while Ellie digested the idea that Daphne was not content with her second husband and was probably on the lookout for a third. Ellie wondered what would happen to the child in the case of a second divorce.

Sam looked at his watch. ‘I can't stay long.' He didn't make any move to depart.

Ellie said, ‘Getting back to the tragedy. It was your aunt who was playing away, not your uncle?'

‘I have no idea.' He met her eye with a steady gaze. ‘Until you mentioned it, the possibility had never crossed my mind. I'm shocked, I really am.'

‘I dare say. But, now you have allowed the thought to cross your mind, you are remembering little incidents here and there …?'

He looked away from her. ‘We-ell. She did used to complain that my uncle neglected her. Not as if she were serious, but laughing about it, you know? Saying things like, “If I can only catch his attention long enough, I'd like to—”' He broke off, and then added, ‘He'd have done anything for her. She was such a pretty woman, had such charm! He used to say she was a honey pot and that when they were at parties, he had to fight other men off.'

‘She flirted with other men.' A statement, not a question.

An uneasy movement. ‘I don't know that I'd go so far as to say that. She didn't mean anything by it. It was her charm that did it.'

‘She would, perhaps, play someone else off against her husband? Say that if he didn't do this or that to please her, she would get someone else to do it for her?'

‘You're making her out to be … I don't know. I suppose she might have … But you are putting an interpretation on it that I'm sure she didn't mean. You must realize that I really didn't see that much of them while I was going through university. Then there was the party, and he was killed. After that, she wanted to make a fresh start. She sold up, went to live in Knightsbridge. I mean, I hardly come across her nowadays.'

‘She didn't marry again … as Daphne has done?'

‘No. I think …' A long hesitation. ‘I'm not sure, but I think there may have been a clause in my uncle's will that there would be no need to fund her lifestyle if she married again. But don't quote me. I might easily have misheard.'

That made sense.
‘Can you give me any names?'

‘I beg your pardon?'

‘She may or may not have wanted to marry again, but you can't tell me she wasn't exercising her charms on other men in her circle at the time of the murder.'

‘I don't know! Honestly, I don't. People at the golf club, I suppose. People she played bridge with? How should I know? Ask Dan.'

‘Dan was too young at the time to take an unbiased look at his parents, and he couldn't think of anything but going to university, and Vera. He must have been rather young for his age, don't you think? The murder and the loss of Vera knocked him for six, and he wasn't mature enough to fend off Daphne's advances. He didn't see or hear any evil, because that's the way he was.'

‘Does he see people for what they are now?' A bitter note in his voice.

‘Yes. He hasn't made Deputy Head of a big secondary school without insight into what makes people tick. And now he's got Vera back …'

He frowned. ‘Is that the girl he was going around with in the old days? Some shop girl or other? Totally unsuitable.'

Ellie subdued anger. ‘They were pretty good together then, and now they've met up again, I imagine they'll make it permanent.'

A shrug. ‘What a pity. She'll drag him down in his career. What sort of wife will she make to a headmaster?'

Ellie had a vivid picture in her mind of Vera coping with a stroppy parent and coming off best in the encounter. She smiled. ‘I think she'd manage pretty well. She's a fine, strong woman, who's done a brilliant job in bringing up a boy who's not exactly easy. She'll carve her own way out of life, and she'll never let him down.'

He grimaced, understanding that she was referring to Daphne, who had indeed let Dan down.

He looked at his watch. Before he could make an excuse to leave, Ellie said, ‘You knew that Vera was raped at the party?'

‘What!' He stared, wide-eyed. ‘No!' He hadn't known.

‘Did you never hear about it?'

‘No, I … I was in hospital for a while and went straight home after that. Daphne never mentioned … No, you must be joking.'

‘Far from it.'

‘That's terrible. Is that why they broke up? I knew Dan had stopped seeing her, but he never spoke about it to me, and I'd no idea. Are you sure?'

‘Oh yes. I'm sure.'

He thought about it. ‘She was the only one of his friends who had the nerve to tackle the gang when they burst in. I suppose they took it out on her, afterwards?'

‘No, it was some of Dan's so-called friends who raped her, thinking she was trailer trash and could be misused with impunity.'

He was distressed. ‘I'm sorry. That's awful. Why did I never hear about it?'

‘Shame. And misdirection. Neither set of parents wanted the match and were prepared to stop the lovers communicating. Dan himself didn't know until very recently.'

‘I'm heartily sorry. It shouldn't happen to anyone, never mind … You mean, it was actually some of Dan's friends who …? I can hardly believe it.' Yes, he was definitely upset by the revelation.

They sat, watching Evan trying to crawl and not getting anywhere. The boy had lost his dummy, but didn't seem to need it for the moment. Ellie expected Sam to make his excuses and leave, but he made no move to do so.

He said, ‘They either crawl or they roll. I had one of each. Does this one roll?' He flipped Evan on to his back, and resumed his seat.

Evan looked up at Sam in horror, then transferred his gaze to Ellie, perhaps in a plea for protection? Ellie nodded and smiled at the baby.

Evan looked back at Sam, who was smiling down at him. Sam said, ‘I like babies.'

So he did. Good for Sam.

Sam tickled Evan's tummy. Evan convulsed with laughter.

Sam looked across at Ellie. Ellie stared back at him. She thought … he knows! Or he's suspected something. No, he doesn't
know
, but he's working it out.

Don't even breathe, Ellie.

A flurry of movement. Evan had rolled off the rug again.

‘Ouch!' Sam bent down to extract Evan from under a chair. Evan yelled, in fright and frustration.

Ellie produced the dummy and stuck it in his mouth. ‘Give him to me.'

Sam put Evan on Ellie's knee and stood over her. Not speaking.

Ellie said, ‘You've worked it out?'

A long sigh. ‘If I'm right, and I can't be sure … What good would it do to bring it all out into the open now, so long after …?'

Ellie rocked the baby. ‘I know. I've been thinking along those lines, too.'

‘I mean, there wouldn't be any point in trying to bring a prosecution after all these years, would there?'

So he'd guessed who it might be? Ellie tried to make him name a name. ‘Perhaps it might depend on whether they'd ever broken the law on another occasion?'

He reared back. She'd guessed wrongly. ‘That's ridiculous. I can see that you don't know anything, Mrs Quicke.'

Ah. She was following his reasoning, if at some distance. ‘I thought, like you, that if someone had been keeping out of trouble ever since, there might be some merit in not charging him with rape—'

He turned away with a dismissive gesture. ‘Is that the time? I really must be on my way.' He retreated into the hall.

She was annoyed with herself. She guessed – too late – that he'd been thinking about the murder, and she'd been talking about the rape. She followed him into the hall, carrying the baby with her. ‘Must you go so soon?'

‘I really must.' He let himself out of the house and shut the front door firmly behind him.

‘I bodged that,' Ellie said. ‘Stupid me!'

She looked at the phone. Following on her earlier train of thought, it seemed to her that if the rapists had kept out of trouble ever since, there was a case to be made for leaving them in peace … that is, provided she could get Abdi to calm down. But, if one or more of them had tried it on again, then it would be a different matter and they'd deserve to be pilloried, prosecuted, and probably imprisoned.

But. She didn't know how to check on their careers subsequent to the party. She could ring Lesley and ask if any of the surviving rapists had been in trouble since – but that would mean giving away their identities. Well, apart from Dick Prentice, and he deserved whatever was coming to him.

She walked the baby up and down in her arms, jiggling him to keep him quiet.

The evenings were drawing in, and she must put on some lights soon. The conservatory window was still a crack open. It had been a fine day, but the temperature dropped sharply at night. She took Evan into the conservatory and managed to close the window, even though he nearly threw himself out of her arms in an effort to reach Midge, the cat, who had been lying there, minding his own business. Midge squawked, Evan yelled, a flower pot crashed on to the floor. A fine azalea, just about to come into flower. Bother.

She ought to have strapped Evan back into his buggy before trying to do two things at once. Babies first. Plants second.

It was something of a miracle that the pot hadn't broken. One handed, she replaced the azalea on the staging.

Sometimes, just for half a second, she imagined she could see the figure of her aunt in the corner of the conservatory. Miss Quicke had passed on some time ago, but just occasionally, out of the corner of her eye, Ellie thought she caught a glimpse of her. Which was odd because Miss Quicke had never been interested in plants. Rose often reported that she'd seen her old employer in there too. All very odd.

Dear Lord, grant her peace.

Actually, the conservatory
was
a very peaceful place, full of colour practically all the year round.

Dear Lord, grant us your protection.

Indeed, thought Ellie, smiling. I certainly need it, and so does Thomas.

Let the wicked be confounded, and grant peace to the righteous.

Vera needs a spot of peace. And Dan. And little Evan, who
will
try to kill himself by throwing himself around at inappropriate moments … and … and everyone. Especially Rose.

You're on the right lines …

She strapped Evan back into his buggy, pushed the dummy into his mouth, and went to see about supper. Vera usually cooked for herself and Mikey at weekends. She might even be cooking for three that day.

Ellie now knew who had killed the doctor. Or rather, she guessed that it had been one of two people. But which one? Like Sam, she wasn't sure that it would be a good idea to probe further … and yet … and yet. Justice could be a cold tool, perhaps doing more damage to people's lives than might seem appropriate. She needed more information. Perhaps Vera could supply it?

Diana collected Evan after supper. In a whirlwind, as usual. ‘I don't know why you can't change him into something clean after he's eaten.'

Ellie had managed to pocket the dummy as Diana strode in. Fortunately, her action went unobserved. Ellie defended herself. ‘We've got through three outfits already today.'

Diana wasn't listening. ‘My husband wants us to go out somewhere tomorrow. I may have to bring the baby round again. All right?' Off she went, without waiting for an answer.