A Move to Murder: A Bride's Bay Mystery Page 10

  A small crowd had gathered along the pavement near the house. Neighbours from the surrounding houses. Passers-by gawping. They stood together, their heads close and eyes and mouths wide with delicious horror. This was Melissa’s house. What had happened? Speculation. An accident. Taken ill. But why the police cars? A gasp went up as two paramedics appeared in the front door, then pushed a stretcher down the path. A white sheet covered the figure but black curls spilled onto the white sheet. The eyes were closed and the skin grey but they recognised him at once. Julian, not Melissa. Where was Melissa?

  Someone broke away from the crowd and ran down the street, hair and heels flying. Moments passed as the stretcher was wheeled to the back of the ambulance. Silence as the crowd watched and waited. Then they turned as one at the sound of footsteps, rasping breath.

  Ali came running along the street, hair wild and eyes huge with fear.

  “What’s happened? Tell me what’s happened?” She grabbed the paramedic’s arm and gave a low moan when she saw the body on the stretcher, her legs giving way. Arms caught her and a voice faraway said “It’s her husband.” A policeman had come down the path and gently took her arm, “Alright now Miss, come with me” leading her down the path and round to the side of the house. Another policeman started putting tape around the front garden and moving people along. The crowd shuffled back, over to the other side of the road, as the siren started again and the ambulance drove off. Mark Rowlands pushed his way through the crowd, ignoring the voices trying to speak to him.

  “Please, I’m the vicar. What’s happened? Ali, my dear!” catching sight of the small figure stumbling along the path. He hurried to her other side and the three figures disappeared from sight into the back garden.

  It was quiet. Nothing to see. Nothing to hear. People looked at each other, whispered, shrugged, then began to move away, down the silent street to the main road, the shops, cafes, beach. Where people chatted and laughed, children cried and shrieked, and life went on.

  It was afternoon before the news came out that Melissa was dead. After the initial excitement of the police and the ambulance, and the sight of Julian being stretchered out of her house, it was assumed that he had been taken ill while visiting Melissa. The less charitable in town speculated maliciously on what he had been doing when he was taken ill. The kinder ones stated he could simply have been taken ill with a virus, or food poisoning, or his heart or had simply had an accident. The vicar had appeared after half an hour, leading Ali out of the house to be hugged by Maggie, who had driven their car round. The three had climbed in and Maggie had driven away, in the direction of Fareham. Speculation that they were taking her to Julian, in hospital. It was a quiet road so no one noticed the van that drove up later, or the stretcher with the body bag that was removed from the house.

  But the arrival of further police cars and white clad figures didn’t go unnoticed and by two o clock rumours were spreading that Melissa was dead.

  Beth heard when she arrived to do the church flowers with Gina. The news that Julian had been taken to hospital by ambulance from Melissa’s had reached school in the morning but Beth had been too busy to spare more than a fleeting moment of concern for the man. She had gone straight home after work to walk Charlie and make a sandwich, eating it quickly while she flicked through the day’s post. Then walking along the sea front to church she had waved at people she knew but had avoided getting into conversation as she hurried along. Gina was just driving into the car park and she waited for Beth, smiling a greeting.

  “Have you heard about Julian?” Beth was just saying, as they stepped from bright daylight into the cool of the church, blinking at the gloom. Frances was hovering in the entrance, eyes gleaming wetly, an excited smile on her face, her always nervous movements even more erratic. She grabbed Beth’s arm and thrust her face close.

  “I know Julian was taken to hospital from Melissa’s this morning but something else is going on. Addison Crescent is full of police cars, four of them, and there’s tape all round Melissa’s front garden.”

  Beth was reminded of June and Rose in the cafe and her stomach lurched at the other woman’s enjoyment of what was obviously bad news.

  “Do you think she’s been burgled as well?” Her mouth felt dry.

  “There wouldn’t be that many police cars for a burglary, surely?” Gina looked pale.

  The three women looked at each other.

  “Well, we’ll find out soon enough.” Gina briskly put down her bag and moved over to an arrangement in the Lady Chapel. “Beth, do you want to start this one with me? Frances, are you doing the altar arrangement as usual?”

  “Of course.” Any suggestion someone else would do it jerked Frances from her speculation and she scuttled over to the tall pedestal with her flower arranging basket. But her noisy, jerky movements and heavy breathing told the other two she was pondering on the events at Melissa’s.

  No one spoke. Beth didn’t know what to say; it seemed wrong to chat happily when something had happened at Melissa’s. This was awful. She wished she knew what it was. As she and Gina removed dead flowers and replaced them with fresh ones, they glanced at each other worriedly. What on earth had happened?

  They found out half an hour later when Mark and Maggie returned. The couple walked into the church stiffly, in silence. Maggie’s eyes were red and tears trickled silently down her face. Mark’s skin was a greenish grey and he had aged ten years. Beth felt icy cold. She had seen them like that just once before; the night she had been driven to the vicarage after hearing the news about Louise.

  She sat down jerkily.

  “Tell us.” Was that her voice? It sounded too high and shaky. Mark gestured them to a pew, and sat down beside Maggie, clasping her hand tightly, his knuckles white. Maggie bowed her head, tears dripping from her chin, quietly sobbing. Gina sat beside Beth and felt for her hand, her face white. Frances sat at the other end, still, tense.

  His voice was quiet and slow, monotone. Confined himself to the facts. Melissa had been found dead that morning, her house ransacked. She had been hit over the head and would have died instantly. No one knew what had been stolen but her jewellery boxes were empty and there was no sign of her iPad, or phone, or laptop. Julian had found her when he went to pick her up. He was in hospital, sedated for shock. The three women sat, stunned. For a moment Beth’s head swam and she saw Mark’s lips moving but couldn’t hear what he said. Out of the corner of her eye she was aware of Frances stuffing her hands into her mouth, eyes wide. Gina sat frozen beside her. For an age it seemed as though they sat there, no one moving or speaking, just Maggie’s quiet sobs and Frances’s heavy breathing.

  Then Gina spoke. “Do they think she disturbed the burglars? Is that it?” Her voice didn’t sound like hers, thought Beth, or maybe she just wasn’t hearing clearly.

  Mark was steadier, calmer. “It’s one line of enquiry. They’ll know more when they know time of death and more about her movements yesterday.”

  Beth began to sob, tears spilling out of her eyes and pouring down her cheeks. Gina put her arm around her friend, a stunned expression on her beautiful face. Frances continued to sit, biting her fingers, her nervous movements stilled for once.

  Maggie spoke for the first time. “Come on” her voice shook “Let’s go round to the vicarage and have a cup of tea. We’re all in shock.”

  They made their way silently down the path, over the lawn, to the vicarage, walking stiffly, jerkily. Went in the kitchen door and sat around the large table, still cluttered with breakfast dishes. Maggie put the kettle on and Gina went to help, taking out mugs, milk, sugar. Mark stirred his tea, gazing out at the garden.

  “The police asked me about Melissa. I told them she’s a newcomer; people are only just getting to know her. No one really knows an awful lot about her, I don’t think.” He looked round at them, a question in his eyes. Beth shook her head. “No, I mean, we’ve got to know her a bit, but not her background, family…”

  She stopped, f
eeling sick. Had Melissa had family? Would someone even now be receiving a knock on the door, answering it to faces that brought the news that would change their lives for ever?”

  “They’re doing house to house enquiries now and want to talk to anyone who knew her, however slightly. I gave them all our names.” He looked around again, embarrassed. “I hope that’s alright?”

  “Of course” Gina squeezed his hand as Frances and Beth nodded agreement. “Anything, they just need to find out who did this.” Gina’s voice broke and her face crumpled as the tears came. “The poor woman, she was so full of life, so vibrant. How could this happen?” Beth was on her feet, wrapping her arms around the weeping woman. She pressed her cheek against Gina’s and their tears mingled and hair tangled as they clung to each other and cried.

  It was later, much later, when she and Gina were sitting in Gina’s kitchen, that she remembered Tom would be waiting for her for their evening walk.

  After the vicarage, they had gone back to Beth’s house to collect Charlie and pack a few overnight things. Neither Gina nor Beth had wanted to be alone and Beth was relieved to leave Bride’s Bay, even for just a few hours. She and Gina had both spoken to Carol, remembering with shock after they had reached Gina’s that she had had her hospital appointment that morning. How long ago that seemed already. Carol had heard about Melissa and filled them in quickly about her consultation, her voice thick.

  “I had the scan. There’s a large polyp in the uterus. It needs to be removed and they’ll do a biopsy but fingers’ crossed it’s benign. The operation will be within two weeks, I should hear in a day or two. Hopefully I can come home the same day or at least the next morning. But I can’t believe about Melissa...” she broke off, unable to talk.

  Beth quickly said goodbye, they’d talk tomorrow, then filled Gina in with the news.

  “What we were expecting really” a sigh “why does it never rain but it pours?”

  There was no answer to that. Gina had opened a bottle of wine and poured them both a large glass and Beth had remembered Tom. Five past seven. He would be waiting for her to knock, Tess sitting patiently by his side.

  She couldn’t face talking and sent a short text, to the point, then wondered if it seemed a bit abrupt. Oh well, she had more important things to worry about than hurting his feelings.

  The bottle was emptied and another started before Beth and Gina turned in for the night. Beth was in a spare bedroom at the front of the house. She had left the window slightly open and could hear the waves rolling and splashing onto the shingle beach at the bottom of the garden. There was a thump as Charlie scrambled up next to her. “No Charlie. You can’t sleep on my bed here, it’s too nice”. Charlie rolled his eyes and settled down to sleep.

  The sun shone, the sky was a deep cornflower blue. How could anything be other than normal?

  Beth and Gina had taken Charlie for a long walk on the beach that morning and phoned Carol to see if she wanted to meet them at the nature reserve for lunch. Beth was putting off returning to Bride’s Bay.

  Over lunch Carol gave them more details about her consultation and the operation. She was calmer today but grimaced when Gina commented on it. “I’m trying. Poor Ken, he’s still being investigated over the burglaries, he’s worried about me and now Melissa. I can’t fall apart. But Ali is. The poor girl came back late last night and stayed at the vicarage, apparently she was in no state to be home on her own. Julian was kept in overnight. She’s distraught, according to Maggie.”

  “And how’s Tom taking it? He was friendly with Melissa, they seemed to get on well.” asked Gina, reminding Beth she needed to contact him again about this evening.

  “I don’t know, I don’t know who’s seen him.”

  Beth and Gina went back to her house after lunch and Beth packed her few bits. Gina was quiet. “Will you be alright? Did you want me to stay again?”

  “No, no. You want to get home” half-heartedly.

  “Well, I’ve got things I need to do, but I don’t really fancy being alone either. Come back with me for tonight?”

  Gina didn’t need much persuading and half an hour later the two women checked the doors were locked and the alarm set and drove the short distance back to Bride’s Bay.

  Tom did know about Melissa.

  She and Gina knocked at his front door on their way to the beach with Charlie and guessed, from one look at his face. His skin was pale under his tan and his eyes were bleak. They had walked slowly along the beach, shingle crunching under their feet, gulls screeching overhead. Past the forest of masts at the sailing club and along to Stern Head, finally dropping down to sit near the water’s edge, watching Charlie run into the water and snap at the waves as they rolled onto the shingle.

  “I just can’t take it in” he rubbed his hand over his face, sandy gold stubble on his usually smooth shaved chin. “Why did they need to kill her? Why not rob her and go? Or even knock her out. But to smash her head in.” Gina, who was sitting next to him on the beach, gave a shocked gasp at his words. She fought for control but her breath came in rasps and small sobs escaped her throat.

  “Gina, Gina, I’m sorry. Come here sweetheart.” Tom’s arm went round her and he pulled her head down onto his shoulder, stroking her hair, gazing over her head out to sea. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  Beth, sitting on Gina’s other side, felt her own eyes fill and tried to swallow the lump in her throat, patted Tess, lying by her side. Tess gazed up at her with big, calm, soft eyes. Tom had his arm tightly round Gina’s shoulders, his head resting on hers. Beth felt a rush of envy. What would it be like to be held like that? Comforted and cared for? To give in and let someone else look after you? Gina wasn’t resisting and she had calmed down in the embrace. But Beth felt excluded, chilled and alone. She hugged her knees and stared grimly at the island over the water, blinking tears away. She was just in shock, frightened and upset. Her emotions were all over the place, like everyone’s. And she stifled the thought she could be jealous.

  It seemed natural for Tom to walk back to Beth’s house with them. Gina and Tom went to sit in the living room and Beth prepared a tray with glasses and a bottle of wine, only for Tom to ask if she had any whisky. Oh dear. She did, but she’d had it so long would it have gone off? Did whisky go off? With reservations, she fetched the bottle and poured him a generous measure.

  “Is it alright?” she asked nervously, as she handed Gina a glass of wine and sat down next to her on the sofa. Tom had taken the large, old but comfy armchair, stretching his long legs out onto the rug in front. He swallowed and grimaced “God Beth, where did you get this from?”

  “The Co-op I think, it was on special offer. But I’ve had it a while. Has it gone off?” anxiously.

  Tom laughed. “I think it probably always tasted like this! If I’m going to be a regular visitor, I shall bring a decent bottle round to show you the difference.”

  Not much chance of that, but Beth smiled as he downed more and winked at her. “It’s not that bad, I’m pulling your leg.”

  But at least the atmosphere had lightened and conversation moved onto various matters, until it inevitably returned to the murder of Melissa.

  “Have the police interviewed you yet?” Tom asked Beth, leaning forward, his shirt straining across his back, his neck thick and strong.

  She shook her head. “No, I haven’t heard anything, but I’ve been at Gina’s until late this afternoon. Why? Have you been interviewed?”

  “This morning. I think because I have - had - been out a few times with her. Not that I could tell them much, but probably as much if not more than anyone else.”

  “Julian can probably tell them the most” suggested Gina “How is he anyway, do you know?”

  “Home apparently, but not good. He was interviewed while he was in hospital, as he was the one to find her, poor sod.”

  “They’ll be round to me soon then, I expect. And you, Gina.” The other woman nodded.

  Beth looked at Tom a
nd his bleak expression prompted her to say “I’m so sorry Tom; I know you were quite close to her.”

  He looked up, startled. “As a friend and fellow newcomer, yes, but there was nothing more between us. We just got on well, we both liked visiting houses, exploring old towns, you know. Melissa always looked at everything with an artist’s eye. And she was fun, so lively and cheerful. It’s unbelievable” shaking his head and gulping more whisky “I just hope they find the bastard or bastards who did this soon.”