Lying Dead (42 page)

    ‘Could it have been because of some money he told Ronnie Lafferty he’d be getting at the weekend?’

    ‘Did he say that to Ronnie?’ She was interested. ‘I can’t think where he could have been expecting to get it from. He said something about it to me too, but to tell you the truth I thought it was probably another of Niall’s pipe-dreams – you know, he’d had a letter saying he’d won £100,000 and the poor fool believed it. Ronnie wasn’t likely to go for that, though  . . .’

    ‘Did your husband know about Davina Watt’s death?’

    The woman’s face became stony. ‘He didn’t mention it to me and I certainly didn’t mention it to him.’

    Fleming changed tack. ‘You said Niall left the house after breakfast Wednesday morning. You didn’t see him around the place after that?’

    ‘I was here all day, working on the flat till about half-past six, when I came down to start making supper. Mirren came in shortly after Niall phoned.’

    ‘Where had she been?’

    ‘Oh, I wouldn’t know. She’s on holiday, of course – met up with some of the other kids, maybe, or off on her own birdwatching, more likely. I don’t worry – it’s a safe place for kids. She knows to come back for meals, but apart from that she can do as she likes.’

    ‘Was she upset about the situation with the dog?’

    They both saw her tense up at MacNee’s question. ‘Oh well, she’s fond of animals, of course.’ She gave an unconvincing laugh. ‘Naturally, she was concerned that Niall might carry out his threat to have the dog put down – though of course he wouldn’t have. That was just posturing.’

    ‘You think so?’ Fleming sounded sceptical. ‘Yet a lot of people seemed to believe him. Did your daughter believe it wouldn’t happen?’

    ‘Yes, of course she did.’ Jenna had crossed her legs; now she crossed them again at the ankle into a tight twist.

    ‘Not what we’ve been told,’ MacNee said bluntly.

    ‘What were you told, then?’ She reacted defensively. ‘Oh, I suppose that’s the sort of thing you’re not allowed to tell me! In this place you’d be very wise not to believe what you hear. They’re vile, the people here—’

    ‘You don’t like Drumbreck? I can imagine it might feel very unreal, a strange sort of community.’ Fleming’s voice was soft now, and sympathetic.

    ‘Unreal!’ Jenna gave a harsh laugh. ‘It’s a fantasy – has been ever since the locals got priced out. It’s their own little Happy Valley, where you buy exemption from the normal rules.’

    ‘And you weren’t tempted just to sell up and leave?’

    MacNee sat back in his corner chair, withdrawing into it to keep Fleming as the focus. He had a notebook on his knee; every so often he jotted something down, then went back to studying Jenna Murdoch’s face.

    ‘Leave? Oh God, yes – from the moment I arrived and saw this white elephant. But
he
’d landed us in it – bought it, and the marina, at a sucker’s price which meant we couldn’t begin to get our money back until we’d –
I’d
– restored it. And before you ask,’ she gave Fleming a defiant look, ‘we couldn’t get a mortgage, so of course there’s no nice little insurance nest egg. He wouldn’t have wasted money just for me to benefit.’

    ‘Hard for you, all these years,’ Fleming said blandly. ‘And you never got to the point where you thought you’d just walk out? It doesn’t sound as if you had a happy marriage.’

    ‘Happy? What’s that? All there was to keep me going was the promise of money later. If I walked out I’d everything to lose. And why should he—?’ She broke off, biting her lip.

    ‘You said he wasn’t a faithful husband.’

    ‘Didn’t know the meaning of the word. But round here, he was hardly unique.’

    ‘Was there anyone special, at the moment? You said you wondered about a new girlfriend?’

    ‘I didn’t even try to keep track.’ She sounded infinitely weary. ‘I didn’t care much. He didn’t either. I know he had a fling with Kim McConnell – she’s just the sort.’

    ‘But he wouldn’t have been likely to leave you for her?’

    She laughed again, this time with what sounded like genuine amusement. ‘She’s not worth it, to lose a free plumber, decorator, brickie, housekeeper – you name it. Quite hard-headed, Niall was. And I doubt if she even had exclusive rights. I noticed he’s employed a very attractive new instructor – I should think she’s on his schedule, if he hasn’t got to her already.’

    ‘Did she—?’ Fleming began, when the mobile in the pocket of her trouser suit rang. She took it out and glanced at it, then stood up. ‘Sorry, I’ll have to take this. Excuse me. Tam, perhaps you could explain to Mrs Murdoch about Moss meantime?’

    She went out and took the call outside in the bare, echoing hallway. It was Will Wilson.

    ‘How about this, boss?’ He sounded excited. ‘The guy in the pub ID’d Davina – we’d expected that. But then he described the bloke with her – tall, dark, lick of hair over his forehead – and I showed him Niall Murdoch’s photo. That’s who it was, definitely. Ten days ago – Wednesday, he thought. He remembered them coming in together a few times, some years back.

    ‘I thought if you were talking to the widow this might be useful.’

    ‘Oh, it will be. It will indeed. Thanks.’

    Could it be that Murdoch, for some reason, had killed her, incurring revenge from one of her lovers? And why, every time a rare piece of solid evidence came in, did the case become more confusing, not less?

    When Fleming went back into the room, MacNee was saying, ‘So now we know that the dog’s all right.’

    Jenna’s face had brightened. ‘That’s such good news. I’ll need to go and find Mirren and tell her at once!’ She jumped up.

    ‘Could you spare us another minute or two, Mrs Murdoch?’ Fleming spoke from the doorway.

    Jenna looked at her and the light in her eyes died. Slowly she sat down again.

    ‘Your husband was a friend of Davina Watt’s, wasn’t he?’ Fleming sat down on an upright chair beside the armchair Jenna was sitting on, and drew it a little closer, leaning forward to look into the other woman’s face.

    ‘Oh – years ago. Yes, I suppose so. We both knew her.’

    ‘Was she another of your husband’s girlfriends?’

    ‘Oh, probably. Like I said, I try not to know.’ Her attempt to sound offhand was a miserable failure.

    ‘And did you know that she had come back to the area? That he had seen her?’

    Jenna licked her lips. ‘No, I had no idea.’ She looked up, straight into the searching hazel eyes, her own wide and unblinking.

    ‘That’s not true, is it?’ MacNee spoke suddenly from his place in the corner and Jenna started, as if she had forgotten he was there. ‘You knew she’d come back.’

    ‘It’s easier, you know, to tell us the truth,’ Fleming said conversationally. ‘We’ll find out anyway, one way or another. And I’m afraid in our job we have nasty suspicious minds. Lie to us, and we always think the worst.

    ‘So what I’m asking myself at this moment is, “Why doesn’t Jenna want to tell us she knew?” And there’s an obvious answer, but I wouldn’t want it to be true. Convince me it isn’t.’

    Jenna’s restless hands, pleating themselves in her lap, showed her inner turmoil. At last she said, ‘All right, I did know she was back. That was last week – Tuesday, Wednesday perhaps, I can’t be sure. It was an accident – I picked up the phone at the same time as Niall did and I heard her asking him to meet her at the usual place. That was all.’

    ‘And did he?’

    ‘Probably. I don’t know. He never mentioned it.’

    ‘Do you remember what sort of mood your husband was in just before last weekend – Thursday and Friday?’ Fleming asked.

    ‘Last weekend?’ Unexpectedly, Jenna gave a crack of laughter. ‘Terrible! All he could think about was the stupid sheepdog trials. He was blaming the dog, because he knew he’d make a fool of himself yet again.’

    ‘You don’t think he’d anything else on his mind?’

    ‘If he had, he didn’t tell me.’

    MacNee said suddenly, ‘Was Davina the same as your husband’s other girlfriends?’ Then, as he saw her begin to frame a ‘yes’ added, ‘I’m asking because, from all accounts, she was kinda different. And remember, you’re not a very good liar.’

    ‘Oh, all right!’ she burst out. ‘She was different. None of the others mattered.’

    ‘So, if she came back, were you afraid Niall might want a divorce before you were ready for it, financially speaking?’ Fleming was pressuring her now.

    ‘No. No! She’d have gone off again, just like she did last time. When she found he still hadn’t any money, she’d have been gone. And believe me, I’d have enjoyed telling her.

    ‘Anyway, I didn’t know where she was. All she said on the phone was to meet in their “usual place” at two o’clock. I’d no idea where that was.’

    MacNee was making notes. ‘You could have followed your husband when he went to meet her.’

    ‘No, I couldn’t!’ she cried wildly. ‘We only have one car, for a start. And I didn’t kill my husband either, if that’s the next thing you’re about to accuse me of! I was here all night. Ask Mirren!’

    ‘Did you not, maybe, go to bed at some stage?’ MacNee wasn’t buying that one.

    ‘Well, of course. But she’d have heard me if I went out.’

    ‘And you’d have heard her?’

    Jenna turned to answer Fleming, shock showing in her face. ‘Of course I would! The stairs creak, and I’m a light sleeper. What in God’s name are you saying now?’

    MacNee had withdrawn again. Fleming, her voice very gentle, said, ‘Nothing at all, Jenna, we’re just exploring every avenue. And of course, we haven’t talked yet about the shed going on fire, have we?’

    ‘The shed? I don’t know anything about the shed! It was set on fire, I woke up, that’s all.’

    ‘And Mirren? Did she wake up, too?’

    ‘Yes, and I told her to go back to bed.’

    ‘And she did?’ Fleming raised her eyebrows. ‘What an obedient daughter you have! You must tell me your secret. I doubt if either of my two would have paid any attention if I’d said they weren’t to come and watch a fire.’

    Jenna looked down at her fingers. ‘Yes – yes, that was – well, anyway, she did. She was tired. She’d been very emotional—’ She stopped.

    ‘I think we’d gathered that,’ Fleming said. She glanced at MacNee. ‘Anything else? No? I’m sorry we’ve had to press you like this, but you will understand that it’s a very serious case.

    ‘Is Mirren here? If we talked to her now, perhaps we wouldn’t have to trouble you both again.’

    ‘I don’t know where she is. She went out.’

    ‘Someone can speak to her later, when she comes back. We’ll leave it there. Thank you for your co-operation.’

    Jenna made no reply, didn’t move as they got up to leave. As they shut the door, she was staring at the worn carpet under her feet, her face white and set.

Macdonald came down the stairs as they crossed the hall. ‘We’ve just finished upstairs,’ he said. ‘I’m away now to check on the computer. I’ll need permission from herself to access anything that’s not to do with him, won’t I? I’m not sure of the status of the warrant.’

    ‘I think you’re right,’ Fleming agreed. ‘Don’t take any risks. In this case, Andy, I’d like you to be very meticulous about anything you might find in case we need to prove provenance in court. She’s in there. Get her to sign something, if she agrees.

    ‘And maybe you could question the daughter, when she turns up? There’s something funny there – I feel it in my bones. OK, feminine intuition – stop sniggering, you two.’

    ‘Was I sniggering?’ MacNee protested.

    ‘Sniggering inside. Anyway, whatever you do, tell the poor kid the dog’s safe. Whatever she’s done, she deserves to know that.’

    Macdonald nodded, and headed for the sitting-room while Fleming and MacNee left the house and headed back to the Yacht Club where they had both left their cars.

    ‘What do you make of all that?’ she said.

    ‘There’s a lot to think about. She’s a bad liar, but that’s not to say she couldn’t have killed. She’s pretty hung up on money—’

    ‘They all are – have you noticed? Davina, Niall, Lafferty, Jenna – maybe the Super’s right after all. Follow where the money leads you. Though I still wonder what this kid’s been up to. Her mother ties herself in knots when you start talking about her.’

    ‘You don’t think a kid could do that, to her own father?’

    ‘That’s what they said about Oedipus,’ Fleming said darkly. ‘No, I don’t, really – but there’s something there.’

    MacNee looked at her slyly. ‘And what about Susie? Jon’s not a fool.’

    ‘Susie. Oh God, how am I going to cope with that? Yes, I can imagine she’s probably said all the wrong things, and set everyone against her. I can believe she might want to kill Niall Murdoch because of what he did to her husband through the dog – though only just, since in my experience Susie is usually about Susie and only Susie. But I can’t see her beating up another woman the way Davina was, and I can’t see why she’d want to kill her anyway. And what I will say is that the further we get into this, the more I think Ingles is peripheral to the whole thing.’