Deborah Crombie - Mourn Not Your Dead

When Will nudged her with a whispered “They’re finishing up now, Gemma,” she jerked awake with a gasp. She had dreamed that Kincaid stood before her with his most mischievous grin, and in his hand he held a hammer, wet with blood.

For the first time Gemma saw Holmbury St. Mary in full light. The pub faced on an immaculate triangle of green, with the Gilberts’ lane to the right and the church on its left. Across the green, a few rooftops and red-bricked gables peeked from among the trees.

Deveney had gone back to Guildford Police Station to oversee incoming reports, delegating Will Darling to drive Gemma and Kincaid back to the Gilberts’. “Meet you there in an hour and we’ll compare notes,” he’d said as he got into his car and gave a mock shiver. “Looks like I won’t be getting the bloody thing in the shop any time soon.”

Will parked in the car park behind the pub, and they walked across the lane slowly, studying the house and its surroundings as they went. The thick hedge almost met over the curved iron gate, and above it only the upper floor of the house showed, black beams against white-trimmed red brick, creeper softened. “A suburban fortress,” Kincaid said softly as Will nodded to the uniformed constable on duty at the gate. “And it didn’t protect him.”

“Any too-curious onlookers?” Will asked the constable.

“I’ve passed through a couple of neighbors wanting to help, but that’s been it.”

“No press?”

“A few sniffers is all.”

“Won’t be long, then,” said Will, and the constable agreed resignedly.

“I hope Claire Gilbert and her daughter are ready for a siege,” said Kincaid as they took the path towards the back of the house. “The media won’t let this go easily.”

When they reached the mudroom door, Kincaid hesitated, then said, “Gemma, why don’t you and Will find Mrs. Gilbert and take a detailed statement of her movements yesterday afternoon, so that we can run a check. I’ll be along in a bit.” Gemma started to protest, but he had already turned away, and for a moment she stood watching him walk across the garden towards the dog’s run. Then, sensing that Will was watching her, she turned and opened the mudroom door a little more forcefully than necessary.

The white-tiled kitchen floor winked at Gemma as she entered, its glossy surface pristine, unmarred. Someone had cleaned away the blood.

Gemma looked suspiciously at Will, remembering he’d made some excuse to stay behind when they’d left for the pub last night, but he merely gave her an innocent smile. The fingerprint technician was still busily dusting the cabinet surfaces, but aside from that Gemma could almost imagine it an ordinary room on an ordinary day, waiting for the smell of toast and coffee and sleepy breakfast chatter. A colorful place mat and napkin lay on the table before the garden window, along with a copy of the Times . The paper bore yesterday’s date, Gemma discovered when she examined it, yet she hadn’t seen it last night-in fact, she’d barely noticed the breakfast alcove. That wouldn’t do at all, she told herself, and interrupted Will’s quiet conference with the technician more sharply than she’d meant.

“Mrs. Gilbert made herself a cup of tea, said she’d be in the conservatory if anyone wanted her,” the fingerprint man said in answer to Gemma’s question, then went back to his tuneless whistling.

Recalling the glassed extension she’d seen from the garden, Gemma led the way through the kitchen and turned to the right. She tapped lightly on the door at the end of the hall, and when she heard no answer after a moment, opened the door and looked in.

Although a profusion of green plants gave the room the proper conservatory ambience, it was obviously very much lived in. Two squashy sofas faced each other, separated by a low table covered with books and newspapers. A woolly throw drooped from one sofa back, and reading glasses sat jauntily on a side table. A pair of Doc Martens peeked from under the other sofa, the first sign Gemma had seen that Lucy Penmaric lived in this house.

Claire Gilbert sat in the corner of the near sofa with her back to the door, stockinged feet curled up beneath her, a yellow legal pad in her lap. Her gaze rested not on the pad, however, but on the garden, and even when Will and Gemma stepped into the room she didn’t stir.

“Mrs. Gilbert?” Gemma said softly, and then Claire turned her head with a start.

“I’m sorry. I was miles away.” She gestured at the pad in her lap. “There are so many things to be done. I thought I’d make a list, but I can’t seem to keep at it.”

“We need to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind,” said Gemma, directing a silent and unflattering epithet towards Kincaid for leaving her with this task. She never grew inured to the grief of bereaved relatives, had in fact given up hope of becoming so.

“Sit down, please.” Claire slipped her feet into her shoes and smoothed her skirt over her knees.

“You’re looking a bit better this morning,” said Will as he sat on the sofa opposite her. “Did you sleep, then?”

“I didn’t think I possibly could, but I did. Strange, isn’t it, how the body makes its own decisions.” She did look better, less drawn and fragile, her skin porcelain-fine even in the mercilessly clear morning light.

“And Lucy?” he asked as Gemma sat beside him and took out her notebook.

Claire smiled. “I found the dog stretched out on the bed with her this morning, but she didn’t stir even when I took him out. I insisted she take a sedative last night. She’s stubborn as a mule, though you wouldn’t think it to look at her, and she doesn’t like to admit when she’s reached her limit.”

“Takes after her mum, does she?” said Will with a familiarity that Gemma, daunted by Claire Gilbert’s rather formal good manners, would have found impossible to attempt. She remembered Claire’s distress when she realized Will had left the room last night, and marveled that he had managed to establish such rapport in only a few hours.

Claire smiled. “Perhaps you’re right. Though I was never as single-minded about things as Lucy. I fluffed my way through school, although I dare say I could have done better if I’d had some idea what I wanted to do. Dolls and house…” she added softly, looking out into the garden again and pleating the fabric of her skirt with her fingers.

“I’m sorry?” said Gemma, not sure she’d heard correctly.

Focusing on her, Claire smiled apologetically. “I was one of those little girls who played house and nursed her dolls. It never occurred to me that marriage and family might not be the center of my life, and my parents encouraged that, my mother especially. But Lucy… Lucy’s wanted to be a writer since she was six years old. She’s always worked hard at school, and now she’s studying to sit her mocks in preparation for her A levels in the spring.”

Will leaned forwards, and Gemma noticed absently that the elbow of his tweed jacket was wearing thin. “She goes to the local comprehensive, then?” he asked.

“Oh, no,” Claire answered quickly, then she seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing. “She’s a day student at the Duke of York School. I suppose I’ll have to ring the headmaster sometime today and explain what’s happened.” Exhaustion seemed to wash over her at the thought. Her mouth quivered, and for a moment she covered it with her fingers. “I think I’m managing well enough until I have to tell someone, and then…”

“Isn’t there someone who can make these calls for you?” Gemma asked, as she had before, but hoping that with rest Claire would have reconsidered.

“No.” Claire straightened her shoulders. “I won’t have Lucy do any of it. This is difficult enough for her as it is. And there’s no one else. Alastair and I were both only children. My parents are dead, and Alastair’s father. I’ve been to his mother already this morning, first thing. She’s in a nursing home near Dorking.”