Minette Walters - The Devil's Feather

She smiled faintly. “You’re assuming she owns the property.”

“I’m not assuming anything. I know it for a fact. I believe you do, too.” I took a thoughtful puff of my cigarette. “But why does it matter to you so much that everyone should think she’s a tenant?” I went on curiously. “Does it stick in your throat that her family built on their successes while yours frittered theirs away?”

As a lure, it almost worked. “They wouldn’t have anything if it hadn’t been for-” She clamped her mouth shut suddenly.

I tapped more ash into the sink to ratchet up her irritation. “You’re lucky she’s so self-effacing. If Winterbourne Barton knew she was the richest woman in the valley, you wouldn’t get a look-in. They’d be queueing up to lick her arse.”

If looks could kill, I’d have had a dagger in my chest. “There wouldn’t be room,” she snarled. “They’d have to get you out of the way first. Everyone knows you’re her latest conquest.”

My eyes watered as I choked on some smoke. “Do you mean her latest fuck ? I might have thought about it if she wasn’t shagging Peter every night. Wouldn’t you say that’s a fairly good indication that she prefers cocks to cunts?”

“You’re disgusting.”

“Why?” I murmured in surprise. “Because I said she shags blokes? Surely Nathaniel’s told you what a good a lay she is? I gather they went at it like rabbits before you muscled in on the act. He’s down here all the time, trying to resurrect the good old days. He was even here the night Jess found Lily.”

A flicker of something showed in her eyes. Fear? She looked away before I could decide. “That’s rubbish.”

“Then who turned the utilities back on before Lily’s solicitior and social services came in?”

It was like pressing the “on” button. As long as I fed her questions she’d prepared for, she could produce her rehearsed answers. “Jess, of course,” she said confidently. “She was the only one who knew Mummy had collapsed. Everything she did was designed to cover her tracks. She could have phoned for an ambulance or put Mummy back to bed herself and called a doctor…but instead she drove her to the farm and waited till the morning to bring in social services. Why did she do that if it wasn’t to give herself time to put things straight at Barton House?”

“It was too cold to wait for an ambulance, so Jess took Lily back to the farm and called the surgery as soon as she got there. A locum turned up an hour later-by which time your mother was cleaned, fed, warm and fast asleep-and he advised Jess to leave her where she was until the morning. I thought you knew all this.”

“Why at the farm, though? Why not here?”

“Because it would have meant carrying your mother fifty yards just to get her to the back door, and she couldn’t see anything because none of the outside lights were working,” I said patiently. “Instead, she drove the Land Rover onto the lawn and lifted Lily into it. Her first plan was to take Lily to hospital herself, but as soon as your mother was in the warmth of the cab, and wrapped in the dogs’ blanket, she perked up and asked for food.” I eyed Madeleine curiously. “Peter told me all this within a week of my arrival. Did he not tell you? I thought you were such friends.”

“Of course he did,” she snapped, “but he’s only repeating Jess’s story. He doesn’t know it for a fact because he wasn’t here.”

I shrugged. “Then what did the locum say in the messages he left on your answerphone? Or social services? Did they give different explanations?”

“I didn’t listen to them all. The only one that mattered was Mummy’s solicitor saying she’d been taken into care…and I responded to that as soon as I got back from holiday.”

“So you didn’t hear the message that Jess left at twelve-thirty to say your mother was at the farm? The locum was with her when she did it. She told you you had twelve hours to take charge before the surgery alerted social services.” I folded my arms and watched her closely. “She gave you every chance, Madeleine, but you didn’t take it.”

“How could I? I was away.”

“Nathaniel wasn’t.”

“That’s not true. Nathaniel wasn’t in the flat either. He took our son to visit his parents in Wales. It’s something he does every year. Ask my in-laws if you don’t believe me.”

“It’s quite easy to pick up messages from a distance…and most of Wales is no farther from Dorset than London is. At a guess, it was you who turned the utilities off and Nathaniel who raced down here to put them back on before social services came in the next morning.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she said, her breath hissing angrily through clenched teeth.

“No one else had a reason to make Lily’s life miserable.”

“ Jess did.”

“I can’t see it,” I said. “I don’t think the police will either. She wouldn’t have written to you if it meant you’d find out she’d been mistreating your mother.”

“What reason did I have?”

“I’m not sure,” I said honestly. “At first I thought you were trying to coerce her into reassigning the power of attorney…but now I think it was straightforward cruelty. You punished her because she wasn’t mentally competent to do what you wanted…and then found you enjoyed it. Simple as that. It’s why most sadists do what they do.”

She stood up abruptly. “I don’t have to listen to this.”

“I suggest you do,” I said mildly, “otherwise you’ll be hearing it from Inspector Bagley. So far I’ve told him very little, but only because your mother didn’t die. If she had, we wouldn’t be having this conversation…you’d be at the police station answering questions about murder. You’ll just answer different ones if you walk out now.”

“No one’s going to believe you.”

“I wouldn’t rely on that. It just needs a chink of doubt.” I tossed my still-smoking butt into the sink. “Your problem’s the Aga. The Burton’s delivery notes prove it was off for two months. But if Jess had been responsible for that she’d have relit it…because she’s the only one who knows how.”

Madeleine shook with suppressed anger. “I suppose she put you up to this. She’s always hated me…always told lies about me.”

“Is that right? I thought lies were your specialty.” I ticked my fingers. “Predatory lesbian…stalker…obsessive…mentally ill…servant mentality…tenant farmer…syphilitic grandmother…hates men…only has sex with dogs. What have I left out? Oh, yes. Your grandfather had a yen for maids and raped every poor girl who entered his service, including Jess’s grandmother.”

She looked shell-shocked. “I’ll sue you for slander if you repeat that.”

“The bit about the rape? Is that not true? I thought he handed over fifteen hundred acres in compensation after his son was born? It was cheap at the price…the land cost him nothing and his reputation would have been in ruins if Jess’s grandmother had gone to the police.”

“It’s all lies,” she hissed. “There was no saying who the father was. Mrs. Derbyshire was a tramp…she slept with anyone and everyone.”

I shrugged. “It’s easily proved by a DNA test. The closest match will be Jess and your mother.”

“I won’t allow it.”

“It’s not your permission to give. Lily handed that right to her solicitor.” I smiled at her. “It’ll make a grand story. Skeletons rattle in Wright closet as DNA proves link. Abuse jumps a generation as failed artist’s wife seeks to silence mother. Career scrounger cites class as justification for sadism…”

Jess had predicted she’d take a swipe at me if I provoked her enough-“Lily was afraid of Madeleine, and her kid’s completely terrified”-so I should have been expecting it. But she still managed to take me by surprise. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m really quite naïve about the levels of violence that some people are prepared to use. I shouldn’t be-I’ve seen too much of it in Africa and the Middle East-but my experience of war is different. I’ve always been a bystander, and never a participant.