Abigail Browining: Murder Most Merry

Then she had fallen stubbornly and guiltily silent and had said nothing more to him all evening.

Was it because of her taunts that he had gone with Rebecca to look at the Black Stone? Rebecca wore a red Lycra tube which left her shoulders bare and scarcely covered her buttocks. She had glossy red lipstick and black curls pinned back with combs. She had been flirting shamelessly with Stuart all evening and then suddenly to Ramsay she said:

“Have you ever seen the stone circle?”

He shook his head, surprised, confused by her sudden interest.

“Come on then,” she had said. “I’ll show you.”

In the freezing room at Blackstoneburn, Hunter looked at his boss and thought he was a mean bastard, a kill-joy. There was no need for them both to be there. He nodded towards the kitchen door, bored by the silence, irritated because Ramsay would not share information about the dead woman.

“What did she do then?” he asked. “For a living.”

Ramsay took a long time to reply and Hunter wondered if he was ill. if he was losing his grip completely.

“She would say.” the inspector answered at last, “that she lived off her wits.”

He had assumed that because she had been to school with Diana and Isobel her family were wealthy, but discovered later that her father had been a hopeless and irresponsible businessman. A wild scheme to develop a Roman theme park on some land close to Hadrian’s Wall had led to bankruptcy, and Rebecca had left school early because the fees could not be paid. It was said that the teachers were glad of an excuse to be rid of her.

“By man,” said Hunter, “what does that mean?”

“She had a few jobs,” Ramsay said. “She managed a small hotel for a while, ran the office of the agricultural supply place in Otterbridge. But she couldn’t stick any of them. I suppose it means she lived off men.”

“She was a whore?”

“I suppose,” Ramsay said, “it was something like that.”

“You seem to know a lot about her. Did you know her well, like?”

The insolence was intended. Ramsay ignored it.

“No,” he said. “I only met her once.”

But I was interested, he thought, interested enough to find out more about her, attracted not so much by the body in the red Lycra dress, but by her kindness. It was the show, the decadent image, which put me off. If I had been braver I would have ignored it.

Her attempt to seduce him on that hot summer night had been a kindness, an offer of comfort. Away from the house she had taken his hand and they had crossed the burn by stepping stones, like children. She had shown him the round black stones hidden by bracken and then put his hand on her round, Lycra-covered breast.

He had hesitated, held back by his Methodist morals and the thought of sad Diana lying in the hammock on the lawn. Rebecca had been kind again, unoffended.

“Don’t worry.” she said, laughing, kissing him lightly on the cheek. “Not now. If you need me you’ll be able to find out where I am.”

And she had run away back to the others, leaving him to follow slowly, giving him time to compose himself.

Ramsay was so engrossed in the memory of his encounter with Rebecca Joyce that he did not hear the vehicles outside or the sound of voices. He was jolted back to the present by Hunter shouting: “There they are. About bloody time, too.” And by the scene-of-crime team at the door bending to change their shoes, complaining cheerfully about the cold.

“Right then,” Hunter said. “We can leave it to the reinforcements.” He looked at his watch. Seven o’clock. The timing would be tight but not impossible. “I suppose someone should see the Shaftoes tonight,” he said. “They’re the most likely suspects. I’d volunteer for the overtime myself but I’m all tied up this evening.”

I’ll talk to the Shaftoes,” Ramsay said. It was the least he could do.

Outside in the dark it was colder than ever. Ramsay’s car would not start immediately and Hunter swore under his breath. At last it pulled away slowly, the heater began to work, and Hunter began to relax.

“I want to call at the farm,” Ramsay said. “Just to clear up a few things.”

“Bloody hell!” Hunter said, convinced that Ramsay was prolonging the journey just to spite him. “What’s the matter now?”

“This is a murder enquiry,” Ramsay said sharply. “Not just an interruption to your social life.”

“You’ll not get anything from that Helms,” Hunter said. “What could he know, living up there? It’s enough to drive anyone crazy.”

Ramsay said nothing. He thought that Helms was unhappy, not mad.

“Rebecca always goes for lonely men,” Diana had said cruelly on the drive back from Blackstoneburn that summer. “It’s the only way she can justify screwing around.”

“What’s your justification?” he could have said, but Diana was unhappy too, and there had seemed little point.

They parked in the farm yard. In a shed cattle moved and made gentle noises. A small woman with fine pale hair tied back in an untidy ponytail let them into the kitchen where Helms was sitting in a high-backed chair, his stockinged feet stretched ahead of him. He was not surprised to see them. The room was warm despite the flagstone floor. A clothes horse, held together with binder twine, was propped in front of the range and children’s jeans and jerseys steamed gently. The uncurtained window was misted with condensation. Against one wall was a large square table covered by a patterned oilcloth, with a pile of drawing books and a scattering of felt-tipped pens. From another room came the sound of a television and the occasional shriek of a small child.

Chrissie Helms sat by the table. She had big hands, red and chapped, which she clasped around her knees.

“I need to know,” Ramsay said gently, “exactly what happened.”

Hunter looked at the fat clock ticking on the mantelpiece and thought his boss was mad. Ramsay turned to the farmer.

“You were lying.” he said. “It’s so far-fetched, you see. Contrived. A strange and beautiful woman found miles from anywhere in the snow. Like a film. It must be simpler than that. You would have seen tracks when you took the tractor up to the road to clear a path for us. It’s lonely out here. If you’d seen a light in Blackstoneburn last night you’d have gone in. Glad of the company and old Shaftoe’s whisky.”

Helms shook his head helplessly.

“Did he pay you to keep quiet?” Hunter demanded. Suddenly, with a reluctant witness to bully he was in his element. “Or did he threaten you?”

“No,” Helms said, “it were nothing like that.”

“But she was there with some man?” Hunter was jubilant.

“Oh.” Helms’s wife said quietly, shocking them with her interruption, “she was there with some man.”

Ramsay turned to the farmer. “She was your mistress?” he said, and Hunter realised he had known all along.

Helms said nothing.

“You must have met her at the agricultural suppliers in Otterbridge. Perhaps when you went to pay your bill. Perhaps she recognised you. She often came to Blackstoneburn.”

“I recognised her,” Helms said.

“You’d hardly miss her,” the woman said. “The way she flaunted herself.”

“No.” The farmer shook his head. “No. it wasn’t like that.”

He paused.

“You felt sorry for her... ?” Ramsay prompted.

“Aye!” Helms looked up, relieved to be understood at last.

“Why did you bring her here?” Ramsay asked.

“I didn’t. Not here.”

“But to Blackstoneburn. You had a key? Or Rebecca did?”

Helms nodded. “She was lonely,” he said. “In town. Everyone thinking of Christmas. You know.”

“So you brought her up to Blackstoneburn,” Hunter said unpleasantly. “For a dirty weekend. Thinking you’d sneak over to spend some time with her. Thinking your wife wouldn’t notice.”