Dead Woman's Shoes: 1 (Lexy Lomax Mysteries) (31 page)

“I know how to get round Guy’s the back way, if that’s any use,” Edward said. “In case there’s a problem.”

“Yes, all right – go for it. I’ll give you five minutes to get in place.”

Edward let himself out of the back and loped out of sight along Gorse Rise.

“Can you go and tell Tammy about her loser of a husband?” said Milo. “We’ll deal with Guy and Hope.”

“I can look after myself in a...” Lexy began, but Milo shushed her. His phone was ringing.

“It’s the station – better take it.” He flipped it open. “Milo.”

Lexy watched his face freeze into disbelief as he listened.

“OK.” He snapped it shut, gave her a helpless look.

“What?”

“Edward doesn’t have an alibi for Friday night.”

This was so not what Lexy wanted to hear.

“But he was at Lowestoft nick. After the scene at Peter’s shop.”

Milo shook his head. “That scene must have been during the afternoon – he was bailed by six o’clock, with no charges pressed. He had plenty of time to dress up as Avril, drive her out there and kill her. He had a good enough motive.”

“No!” Lexy tried to push aside the vision of Edward shredding his poison pen letter. The old stick leaning against the wall in his kitchen, the one that Nimrod the retriever used to chew. The way he had been offering to help her at every turn.

“I’m going to have to pull him in,” said Milo. He swore under his breath, tapped out another number on his phone.

“But he’s my friend,” whispered Lexy. “I trusted him.”

“Appearances can be deceptive.” Milo peered out into the dark road. “I’d better get out there or he’ll think something’s up. Go and tell Tammy about Tristan...”

“But...”

“... and stay there until the police arrive.”

“But...”

“Lexy – don’t argue. Just get out there and do it.”

Lexy let herself and Kinky out of the car. She watched Milo run quietly down Guy Ellenger’s drive, then opened the Caradocs’ gate, feeling sick at heart. Far away in the distance she heard a growl of thunder.

She pressed the bell.

“You’d better stay out here,” she told Kinky. Having met Princess Noo-Noo, he was happy to agree.

“Lexy! This is unexpected.”

Lexy stood awkwardly in the hallway of the Caradocs’ bungalow. Princess scampered lightly up to her, jumped against her leg, then shot off again.

“She’s gone totally scatty,” said Tammy, with a fond smile. “I thought she might be a bit more quiet and thoughtful after the weekend she’s had.” She paused. “You haven’t seen Tristan, have you? I’ve been trying to ring him, but his phone’s switched off.”

Lexy took a deep breath, forcing herself to concentrate and not think about what might be happening next door. “Actually, Tammy, he’s had to go to hospital – that’s what I came to tell you. But it’s nothing serious,” she added quickly, as the woman’s eyes widened in shock. “Just a knock on the head.”

“Knock on the head? How?”

“He was in the vet’s surgery. You know that big bone on the wall?”

The other woman nodded. She had gone completely still.

“It fell off, hit him on the head and he knocked himself out on the edge of the treatment bench.”

Tammy broke out into a storm of laughter.

Lexy gave a faint smile. Tammy must be one of those people who have a nervous reaction to bad news. The sort who burst out into giggles when they hear someone’s died. Either that or she appreciates irony, said an unbidden voice in her head.

She shot a glance at Tammy, and wished she hadn’t.

It was the latter.

Tammy was laughing because Tristan had been hit on the head with the very weapon that had killed Avril.

And now Tammy knew Lexy knew.

“Would you like a lift to the hospital?” said Lexy, pleasantly.

“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Up close, Tammy was large. About the same size as Avril, in fact.

“You know, Tristan was about to run away with that trollop, Sheri-Anne.” Tammy leaned her wide behind on the wall, as if settling in for a comfortable chat.

“Really?” said Lexy, trying to sound concerned. It wasn’t difficult.

“Yes. Not that I gave a toss about that. What really made me see red was the fact that they were taking my cat with them.” Her eyes hardened. “I only found out this afternoon, when I discovered the passports in his jacket pocket. One for him, one for Sheri-Anne, and one for Princess. After all I’d done for the bastard.”

She turned to a picture of Tristan on the wall. The one of him dressed as Margaret Thatcher, in the tight-fitting blue number.

“When I discovered Avril was blackmailing Tristan, I thought it was because of his pathetic little affair with Sheri-Anne. I had no idea about all this cat business until you told me this afternoon.” She petted Princess, now draped around her neck. “He was giving Avril a large amount of money every month. I was almost flattered to think he would pay that much to keep me from being hurt. But I couldn’t have him throwing away our life savings.” She gave a sudden harsh laugh. “Put me in a bit of a dilemma. I didn’t want to tell him that I knew. Because if he knew I had found out about the affair, things could never be the same again between us.” She looked sadly at Lexy. “I just wanted everything to be like it always had been. When we were young and beautiful.
Eternity was in our lips and eyes, bliss in our brows.”
Her mouth set. “So I came up with a plan to put Avril out of the picture.”

“Ah,” said Lexy.

Tammy sighed. “It took some careful planning, but it went like a dream on the night. It was Tristan’s ghost walk evening, so I knew he’d be out of the way. He always leaves the house early so that he can get a pint in first. As soon as he left, I nipped down to the village hall the back way via the vet’s surgery, with my walking gear in a tapestry bag just like Avril’s.”

Lexy nodded to herself, but the fact that she had guessed right was no comfort at that moment.

“I disguised myself as her, then I walked quickly around the corner and up Windmill Hill.” Tammy paused. “That was the risky part – I was praying I didn’t run into any of her neighbours.”

Lexy wondered how worried Tammy would have been if she knew she’d been spotted by one of them. “How did you know Avril would be at home?” she asked.

“Because I called her earlier. Part of the plan. Said I wanted to speak to her about an am-dram matter. She told me to get there before eight as she was going out.”

Tammy smiled. “When she answered the door, I knocked her out with a little whiff of chloroform from the surgery, and gave her a shot of sedative to keep her from struggling. Then I got her into the Volvo, drove her to the field, and...” She gave a wry shrug. “I thought I was so clever using that dog bone as a murder weapon.” She paused, frowning. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to find her for days, not right out there. I dumped the car, changed into my walking gear, got back to Clopwolde and hid the clothes in the old trunk”

“Then you took the bone back to the surgery the following morning, inside the rolls of canvas for Hope,” Lexy supplied.

Tammy gave her a nasty smile. “And your bastard little mutt could smell it, couldn’t he? Anyway, despite running into you at just the wrong moment, I thought I’d got away with it. The body was found a little sooner than I would have wanted, but I saw Tristan’s look of relief when Maurice from the am-dram called to tell him Avril was dead, and it was all worth it.” She reached up a plump hand to stroke Princess. “My only problem then,” she went on, “was the loss of my poor Noo-Noo. I knew that someone must have stolen her, but I’d never have dreamed it was my own husband.” She stared bitterly at the photo of Tristan again, then turned to face Lexy.

“When you brought Princess back today I thought my life was complete, especially when we found out her...
circumstances
.” She caressed the cat again fondly. “It was my reward for rescuing her in the first place. I went straight down to the travel agents and booked a cruise.”

Then her face hardened. “Then I came back here and found the passports. The ones I wasn’t meant to see.”

Lexy shifted uncomfortably.

“Tristan had gone out – said he’d gone to the pub. I went to have it out with him. But when I got to the high street, I saw him coming out of the village hall, very furtively, with Sheri-Anne.” She drew a deep breath. “And I saw Sheri-Anne go back inside. I thought that perhaps I’d have it out with her instead. So I sneaked in after her.”

Lexy swallowed.

“She was in the locker room. She didn’t even see me come in. I picked up a coconut and cracked her on the head. She collapsed immediately. Stone dead. I’m rather good at that. I picked her up – she was as light as a feather, the little bitch – and I put her...”

“Don’t tell me,” said Lexy, quietly. “You put her in the old trunk in the wardrobe room, a few layers down, underneath your Avril disguise.”

“How did you...?”

“Just a lucky guess.” That’s why Kinky had been whining. Sheri-Anne must have still been warm when Lexy opened the trunk.

“Tammy – we need to make a phone call.”

“I’m afraid not.”

Lexy backed towards the door.

“You see – now that Princess has her own little passport, I thought that she and I might go for a journey. Seeing as Tristan and Sheri-Anne aren’t going any more.”

Especially Sheri-Anne.

“I booked the flight when I got back this evening.” Tammy looked at her watch. “In fact, we really should get going. I was going to wait until Tristan got home, and make sure he didn’t go anywhere else for a while. But it looks as if fate has already arranged that for me.” She gave a short, manic laugh, dislodging Princess. The cat ran up the stairs. “So, I suppose all I have to do now is make sure that you don’t talk.”

Tammy bent into the alcove where the boots and coats were kept, and selected a stout walking stick. Lexy immediately groped for the door handle and managed to pull it half open.

“Oh, no you don’t.”

Lexy ducked. The stick smashed against the thick glass panel, shattering it, and slamming the door shut again – but not in time to stop a chihuahua dodging in.

Tammy let out a scream of pain. Kinky had fastened himself to her ankle. She raised the stick again.

A second later, the door was kicked open from the outside so hard that Lexy was knocked sprawling. Edward leapt over her and brought Tammy to the ground in a flying rugby tackle. They rolled about on the carpet among the broken glass. There were shouts and curses. But Lexy barely noticed. It just seemed like something unimportant playing in the background.

Before Tammy had been overcome, her last blow had landed on Kinky.

Lexy dragged herself into a kneeling position, shook him incredulously.

“Wake up, pal.” It seemed such a daft thing to say. She even gave a half-laugh. “You’d better not be winding me up here, Kinks.”

Then she saw the blood soaking into the carpet underneath him.

“F...!” Lexy scrambled up.

Edward and Tammy froze in a horrible parody of the missionary position.

Lexy stooped, grabbed up the bloodied walking stick and advanced on them. “Out of the way, Edward.”

Edward landed Tammy a punch in the throat, jumped up and wrestled the stick from Lexy’s hand.

“Not the answer, sweetie,” he panted, standing over the coughing woman.

Princess sat at the top of the stairs, looking, for once, grave.

Lexy turned back to the small caramel-coloured body on the floor. She bent and scooped the dog up, cradling him to her chest, and stepped awkwardly over the ruins of the door. She ran up the gravel drive, feeling Kinky’s limp body thud gently against her at each step. She barely noticed that Milo’s car was empty.

Within a minute Lexy was hammering at the vet’s door.

Guy Ellenger pulled it open, frowning in surprise.

Mutely, she offered Kinky, his head lolling.

The vet took the dog, lay him on the hall floor, kneeling over him. “What happened?”

Lexy choked out the explanation.

Guy Ellenger’s hands ran gently over Kinky. He gave Lexy a quick, serious glance.

“I’m sorry...”

Hope was now standing behind Guy, looking dopey but concerned.

Lexy felt herself backing away. “I have to go... I can’t...”

She turned and ran blindly out of the drive, down Gorse Rise towards the high street, fighting an urge to drop to her knees on the roadside and curl up.

A minute later she heard footsteps running behind her. She sped up. “Lexy – it’s me. Hey – stop, will you.” Milo grabbed her arm, spun her around, and steadied her. “What’s going on? I can’t find Edward anywhere.”

“Edward’s not the murderer. He saved me. He’s in with her now.”

“Her?” Milo bent his lanky frame to catch his breath.

“Tammy Caradoc. She killed Sheri-Anne too. Put her in a trunk in the village hall.”

Milo closed his eyes. “How did you...?”

“Edward will tell you.”

“Where are
you
going now?”

“Home.”

“You can’t. CID are on their way,” said Milo.

“And that’s a good thing?” Lexy carried on towards the high street.

“You can’t just walk away. They’ll need a statement for a start.”

“How’s this for a statement?” Lexy found she was shouting uncontrollably. “My dog’s been killed.”

22

Lexy walked up Cliff Lane, through the silent heath. The air was thick enough to slice and the track was only just visible in the last light of dusk. Another rumble of thunder sounded, much closer this time. She was less than halfway when a squall blew up, swatting her face with fat raindrops.

Within five minutes the storm was upon her. Lexy was soaked through, her short hair flattened to her skull. The sky was livid with forked lightning, and the whole landscape seemed to be raging with her at the injustice of life.

It became a vast struggle to climb the last stretch of road to the cabin. Trees, silhouetted in the lightning flashes, bent like limbo dancers under the force of the wind. She ploughed, head down, through the last hundred metres, then raised her dripping face and rubbed her eyes.