When Doctor Psychondakis arrived, he confirmed Angelica’s assessment: Sizal had died of natural causes. The fact that both he and Ruby had mislaid their life-saving medication was an unfortunate coincidence, something the mainland police would have to be informed of, but nothing more. At a wedding, when everyone has their mind on other things, he said, shrugging … well, it’s not so surprising.
I watched Angelica while the doctor was talking to Tessa and was intrigued by her reaction. Bill’s ex-wife didn’t look like someone who might have just got away with two murders. She looked exhausted. Beaten. When Doctor Psychondakis suggested escorting her back to her room to give her another sedative, she went with him willingly. But before she left, she spoke softly to Tessa.
“You think I don’t know,” she said, putting her hand gently on the PA’s arm and patting it sympathetically. “I can see how you feel. But I’m Bill’s wife. He’s never loved anyone but me.”
Tessa went beetroot red and a few incoherently mumbled words fell out of her mouth, but Angelica didn’t stay to listen.
When she had gone, Tessa turned on us. “The woman’s mad,” she snapped. “She’s talking utter nonsense. Don’t you dare go repeating any of it.”
“We don’t make a habit of repeating lies and gossip, Ms Whittam,” Graham said indignantly.
Tessa grunted but seemed satisfied. When her back was turned, Graham and I exchanged a swift, confused glance. We didn’t say anything.
The two fresh corpses had given Tessa a whole load of extra work to do. She had to arrange for them to be removed and put into cold storage before they were eventually flown home and given decent burials, plus there would be a mountain of paperwork to get through. However, she seemed remarkably untroubled by it.
While Tessa got on with it all we went off to check on Graham’s mum: we knew that if Sally heard that we’d discovered another body, she’d be beside herself with worry.
You might have thought that two people dropping dead would dampen the party spirit, but it seemed to have the reverse effect. As word of Sizal’s demise got around, everyone suddenly seemed desperate to live life to the full. On our way to the kitchen, Graham and I saw some guests throwing themselves into the pool, fully clothed, while others were dancing furiously to Bill’s music. They all seemed to be concentrating as hard as they possibly could on Having a Good Time. Josie had persuaded Bill to sit with her by the pool and she was feeding him grapes while Kelly watched enviously from the shadows. He still looked a bit pale but was obviously trying his best not to spoil Josie’s day. He had a villa full of guests, and being the lovely man he was, he clearly felt obliged to look after them.
When we finally found Graham’s mum she was up to her eyeballs in preparations for the evening party, but news of Sizal’s death had still managed to reach her. “Just stay away from Josie and Angelica,” she begged us. “Tessa too. They all seem to be barking mad. I wish I’d never taken on this job! Thank God we can go home tomorrow.”
We were quite happy to do as Sally asked. To escape from the crowds, Graham and I decided to go down to the little beach I’d seen from my window. After changing into our swimming things we trotted down the cliff path. Our cupid costumes had been horrifically hot, so it was a big relief to wade into the cool, clear sea. We had a bit of a swim and then took the pedalo so we could have a good long talk with no danger of anyone eavesdropping.
“What’s going on?” I exclaimed as we began to pedal around in a large, lazy circle.
“They were both unfortunate accidents,” Graham reminded me. “You heard the doctor.”
“You don’t believe it, though, do you?”
“Given all that we’ve seen and heard, the chances of both deaths being truly accidental are on the slim side,” Graham admitted.
“So what we have to figure out is who would want them both dead. And why? What about Tessa? She seems to have a bit of a thing for Bill.”
“Along with my mother and yours, and about ninety-nine per cent of the world’s female population,” Graham reminded me. “Surely that doesn’t give her a motive for murder?”
“I suppose not. She had the opportunity, though.”
Graham nodded. “But how about the means?”
I considered. “I don’t reckon Tessa had her hair done by Sizal – she’s not the hair-extensions type, is she? So she might not have known about his allergy. And she hasn’t worked for Bill for that long – she probably didn’t know about Ruby’s heart condition, either. Besides, even if she’s in love with Bill, why would she want to kill his mother? No, you’re right. I think we can cross Tessa off the list.”
We pedalled in silence for a few minutes while we considered the matter. “As far as I can see, the only thing that links Ruby and Sizal is Angelica,” I said finally. “She was the one to discover both bodies. And as you’re always saying, the person who ‘finds’ a body is often the murderer.”
“Very true,” Graham agreed.
“But why would she do it?” I was perplexed. “I mean, they seemed to feel quite sorry for her. She asked both of them to speak on her behalf.”
“Yet neither managed to stop the wedding.”
“OK… So maybe Angelica was really angry with them. Angry enough to arrange their ‘accidents’.” I tried to picture Angelica in a murderous state but couldn’t quite manage it. “She doesn’t seem the angry type, though, does she? She looks sad and mad, but not necessarily bad. If Josie was in her position it might be different – she seems sweet enough when Angelica’s not around, then she turns into a green-eyed monster.”
Graham scratched his nose. “Well, Josie heard Angelica pleading with Ruby when we first got here. And she came in to Sizal’s room soon after he’d finished setting Kelly’s hair. She may have overheard what he said about Angelica asking him to have a word with her. For all we know, she was mortally offended.”
“So she might have got rid of both of them. But it’s ruined her big day,” I objected. “Which she’s been fixated on since she was a kid.”
“It hasn’t been totally ruined,” Graham reasoned. “Think of the sensation that two deaths in a single day will have caused – it makes a much more interesting story than a feature about yet another celebrity wedding. If you’re right about her little-girl-lost persona being a false one, that might explain things.”
“Well, if she’s secretly after fame and fortune, she’s certainly found it,” I said. Something else occurred to me and I stopped pedalling for a moment. The vessel wobbled and Graham frowned but I ignored him. “Why did Josie come into Sizal’s room just now?”
“Angelica was screaming,” Graham pointed out. “I should imagine that half the island’s population heard it. Maybe Josie was curious.”
“Maybe. Or maybe she wanted to check Sizal was dead. Did you notice the key was in the door?”
“So?”
“Well, it was on the inside when we went to have our wigs done this morning – I snagged my fig leaf on it, remember? But when we left just now, it was on the outside. So someone might have locked him in there with a wasp, knowing he’d flap around and get panicky and that the thing would sting him and finish him off. And Josie was the last person to have her hair styled…”
“True. But she had to have her make-up done afterwards in a different part of the villa. Anyone could have done it then.”
“Except that no one else has a motive.”
“Apart from Angelica.”
The more we talked, the more puzzled we became. We decided it was Josie. Then we decided it was Angelica. Then we went back to Josie again. We were literally pedalling around in ever-decreasing circles and there was no one we could consult for an opinion. The idea of telling Bill that his bride might have killed someone was laughable. Sally was elbow-deep in preparations for the evening and Tessa – well, she wasn’t exactly approachable. Plus there was something odd about the way she behaved. I didn’t trust her.
It seemed like there was nothing we could do.
That evening at the beach party, Sally roasted a whole ox – it looked like something out of a Greek myth and I half expected Zeus to turn up and strike a few people down with thunderbolts. Two more of the staff had succumbed to the dreaded bug during the course of the afternoon so Graham and I finally came in useful, handing out plates and cutlery to the wedding guests and collecting up empty glasses.
Bill didn’t perform live in the end – he said he wasn’t feeling up to it, which was understandable. Instead, the DJ played a never-ending stream of Bill’s greatest hits, from early ones such as “My One, My Only” (the song that launched him on the road to superstardom, according to Graham) and “All Time and For Ever” (the first of his hits to top the charts simultaneously in Britain and the United States) to “You Won’t Never Need No One But Me” (which sold a record-breaking number of copies in the first week), “I’m Yours, You’re Mine, End of Story” (fifteen weeks at number one) and last year’s Christmas smash hit, “He Ain’t the One for You”. Then the DJ put on “Ain’t No Escaping My Love” and Josie and Bill danced, arms wrapped around each other, in their own little world. When the song finished, Bill got the DJ to put it on again, and then again. After the fifth time I was pretty sick of hearing it and we were both bored by the sight of grown-ups behaving like kids who’d drunk too much fizzy pop.
When Kelly suggested a skinny dip to one of the satyrs, Sally decided the beach was no longer a Suitable Place for Children and we were despatched to the villa. Bill’s music followed us all the way back and we could still hear it when we were inside, throbbing through the walls. We climbed the stairs, passing Angelica’s room. The music was loud, but not loud enough to drown out her pitiful, despairing sobs. I’d never heard anything quite so lonely. It reminded me of Mum and Becca and all those heart-to-hearts around the kitchen table. Maybe they were what had kept Becca afloat.
“It’s odd,” I said to Graham when we reached our rooms. “Why hasn’t Angelica got a shoulder to cry on? Where are all those ‘close friends’ of hers that were mentioned in the papers?”
“Maybe she drove them away,” replied Graham, yawning. “I gather that mental instability can have an alienating effect on people.”
Perhaps he was right. There was something scary about Angelica: I could see how her deep misery would put you off. But it still felt strange. I mean, when anyone at school’s upset, they’re like a magnet – the first sniff of a tear and girls flock around like pigeons, cooing soothing words. So why didn’t someone as famous and popular as Angelica have anyone?
As I got into bed I knew there was something I was missing. Some clue I’d overlooked. If I could just catch hold of it, everything would fall into place. But right now it was like trying to grab a bar of soap – the tighter I tried to hold on, the faster it slipped away.