Shilpa massaged her temples. Today was her meeting at the Old Cinema, and she wanted to be at her best. Miss Marple didn’t solve crime with a banging headache. She had had a terrible night. After waking up at midnight to two blood-curdling screams – one being Tanvi’s, the other Brijesh’s – she had managed to calm them both, introduce them and retreat to her bedroom.
So much for Brijesh’s jet lag though. The two of them had seemed to hit it off, and she heard them laughing and talking for the next few hours. Of course they were. Tanvi was a night owl and loved company. Brijesh was a ready audience. She didn’t want to be her mother and tell them to keep it down. She refused to be that person. Instead she had silently whinged, in the privacy of her own bedroom, until she fell asleep.
This morning Tanvi was as bright as a button. ‘He’s a laugh,’ she said to Shilpa whilst Brijesh was taking a shower.
‘I didn’t get that impression last night. He nearly scared me half to death creeping about the flowerpots on my porch.’
Tanvi let out a cackle. Her phone beeped. She took it out of her skirt pocket, looked at it and put it away. ‘Listen to you, Miss Suburbia – flowerpots on the porch! Speaking of being scared, are you ready for seven?’
Shilpa hesitated. ‘I guess. Do you think I should tell Danny or Theo?’
‘Probably,’ Tanvi said. ‘But you’re not gonna take my advice. At least I’m coming with you. We could take Brij too.’
‘It’s Brij now, is it? No, keep him out of it. I don’t want this getting back to my mum. She’ll be on the next train, and that’s the last thing I need.’
‘In case she meets Theo?’ Tanvi said with a laugh. Her phone beeped again. She ignored it.
Shilpa looked at her watch. ‘The market this morning shouldn’t take long. To be honest, I haven’t made much to sell.’
‘Tut, tut,’ Tanvi said, causing Shilpa to throw a tea towel at her.
‘I’ve been busy, okay?’ she said. ‘With unexpected visitors.’
Tanvi nodded. ‘And a date,’ she said with a wry smile.
Shilpa ignored her. ‘Let’s leave around six. Is that okay?’
Tanvi nodded. Her phone started to ring.
‘Someone wants to get hold of you, don’t they?’
Tanvi headed for her room.
‘We’re late,’ Shilpa said as they hurried towards the Old Cinema. The market this morning had gone well. She had sold out in two hours and returned home for a much-needed nap. She had overslept, and it had taken an age to get Tanvi out of the house.
‘Why were you so keen to let Brijesh tell you that story about Shah Jahan and the guavas?’
‘It’s our heritage,’ Tanvi said. ‘I find it fascinating.’
‘I don’t want to miss this. It could be the key to who killed Mason Connolly.’
Tanvi ignored Shilpa and read a message on her phone.
‘So, are you going to tell me what’s going on?’ Shilpa asked.
Tanvi looked at her friend. ‘It’s Jason. He’s coming here. He’s on the train. Taking a cab from Exeter. I guess he’ll be here in the next couple of hours. But don’t worry, I’m not leaving you with some nutter. I’ve got your back. As agreed, I’ll mill about in the shop, which has a clear view of the café, from what I could see online. Jason can come meet us there afterwards.’
‘Listen,’ Shilpa said. ‘I’ll be fine. I’m in a crowded place. You carry on and meet Jason. You’ve a lot to sort out.’ But to Shilpa’s relief, Tanvi was adamant that she was staying, because Shilpa’s safety came first.
As they pushed through the glass doors into the Old Cinema art gallery, they each went their separate ways. Tanvi, glued to her phone, headed towards the shop, while Shilpa walked casually towards the café. She eyed the drab selection of cakes and left one of her cards by the till as she ordered a piece of insipid-looking madeira cake and a hot chocolate, even though she felt like neither. She took her purchases to a vacant table closest to the gallery shop where Tanvi was pretending to look at a series of postcards. She sat down and waited.
‘It’s been an hour. Whoever left me that note was having a laugh,’ Shilpa said, a little dejected now.
‘Oh dear.’ Tanvi was looking at Shilpa, talking to her on her phone as she sat on the stairs leading to the gallery.
‘You go,’ Shilpa said, looking at her watch. ‘Jason’ll be here any minute now.’
‘You sure?’ Tanvi said.
Shilpa nodded. ‘I’ll head back.’ The feeling of being watched had disappeared. She disconnected the call and headed to the ladies to use the facilities.
Once inside, she bent over the sink and splashed her face with cold water. When she looked up, there was another woman with pale skin and red hair standing beside her, staring at her in the mirror.
‘It was you,’ Shilpa said. She looked towards the bathroom door.
‘The facilities are closed for cleaning,’ Alison said. She turned to Shilpa. ‘Did you need the loo?’
Shilpa shook her head. She wasn’t going to walk into an even more confined space with this unstable woman. She swallowed. ‘You left me the note.’
Alison nodded. ‘You brought a friend. I’m not stupid.’
Shilpa thought about denying it then thought again. ‘Can you blame me? You have something you want me to see?’
‘Why’re you so interested in Mason?’
‘I was at the engagement party,’ she said. There was no harm in telling Alison the truth. ‘So I feel some kind of connection. What was it you wanted to show me?’
‘Do you know why I chose to show this to you?’ Alison asked, playing with a wisp of hair. She didn’t give Shilpa a chance to answer. ‘You’re different from the others.’
‘Others?’
‘Just, you know, people.’
‘In what way?’
‘You too have enemies, like me,’ Alison said with a small smile.
‘Enemies?’ Shilpa asked. Alison had the demeanour of a schoolgirl. The way she raised her shoulders to her ears, the way she giggled. It was unnerving. ‘Are you going to show me what it is you wanted me to see?’
‘Of course, silly,’ Alison said. She reached into her bag, and Shilpa watched her carefully.
‘I’m only getting my phone. Don’t be such a drama queen,’ Alison said. She retrieved her mobile from her bag and fiddled with it. ‘I want to show you something, as you’ve taken quite an interest in the case, and I like you. Not to mention you seem to be getting on quite well with Otter’s Reach’s police force, so you may be able to pull some strings.’
‘What do you mean?’ Shilpa asked, although she knew very well what Alison meant. She wondered now if it had been Alison who had been following her. Had she been lurking in her garage? Did she have the missing key? With the warm weather, Shilpa often opened the bi-fold doors that led to the garden. The garden was accessible from the front of the house too. If she were in her bedroom or down on the slipway with her balcony doors open, Alison easily could have accessed her house.
‘I wanted you to see this,’ Alison said, ignoring her question. ‘This clearly shows you who killed Mason.’ Alison thrust her mobile phone at Shilpa so that the screen was visible.
Shilpa noticed Alison’s chipped nail polish, her nails bitten to the quick. She focused her attention to the picture on the phone. She looked back at Alison. ‘This doesn’t prove anything.’
Alison scowled.
‘It’s a picture of you and Mason with Izzy hovering in the background.’
Alison pursed her lips. ‘So, you know her then?’
‘I know of her,’ Shilpa said. ‘The same way I know of you.’ She relaxed. This woman was clearly delusional, but harmless.
‘Look at the venom in her eyes. She couldn’t stand that Mason was with me, so she took him away from me. Then when he was with Harriet she thought if she couldn’t have him, no one else could.’
‘Did she take him away from you?’
‘As good as. She provokes people to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do.’ Alison crossed her arms over her chest. She wore a maroon-and-white summer dress with a denim jacket, a cross-body bag and clips in her hair. She looked so fragile, Shilpa wanted to put her arm around her. She didn’t.
‘Can we go for a walk?’ Alison said meekly.
Shilpa nodded. They left the bathroom, and Shilpa noticed that Alison had placed a yellow cleaning sign in front of the door they had just come out of. Alison deftly moved it out of the way. She is unbalanced, thought Shilpa, but at least she is considerate. They left the Old Cinema, and Alison started walking two steps ahead of her. Shilpa followed her as she headed down an alleyway. It was getting dark, and there was a chill in the air. Shilpa put her hands in her pockets as she caught up with Alison.
‘You don’t believe me, do you?’ Alison asked.
‘The picture just doesn’t prove much. You were at the engagement party, weren’t you?’
Alison nodded.
‘The police don’t know though, do they?’
Alison stopped and turned to look at her. It was a narrow alley, and the way Alison was looking at Shilpa sent a chill down her spine. ‘You’re not going to tell them, are you?’
Shilpa shook her head as Alison inched closer to her. Shilpa took a step back.
Alison turned and walked on ahead. ‘Why were you at the party?’ Shilpa asked. She couldn’t help herself.
‘Who told you I was there?’ Alison asked, walking on ahead.
‘I saw you,’ Shilpa lied, not wanting to bring Izzy into this. The two clearly didn’t like each other, but it felt like they were protecting one another. Alison hadn’t gone to the police with her photo, and likewise Izzy hadn’t told the police that Alison was at the party. It didn’t make sense.
Alison turned and sneered at Shilpa. ‘What’s it to you if I was there?’
‘Did you speak to Mason?’ Shilpa asked. She was provoking Alison, but she couldn’t help herself.
‘Mason wanted to speak to me,’ Alison said. She stopped towards the end of the dark alley. They were near the rough end of town. The streets were poorly lit, and there were few people around.
‘So you told him to meet you at the annex?’
‘He didn’t want to go there.’ Alison started to cry, her mascara running down her cheeks. She wiped her face with the sleeve of her denim jacket, smearing black make-up across her face.
‘You shouted at him outside until he agreed?’
Alison looked up, and something in her demeanour changed. ‘Shut up,’ she screamed. ‘Shut up, shut up, shut up. You don’t know anything.’ She was yelling now; a different person to the meek girl in the summer dress. ‘I loved him,’ she said. ‘I was the only one who truly loved him. Harriet is with Evan now. She never loved Mason.’
‘Is that why you hurt him?’ Shilpa asked. Alison started to sob. She lifted her eyes up to Shilpa’s and tilted her head to one side. It was then that Shilpa saw it – the familiarity of the woman wearing the green scarf in that Audrey Hepburn sort of way that day at Magdalena’s when she was having tea with Danny. She’d had the feeling of being watched, and now she knew why. The woman in the coffee shop had dark hair and a slight tan, unlike Alison, but that bone structure was unmistakable. She was surprised she hadn’t noticed it sooner, but her red hair had distracted her. That’s how Alison knew she had some police friends. She must have been wearing a wig. If she would go to that length to follow someone she hardly knew, what would she do for murder?
It was starting to make sense. At the engagement party Alison changed into a black dress shortly after Izzy had seen her. Black wasn’t a colour Alison would wear with her complexion, so it was the perfect disguise. The foundation smear the police had found in the sink must have been hers too. Alison must have used it to change the colour of her complexion like Shilpa had explained to Theo. She would have worn a wig to cover her red hair. Shilpa could see it now. Alison, dressed in blue and yellow, approached Mason at the party. She screamed to make a scene. Izzy had witnessed the fuss she made. That was her plan, because it was exactly what Mason didn’t want. He must have ushered her inside the apartment. Once inside, she asked him to call off his engagement to Harriet. He laughed at her, and that’s when she lost it.
Alison attacked him. She had taken the knife from the kitchen earlier. She changed out of her bloody clothes into black and used the foundation to disguise herself and return to the party. But why put the murder weapon back in the knife block?
The woman in the black dress would give people an illusion to focus on when they eventually started looking for the murderer. She must have taken her bloody clothes with her somehow and later disposed of them.
Shilpa took a step back. ‘It was you in the black dress.’
Alison stared at her, her expression not giving anything away. ‘You aren’t any different from the rest of them. You don’t know anything,’ she screamed. ‘Look at you. Do you even know what your neighbours are doing? What they’re capable of?’
Alison didn’t give Shilpa any time to think. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small knife, deftly lifting it up to Shilpa’s neck. ‘You’ve got no evidence I was there that day, and you’re definitely not going to tell the police.’
Shilpa took a breath, and Alison leaned in closer. Then she pointed the knife towards her own arm and jabbed it. She barely flinched even as the blood seeped through her denim jacket.
‘I could hurt you,’ she said, ‘and say it was self-defence.’
There was a noise behind them, a clattering to Shilpa’s left. It was dark. She couldn’t see if someone was there or if it was just a cat knocking over a bin. Whatever it was, it startled Alison, and she momentarily looked in the direction of the noise. Shilpa saw her chance. She pushed the knife away from Alison and ducked narrowly, avoiding the blade as Alison reached towards her. Shilpa ran in the other direction. Alison let out a blood-curdling scream as she chased Shilpa down the empty street. Two youths on bikes and in hoodies looked on, but Shilpa didn’t stop. She ran towards the centre, past the Old Cinema, towards Estuary Road. It was dark, and the road was deserted. She couldn’t see Alison behind her. Her heart was thumping in her chest. She walked quickly, too scared to stop to take out her phone from her bag, afraid Alison would jump out at her, wielding her knife. For once she was glad to be going back to a full house.
She reached her front door, let herself in and bolted it behind her.
‘Hello,’ she shouted, but she was met with an eerie silence. She immediately took out her phone, dialling Tanvi and then Brijesh when she didn’t get an answer. No response from either of them. She checked the bedrooms. No one was home.
Alison had killed Mason Connolly and now she wanted Shilpa dead too.
She unlocked the screen on her phone and dialled Theo.