It was quarter of an hour later and they were back in the sitting room.
‘Well, that’s – that’s been done. Filial obligation fulfilled. Mummy sends her love.’ Charlie put away his mobile. He sounded dazed but appeared more composed. He had told his mother that there had been a mistake and that he and Olga were both all right.
He hadn’t mentioned the murder. He hadn’t referred to Joan at all. Major Payne had advised him against it. It wouldn’t have been a good idea for Deirdre Collingwood to hear about Joan’s death before they had informed the police of it.
Payne leant back in his chair and brought the tips of his fingers together. ‘Now then, be kind enough to give us the sequence of events that led to your finding the body, but try to make it snappy.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘We haven’t got much time. We’ll need to call the police, you know.’
‘Must we call the police?’ Charlie said.
‘I am afraid we must. And it would look really bad if we delayed too long, so get on with it, there’s a good chap.’
‘Very well. I was in bed at Dr Bishop’s clinic in Bayswater. A nurse came and told me there had been a call for me. She gave me a mobile number I didn’t know. She couldn’t say if it was a man or woman. The caller hadn’t given a name, but had asked me to call back as soon as I could. Which I did.’
‘Didn’t you recognise Fenella Frayle’s voice?’
‘No. No. For a couple of moments I had no idea what she meant by ‘your part of the deal’. I’d forgotten all about it, you see. That’s why it came as such a shock when she told me that Olga was dead.’
‘But then you remembered?’
‘Yes.’ Charlie swallowed. ‘I remembered all right. I can’t explain how it made me feel. I – I was overcome by guilt. I realised it had all been my fault. “Olga Klimt is dead. Exactly as you wanted it. Now it’s your turn. You’ll need to do your part of the deal.” Those were the exact words. It all came back to me and it – it hit me very hard. I wanted to die. I thought of killing myself. I honestly did. I couldn’t imagine life without Olga. I thought of killing myself,’ he repeated. ‘Thank God Olga called.’
‘It’s like in Romeo and Juliet,’ Olga whispered. Her eyes filled with tears. She had been holding the kitten but now she put it down on the floor – they had had to keep the kitten from licking the blood in the hall, she explained. ‘Romeo thinks Juliet is dead and he kills himself. Then she wakes up and sees him and she too dies!’
‘Did you read Romeo and Juliet in Lithuanian?’ Payne turned to her. He was intrigued.
‘Yes. We did it at school.’
‘Did you find it difficult?’
‘No, not difficult. It was very sad but it was beautiful!’
‘She is a clever girl,’ Charlie said. He stroked Olga’s hair. ‘“She doth teach the torches to burn bright.” Doesn’t she?’
‘She most certainly does.’ Payne smiled.
Olga and Charlie were sitting on the sofa side by side. They were holding hands. They looked like frightened children. Well, they were in a terrible mess. Poor things, Antonia thought. Who was it that said that being young was the one great adventure of our lives?
‘I wasn’t myself when I suggested to that woman that we exchange murders,’ Charlie said. ‘I know it was highly irresponsible of me, but I was in a frightful state. Besides I’d been drinking Miss Frayle’s sherry. I shouldn’t have touched it but she said it would be good for me. I am not used to drinking. I can’t believe I said what I said. People do say terrible things when they are drunk and when they are upset with someone, don’t they?’
‘They certainly do.’ Payne nodded. ‘So what happened after you got Miss Frayle’s call? You leapt out of bed and –’
‘I ran. I was dressed the way you see me now, in my dressing gown and slippers. I didn’t care what people might think. I got into a cab –’
‘What time was it?’
‘About six, I think. When we got to Fulham, I asked the driver to stop at the end of the cul-de-sac. There was no one around. There never is. I ran to the house. It was getting dark but it wasn’t too dark. I saw the front door was open. Then – then I saw the body lying face down; half in, half out of the hall. I saw the blood on her back. A dark stain. I saw the blonde hair and I had no doubt it was Olga. I – I just stood there. I wanted to die. Then – then Bedaux suddenly appeared –’
‘Your man? Really? How terribly interesting,’ said Payne. ‘Are you sure he didn’t come out of the house?’
‘No. He came from the direction of the main road.’
‘Did he say anything?’
‘No. Nothing. He didn’t say a word. He just stood and stared at the body. He had his hands in his pockets. I think he was holding something in his pocket but I may be wrong. I told him Olga was dead, that she had been stabbed. He said nothing. He just turned and walked off.’
‘I think Mr Bedaux wanted to kill me,’ said Olga. ‘He hated me – because I lied to him. He scares me!’
‘Stop calling him “Mr Bedaux”,’ Charlie said.
‘Why should he have wanted to kill you?’ Antonia asked.
‘It is difficult to explain. He is a very strange man.’ Olga hesitated. ‘Well, he is in love with me.’
‘Is he? Really?’ So, Antonia thought, I was right! Master and servant in love with the same girl. She saw Olga tighten her grip on Charlie’s hand.
‘I pretended to be in love with him, that was my mistake,’ Olga said with a sigh.
‘I don’t think Bedaux will ever want to come back,’ said Charlie. ‘Which is just as well. I was planning to get rid of him. He thinks that you are dead, so he is unlikely to bother you again … A minute after Bedaux walked away, my mobile rang. It was Olga. At first I thought it was Fenella Frayle calling from Olga’s phone but then I heard Olga’s voice. I couldn’t believe it at first. I can’t explain how I felt! The relief! Oh my God, the relief!’
‘You told her to come here?’
‘Yes. While I waited I pulled the body into the hall and turned on the light – that’s when – that’s when I saw it was Joan. That was another shock. She was the last person I expected to see!’
‘Why the last person? Why were you so surprised? Wasn’t Joan Selwyn obsessed with you? Hadn’t she been stalking you? Your stepfather told me the whole story, you see.’
‘Well, it’s true. She did stalk us once. And she kept ringing me. But then she stopped. I hadn’t seen her for quite a while. I didn’t treat her well and I am sorry, but then I couldn’t help falling in love with Olga –’ Charlie broke off. ‘I can’t believe she is over there! I can’t believe she’s been killed.’ He glanced in the direction of the hall. Payne had thought it unwise to move the body yet again and they had left it lying inside the broom cupboard.
‘Have you any idea why Joan should have wanted to come here?’ Antonia asked.
‘No. No idea at all.’
‘Perhaps she wanted to kill me?’ Olga suggested. ‘When we were at the Albert Hall, she said she would kill me, didn’t she, Charlie?’
‘She did, yes, but that was some time ago. I can’t believe she still wanted to do it. I’d have thought it highly unlikely.’ Charlie stroked Olga’s hair.
‘Some girls don’t forget such things,’ Olga pointed out.
‘You said the front door was open and the key was in the lock,’ Payne said. ‘You mean on the outside?’
‘Yes. I took it out.’ Charlie nodded. ‘Oh my God, my fingerprints are everywhere now, aren’t they? All round the place!’
‘I am afraid so. You will have some explaining to do when the police come.’ Payne glanced at his watch. ‘But don’t worry. We’ll all have some explaining to do. My fingerprints are also all round the place, so are my wife’s. So it seems Joan was killed as she was letting herself into the house,’ Payne stroked his chin with his forefinger. ‘Now then, how did Joan get hold of the key?’
‘She might have stolen it from old Collingwood. She used to be his secretary,’ Charlie explained. ‘This used to be his property. I am sure he still has a couple of front-door keys. The locks haven’t been changed since his time.’
Payne turned to Olga. ‘If my calculations are correct, you arrived at the clinic only moments after Charlie left?’
Olga agreed that she must have done. The nurses had told her that Charlie had suddenly left, they had no idea where he’d gone. ‘They were very worried. They were wondering what to do. They asked me to sit and wait. They thought that if I stayed there, Charlie would come back. They thought Charlie was looking for me. They made me a cup of tea. Then I phoned Charlie.’
‘Thank God you did!’
‘Charlie was so happy! Oh he was so happy! He couldn’t believe it was me at first! He said he was here, at Philomel Cottage. He told me to come.’ Olga’s smile faded. ‘The body was in the hall – it was horrible – the blood! There was blood on the floor. She had been stabbed in the back. There was blood on her coat. It was horrible.’
‘No knife?’
‘No knife. The nursery nut must have taken it with her,’ Charlie said. ‘She must have got rid of it by now. Dropped it in the river or into the Serpentine or something.’
Olga said, ‘Charlie wanted to hide the body. I told him it was stupid. How do you hide a dead body?’
‘How indeed. It would have been an incredibly daft thing to do.’ Payne nodded. ‘You are absolutely right.’
‘He wanted to bury it in the back garden,’ Olga said.
‘I couldn’t think of anything else.’ Charlie looked sheepish.
‘The police would have been able to trace Joan’s movements to this place soon enough,’ Payne said. ‘Her disappearance would have been noticed – by tomorrow lunchtime at the latest. There are CCTV cameras everywhere. What does she do? I mean, did – did she have a job?’
‘She used to be old Collingwood’s secretary, as I said.’ Charlie frowned. ‘Then she went to work for some Tory MP, I think. No idea which one. If she ever told me, I’ve forgotten.’
‘Where did she live?’
‘She shared a flat with two other girls. In Kensington or was it in Chelsea? She doesn’t get on with her father. Didn’t. Her mother is in a hospice in Wiltshire. She’s terminally ill. Cancer, I think. It’s all terribly sad, I see that now.’ Charlie bowed his head.
‘D’you have any idea why she dyed her hair blond?’ Antonia asked suddenly.
Charlie blinked. ‘No. No idea at all. The last time I saw her, her hair was brown. Joan’s hair was light brown. That was her natural colour.’
‘She didn’t do it in the hope of making herself look like Olga? With the intention of winning you back?’ Major Payne suggested. ‘Girls do odd things in the name of love.’
Charlie frowned. ‘That would never have worked … I thought she had got over me … I keep telling you … Actually, I heard she’s started seeing someone else … Came as a relief … ’
‘It’s horrible – we are sitting and talking about her while she is lying in the cupboard, dead!’ Olga cried.
‘Well, it’s time we called the police.’ Payne produced his mobile phone.
‘No, wait.’ Olga rose abruptly. She went up to where Antonia sat and took her hands. ‘It will be all right, won’t it? I am very frightened. The police won’t think it was me that killed Joan, will they? I mean they may think I have a reason to want her dead – because of Charlie? They won’t think she came here to see me and that we quarrelled and then I got angry and stabbed her, will they?’
‘I can’t say what the police will think, but you don’t stab people in the back when you are quarrelling with them. Don’t worry.’ Antonia tried to be reassuring. ‘We also seem to be forgetting that there is already someone who has confessed to the murder. Fenella Frayle did, didn’t she? All Charlie will have to do is tell his story. Wait a minute,’ she told Payne. ‘Don’t ring yet.’
‘Will they believe me though? That’s what worries me,’ Charlie said. ‘I mean, it will be my word against hers, won’t it? OK, there is the call she made to the clinic and they will probably be able to trace it to Miss Frayle’s mobile phone, if she used her mobile phone, that is, though she may not have. In the end it will be only my word that she told me she had killed Olga. I don’t think they’ll believe me. The whole thing is too fantastic! Do you see? It’s too idiotic for words.’
‘I do see,’ Antonia said. ‘It is fantastic.’
‘All Miss Frayle will need to do is deny it. Somehow,’ Charlie went on gloomily, ‘I don’t see her admitting to the police she killed a perfect stranger to oblige me – do you? She is a highly respectable figure. She invites immediate trust. She doesn’t look like a nut at all. She sounds frightfully composed and rational. You wouldn’t say she looked like a nut, would you?’
‘No, I wouldn’t.’ Antonia gave a little smile. ‘Though my grandson seemed to have some reservations about her. I wonder if that means he’ll grow up to be a fine judge of character.’
‘Unless they traced the knife to her in some way, there would be absolutely no proof that it was a case of mistaken identity, that she killed Joan thinking it was Olga!’
There was a pause. Antonia came to a decision. She slowly got to her feet. ‘I think we should go and see Miss Frayle, Hugh. She lives at a place called Jevanny Lodge. She lives above her school.’
‘She calls it her “snuggery”,’ Charlie said.
‘Actually it would be best if I went alone. You stay here and wait for the police.’
‘Are you sure?’ Payne asked.
‘Yes. I’ll go in the car, if you don’t mind. I think it would be better if I saw her before the police did. She knows me. It would be well, kinder. She’ll be more inclined to open the door to me at this time of night. I am after all little Eddy Rushton’s grandmother. Besides she’s read two of my novels.’
Charlie stared at her. ‘Good God. Do you write detective stories?’ Suddenly he grinned. ‘Well, that explains it!’
Payne cocked an eyebrow. ‘You think you have a chance of getting her to confess?’
‘I don’t know. I will try my best.’ Antonia shrugged. ‘Wait about ten minutes before you call the police, will you? I want to talk to her without being interrupted.’