Chapter 14
So who killed Tony Curran, and how do we catch him?” asks Elizabeth. “Or catch ‘him or her,’ I know I should say, but it’s probably him. What kind of woman would bludgeon someone? A Russian woman, but that’s about it.”
After giving Ibrahim his instructions for the day, Elizabeth headed straight over for this chat. She is in her usual chair.
“He absolutely seems the type to have had enemies. T-shirt, big house, more tattoos than Ron, so on and so forth. The police will be making a list of suspects right now, and we’ll have to get our hands on it.
In the absence of the list, though, why don’t we look at whether Ian Ventham killed Tony Curran?
You remember Ian Ventham? With the aftershave?
Ventham and Tony Curran had a little fight.
Ron saw them, of course—when does he ever miss a thing?
And Joyce said something about Pizza Express, but I knew what she meant. ”
Elizabeth tries to mention Joyce more often these days, because why deny it?
“Shall we make some reasonable assumptions? Let’s say that Ventham is unhappy with Curran, or Curran is unhappy with Ventham. It doesn’t much matter which. They have something to discuss, and yet they meet in public, which is peculiar.”
She checks her watch. She is subtle about it, despite everything.
“So, let’s say straight after the consultation meeting, Ventham has bad news to break. He fears Curran’s reaction so much that he meets him in public view. He hopes to placate him. But in Ron’s view he was unsuccessful. I’m paraphrasing Ron there.”
There is a small sponge cube on a stick next to the bed. Elizabeth places it in a jug of water and wets Penny’s dry lips. The metallic chirp of Penny’s heart monitor fills the silence.
“So how would Ventham react in that scenario, Penny? Facing Curran with a grudge? Switch to plan B? Follow Curran to his house? Let me in, let’s just talk about this, perhaps I’ve been too hasty? And then, wallop, as simple as that, don’t you think? He kills Curran before Curran kills him?”
Elizabeth looks around for her bag. She places her hands on the arms of the chair, ready to leave.
“But why? That’s the question I know you’d ask.
I’m going to try and take a look at their financial relationship.
Chase the money. There’s a man in Geneva who owes me a favor, so we should be able to get Ventham’s financial records by this evening.
Either way, it sounds like fun, doesn’t it?
An adventure. And I think we’ll have a few tricks that the police won’t.
I’m sure they’d appreciate a bit of help, and that’s my task for this morning. ”
Elizabeth gets out of her chair and walks to the side of the bed.
“A real murder to investigate, Penny. I promise I won’t let you miss a thing.”
She kisses her best friend on the forehead. She turns to the chair on the other side of the bed and gives a small smile.
“How are you, John?”
Penny’s husband, John Gray, puts down his book and looks up. “Oh, you know.”
“I do know. You always know where I am, John.”
The nurses say Penny can hear nothing, but who is to say?
John Gray never speaks to Penny while Elizabeth is in the room.
He comes into Willows at seven each morning and he leaves at nine each evening, back to the flat that he and Penny had lived in together.
Back to the holiday trinkets and the old photos and the memories that he and Penny shared for fifty years.
She knows that he talks to Penny when she is not there.
And every time she walks in, always after knocking, she notices the fading white prints of John’s hand on Penny’s.
His hand back on his book, though he always seems to be on the same page.
Elizabeth leaves the lovers together.