CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Who is
that horrible man Colin? Tell me, I need to know. What is he to you, anyway?
What on earth possessed you to bring him here to Chelsea?”
“He’s a business associate, that’s all. Why are you making such a fuss?”
“Why?” Nina Fox fumed, “Because poor Pip is in hospital, traumatised
after what he did to her, that’s why!”
“Poor Pip,” Colin Fox echoed with an ill-disguised sneer, “What do you
care about ‘poor Pip? She salves your conscience about her father, that’s all.
Oh, I dare say it’s handy to have an unpaid housekeeper too…”
“How dare you! I love that girl. I give her a damn good allowance too, so
less of the unpaid housekeeper if you don’t mind. Of course I’m doing it for
Nathan. It’s the least I can do. But I love her like a sister. I do, I really do.”
“I do, I do,” he mimicked. “Listen to yourself Nina. You can’t even
convince yourself for pity’s sake,”
“I do,” she repeated stubbornly.
“So why aren’t you at the patient’s bedside administering champagne and
chocolates?”
“Because, like you, I’ve been with the police for bloody ages as well you
know. Besides, I’ve spoken to Carol and she assures me Pip is much better. When
they say she’s fit to come home I’ll go and collect her myself.”
“Home…? Huh!” he snorted.
“Why are you being so offensive?”
She paused. “You still haven’t answered my question,” she hissed, “What,
exactly, is your connection with Steve Williams?”
“I told you, he’s a business associate.”
“Oh? And what kind of business would that be?”
“It’s none of yours, for a start.”
“You always were a sneaky bastard, all smiles to everyone’s face and not
a scruple when it comes to going behind their backs.”
“Oh, and hark who’s talking!”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning, sister mine, your going behind my back with our father.”
“He’s still our father, whatever he’s done.”
“Whatever
he’s done? To you, to me, to our mother…you are joking? Give me strength! Not that any of that matters any more, I
suppose, now poor Nina has no one else to turn to…”
“That’s right!” she yelled, “There’s no one else since…mum died.” She
began to cry.
“Spare me the performance, Nina,” Colin Fox shouted back at her. “This is
me you’re talking to. As far as you were concerned, mum was never anything more
than a useful crutch. When April Showers came along, you dumped her just
like you dumped everyone else.”
“That’s not true!”
“It is and you know it. You don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself,
Nina, you never have and I dare say you never will. You’re using Pip to get at
Nathan, just like you’re using Max for the same reason. You don’t love Nathan.
You’ve never loved anyone but yourself. You’ve already sacrificed him to the
publicity being a murderer’s ex brings with it, not to mention a nice touch of
notoriety. What I want to know is why you bothered to get in touch with me. How
do you plan to use me, Nina? Planning another sacrifice, are we? Come
on, give, sis, I’m all ears.”
Brother and sister glared at each other across the room. To Nina’s
relief, the doorbell rang. She went to the entry phone, glad of an excuse to
turn her back on Colin. “Hello?”
“Nina? It’s Fred Winter here. Carol’s with me. Can
we come up?”
“Push the door,” she told him and replaced the receiver. “It’s Fred
Winter,” she said, turning to face her brother again. “Maybe you’ll tell him whatever
it is you’re not telling me?” she declared, the evenness of her tone belying
the turmoil in both mind and body. Much as she welcomed he detective’s timely
appearance, she also dreaded having to face him again, suspecting he realised
only too well that she had not been completely honest with him about Max.
Should she tell him about Max and Ray, she wondered? But what good would that
do? It was history. Besides, it was
all so embarrassing. As for any suggestion that Max and Pip were lovers, she
needn’t go into that, surely?
Yes, she decided, she would come clean to Fred Winter about Max and Pip.
Her resolve strengthened as she went to open the door to the detective and
Carol Brady. It’s high time people knew
there’s more to Pip Sparrow than the victim the little minx so likes to make
out she is.
Nina started, guiltily, as her brother’s words returned to haunt her. Did
she really intend to ‘sacrifice’ Pip? But that must wait. She flung open the
door, greeting Winter and Carol with a broad smile? “Oh, but it’s just so nice
to see you, darlings. Come in, grab a chair and make yourselves comfortable.
Can I get you drink? I believe you’ve
met my brother, Colin…”
“Good to see you again,” Colin Fox strode forward and shook both visitors’
hands warmly.
“Can I get you both a drink?” Nina repeated.
“A cup of coffee would be lovely if it’s no trouble,” said Carol.
“Coffee would go down a treat,” Winter agreed, “Milk no sugar for both
us,” he added without thinking. Carol glared as if to point out she could speak
up for herself, but he ignored the unspoken reprimand and turned his attention
to Colin Fox as soon as Nina had left the room.
“I’ll come and give you a hand,” Carol called after her and couldn’t help
wondering why a rising star like Nina Fox didn’t have a maid as she followed
close on the soap star’s heels.
“You’ll be wondering about Steve Williams,” said Fox, sprawling in an
armchair. “I’ve already told the police all I know and, honestly, that’s not a
lot. I hardly know the man. We’ve been in on a few business deals together,
that’s all. He is…was,” Fox corrected himself blushing, “an accountant, like
me. We work for different companies, but sometimes it’s not a bad idea to join
forces. A little rivalry is a good thing.
but too much can sometimes prove costly.” He smiled.
In other words, mused the
detective wryly, mind your own damn
business, Fred Winter, you’ll get precious little information out of me. Winter
chuckled. He wouldn’t waste too much time on Colin Fox. They were two a penny, these types who liked
to give the impression they were helping the police with their enquiries while,
in reality, they were giving damn all away. “How well did Williams know Max
Cutler?” he asked.
Fox looked genuinely surprised. “Did he know Max?” he put the question
back to Winter, “It’s news to me if he did.”
“His name is in Cutler’s mobile phone directory,” said Winter
matter-of-factly, “so I naturally assumed they knew each other.”
“You have Max’s mobile? Why, you sly old sod…” It was Fox’s turn to give
a hearty chuckle. “Does Nina know that? No, she can’t or she’d have said. I
wouldn’t mind betting the cops don’t know either.”
Winter shrugged. “If you’re a betting man,” he said noncommittally. “You’re
quite sure Williams never mentioned Max in the course of your…business
dealings?” he insisted, returning to his original question.
Fox shook his head. “I’d have remembered. To be honest, Winter, I don’t
much care for the likes of Max Cutler. Nina is better off without him. If you
ask me, she’s worrying herself sick over nothing. He’s probably attached
himself to some other fancy piece for his own selfish reasons.”
Winter frowned. Obviously, Nina hadn’t told her brother about Cutler’s
relationship with the woman, ‘Gypsy’. Was that down to pride…or guilt? He must find a way to encourage the
delightful Ms Fox to be more forthcoming. Was Carol faring any better, he
wondered and swallowed another chuckle.
If not, it wouldn’t be for want to trying. “So, Mr Fox,” he said
conversationally, “How long are you planning to stay in London?”
“Is that a diplomatic way of suggesting I don’t stray too far?” Fox
grinned. “The police were nowhere near as subtle, I must say.”
“I was just making conversation,” Winter protested mildly.
“Ah conversation,” drawled Fox, “a dying art, so they tell me. So let’s
do a spot of mouth to mouth, shall we? You first, Winter. You’re the one
burning up with lots to say, after all…”
“Better that than holding out on people, wouldn’t you agree?” responded
Winter with an answering smile that spoke volumes.
Fox pursed his lips. This Fred
Winter was nobody’s fool. Well, neither
am I. “I love the States. Bu, my, how
I miss dirty, overcrowded, ugly old London…”
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Carol was having precious little success
trying to draw out Nina on the subject of Steve Williams.
“I keep telling you, Carol, the police too. Why does everyone keep asking
me the same questions? Yes, I’m sure he’s the man Pip and I saw running away
from the cottage. And, no, I hadn’t a clue my brother knew him. Pip and I were
shocked when we came back here and found the pair of them chatting away like
old friends. If you must know, we were
pretty scared too. When he followed Pip into the kitchen…”
“She was alone with him?” Nina
nodded. “I would have gone with her, but Colin wanted to know where we’d been
and…heaven only knows what that creature said to her.”
“She
said nothing to you about it?”
“Not a word. Oh, Carol, it’s all such a mess!” She collapsed sobbing in
Carol’s arms. First Max disappears, and now all this. Where is Max, for
heaven’s sake?”
“Not long ago you were telling me he was dead,” Carol reminded her
tersely and felt the woman in her arms tense.
“I did think so…then. But Pip swears he was alive when she left the
cottage.”
Carol pricked up her ears. “When Pip left the cottage? But I thought you
were together?”
Nina sprung apart, pale-faced and looking haggard. Certainly, the woman
confronting Carol bore little resemblance to the airbrushed beauty that
frequently decorated glossy magazine covers for months as well as appearing
three times weekly in April Showers. “That isn’t strictly true,” she
admitted shamefacedly. “But it makes no difference and, well, it made sense to
keep things simple,” she murmured lamely.
“What makes no difference? Look,
the coffee’s made. So why don’t we sit at the table and enjoy a cup. The men
can wait. I need to know what it is
you’re holding back, Nina, and I think you need to tell me.”
“It doesn’t make any difference,” Nina repeated irritably, but did not
shrug off the arm that assisted her to a chair at the table. “If you must
know…” she began. The rest followed in such a torrent of words that Carol
frequently had to make Nina stop and start again, more slowly and intelligibly
this time.
“So Pip was in the house on her own and you went in afterwards?” Nina
nodded tearfully. “And Pip says Max was alive when she left the house?” Nina
nodded again. “But you thought he was dead?”
“I couldn’t find a pulse,” she sobbed, “but I could easily have been
mistaken. I was in such a state. I was angry, upset…”
“Angry?” Carol pounced on the word.
“I thought Pip…and Max…I didn’t expect to find Max lying in pool of
blood. I didn’t know what to think. It even crossed my mind that they may have
argued and Pip…until that awful woman flung herself at me like a beast out of
hell. It was awful, awful!”
“Woman, what awful woman...?” Carol was intrigued.
“Huge, she was, covered in blood. Came out of nowhere, she did, and flung
herself at me. Somehow I managed to keep my balance and…dropped her. It was
horrible, horrible.”
“Gypsy Kate,” Carol murmured.
“What? Oh, yes, I believe that’s what they called her. I had no idea she
and Max were…lovers. I thought…well, he and Pip…”
“You thought Max and Pip were lovers?” Carol was incredulous.
“Pip told me so herself. You can imagine the row that erupted after that
little bombshell.” She managed a rueful little smile. “Max denied it of
course.”
“Is
that what you argued about, why you threw him out?”
Nina barely hesitated before replying, “Yes.” She suspected the lie would return to haunt
her but saw no harm in it. It was hardly relevant and could do no one any good
to know that Ray and Max were lovers. Oh,
God, what next? She shivered, and was glad of Carol Brady’s comforting
arm.
“And do you still think Max was lying?”
“No. Oh, I don’t know. Teenager girls do get crushes on older men, don’t
they? Maybe Max was telling the truth and it was all in her head. That’s the
first thought that went through mine when that awful woman fell into my arms.
Not who she was or whether she was half alive or dead, but that Max may have
been telling the truth about Pip if he was having an affair with this…’Gypsy’
person.”
“And was she alive or dead when you left her?” Carol asked quietly.
Nina shook her head. “I haven’t the faintest idea. It was all too much to
take in. I kept thinking I must find Pip so dashed out of the house and drove straight
to the railway station. Luckily she’d missed one train and was waiting for the
next. We drove back to the house. I thought Max was dead, but Pip kept saying
he was still alive. We had to know for sure. We were approaching the house when
we saw that horrible man, Williams, come out of the house and drive away. It
was Pip’s idea to follow him, not mine.”
“So what did you intend to do about Max or even Gypsy? For all the pair
of you knew they could have been bleeding to death. Didn’t you even call an
ambulance?” Carol was appalled.
“I know, I know. But Pip was so determined. Besides, what good would it
have done for the pair of us to get involved? It was just as Pip said. If Max
was dead he didn’t need our help and if he was still alive, well, he could damn
well call for an ambulance himself. I knew it was wrong. But I was so confused,
upset and, yes, angry. Perhaps I was so angry with Max I didn’t bloody care
whether he lived or died. I know, I know, that’s a terrible thing to say. But
anger…well, it distorts everything doesn’t it?”
Carol had no answer to that heartfelt plea. Did Nina really expect her to
help justify what she’d done?
“You won’t tell the police, will you?
Promise me you won’t tell a soul. What good would it do? It’s pretty obvious this ‘Gypsy’ woman killed
Max or at least tried to. The police think Williams killed her and presumably
tried to kill poor Pip because he suspected she knew something. Why put poor Pip through any more hoops?
Hasn’t the child suffered enough?”
Carol was partially inclined to agree. Even so, “It’s not as simple as
that, Nina, and you know it. I won’t tell the police, but I’ll have to tell
Freddy. He’ll know what to do for the best. He can be an impossible,
bloody-minded so-and-so when he likes but he’s a damn good copper and his heart
is in the right place.”
“Do you love him?” Nina asked unexpectedly.
Carol gave a pensive little shrug. She was beginning to feel weighed down
by everything and everyone…Nina, Pip, Freddy, Liam, Sadie, the baby. “Come on,”
she rallied quickly enough without answering the question, “the men will be
wondering where we’ve got to. I’ll take the tray, you open the door.”
As soon as the two women re-entered the room, Winter could tell from her
tight-lipped expression that Carol had found out something useful. She was a
diamond, and no mistake. He sighed, aware too that she was very unhappy and he
wasn’t helping. Even so, he was impatient to get out of this place and see how
much of the bigger picture she had managed to piece together. For another half
an hour, though, he was obliged to contribute occasionally to a seemingly
endless stream of small talk while, try as he might, unable to catch Carol’s
eye.
To be continued on Friday
