Fatal Slip

  'And we didn't have to go past there to get off the boat. No one would have noticed when he – when he was gone, so knowing who was left on the boat isn't going to be much help anyway,' Bill pointed out.

  Dodie sighed. 'That's the conclusion the police have come to, I suspect. They've already asked all these questions. They can only go on who could have had a motive, and hope someone will confess. Even then, proving it would be difficult. They'll go back to the accident theory if I don't make more progress.'

  *

  The next day Dodie took a taxi to Maclean's hotel, and asked to see Maria.

  'I came to ask how Isabella is,' she said when Maria, welcoming her profusely, had ushered her into the office and sent for wine.

  'Your poor feet! How are they?'

  'Valerie had to go and buy me some roomy sandals. They are swollen, but they'll recover. So will all my other aches and bruises. But Isabella?'

  'She is calmer, now the police have decided that none of our family is guilty of murder. When you saved our foolish daughter from that terrible death, I could not have borne to have you think one of us had killed your son.'

  'Of course not,' Dodie said, non-committal. She thought Maria was probably right, but she hadn't convinced herself one hundred percent. 'I get the impression they are now saying it must have been an accident. One of their senior men telephoned me this morning.'

  'It was terrible. But better it was an accident than the other, whoever it might have been.'

  Dodie shook her head. 'Maria, I'm still not totally certain. I can't believe that anyone in your family, or Libby's, or Gloria Neville, did it. I was wondering whether you knew of anyone else, someone Jake knew, before I came out here, who might have had some quarrel with him?'

  Maria was instantly defensive. 'Why should I know?'

  'He stayed here for several weeks. I don't want to stir painful memories for Isabella, but is there anyone else who might know? Your sons, perhaps? Is Isabella friendly with any of the other girls who work for you? If they had any suspicion Jake was interested in her they might have noticed other things about him. Or the girls might have done anyway, he was attractive, and they might have seen him on television.'

  'You would be asking them to cast suspicion on themselves, or their families, if he treated one of the other girls the same as he did Isabella.'

  'I know, I'm clutching at straws. I don't know what else to try.'

  Maria suddenly smiled. 'I know, as a mother I understand. Let me ask them. I will let you know if I discover anything.'

  Dodie had to be content. She didn't feel able to confront Isabella, and while she doubted whether Maria would persuade any of her maids to confide in her, it was the best she could do.

  *

  She went back home and soaked her feet, and by evening felt more human. She cheered up enormously when she discovered she could squeeze into her oldest shoes.

  'So what have we got that's new?' Bill asked at dinner. 'We haven't re-capped with all the excitement.'

  'Gloria saw a blonde talking to a man she thought was Jake but wasn't.'

  'Not much help,' Valerie said. 'But typical of Gloria, especially if she's drinking as heavily as you suspect.'

  'Maria rang this afternoon to say one of the maids claims Jake made a pass at her when he first went to Maclean's. A pass she very virtuously rejected, of course. Otherwise, she has discovered nothing more about his activities those first few weeks, so that's no help either.'

  'Is Jylli going to try and see David again? Though I really think our delightful granddaughter has told everything this time,' Valerie said. 'Bodice-rippers, indeed! At least she doesn't read science fiction books and believe in visitors from outer space.'

  'Jylli's taking Tod to the Casino again tonight, and they're going to ask some of the employees there if they remember him, but that's a very long shot. I hope they don't get distracted into losing a fortune. That won't go on their expenses!' Dodie said. 'But this odd thing about Bruce using a knife. I can't get it out of my head.'

  'I don't expect it was anything like what Libby imagined.' Valerie said. 'He could have been using it to cut some string, especially if he'd just come home from America, and maybe had a present for Emma. And they haven't been married for very long. There were times,' she added with a grin, 'when I'd have thought it romantic to have my clothes stripped off in the kitchen.'

  'But I don't see how it could possibly be connected with Jake.'

  They were relaxing with brandies when the phone rang. Bill picked it up and after a short while handed it to Dodie. 'It's for you, from England, I think.'

  Dodie suppressed a groan. 'It must be Ma, complaining.' She took the receiver. 'Hello? Dodie Fanshaw here.'

  'Is that Dorothy Jackson?' a strange voice demanded.

  'Well, that used to be my name a long time ago. I've had several since then. Who is it, please?'

  'You won't know me, dearie, but I live next ter yer ma.'

  'Is she OK? What's happened?'

  'She didn't want me ter phone yer, but I says to 'er, I says, it's me duty, and it's Dorothy's right ter know. She's yer only chick, after all, I told 'er. What?'

  'Are you still there?' Dodie demanded as the voice faded, and cast her eyes up to heaven. 'Hello, Mrs whatever your name is, are you there?'

  'Just 'avin' a word with yer ma, Dorothy. She's sayin' I'm not ter worry yer, but I says, what are daughters for if they can't be depended on ter look after us when we needs 'em?'

  'Who's paying for this call?' Dodie asked briskly. 'If it's on Ma's line, and she expects me to pay for it, tell her I won't, and you can.'

  'Ooh, what 'eartlessness!'

  'She hasn't been kidnapped, has she?' Dodie asked hopefully. 'If she has, you won't get any ransom money out of me!'

  'Oooh, 'ow can yer be so 'eartless? Ere's yer poor ma, tied ter bed, and you, wi' all yer millions, fussin' about a mingy little phone bill!'

  'If you don't tell me what's the matter I'll put the phone down on you. If Ma's there, let me speak to her, do you hear?'

  Mrs Jackson, after a slight altercation at the other end, won. 'Dorothy? It's Mrs Simkins, she's a right old worry-guts. It's nothing ter make you come back. I shall be quite all right, I suppose, with the district nurse and 'ome helps, if they can find any. Last time I heard the Council had sacked 'em all. Where was I?'

  'Trying to make me feel guilty as usual, Ma, and say I'd come home to look after you. Why do you need a nurse or home helps? Has your giddy lifestyle caught up with you at last?'

  'It's only a little sprain, I think. The doctor makes too much fuss, putting it in plaster and saying I might have broken several bones in me foot. And telling me to keep off it, as if I would. I've never been one ter be idle and sit on me backside all day, lolling about in the sun like some I could mention.'

  She sniffed, and Dodie sighed. 'I'll arrange for a full-time private nurse, and someone to do the housekeeping,' she said wearily. 'No doubt the officious Mrs Simkins will be on hand to look after you tonight, or get you sent back to hospital. If you'd rather be in a private nursing home, just arrange it and send the bills to me.'

  'I knew it! You've been wanting ter get me into one o' them 'omes fer years! No, I'll stay 'ere even if I have to crawl round, you'll not put me away while I've any strength left!'

  'Ma! Shut up, will you? I'll fly home just as soon as I can get a seat on a plane. I'll swim home if necessary. Just get help in meanwhile.'

  She slammed down the phone and turned to find Bill and Valerie eyeing her in some amusement.

  'I remember your mother from the old days,' Bill said with a grin. 'She doesn't seem to have changed much.'

  'What's happened?' Valerie asked.

  'Some broken bones in her foot, I think. I'll have to go back. She knows I will, the old devil!'

  'There might not be a plane seat for a day or two. Can you ring an agency and arrange help for her?'

  'Yes, I carry the number in my head. This has happened more tha
n once, though she didn't go as far as breaking bones before.'

  'And Jake?'

  Dodie sighed. 'I'm getting nowhere, so I might as well admit it. The police want to believe it was an accident, so I'd better agree with them. Even if I told them everything I know, I don't suppose it would do any good.'

  'They wouldn't be able to make any more sense out of it,' Bill agreed.

  'Especially as so much of it is only what we've been told or assumed, not hard evidence that could be used in court. I'll ring the agency now, and in the morning see about a flight.'

  ***

  Chapter 12

  The planes were full for the next two days, with people returning to England after spending Christmas and the New Year in the sunshine. Dodie, having been reassured by the nursing agency that her mother was being looked after, and was her normal complaining self, booked a seat for the first flight available, and decided to spend the day shopping in Funchal. She'd seen some wonderful shoes earlier, but hadn't had time to buy them. Though her ribs and legs still ached, her feet were back to normal. And she'd visit the market, a place which she'd glimpsed once and meant to spend some time in, just absorbing the sight of so much luscious fruit and gorgeous vegetables. She'd send her mother some flowers, the strelitzias which bloomed everywhere, like weeds, but which were so exotic and lasted for weeks.

  She was standing beside the flower stalls, inhaling the powerful scents, when someone hesitantly touched her arm.

  'Mrs Fanshaw? I'm so glad to see you again before you go home.'

  'Isabella! You look better, child.'

  'My father has been so wonderful to me. We are going to England in a couple of days. He arranged a passport for me earlier. He will stay with me until my baby is born. I hope you will allow me to visit you there, just once or twice.'

  'I shall be very annoyed if you don't keep in touch more often than that. I want to know my grandchild. He'll be all I have left of Jake. I wasn't a very good mother, but I promise I'll be a better grandma. And Isabella, I want your solemn promise, that if ever you need money you'll come to me? That's something I've got plenty of, so you're never to go short.'

  'You are so kind. People, my father, even Rui, are so good to me.' Not her mother, Dodie noted. But Isabella was speaking again, shyly. 'When do you go home?'

  'The day after tomorrow.'

  'Good! Oh, I do not mean to presume, but, if you are not doing anything else, I have a favour to ask.'

  'What can I do?'

  'Rui wants to see me. I think – he won't want the baby, but he said, if I wished, in a year or two, to come back to Madeira, we might still be able to get married.'

  It hit Dodie with a jolt that she had never put Rui in her list of suspects. He hadn't been at Howard's party, and she had never seen him since he lived at the furthest end of the island, but how could she have forgotten him? He of all of them was the worst affected, losing his promised bride in such a shameful manner. He would have just as much cause to kill Jake as Isabella's family, from revenge on, or jealousy of a successful rival. Young males were very territorial, and if he still loved Isabella enough to imply he might after all marry her, might he not have killed for her?

  'You're going to see Rui?' she said weakly. 'In Porto Moniz?'

  Isabella nodded. 'My father is taking me. And he suggested Libby might wish to come. I think he believes she will take my mind off a difficult meeting. I wondered if you would like to come too? It would give me confidence, support, if you could. I know I have no right to ask you, and you must have many friends you wish to see, but – '

  'I'd love to come,' Dodie said briskly. 'It's quite a long way, isn't it? What time do we start?'

  'At nine, if that is not too early? We may then be ahead of all the tourist coaches. It's a favourite drive for them.' She shivered, and Dodie wondered why she looked pale. 'The new road's quite safe, even for the large coaches, now they have widened it and built tunnels. We will come for you and Libby, then?'

  The explanation of Isabella's sudden ashen look came when she told Valerie of the conversation.

  'She must have been reminded of Cabo Girao. That old north coast road is midway down an almost sheer cliff,' Valerie explained. 'It's like a very narrow step chopped out. There's a low wall between you and a long drop to the Atlantic, but now most of it is closed off, thank heavens. I used to be terrified.'

  'Tell me about Rui. Do you know, I never thought of him. Could he have killed Jake?'

  'He might well have been in Funchal – lots of the islanders come in for the fireworks, and he has cousins here, I think. He could have looked for Jake.'

  'Had he ever seen him?'

  'Not to my knowledge. I suppose his cousins might have known Jake, they could well have made sure they did.'

  'So they might just have seen him by chance, in the crowd, and followed him to the boat,' Dodie said. 'In the darkness Rui could have crept on after him, and seen his opportunity. No one would have paid any attention to him, unless he was seen by someone who knew him, and knew he wasn't meant to be there.'

  'Like Maria? But surely she would have said, when the police were suspecting Theo or her brothers?'

  'He could have kept in the shadows, made sure no one saw him. His family, what are they like?'

  'Rich, by native Madeiran standards, at least, like the Caritas. They own a few fishing boats, and a hotel, or maybe it's a restaurant, besides being farmers.'

  'Well, it will be interesting to meet him. I hope I can find a chance to talk alone with him.'

  *

  On the following day Isabella was very silent until they had passed the turning to Cabo Girao. Once they were through Ribeira Brava though, leaving the southern coast road to climb across the central mountains, she became quite animated and talked about the island and its history. Libby, after a rather frightened look at Dodie, relaxed and began to ask questions.

  They stopped for coffee at Sao Vicente where the road joined the north coast, and had a quick look at the tiny chapel carved into a rock. Then Theo drove along the winding coast road and Isabella grew silent again. Not so Libby.

  'Golly!' she exclaimed. 'I don't believe the road can go round there! It's incredible. Please, may we stop for me to take some photos?'

  'Wait, it becomes even more spectacular,' Theo promised. 'Look, see those waterfalls in the ravines in the side of the cliff? There are some which fall onto the old road. We used to drive through them. People didn't bring open-topped cars along there.'

  'Won't you miss this wonderful scenery?' Dodie asked quietly.

  'Sometimes. But I will come back, if only for visits. I'll have to see what happens. Libby,' he went on,'we're going to go through a tunnel just round the next bend, and soon I'll stop for photos.'

  They were early in Porto Moniz, and had time to walk along the sea wall, gazing out over an expanse of volcanic rock which formed a jumble of reefs, the razor-sharp rocks causing the sea to pour through narrow gaps in a maelstrom of angry foam.

  'We can swim here in the summer,' Isabella was telling Libby.

  'But the sea's so rough! I'd hate to have to clamber out over those rocks.'

  'You couldn't. They would cut your feet to ribbons,' Theo said. 'Look, further up, the rocks are not so crowded together, and special pools have been made between them. We can walk out on the paths beside them for quite a long way.'

  'To where those people are painting?' Libby asked, nodding towards a couple of artists sitting before their easels. 'I see. Yes, the water is much calmer here. And the gaps have been filled in with concrete. Clever.'

  They walked back along the shore to the restaurant where Theo had booked lunch, and where Rui was to join them. Dodie looked at the young man who came, hands outstretched, to meet them, and wondered anew what possible attraction Jake had had for Isabella compared with this pleasant lad. He was tall and slender, handsome in a severe way. His profile would become hawk-like as he aged, but his smile, at first uncertain, became wide and open as Isabella s
hyly took his hand.

  'Thank you for coming,' he said huskily. 'Mr Maclean, thank you!'

  Dodie and Libby were introduced, without revealing that Dodie was Jake's mother. They had earlier decided it could be an embarrassment for him to let Rui know that.

  Was he Jake's killer? Dodie wondered. It was possible. He looked tough enough, and strong. But his gaze was too direct, his smile too friendly. No, she chided herself. You could never go by looks.

  They had a small table in a corner beside the window in one of the sea-front restaurants, which was soon filled by the tourists from a couple of coaches which had arrived. The waiters bustled round, and the noise level increased so that the conversation in the corner was completely private. Though anyone might have heard, it was so innocuous, Dodie thought with an inward chuckle as she listened to Rui's stilted remarks, and Isabella's shy responses. Libby, for once, seemed to have nothing to say, and Theo was abstracted. Dodie concentrated on the food, espada with a tasty sauce, which despite the crowded restaurant and hasty service, tasted delicious.

  By the time it was eaten even Rui and Isabella seemed to have no more polite nothings to contribute, and Isabella fell silent. She looked out of the window beside her, and suddenly her gaze sharpened.

  'Libby, you didn't say your father was coming here today? Isn't that him standing by the sea wall with Emma?'

  'Dad? And Emma? He isn't – let me see. No, that's Bruce,' Libby said with a distinctly relieved tone.

  'Yes, I can tell now he's turned round. Mrs Fanshaw, did you know they were coming here today?'

  Dodie didn't reply. Her brain had gone into overdrive, and she could almost feel the cogs and gears slotting into place.

  *

  The only empty table in the restaurant was a small one next to theirs, and it seemed natural, once the two parties had exclaimed about the coincidence of meeting one another, that they should put the tables together.

  'Why don't you two go for a walk?' Dodie suggested to Isabella and Rui, before he could be introduced. 'As for me, I'd prefer to sit a little longer.'

  She held firmly onto Libby's hand beneath the table, and Libby gave her a slight smile, and shook her head. The wink which accompanied it said that she knew better than to play gooseberry when Rui and Isabella seemed to be getting on well, but needed time alone.

  'I hear the police have officially dropped the case,' Emma said to Dodie. 'It must have been a terrible accident after all.'