Professor Barratt and he’d done a bunk. She had heard no news of his whereabouts or his return, but the vicar had mentioned seeing the Detective Inspector talking to Rachel at the Barratts’ front door. Lois wondered if Inspector Cowgill had revisited the Baers. It was unlikely that she would find out. She’d given the new ‘arrangement’ considerable thought and didn’t have much confidence in the supposed help she’d get from Cowgill. Still, two could play at that game.
She turned into the Baers’ yard and saw the blinds drawn down in the gallery. It was always closed for January and February and Evangeline was more often in the house, getting under Lois’s feet and making conversation because she had no one else to talk to. Today Lois welcomed the thought. Perhaps she would glean something of interest.
She hardly ever saw Dallas. He was a mystery man, with his smart city suits and fashionable staccato speech. Lois had discovered a few details about Evangeline, from brief conversations here and there, and knew that she had married Dallas not long ago, when she was in her early thirties. She’d been a Somerset girl – still had a trace of the west country burr in her voice – and had once told Lois jokingly that she’d married beneath her. Dallas had been working for her father’s company, and had carried off the boss’s daughter, she’d said, laughing, but with a wistful smile at Lois, who had nodded non-committally as usual. Dallas went off early to business in Birmingham, and came back late, so Lois had little chance of getting to know him. She sometimes thought that Evangeline, too, seemed not to know him very well.
It was a shock, then, for Lois to find Evangeline and Dallas sitting at the kitchen table, clearly still having breakfast at nine o’clock on a Friday morning. What’s more, they hardly glanced at her as she walked in, muttering “Morning,” and then returning to what seemed to be a close study of the newspapers. This was so odd that Lois tiptoed through to the broom cupboard, collected her things, and decided to start on the dining room which had a hatch through from the kitchen. This was open, and as Lois began polishing the old rosewood table in which Evangeline took such pride, she heard the scrape of a chair as one of them got up.
“
She finished the dining room and went through to fetch the Hoover. Dallas Baer stood at the foot of the stairs, looking up. He ignored Lois and began to speak in a harsh, unkind voice.
“Don’t threaten me,” he said, still looking up to the landing above.
“I shall do it, unless you tell me the truth!” said Evangeline’s tearful voice.
“Don’t be so bloody daft,” Dallas replied. “And anyway, you won’t. Women like you never do.”
Lois turned back, thinking a retreat to the kitchen was the best bet, but stopped when Evangeline suddenly screamed. Lois whipped round to see Dallas standing immobile as Evangeline tumbled like a rag doll from stair to stair, all the way from top to bottom, screaming as she fell.
¦
“The doctor was there in minutes,” said Lois to Derek. She had come home early and by the time Derek appeared for what was usually a snack lunch, he found chops, potatoes and peas waiting for him. Lois had told him the story as they ate, and now explained that Evangeline had miraculously escaped serious injury. “She should’ve at least broken an arm or a leg,” said Lois, shaking her head. Derek listened to Lois’s description of Dr Rix’s competent examination, his calm, reassuring manner with Dallas, who, said Lois with a frown, seemed perfectly calm himself. Lois took apple crumble from the oven and set it on the table. Giving Derek a generous helping, she continued, “Dr Rix said there was no need for an ambulance, so they put her on the long sofa in the sitting room. She was crying a lot, but the doctor said it was mostly shock, and sent Dallas off to the chemist in Tresham. I said I’d wait until he came back and he wasn’t long. She dozed off to sleep pretty quickly – something the doctor had given her, I think. But Derek…” Lois faltered, frowning.
“I could do with a cuppa,” said Derek blandly. Lois filled the kettle, and sat down again. “Go on, then,” Derek encouraged her. “What’s bothering you?”
“It was Dallas,” said Lois slowly. “The way he just stood there, watching her fall, without moving a muscle to catch her or stop her or anything…”
Derek shrugged. “Took him by surprise, maybe. You said he taunted her, said she wouldn’t do it. P’raps he really thought she wouldn’t. Anyway,” he added, and his face was serious now, “better be careful, my duck. Don’t get mixed up with marriage problems. You can never see the whole picture, and shouldn’t try. If this murder thing is going to get you into trouble, I want you out of it now.
Derek so seldom used a stern voice to her that Lois was taken aback. He was right, of course. Never come between man and wife. But she had no intention of doing so, and had asked no questions, made no comments. She’d just kept watch over Evangeline until Dallas returned, and then left. She tried to explain this to Derek, and he nodded.
“But just watch it,” he said. “We got enough on our plate with the kids and that Melvyn, without getting in deep anywhere else. Better to forget the whole thing,” he added. “Kettle’s boiling.”
¦
When Evangeline woke up, she could not for the moment remember what had happened, or why she was lying on the sofa in the middle of the afternoon. Then she saw Dallas in the chair opposite, his head slumped on his chest, snoring gently. As she moved to get up, she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. She groaned loudly with the pain and woke up Dallas.
“Don’t move, Angie,” he said. “You’ve had a fall.” His use of the old nickname gave her a start.
“What?” she said. “What d’you mean, a fall?”
“You tripped and fell downstairs,” said Dallas quickly. “Dr Rix has been, and there’s nothing broken. You’ve just got to rest for a couple of days. Bruises, and all that.”
Evangeline said nothing, but shifted her shoulder tentatively, trying to ease the pain. “You can have some painkiller, Doctor said.” Dallas went into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water and tablets in his hand. “Here,” he said, helping her to raise her head.
“Dallas – ” Evangeline choked on the water and spluttered for a few seconds. “Dallas,” she began again. “What really happened? We were having a row, weren’t we? I can’t remember properly, but I’m sure we were having a row?”
“It was nothing,” said Dallas. “You just got upset about something silly. That old jealousy again! And without cause, as usual. I expect that’s why you tripped. Nothing to worry about. Just forget it and get some more sleep. I’ll stay here. I’ve rung the office, and arranged a few days off, so I can look after you. Just rest, Angie pet. Take it easy.” He stroked her forehead gently until her eyelids drooped. “That’s it, take it easy. Old Dallas is here to take care of you.”
? Murder on Monday ?
Twenty
Long Farnden parish council had always met in the village hall, surrounded by old sepia photographs of former chairmen and luminaries of the village who looked down on them benevolently. But tonight, the present chairman, Dr Rix, sat uneasily on his hard chair and tried to concentrate on the minutes of the previous meeting, banishing thoughts of Gloria and how she must have stood in abject terror in the kitchen behind him.
Janice Britton, the Special who had been so encouraging to Lois, was clerk to the parish council. She had not given much credence to the supposed collaboration with Keith Simpson and Lois on gathering information in the village, sensing Lois’s animosity after being turned down in Tresham. Janice had contributed little, but she had tried to keep her ear to the ground. In fact, she had thought on her way to the village hall that tonight might possibly turn up a few clues. She had been clerk to the council for a number of years, and the members relied on her absolutely to come up with items for the agenda, papers to peruse and letters composed ready for Dr Rix to sign. He often said that without Janice he would not have been able to continue for so long, being such a busy man himself.
