‘I pushed him against a table and snatched up Gertrude, who was pouring blood, and stumbled down the stairs into the wood.’
‘What happened to your glass?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘It was found by his body.’ Gablecross was on the warpath again. ‘Sure you didn’t kill him because you were so angry?’
‘No.’
‘Or lie in wait once you found Gertrude was dead, and kill him when he came out looking for you?’
‘No.’
‘Why didn’t you run back to the tennis court where all your friends were?’
‘I lost my bearings. I was so terrified he’d come after me, I just wanted to get away.’
‘How’d you get home?’
‘I was waiting by the telephone box. I heard someone singing and footsteps. I thought it was Rannaldini. I ran into the road and a big car coming from Paradise screeched to a halt. I begged the driver to give me a lift. He wanted to take me to Casualty in Rutminster, I asked him to drop me on the road to Cotchester but he swung his car round and took me the whole way home.’
Tab didn’t remember anything about the car or the man except that he was kind.
‘He wrapped a rug round me and Gertrude — she was bleeding all over the car. He turned the heating up so high he was pouring with sweat by the time we got home.’
‘How old was he?’
‘Old, at least forty.’
Karen suppressed a smile as Gablecross winced.
‘No-one you recognized?’
‘No, and he wouldn’t come in. I thanked him for saving me, and he said, in this funny accent, “I’ve got to thank you for saving me from something much bigger,” and drove off.’
‘Did you notice this picture in the watch-tower?’ Gablecross held out a photograph of
‘Yuk,’ said Tab. ‘It was on the wall in the sitting room.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Quite. Rannaldini pointed it out, saying wasn’t he handsome in those days. I told him he looked better now. I wasn’t leading him on. It was true. He looked like an Italian waiter when he was young.’
Tab took a slug of her now tepid vodka. Maybe the worst was over. Karen got up and prowled round the room. Gablecross renewed the attack.
‘Why did you really kiss Rannaldini?’ he asked. ‘Did you lure him on to rape you so you had an excuse to strangle him in self-defence?’
‘For the hundredth time, I kissed him because I was so grateful he’d found Gertrude. What crucifies me is the thought of her terrible last hours, kidnapped, totally confused and terrified because she was deaf and blind, and then murdered.’
‘All very touching,’ said Gablecross sarcastically. ‘I think you fancied your stepdad something rotten and if, as you allege, this was the first time, how the hell d’you explain these?’ Like a straight flush, he triumphantly splayed the photographs in front of her.
For a minute, Tab was speechless as the colour swept her face, merging with the blotches until it was all the same ugly red, as she gazed down at her own lascivious beauty, the half-closed eyes, the curling tongue, the thrust-forward breasts, the pink lips glistening between the long slender white thighs.
‘The full split beaver,’ said Gablecross roughly.
‘My father had a dog called Beaver,’ said Tab slowly. Then she flipped. ‘How absolutely gross.’
She struggled to her feet to grab the photographs then, finding her legs wouldn’t support her, collapsed back on the sofa.
‘It’s a trick, my head on someone else’s body.’
‘But in your own bedrooms at Valhalla and at Magpie Cottage,’ said Gablecross. ‘We checked out the background. You
‘I have not!’ Tab’s scream was so raw that Sharon, who’d been trembling and swallowing throughout the interview, crept under the sofa. Her bone was black with buzzing flies now. Gablecross chucked it out of the window.
‘I never took off my clothes for Rannaldini,’ whispered Tab. ‘God, how revolting.’ A horrible thought struck her. Perhaps Isa had taken them and given them to Rannaldini, perhaps Rannaldini had hidden in the cupboard, perhaps Clive…? ‘Oh, Christ, I swear I never knew they were being taken. Where did you find them?’
‘Taking pride of place in Rannaldini’s memoirs. Are you sure you didn’t catch a glimpse of them on Sunday night and burn down the watch-tower?’
‘No, this is the first time.’ God in heaven, why couldn’t this sweating, red-faced thug leave her alone?
Karen was flipping through the little cards that had come with the flowers. ‘Did you ring anyone else after the rape?’
‘No, only Wolfie and Daddy.’
‘Not Tristan de Montigny to tell him what had happened?’
‘Why ever should I? He was in France.’
‘Tristan threatened to kill Rannaldini on Friday. He was seen in Valhalla at the time of the murder.’
Tab started in horror, the colour deserting her face, leaving a grey wasteland.
‘If you’d tipped Tristan off Rannaldini had raped you,’ accused Gablecross, ‘you could have pushed him over the edge. Perhaps he heard your message on Wolfie’s machine.’
‘No.’ Clapping her hands over her ears, Tab frantically shook her head. ‘No, no, no!’
‘Wolfgang threatened to kill his dad after he heard that tape,’ taunted Gablecross. ‘Hope you weren’t telling porkies. Might ’ave encouraged that young man, even your father, to kill Rannaldini, or did you tell your husband?’
‘I didn’t.’
‘Hello, I’m back. Lovely basket of fruit arrived for you, Tab, darling.’
As a slender, very tall girl walked in, Gablecross leapt guiltily to his feet. This must be Rupert’s wife, Taggie. She looked hardly older than her stepdaughter. Unfortunately he was too late to stop Sharon wriggling out from under her chair. Frantically searching around for a present, she snatched Tabitha’s photographs off the table, and proudly bore them over to Taggie.
‘Drop, Sharon, for God’s sake!’ Tab stumbled forward, snatching the photographs, then crumpling to the floor, sobbing hysterically. ‘They think I killed Rannaldini, that I led him on to rape me. Please don’t look at those pictures.’
Seldom had Karen witnessed such fury; a tigress protecting her cub.
‘How dare you b-b-bully her after all she’s been through, you horrible, horrible beast!’ yelled Taggie.
Even Gablecross stepped back.
‘You’re right, he is a beast,’ agreed Karen. Together she and Taggie lifted a weeping Tab to her feet. For a second, she froze, rigid with revulsion, then collapsed weeping in Taggie’s arms.
‘I didn’t want anyone to know about the rape. I wouldn’t have blurted it out to Dad or Wolfie. I was just so devastated about Gertrude.’
‘I know, darling.’
‘I feel so awful about Mummy. She’s had such a terrible time with the press over the years. Imagine the f-f- field day Beattie Johnson’s going to have when she finds out Rannaldini raped me, particularly if the police say I led him on, and what will the Lovells say? Jake hates me, and Isa’s never forgiven me because of Peppy Koala. Oh, Taggie, I’ve made such a mess of my life.’
‘You haven’t.’ Taggie tugged the red scarf from her dark hair, holding it for Tab to blow her nose on, as if she’d been Bianca.
‘You’re good, brave and beautiful.’
‘Like a beautiful car that doesn’t work,’ wailed Tab. ‘I loved Lysander, Isa and Tristan so much. Why didn’t any of them love me? Because I’m bad luck, that’s why, and I don’t want to bring any more to Mummy. I love her so
