playing cards with your wife or something.’ Her voice sounded hoarse and she was shivering. She sat down in one of the armchairs and crossed her legs.
Black spiky hair. They all seemed to have spiky hair nowadays. Lowish forehead, slightly oriental eyes, broad full mouth. Attractive, in a gamin kind of way. Her face was white, the dark eyes looked feverish. He couldn’t see the pupils, but then his eyelids were still gummed by sleep. Had she taken some substance? Her lips were bluish. She must be frozen. She wore black mittens and the long black coat. The shinel with the bloodstains. Also jeans and boxfresh trainers with orange laces.
Did she look like a killer? Payne found his eyes straying to the girl’s hands. What was it Morland had said? Moon had broken her wrist a couple of months ago, ergo she wouldn’t have been able to lift a heavy samurai sword, let alone deliver a lethal blow with it.
There was something vulnerable about her – in spite of, or was it because of, her ultra-casual manner? Only sixteen – looked older, though. What a pedigree! Mother beheaded, father in jail…
‘It’s warm in here,’ she said, looking round. ‘Cool room.’
‘Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?’
‘You are funny.’ Suddenly she sat very still and fixed him with her dark eyes.
‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ Payne said. ‘You said coffee, right? Not tea?’
‘No. I hate tea. Coffee. Black. Three sugars. I drink it mega strong – three or four spoonfuls, if it’s instant.’
‘Won’t that be too strong?’
‘I like it mega strong. You look sleepy.’
‘I feel sleepy.’
‘Did I wake you up?’
‘I believe you did.’
‘You’ve got stubble. You haven’t shaved, have you?’
‘It’s three in the morning.’
As he walked towards the kitchen, Payne wondered if there was something particularly valuable in the drawing room that was small enough for her to pinch and drop into the shinel’s – no doubt – bottomless pockets. One of Antonia’s amber cats – the tiny but exceedingly precious Wedgwood vase – or perhaps his great uncle’s silver snuff box?
Five past three. Payne didn’t care for the appraising look she had given him. The girl’s gaze seemed to hold a certain suggestive element
… He was old enough to be her grandfather… He shouldn’t have let her in… Most unwise. Might make all sorts of claims afterwards. Must try to get rid of her as soon as possible. Put her into a cab and despatch her back to Kensington… The tube closed at half past midnight… How long had the girl been standing in their street?
Heaven knew when he’d be able to get back to bed, if at all… He heard Antonia’s voice coming from the drawing room. She’d come down and was talking to Moon.
Placing the three steaming cups and the tin of Fortnum amp; Mason’s chocolate biscuits on the tray, he carried it gingerly to the drawing room.
Suddenly he was possessed by the not entirely rational conviction that Moon could not have murdered her mother, that suspecting her was a waste of time, that it was somewhere else they should be looking for the killer…
15
Feast at Midnight
‘Moon’s been outside since half past two,’ Antonia said brightly. She was wearing her blue dressing gown.
‘Dangerous, being out so late,’ Payne said, placing the tray on the low table between the sofa and Moon’s chair. He stole a glance at the mantelpiece: his great uncle’s snuff box was still there. ‘A girl, on her own… London can be a dangerous place… How old are you exactly?’
‘Fifteen and three months. D’you think I am very young?’
‘I do. Morland said you were sixteen and a half.’
‘Who’s Morland? Do you call James Morland? That’s funny! He is such a fool.’ She laughed. ‘He’s fat. He needs to exercise. I hate fat men. He hates me. James and my mother were locked in a lewd and lascivious cohabitation…’
Payne glanced at the clock. ‘Weren’t you afraid to be out so late?’
‘Nope.’ Moon picked up her cup. ‘God hasn’t given me the spirit of fear, but of love and power and a sound mind. That’s what they said at my boyfriend’s church in Pennsylvania… My ex-boyfriend… See what I’ve got here.’ She pushed her hand inside her shinel and drew out a piece of lead piping.
‘An offensive weapon, eh?’ Payne’s eyebrow went up. ‘If the police were to find it on you, you’d be in trouble.’
‘It’s for self-defence. It’s dangerous to be out so late, you said that yourself. I’m already in trouble. The police think I killed my mother. I’m always in trouble.’ Moon sighed. ‘They kicked me out of my first school because they caught me bunning a zoot. Then I was kicked out of my second school.’
‘Why was that?’
‘That was because I used to write letters to teachers I liked. I know it makes me look like a psycho, but I’m totally normal. The police think I killed my mother. They never actually said it – I guess it’s totally against the law to make accusations without any proof.’
‘And what was your midnight vigil in aid of?’ Payne sat down on the sofa beside Antonia.
‘I’ll tell you, but you must promise not to tell the two witches.’
‘If by witches you mean Melisande and Winifred, that’s not a very nice way to talk. They were very kind to you,’ Antonia said.
‘You drank all their Coke and ate most of their sandwiches and cake,’ Payne put in.
‘You are right. I guess I’m not a very nice person. But there are things you don’t know.’
‘Oh? What things?’ Antonia asked. She took a sip of coffee.
‘Weird things. Crazy things. Things no normal person would think of doing.’
‘Really? As bad as that?’ Payne said. ‘This sounds terribly interesting.’
Moon nodded and smiled. She clearly enjoyed being the centre of attention. ‘Yep. I know it is interesting. You’d never believe it if I told you what I know. Anyhow, I need to check something first. At the moment I have no real evidence, but I will get some very soon.’
Was she showing off – dramatizing herself? In all fairness, Payne reflected, Moon’s behaviour was infinitely better than it had been at the party.
‘I have a very good reason for doing what I do,’ Moon went on. ‘If you think I like to hang around outside people’s houses in the middle of the night and snoop, you are wrong. Anyway. I’ll tell you about it some other time. Not now.’
Payne said, ‘Is the “check” you mentioned in any way connected with your mother’s death?’
‘Of course it’s connected. Why else should I want to put my life in danger?’ Moon sniffed.
‘Have a biscuit.’
‘Thanks. OK. It was something my mother said. At first I didn’t pay attention, my mother often talked a lot of rubbish, but then it suddenly came to me – what this was all about. It was kinda interesting – kinda weird – kinda spooky. So I decided perhaps my mother hadn’t gone crazy, not completely crazy. I asked her to explain. At first she pretended she didn’t want to, but then she told me the whole story. She was sucking up to me, I guess.’
‘What did she say?’ Payne asked.
‘I see you are interested. You’ve done detective work, haven’t you?’
‘We specialize in strange cases,’ Payne said, deliberately important.
‘That’s tope. This is a strange case, make no mistake.’
‘What’s tope?’
