Page 70 of A Very Bookish Murder
‘There is one person standing here today who killed my lovely Jodi – and also murdered some innocent woman who must have worked out who the killer really was. And I say “she” because, without doubt, the killer is a woman, and’ – here he looked round at everyone – ‘if you’ve got one ounce of decency in your body, you should make yourself known.’
Ally wondered if Amir had prompted him to say that in order to provoke a response.
She then became aware, with growing unease that Millie had now reached the top of the grave and was standing just behind Harper’s billowing cape. Looking at the little mousy woman, Ally realised she really knew so little about Millie Day, she couldn’t even remember her full name. What was it? Millicent? Amelia?
Suddenly, she recalled the evening when they’d first arrived.Millie Day, she’d said when Joyce had introduced her.Short for Camilla… Camilla! A recent memory sparked in Ally’s brain: thekey fob in the sitting room with the initials C.H. If they were Millie’s, what could the H stand for? Of course, of course – Harper!
It was catching sight of her kitchen knife that froze Ally to the spot.The knife!
Millie was holding it high in the air, above Harper’s shoulder.
‘Oh my God!’ Ally took to her heels. She hadn’t run so fast in years, but she knew she had to reach Millie before she did what she’d plainly planned to do.
Completely unaware of what was happening behind him, Harry Harper carried on speaking. ‘Finally,’ he continued, ‘I?—’
‘Finally!’ Millie screeched. ‘Finally, I got her, and now it’syourbloody turn!’
Ally, frantically shouting, ‘Stop! Stop!’ reached Millie a split second before she plunged the knife into Harper’s back, only the handle still visible above his shoulder. He crashed directly into the grave, falling on top of the coffin with a sickening thud and the crack of breaking wicker withies. In the meantime, Ally and Millie were wrestling on the ground, Millie shouting, ‘I have to KILL him!’ as she struggled to get free.
Ally, struggling to her feet, could hear Ross’s voice shouting, ‘Bloody hell!’ as he and the two uniformed police officers raced towards Millie, who scrambled to her feet and was now standing defiantly, smiling, looking down into the grave. Everyone else seemed mesmerised and paralysed with horror for a split second before they could move.
‘That Jodi bitch,’ Millie ranted as the two police officers began to drag her away. ‘She stole my husband and I’ve waitedyearsto get her!And him! I hope he dies right there, on top of her!Bastard!’
She lashed out against the two officers, her fist flying as she tried to beat both of them at once, and the Inverness hat took off in the breeze. As the officers grappled with her to retain control,her sunglasses fell from her face into the grave, her black and blue eye contrasting with her vivid red cheeks. Her expression was one of absolute hatred as she struggled and kicked all the way to the police car, screaming obscenities and abuse.
‘Oh, Ally!’ Ross steadied Ally as she leaned against him. ‘Oh God, are you OK? Has she stabbed you?’
Ally shook her head. ‘No, Harry Harper got the full thrust of it. I’ll be OK in a moment – just let me get my breath back…’
Amir had appeared now. ‘What made you move like that, Ally? I reckon you’ve saved Harper’s life by tackling her when you did.’
Ally gave a bleak smile. ‘I put two and two together in what seemed like a split second, reckoning that she justhadto be Harry Harper’s abandoned wife.’
‘What made you realise that?’ Amir asked gently.
Ally told him about the key ring. ‘I couldn’t work out why it would be Millie’s with the initials C.H. or H.C. on the fob, until I saw her approaching Harper, and then I remembered her full name was Camilla, and it all began to make sense…’
Amir nodded, then sped off to join George and Rigby, who were about to climb down into the grave to retrieve Harry Harper.
‘Ross!’ Ally said. ‘You must go to help because Rigby’s just not well enough to do this.’
Ross stepped forward and put a restraining hand on Rigby’s arm. ‘You step back,’ he said. ‘I’ll help.’
They lifted Harper out of the grave and laid him, face down, on the ground, the mourners hastily standing back to make room.
‘Nobody tries to remove that knife!’ warned Amir, amidst the general chaos. ‘You could cause more harm than good, and the ambulance is on the way.’
Morwenna and Penelope moved to stand beside Ally.
‘This is beyond being awful!’ Morwenna said, staring at Harper’s body. ‘I cannot believe what’s just happened…’
‘He’s not dead,’ Ross said, ‘but I’m damn sure thatwasher intention, if Ally hadn’t been so quick off the mark.’
Amir was kneeling beside Harry Harper’s prostrate body, making call after call on his phone. When he finally replaced the phone in his pocket, he said, ‘We expected trouble today, and we certainly got it.’
Morwenna had been physically sick, and was now shaking and in tears. ‘I’d have been next on her list,’ she sobbed, ‘because I found her passport lying on the floor while we were getting ready to leave for the funeral today and her name was Camilla Harper, not Millie Day. Day was her maiden name.’ She blew her nose. ‘When I gave it back to her, she snatched the passport back but didn’t explain.’
Ally put a comforting arm around her. ‘I think Joyce probably found it too when they were sharing a room and put two and two together…’
