Page 110 of The Stranger in Room Six
Cook was too hysterical to speak.
Shaking, Mabel knelt down, forcing herself to turn the body over. Her aunt’s glassy eyes stared back at her, a bullet hole in her chest. Beside her lay a stone and underneath a note with one word.
TRAITOR.
‘Help,’ screamed Mabel. ‘Help!’
Belinda
Now
I draw a sharp breath. ‘Did one of the locals kill her?’
Mabel’s voice is flat. ‘There was a rumour that Frannie had done it in revenge for her father’s death. But I don’t see her as a killer.’
‘Who do you think did it, then?’
‘Well, quite a few murders happened during the war. It was easier to cover them up when bombs were falling everywhere. The whole village disliked my aunt.’ Mabel shudders. ‘It could have been anyone.’
Then her voice changes. ‘I don’t want to say any more. It’s too horrible. What Idowant to know is where Karen is and what you did to her to make her pay.’
Luckily, a bell sounds. ‘It’s time for tea,’ I say brightly.
She puts on the sulking face I’ve grown to know so well. ‘I don’t want any. I’d much rather hear your story.’
‘Mabel, you might own this place but I’m afraid you’re not the only resident I have to take care of. Tonight, I’m on tea duty.’
To be honest I’m not looking forward to it. There’s one woman who chucks food at everyone although she can be as sweet as sugar at other times. Butlins Bill isn’t my cup of tea either; he’s too loud and raucous for my liking.
Mabel makes a long-drawn-out ‘Ohhhh’, like a petulant child.
‘I’m sorry, but I’ll continue my story next time.’
‘Promise?’ she asks.
‘Promise.’
The Stranger in Room Six
Mabel’s confessions via Belinda are building up into a possible nice front-page headline. Any stain on Harry Marchmont’s name will help, even if it’s through association rather than a personal involvement. Yet it’s not enough.
So I get one of my old contacts to find out where Belinda’s eldest daughter Gillian lives and follow her. Then I instruct him to ‘bump into’ her on the Tube to work and deliver a verbal message.
It works. Belinda comes knocking on my door that night.
‘It was you, wasn’t it?’ she yells.
‘Inside,’ I say, pulling her in before anyone hears her. She’s hysterical. ‘Gillian rang to say that a man knocked into her and said that her mother needed to “do what she was told” or something would happen to the whole family. Then he showed her a knife. She wanted to know what I’d got mixed up in.’
‘What did you say?’
‘I said I didn’t know what she was talking about but she didn’t believe me. Now Elspeth is doubting me too.’
‘Then you’d better get Mabel’s secret out of her, hadn’t you? Or else we might just have to carry out that threat.’
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Mabel
