Murder With Mercy Read Free

saying, ‘Petra was sacked from her job in a burger bar at Ealing Broadway six months ago and hasn’t worked since. I know you’ve got shares in that hotel that’s just about ready to open in the next road. They must be taking on new staff. I thought you could make an excuse to have a word with her about it, offer her an interview for a job there or something?’
    Another scream from the kitchen.
    The doorbell rang. A long, insistent peal. Only one person rang the bell like that, and Ellie grimaced, knowing who it would be.
    Lesley was not ready to leave. ‘I sound desperate, don’t I? And I’m not making much sense, either. It’s just that something is very wrong, and it’s bugging me.’
    The doorbell rang again. Mistress Impatience was out there, demanding attention, demanding that her mother do this or that.
    Distracted, Ellie handed Lesley her coat, her eyes darting first to the kitchen quarters, and then back to her visitor. ‘Thanks for calling, Lesley. I’m sorry everything seems to be happening at once. Perhaps when things have calmed down …?’ She opened the front door to let her daughter in.
    â€˜You’ve taken your time!’ Diana stalked into the hall, forcing Lesley to step aside.
    Lesley grimaced, shrugging herself into her coat. ‘Yes, yes. I’m on my way. Sorry. I know I shouldn’t have, but Ellie … I gave her your address and suggested she call on you.’
    The slim figure of a boy erupted into the hall from the kitchen like a stone from a catapult, narrowly avoiding Diana and forcing Lesley to take a step back.
    â€˜Mikey, you come back here!’ Rose, shouting from the kitchen.
    Mikey swerved round Ellie to reach the stairs and thundered up them, oblivious to everything but flight. The cat Midge followed him. They disappeared around the landing. A door opened and banged shut. They were on their way to the flat at the top of the house.
    Lesley righted herself, half laughing and half annoyed. ‘What’s that boy been up to now?’
    Ellie had spotted that Mikey had had a huge wodge of fruit cake in one hand and a bottle of Coca Cola in the other. He wasn’t supposed to have Coca Cola because it gave him a sugar rush, and Mikey definitely did not need more sugar to give him a high. ‘I think he must have found Rose’s hidden stash of cake.’
    â€˜Mikey!’ Rose, frail as a sparrow and looking rather like one, all brown and grey, appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. ‘That young limb!’
    â€˜Quite,’ said Ellie. ‘Lesley, are you all right?’
    â€˜No harm done. I’ll be on my way, but you won’t forget …?’ She stepped out into the wind and the rain, and Ellie shut the door on her.
    Diana had already divested herself of her heavy overcoat. She handed it to Ellie and checked her appearance in the hall mirror, running a finger across her scarlet mouth, before stalking through to the sitting room and lowering her swollen body on to a high-backed chair. ‘I could do with some tea. Earl Grey, no milk, one lemon slice.’ Black hair, cut short. A stick-thin body with an outsize bust and protruding belly. She looked as if she were about to give birth any minute.
    Before becoming pregnant and getting married to the biggest of the local estate agents – yes, in that order – Diana had always worn black. Since the wedding she’d gone in for navy blue, with chalk white trims. The colours didn’t suit her particularly, since she’d failed to inherit Ellie’s fine skin and cornflower blue eyes. She’d adopted the colour blue because she’d read somewhere that babies liked it. As if you could have a baby by the book.
    Ellie hoped this change of dress colour meant that her daughter would be a better mother to the expected baby than she’d been to her son by her previous marriage. Well, she could always