Murder With Mercy Read Free Page B

won’t go to the doctor about it. I have to get my priorities right. The business needs me.’
    â€˜And the baby.’
    â€˜Yes, of course.’
    Business would come first with Diana. The new baby, second. Evan definitely came third now that she had to support him in his convalescence, rather than him supporting her in the style to which she had become accustomed.
    Diana said, ‘That’s what I came to see you about. He’s developing paranoid tendencies, doesn’t trust the district nurses. I can’t blame him; you never see the same one twice. And with me attending to his business, and his daughter at school all day, he’s pretty vulnerable. The other day he let some Jehovah’s Witnesses into the house, can you imagine? They were still there an hour and a half later when I got back. To put it bluntly, he needs a minder, someone I can trust. Heaven knows why but he trusts you, and I want you to take him on, perhaps mornings only for the time being.’
    Ellie hadn’t expected this. She shook her head, wondering how to soften her refusal. ‘I’ve got so many meetings, so much to do. Surely you can find an old friend who’d be willing to sit with him?’
    â€˜I wish I could, but he’s so “down” that it’s … To tell the truth, ever since one of his old friends took an overdose, he’s been talking about suicide, and I can’t have that, can I? I know you’ve got things on, but surely you can do this for me?’

TWO
    E llie’s mind zigzagged to and from various possibilities. Could Diana be referring to the case which had brought Lesley Milburn to see her that morning?
    No, Evan Hooper would never be disturbed by the death of a cleaner. But hadn’t Lesley mentioned another woman who’d overdosed recently? ‘You mean the woman living up by the park?’
    Diana stared. ‘The park?’
    Ellie gestured to her right, then realized the park lay in the opposite direction, and pointed to her left. ‘Pitshanger Park? A terraced house backing on to the park?’
    A frown. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Terraced house, indeed! Anita lived on the Argyle Road in a detached house similar to ours. She was captain of the women’s team for some years. You must have met her?’
    Ellie’s first husband had been a member of the golf club. She’d gone to various social events there with him but not made any real friends. Did she remember Anita? Yes, she did. A lively, good-looking woman with a pleasant husband.
    Diana continued, ‘Conservative, of course. She and her husband were very old friends of Evan’s family. Was he best man at their wedding? Something like that. A tragic case, cancer. She took too many pills one night. Misadventure.’
    Not the same woman, then. But, perhaps, another case to add to Lesley’s file? No, no. If an elderly lady becomes confused and takes too many of her pills, where’s the crime in that?
    Mm. Wasn’t suicide considered a crime in itself? Ellie was not sure. It used to be considered a crime, didn’t it? But perhaps it was so no longer? It was, she supposed, understandable that someone in great pain, or with a terminal illness, might be tempted to embrace death early. On the other hand, hadn’t she heard a minister at church say that it was wrong to shorten the span of life which God had intended for you? She must ask Thomas.
    Diana snapped her cup down on its saucer. ‘Well? I can count on you to help me out in this, can’t I?’
    Ellie told herself that she was not going to be blackmailed into doing something she didn’t really want to do. ‘I could do one morning a week, and that’s more than I should offer. I suggest you get a paid companion for him. Perhaps someone who can help him with his physiotherapy?’
    â€˜He goes to the physio twice a week, complaining all the time. Since he can’t drive, I either have