Page 19 of A Very Bookish Murder (Ally McKinley Mystery #3)
FIFTEEN
Shortly after the women had finished breakfast the next morning, Ally went to clear away the breakfast dishes and found Millie still in the dining room.
‘Oh, sorry, Millie. I thought everyone had gone upstairs.’
‘No, no, I’ve finished breakfast, but I wanted to ask you about buses. I’m having a day off from writing and thought I’d make a trip to Inverness. To buy a hat.’
‘A hat ?’
Millie looked a little embarrassed. ‘Yes, I’d like to wear a hat to Jodi Jones’s funeral, out of respect, you know. I really did admire her such a lot.’
‘Well, that’s certainly very respectful, Millie, but I’m not sure that people wear hats so much to funerals these days.’ Ally paused, then added, ‘I don’t think that Jodi’s funeral is going to be exactly formal .’
‘I’m not bothered what people do or don’t do,’ Millie said firmly. ‘I am going to wear a hat.’
Feeling somewhat chastened, Ally said, ‘Yes, yes, of course. Let’s see if there are any bus timetables left in the hall, but I do know there’s one which stops outside the Craigmonie every morning at around half past nine, which would get you into town around eleven thirty. How does that sound?’
‘That sounds perfect,’ Millie replied as she headed towards the stairs. ‘Thanks so much.’
As she carried a tray of dishes into the kitchen, Ally wondered about the hat.
She herself had no intention of wearing a hat.
Knowing what the westerly winds were like in this part of the world, any hat would need to be well anchored into position or it would be back in Inverness faster than the bus.
She hoped Millie would think to buy some hatpins.
She’d barely had time to load the dishwasher when Amir Kandahar appeared again.
For the umpteenth time, Ally wondered if she should tell him about Jodi Jones being Rigby’s missing sister. She’d promised Rigby she wouldn’t, but what if that information proved to be vital to the case?
Amir sat down, the file on his knee and said that, yes, he’d love a mug of tea. ‘Perhaps it’ll help me to focus more clearly on this case.’
‘What’s almost certain,’ Ally said, ‘is that whoever killed Joyce did so to stop her telling me about some proof she had regarding who killed Jodi.’
Amir stared at her in amazement. ‘She knew something?’
‘Yes, I should have mentioned it yesterday, but I was so upset I forgot. Joyce thought she did,’ Ally replied, handing him his mug of tea. ‘She intended to tell me yesterday morning and planned to come down early to avoid being overheard.’
‘And you have no idea what it might have been that she wanted to tell you?’
Ally shook her head. ‘None at all.’
‘If she was correct in her assumption, then we have a motive for her death,’ said Amir, then added, ‘ If. ’
‘Do you know if Jodi had any children?’ Ally asked, half hoping he did so that she didn’t need to keep feeling so guilty about the information she was keeping from him.
‘None that we know of yet,’ Amir replied.
‘There’s been plenty of press coverage of Jodi Jones’s death, so, if there’s any around, they’re bound to know.
The husband’s arranged all the burial details, according to her express wishes.
She’d told him she wanted to be buried close to where she died, to spare the environment as much as possible and have a humanist send-off.
’ Amir rolled his eyes. ‘And in accordance with Jodi’s wishes, Owen Jones has purchased a burial plot at a natural burial site in the middle of nowhere, near Brodale. ’
Ally nodded, though she’d heard this already from Ross.
‘So the police are releasing her body?’ Ally asked.
‘Yes, on Thursday, in a wicker coffin.’
‘That seems quite speedy,’ she said.
‘Yes. Cause of death is strangulation, and there are no fingerprints or DNA whatsoever, although we are keeping the scarf. She was killed at the washbasins and then dragged across the floor and dumped in the out-of-order toilet cubicle. It was genuinely out of order because the flush didn’t work.
’ Amir drank some tea. ‘I’d really like this all sorted out before the funeral,’ he added.
‘What? Before Sunday ?’
He nodded. ‘Have you had a chance to speak to any of the women individually?’
‘Only Brigitte last night,’ Ally replied. ‘She was giving me reasons why everyone could be guilty – apart from herself, of course. And she wasn’t much impressed with Jodi’s novels.’
‘So why is she here?’ Amir asked. ‘She’s told me she’s writing women’s fiction too, so why does she consider herself to be so superior?’
‘Well, as I told you before, she did have a meeting arranged with Jodi. Brigitte explained that it was about something that she’d written to Jodi about beforehand – she wanted to know how to get published.
’ Then she added, ‘I also had a chance to have a quick chat with Millie the other evening, when I took my dog for a walk up to Loch Soular and found her swimming – Olympic standard! – up and down the loch, which is quite a distance.’
‘Did she appear to have any connection with Jodi Jones?’ Amir asked.
‘No, but she wasn’t at all forthcoming about her private life, other than that she loves swimming.’ Ally thought for a moment. ‘She’s not very tall, but she’s got strong shoulders.’
‘So has Mrs Fortescue-Rawlins,’ said Amir. ‘I don’t think that necessarily makes them stranglers. Thanks for your help, Ally, but I must be off.’
After Amir had gone, Ally went over things in her mind and kept recalling her conversation with Desdemona when she’d initially made the booking and mentioned that she and Jodi had been at university together.
How could that have been possible if Jodi was Joanne Rigby?
She realised she must talk to Desdemona again before she said anything to Rigby himself, but she baulked at the thought of driving all the way up to Desdemona’s place at Loch Trioch, along that treacherous road, and the possible damage that the rough track could make to the underside of her car. She decided to try phoning.
‘Yes?’ Desdemona barked in her usual terse manner.
‘Hi, it’s Ally. I just wanted to ask you some more about Jodi Jones and your time at university together, and wondered if you might be coming down to Locharran in the next day or two?’
‘Not if I can help it,’ Desdemona replied. ‘I’m very busy in my garden at the moment. What did you want to know?’
‘I’m just trying to piece together some information about Jodi,’ Ally said, ‘because she fascinates me.’ Ally realised that sounded a bit lame and wondered if Desdemona would believe her excuse.
‘I can’t think why,’ Desdemona replied sharply, ‘since she’s no longer with us. I’ve told you already that we were quite friendly at university.’
‘I just wondered if you knew anything about her background?’ Ally asked, feeling she might as well get straight to the point.
‘Can’t remember,’ Desdemona said. ‘Don’t think she spoke about it much. I only saw her at classes, never in the holidays. She was called Jo in those days, but I don’t remember what her surname was then.’
‘Did she seem to struggle moneywise?’ Ally asked.
‘We were all struggling moneywise!’ said Desdemona. ‘Even though university was free back then and we got grants to live on if we needed them. Still, we had to eat and drink, and she certainly liked a drink!’
‘But can you remember where she lived or anything?’ Ally persisted.
‘Can’t think why you’re so interested.’ There was a pause.
‘I think she lived in Somerset or Dorset or somewhere like that, not in London. Hang on, I can remember something now. She told me she’d once been homeless for some reason but had been living with some older man, supposedly “doing his housekeeping” so that she could sit her A levels and get to university. She was desperate to be a writer.’
‘Did you ever see the man?’ Ally asked.
‘Don’t know if it was him but some guy with a big car used to pick her up at the end of term.’
‘What did he look like?’
‘I was never introduced to him, and I assumed he was the guy she lived with. Or whatever.’
Ally was becoming increasingly interested. ‘But she couldn’t still be working for him if she was at university, could she?’
‘No idea. But they always embraced,’ Desdemona said.
‘A lover’s embrace? A fatherly embrace?’
‘Ally, I’ve no bloody idea! I was never that close to them. Now I’ve got to go because I’m in the middle of planting my beans. Got to get going while the weather’s so good.’
‘Oh, sorry if I’ve—’ Ally realised that she’d hung up.
She pondered over what little Desdemona had told her.
Jodi had gone to ‘keep house’ for some man so that she could study and go to university.
Hmm, Ally doubted the ‘housekeeping’ bit.
Had that man, whoever he was, become a lover perhaps?
In which case did he sponsor her education?
Was it the same man who picked her up in his big car and embraced her?
He certainly didn’t sound like Owen Jones, whoever he was.
And if she’d been pregnant, was he the father, and where was the baby?
Jodi had plainly been a survivor, whatever else she was. Until she came to Locharran…
Later, before the women, including Millie, now back from Inverness, set off for their dinner at the Craigmonie, Ally asked her, ‘Did you have a good day’s shopping?’
‘Yes, I got exactly what I wanted,’ said Millie. ‘Very scenic journey.’
The others all looked at her with interest, but Millie was saying no more.