Waverleigh Manor

Chapter Five


  "Rather them than me." Veronica said, leaning towards the fire and rubbing her slender hands together.
  "Well someone had to do it." Marcia sipped her coffee. "We couldn't just leave him out there, whoever he is."
  "It freaks me out." Ann said quietly from in the huge winged chair. "Whoever did it must have been so close. To go and dump him in the outhouse in between when Mike and Molly were there."
  Molly shivered. Mike couldn't have had anything to do with it. Even though he had vanished while she was in the maze, he had been with her the rest of the time, from when they got to the woodshed the first time to when they went back the second time and found the body. But no – he hadn't. Molly felt a chill of dread when she remembered how he had dropped the torch in the herb garden and only realised when they were a few yards from the woodshed. And sent Molly back to fetch it. She found herself thinking very differently about those strong arms of his. Were they strong enough to haul a body from its hiding place and into the outhouse while she was rushing back to the herb garden for the torch? She shivered again. Yes, they probably were.
  "Molly, what's wrong?" Ann asked gently.
  Molly looked at Ann. Ann looked very concerned. But was it real? Molly didn't have a clue who she could trust.
  "Nothing. It's just all so horrible." Molly said quietly.
  The four women sat in silence. Molly was getting annoyed by Veronica's ring. She had her hand on her lap and the dim light was reflecting it in such a way that it kept dazzling Molly. Was that ring on the hand of a murderer? Molly was looking at everyone from a completely different angle now. Even Ann, with whom she had been friends for two years. Was she capable of murder?
  Marcia broke the silence after a few minutes.
  "Well I think one of the men ought to drive to the nearest village and get some sort of help. The phone isn't working so that's our only hope."
  "And how do we know that we're not going to send the murderer out for help?" Veronica said. "He could just drive off and leave us, then creep back later and finish off the rest of us!"
  "Oh don't be silly, Veronica." Ann said. "You're getting ridiculous now."
  "Well I'm sorry for being on edge, Ann." Veronica snapped nastily. "We've just found a dead body in the shed and we're miles from anywhere in a spooky house with no means of communication and a group of people of whom anyone could be a killer! I guess I should be feeling fine."
  Ann was silent.
  A noise in the depths of the house attracted Molly's attention.
  "The guys are back." she said. Everyone looked up at the door.
  A moment or so later, Simon and Mike appeared at the drawing room door, looking grim.
  No-one liked to say "have you done it?". Molly looked at Mike. He looked a little flustered, his hair was ruffled, and he had his sleeves rolled up above his elbows. She was so attracted to him and yet how could she be, when she didn't know if he had murdered someone a few hours ago?
  "We, erm, we put him in one of the little store rooms off the side of the kitchen." Simon's voice was almost inaudible.
  "Off the kitchen?" Marcia looked horrified. "You mean every time someone goes for food we're going to be close to it… him?"
  "Well where else could we put him?" Simon said. "You wouldn't have wanted us to carry him up to one of the bedrooms, would you!"
  David and James appeared behind Mike.
  "Well I was just saying that I think one of you four should drive to the nearest village and get help." Marcia said.
  "We had the same thought." James said.
  "So who's it going to be?" Marcia sounded impatient.
  "None of us." David said. We all looked at him. "Everyone's tyres have been slashed."
  Marcia looked as if she was about to pass out.
  "Slashed?" Ann echoed.
  "Yep." said David grimly. "James and I just went out there. Every single tyre. None of the cars are useable by any stretch of the imagination."
  Marcia drew her legs up under her chin and shrank back into her chair.
  "Who's doing this?" her voice was high-pitched and she looked terrified. Molly thought to herself that it was almost over the top, almost put-on.
  "I think the best thing we can all do is go to bed." Simon said. "The film crew will be here tomorrow afternoon. Then we can go and get help."
  "Go to bed?" Veronica spoke up. She seemed to be grasping the opportunity to have a go at Simon. "We have a dead body in the house and you're seriously suggesting that we all take our eyes off each other and go to our rooms and sleep? Look around you, Simon! Someone in this room is a killer!"
  Molly shivered. When it was put like that, it sounded even more terrifying.

*

  "Oh, sod this." Veronica got up. "I'm going to bed."
  Two hours had passed. Everyone looked at Veronica as she stretched and looked round. Ann was still sat in the winged chair. Molly and James were sat in the other chairs. Simon had sat down on a sofa and Marcia had seated herself at the other end to start with, but had somehow edged nearer and nearer to him and had now dozed off with her dark head on his shoulder. Molly wondered if he minded. She could be a murderer and yet he seemed perfectly happy to have her asleep on him. He could be a murderer and yet she seemed perfectly happy to get close to him and comfortable enough to go to sleep. At the back of her mind, Molly wondered if it was denial – they were both attracted to one another, that was plain, and maybe this was their way of getting as much time together as they could. Try and forget that one of them could be a murderer until they really had to face the fact.
  Mike was sat on the rug by the hearth, leaning his back against the edge of Molly's chair. David was standing at the window, looking outside.
  "You're going to bed?" Ann said.
  "Yes." Veronica walked to the door and pulled it to behind her as she left.
  "Brave woman." Ann said quietly.
  "Who's gone to bed?" Marcia mumbled, half-waking up.
  "Veronica." Simon informed her.
  "Typical." Marcia was still half-asleep. She had her eyes closed. "Someone's died and we're all sat in here terrified, and creepy Veronica gets up and swans off to bed. Like she's not scared. Well she wouldn't have anything to fear if she was the killer, would she."
  Molly had to admit that Marcia had a point.
  The silence following Marcia's comment seemed to wake her up more. She opened her dark eyes and looked sleepily round at everyone.
  "Well?" she said. "Don't you agree? This room feels like a dark cloud has lifted now she's gone."
  Molly thought to herself that Marcia was right again. But did she just have her knife into Veronica because Veronica didn't like Simon and she, Marcia, did? Because she didn't like the way Veronica always argued with Simon and tried to make him look stupid? Sometimes it seemed as if Marcia went on about Veronica too much. Almost as if she was trying to detract attention from herself. Which she would do if she had murdered someone. Molly looked at Marcia. She had closed her eyes again and was snuggled against Simon.
  "I hate to bring this up." Mike spoke after a few minutes' silence. "But did anyone think to check on the… the body, you know, for I.D or anything?"
  Simon, David and James shook their heads.
  "Well do you think someone should?" Mike said.
  "Maybe, yeah." David wandered away from the window.
  "Right then. I'll go and, um, check." Mike got up and left.
  Molly watched him go. She wondered about him. If he was the murderer, he wouldn't be as bothered as the others about going back to look at the body. He had practically offered to go and look. He didn't even give any of the others a chance to offer. He had suggested it to try and make himself look decent and concerned, and brave too, but if he had killed the man it wouldn't be any problem for him to go back into the little storeroom and pretend to look for I.D.
  Or maybe he wasn't going to the storeroom at all. Maybe he had offered to go so he could get out of the room with a good excuse. Maybe he was creeping upstairs at that very moment to go and find Veronica! Molly gasped and half-leapt out of her chair. Everyone looked at her.
  "What's wrong, Molly?" James asked.
  Molly was just about to answer when Mike appeared at the door again. She sighed and sat back down.
  "Nothing." she half-smiled at James.
  Mike looked solemn.
  "Well?" Ann sat up in her chair.
  "It's Gus." Mike said.
  Molly wondered at the back of her mind if he's already known that.
  "Gus?" Ann said. "You mean – the man who looks after this place?"
  "Looks like it." Mike said. "And look at this. I found some bits of paper with his writing on. I think we can definitely say that Gus didn't write that note that Marcia found."

*

  Veronica sat on the edge of her cold bed, debating what to do. Her tarot cards lay on the bedside chest. She looked at them. Should she do another reading? She reached out for the cards, her hand shaking. They slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor. Scattered all over the floor, only one card had turned face up. Death.
  Veronica gasped in horror. She hurriedly turned it over and leapt into bed as if there was something about to grab her ankles from underneath. She lay down and pulled the covers over her face.

*

  The others had made en executive decision to go to bed. Even though no one knew who to trust, and everyone was scared, no-one really wanted to stay in the drawing room any more. It was decided that as long as everyone kept their wits about them, they would be alright.
  Molly felt relieved when she went into her room and closed the door. She leaned her back against the door for a few seconds and sighed. She was exhausted. She looked at her watch but it had stopped working.
  "Damn." she tapped it, and, having no luck, wandered over to the dressing table where her mobile phone was. Her phone was switched off.
  "Oh for God's sake." She tried to switch it on but it wouldn't. Surely the battery hadn't died already? It had been full when she'd set off earlier that day. The phone felt very light. Molly had a sudden thought. She slid the back off the phone and her stomach jolted. There was no battery in there.
  Molly felt physically sick. Her hands were shaking and her heart was banging. She slid the back onto her phone and put it down. She was about to wander over to the bed when there was a soft tap at the door.
  "Yes?" she managed to croak.
  The door opened and Mike came in. He smiled kindly at Molly. She couldn't take her eyes off him.
  "I'm sorry to disturb you." He said. "I just wondered what to make of this. Someone's taken the battery out of my phone."

*

  David had the pains in his head again. He was lying in bed with his eyes shut, trying to relax. There was nothing he could take for it. It wasn't that kind of pain. Something was definitely wrong.

*

  "Are you sure you're OK?" Marcia lingered at Simon's door.
  "I'm fine." Simon said. He took a swig from the glass of milk that Marcia had handed him. "Just shaken up, obviously. I need some sleep."
  "I don't know how you can even think that you'll get any sleep." Marcia said. "I know I won't. I'll be too scared to shut my eyes."
  "You weren't earlier." Simon said.
  "We were all together. And I was close to you." Marcia smiled her rare smile.
  Simon stared at her, studying her features.
  "You're really beautiful, you know." he said.
  Marcia looked down for a split second.
  "Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" she edged into the room and glided over to Simon. She slid her hands onto his shoulders.
  "No, you'd better not." Simon said.
  "Why?"
  "You'd just better not. No particular reason."
  "Oh." Marcia moved away from Simon. "OK. Well, you know where I am."
  As she walked along the eerie corridors to her own room, Marcia wondered whether it was a good idea saying to Simon "you know where I am".

*

  Ann couldn't settle. She got up and left her room, and wandered along to Molly's room. But Molly wasn't there.

*

  James couldn't get Veronica out of his head. She had really got to him. He put his dressing gown on and looked in the mirror. Should he go to her room? He would probably never see her again once the filming was over, if they even did any filming after what had happened. It was his only chance. He made his way along the corridors to her room and knocked gently on the door. No answer. He knocked again. Still no answer. Perhaps she was asleep. James thought that he had better leave it and go back to bed. But no. He would never sleep. He opened the door and peeped round. The room was cosily lit. The sheets on the bed were rumpled. Veronica wasn't there.

*

  Molly and Mike were actually in Mike's room. They had both had a good look round Molly's room for any other signs of disturbance, but they found nothing. It seemed only the phone had been touched. Not that Molly would have noticed; it was in exactly the same spot as where she left it. After that, they had gone along to Mike's room to do the same.
  "I wonder if anyone else has had their battery taken." Molly mused.
  "We could go and find out." Mike suggested.
  "Might as well, I suppose." Molly shrugged. "I doubt anyone will be asleep."
  Simon was walking down the corridor as they left Mike's room. They both shrank back against the door as Simon went past. He didn't see them.
  "Wonder where he's going." Mike whispered, pulling his door to.
  "Well there's a bathroom down there. Maybe he's going there." Molly suggested.
  "When he has an en-suite in his room?" Mike said. "I've wondered about him all along. You know, director invites group of people to country house and then bumps them off."
  Molly raised her eyebrows.
  "Well, it's possible." Mike said. "After all, who turned up on the scene almost right away when that pan almost landed on Marcia's head? If he had rigged it to fall somehow he would have to be near in case he had to finish her off and then to move her body!"
  Molly must have looked panicky.
  "Come on." Mike took Molly's hand.
  Molly couldn't help herself. She knew full well that she could be kissing a murderer as his lips touched hers, but she did it anyway.

*

  Marcia was hungry. She sat up in bed, thinking. Did she have enough courage to go down to the kitchen and get something to eat?

*

  "Strange." Mike looked at Molly. "Where the hell is Ann?"
  They closed Ann's door and looked at each other.
  "Maybe she went along to see someone else." Molly said. "We know Simon isn't in his room, let's try James."
  No luck there either.
  "Wonder if he went to see Veronica." Mike suggested. "He's been gazing at her all night."
  Veronica was still not in her room.
  "Christ, where is everyone?" Molly said. "I'm scared, Mike. Why are they all missing?"
  "Don't be scared." Mike said. "We'll stick together. Come on. We're sure to find someone in a minute."
  David appeared to be asleep when they looked round his door.
  "Best leave him." Mike whispered. "I know he had bad pains in his head earlier. If he's gone to sleep he won't want waking up again."
  "Just go and look at his phone." Molly said.
  Mike crept into the room and over to the chest where David had put his phone. He nodded.
  "There's a battery in it alright." he said, when he crept back to Molly and they closed the door.

*

  Molly was glad to get back to her room. Mike went back with her. They had been to Marcia's room and found her missing. Everyone was missing apart from David, who had appeared to be sleeping.
  Molly flopped on the chaise longue.
  "Why don't you get into bed." Mike suggested.
  His voice was quiet and calming.
  "Oh, I can't." she said. "God, Mike, what's going on in this house? Everyone's terrified of going to bed, and yet when we actually do all go to our rooms, they all wander off somewhere! Where the hell are they all, at this time of night, when there's a killer in here somewhere?"
  Molly couldn't help crying. Mike was at her side in an instant. He put his arms round her and held her close. Molly felt comforted by his warm arms. She actually forgot what she had been thinking about those arms earlier on that night. Mike stroked her hair gently.
  "It's OK." he said. "I'll stay with you. Nothing's going to happen to you."
  Was that the promise of someone who was equally as scared and who wanted to stick together, or was it the promise of a murderer who had the authority and control to say who would be safe and who wouldn't?
  Molly tried to block it all out. She closed her eyes and held on to Mike.

*

  Molly woke up hours later to find herself in bed. She was still dressed, but covered with the thick duvet. She turned over. Mike was sat in the chair across the room, asleep. The light of the candle he had obviously lit flickered on his skin. With his eyes closed and his face relaxed, he looked so calm, so innocent. Molly watched him for a few minutes before he opened his eyes. He smiled his beautiful smile.
  "Hello."
  "You put me to bed." Molly said.
  "Yes."
  "Thank you."
  "You fell asleep on me. I didn't want to just leave you on the chaise longue."
  "You stayed."
  "Of course I stayed." he smiled. "I promised I wouldn't leave you. Remember?"
  "True. You did." Molly smiled. She sat up in bed and pulled the duvet around herself for warmth. Could Mike really be the murderer? Had he slipped out of the room while she was asleep and killed someone else? She wasn't sure that she cared as he came over, sat down on the bed, took hold of her fingers, and kissed her.