The Strangling on the Stage Read online

‘No. Did have. When I was married.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Yes. Divorced – what? – three years ago.’

  ‘Children?’

  ‘Two. I don’t see them as much as I should. My wife – ex-wife – is not very cooperative about access.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ And Jude could see the appeal of SADOS as a displacement activity for someone like Olly Pinto.

  Carole returned with the coffee pot and recharged their cups. ‘Feeling a bit more confident now, are you, Olly?’ she asked with surprising gentleness.

  ‘Yes, I am a bit. It makes me realize that, if I really do concentrate, I can drill the lines into my head.’

  ‘Exactly.’ When she had refilled the coffee cups, she announced, ‘I think we should go back to Act Two now. You were shakier on that than Act One.’

  ‘All right,’ said Olly, not exactly welcoming his fate but reconciled to it.

  ‘Then we’ll rattle through Act One at the end.’

  So Act Two it was. And the build-up of concentration in the one-to-one setting still seemed to be working. Olly got more of the lines right than he had on any previous occasion. And he didn’t lose his temper when Carole patiently dragged him back out of the realms of paraphrase.

  So there was unaccustomed cheer in the sitting room of High Tor when they’d finished the Act.

  ‘I think,’ said Jude, ‘you should open a bottle now, Carole. Olly’s earned it, and I’m gasping. And he knows Act One pretty well. Lubricated by a glass of wine, he’ll rattle through it, no probs.’

  Carole looked dubious. Her upbringing had set her resolutely against the idea of bringing forward a promised treat. But she acceded to Jude’s suggestion. ‘White wine all right for you, Olly?’

  ‘Lovely. Thank you very much.’

  While Carole was in the kitchen, Jude said, ‘We were very honoured to be included in Elizaveta’s “drinkies thing” on Saturday.’

  ‘So you should be. That really puts you in the charmed circle. But I’d be a bit wary.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch – or a free drink with Elizaveta Dalrymple. The fact that she invited Carole and you means she wants something from you.’

  ‘What could we possibly have that would be of any use to her?’

  ‘Information, usually. Reports from the front line of Devil’s Disciple rehearsals.’

  ‘I thought she was getting those from you.’

  ‘Someone like Elizaveta can never have too many sources.’

  ‘Do you think she’ll actually come to the production?’

  ‘Come to see The Devil’s Disciple? Tricky diplomatic one for her. It’s a SADOS production and, now Freddie’s gone, Elizaveta is the spiritual leader of SADOS. So she should support it. On the other hand, she’s had this big bust-up. She stormed out of the show, apparently because of things Ritchie said to her – though in fact it was because she’d fallen out with Davina.’

  Jude was surprised Olly was shrewd enough to have worked that out. In fact, she was surprised how much more intelligent and congenial he was that evening than he had ever been at rehearsals. When he wasn’t showing off, he was actually rather nice.

  ‘Anyway,’ he resumed, ‘the one thing Elizaveta wouldn’t want to appear is churlish. The thought of a SADOS production going ahead without her seeing it would be anathema to her. Also, she’d want to be there to see how bad the production is.’

  ‘Do you think it’s that bad?’

  ‘No, but Elizaveta would as a matter of principle. She’d also be convinced that she would have played Mrs Dudgeon infinitely better than you’re playing it.’

  Jude grinned. ‘She might be right.’

  ‘Well, who knows? All I do know is that Elizaveta will be there – almost definitely on the first night – and afterwards she’ll say that the production was absolutely mahvellous, and your performance was particularly mahvellous.’

  ‘So, what – she’ll book a ticket for the first night?’

  ‘Oh no, it won’t be as straightforward as that. There’ll be some drama involved. Elizaveta will let it be known through her grapevine that she won’t be going to the show, that it’d be totally against her principles to go. And then a friend of one of her friends will drop out and she’ll be offered the ticket at the last minute and – surprise, surprise – she’ll be there. May not be exactly what’ll happen, but something along those lines.’

  ‘You seem to have a very good understanding of how Elizaveta Dalrymple works.’

  ‘I’ve observed her for a long time. And I know she can be a monster, but she’s also lively and fun, and if I hadn’t got my relationship with Elizaveta and SADOS, I wouldn’t have any social life at all.’

  The confession was so honest, so potentially sad, that Jude couldn’t think of anything to say. She was quite relieved that Carole returned that moment with a bottle of Chilean Chardonnay, three glasses and a bowl of cashew nuts.

  ‘Olly was just telling me about the deviousness of Elizaveta.’

  Carole snorted. ‘Well, I’ve only met her the once, at her “drinkies thing” on Saturday. But I don’t think anything I heard about her would surprise me. She seems the archetypal Queen Bee.’

  Olly nodded. ‘That’s about right.’

  ‘Or,’ suggested Jude, ‘while Freddie was still alive, the archetypal Lady Macbeth.’

  ‘Well, of course, she did play the part for SADOS,’ said Olly.

  ‘I know. I saw the photo at her house.’

  ‘Of course you did.’

  ‘I was just wondering, though,’ Jude went on, ‘whether she ever played Lady Macbeth in real life …?’

  Carole looked across at her neighbour in some confusion. She couldn’t understand the new direction in which the conversation was being taken.

  Olly also looked a little uncomfortable, but for different reasons. ‘Not sure I like this discussion of “The Scottish Play”. Bad luck, you know.’

  Characteristic of an amateur actor to know all the theatrical superstitions, thought Jude. But what she said was, ‘Only bad luck inside a theatre, Olly. Fine everywhere else.’

  ‘Ah.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Maybe we should get started on Act One.’

  But Jude was not to be diverted. ‘I was meaning – did Elizaveta ever act like Lady Macbeth, controlling her husband, getting him to do things she wanted done?’

  Olly Pinto grinned and nodded. ‘All the time. Freddie was nominally in charge of everything at SADOS, but Elizaveta was very definitely “the power behind the throne”.’

  The tension in Carole relaxed. Now she understood where Jude was going with this, she started to watch with interest.

  ‘And how does she use that power now she hasn’t got Freddie to wield it through?’

  ‘You mean how does she get other people to do things for her?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Oh, she just becomes more Elizaveta than ever, really turns it on. She can be extremely persuasive. I mean, this business about whether or not she attends the Devil’s Disciple first night, I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up somehow being involved in that. I’ll get one of Elizaveta’s “little phone calls”.’

  ‘That’s how she organizes things, is it?’

  ‘Oh yes, still the old-fashioned phone. I get quite a few calls from her, though fortunately she’s taken on board the fact that she can’t ring me at work. God knows what she’d be like if she ever started using email or texts.’

  ‘And has Elizaveta ever asked you to do something you didn’t want to do?’

  ‘All the time.’ Olly grinned ruefully. ‘Mind you, I usually end up doing it. As I said, she can be very persuasive.’

  Jude and Carole exchanged a look and there was instant understanding between them. As a result, it was Carole who said, ‘We talked to Gordon Blaine after we left after Elizaveta’s “drinkies thing” on Saturday.’

  ‘Oh yes?’

  ‘I gave him a lift. His car had broken down
.’

  ‘God, not again. I must say, for the engineering genius Gordon always claims himself to be, a surprising number of his projects fail to function.’

  ‘But his gallows functioned,’ said Carole. ‘Almost too well.’

  ‘Yes,’ Olly agreed soberly.

  ‘On Saturday he was talking to us about a previous “drinkies thing” of Elizaveta’s. The one the night before Ritchie Good died.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘And he said he’d described to everyone exactly how his gallows were going to work.’

  ‘I remember that. Elizaveta was very intrigued – again regretting that she wouldn’t be at the next day’s rehearsal and so miss the demonstration. She was quite incapable of being “hands off” with anything to do with SADOS.’

  ‘And Gordon described how easily the noose could be switched, did he?’

  ‘Certainly did.’

  ‘So did Elizaveta make any comment on that?’

  ‘Only a joking comment.’

  ‘What?’ asked Carole sharply.

  ‘She said, “So if one wanted to get rid of a member of the Devil’s Disciple company one would have the means readily to hand.”’

  ‘And that was a joke?’

  ‘Well, I assumed so at the time,’ replied Olly, starting to look a little uncomfortable.

  ‘Did she say anything else?’ asked Jude.

  ‘Yes. She said, “I wouldn’t be at all upset if someone were to engineer a little accident between Ritchie Good and those gallows.”’

  ‘Did she?’ said Carole.

  ‘Yes, but I mean, it was a joke. At least, everyone laughed. Elizaveta had been bad-mouthing Ritchie all evening, in her customary very bitchy, funny way. What she said about the gallows just continued in the same vein. Which was why we all laughed.’

  ‘And you don’t think anyone took it seriously?’ asked Carole.

  ‘Oh God, no.’

  ‘“Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?”’ murmured Carole.

  ‘I’m sorry? What on earth are you talking about?’

  ‘It’s what King Henry II said about Thomas à Beckett. And some listening knights thought they saw a way of getting into the King’s good books, so they went straight down to Canterbury and murdered Beckett.’

  ‘Are you suggesting that’s what Elizaveta was doing? She hoped someone would pick up the hint, swap the nooses on the gallows and cause Ritchie’s death?’

  ‘It’s a possibility, wouldn’t you say?’

  ‘It’s a possibility in one of those stage thrillers SADOS used to keep doing. I wouldn’t have said it was a possibility in real life.’

  Carole shrugged. ‘Stranger things have happened.’

  Olly let out a chuckle which stopped halfway. Then he looked anxiously from one woman to the other. ‘You’re not suggesting I followed through Elizaveta’s suggestion, are you?’

  ‘Well, you weren’t around in the Cricketers after the rehearsal ended. Davina went back to St Mary’s Hall to find you.’

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘And,’ Jude chipped in, ‘you did benefit quite directly from Ritchie’s death. No other way you’d have got the part of Dick Dudgeon, was there?’

  Again Olly Pinto looked from one to the other. Then, with considerable dignity, he said, ‘Well, I can assure you I did not do what you’re suggesting. I’ve allowed myself over the years to be manipulated in many ways by Elizaveta, and I’ve been persuaded into doing a good few things that I didn’t want to do because of pressure from her, but I would never do anything criminal.’

  ‘But do you think it’s possible,’ Carole persisted, ‘that Elizaveta did plant the idea of switching the nooses, in the hope that someone, wishing to curry favour with her, might act on the suggestion?’

  ‘The thought hadn’t occurred to me but, though it seems pretty unlikely, I wouldn’t put it past her. Elizaveta likes sort of giving tests to her supporters, always threatening them with the ultimate sanction – the withdrawal of her patronage.’

  ‘So, Olly, who do you think might have wanted to curry favour that much?’

  He was silent for a moment, then said, ‘I don’t think it would be one of the people who’s been part of Elizaveta’s circle for a long time. We’re all fond of her and want to keep in her good books, but we’re also quite realistic about her. We know she can be a bit of a monster, so we take quite a lot of what she says with a pinch of salt.’

  ‘So one of the more recent additions to the charmed circle …?’

  ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Well,’ Olly replied slowly, ‘the newest regular – and indeed the one who seems most eager to please – is Storm Lavelle.’

  TWENTY-NINE

  Jude rang Storm that evening, but got no reply from either her landline or the mobile. She left a message on each, calming herself so as not to sound alarmist and asking Storm to ring her back.

  The reply came the next morning, the Tuesday, just as Jude was washing up her breakfast things. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Oh, it’s Storm, returning your call. What is it? Have you got transport problems for rehearsal tonight, because I’ll happily give you a lift.’

  ‘No, it’s not that.’ Storm sounded so cheerful, so full of life, that Jude found it really difficult to bring up the subject she wanted to discuss. ‘Actually, it’s in relation to you and Ritchie Good.’

  ‘Oh?’ The caller’s tone changed instantly, from open and enthusiastic to crabby and suspicious.

  ‘And it also concerns Elizaveta Dalrymple.’

  The call was instantly ended. Jude tried ringing back straight away, but the mobile had been switched off. And calls to the landline switched straight through to the answering machine.

  Jude didn’t finish tidying up breakfast. She went straight round to High Tor.

  The two neighbours quickly agreed that it was time to confront Elizaveta Dalrymple. ‘There was no way she could have done it herself,’ said Carole, ‘but if she set up Storm …’

  ‘I’m still finding it difficult to cast Storm in that role.’

  ‘Maybe, but that’s just because she’s a friend.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’

  ‘And from all the encounters with murderers you’ve had, you should know by now that appearances are very rarely other than deceptive.’

  ‘I know all that too.’

  ‘Come on,’ said Carole brusquely, ‘I think you should ring Elizaveta and find out when we can see her.’

  ‘Why me?’

  ‘Because you know her better than I do.’

  It was only when she had dialled the number that Jude realized that the two of them had spent almost exactly the same amount of time in Elizaveta Dalrymple’s company. Still, there were times when arguing with Carole just wasn’t worth the effort.

  The late April weather, particularly benign that morning and with a promise of summer, had brought a surprising influx of tourists to Smalting. All the parking on the road facing the sea was taken and Carole was annoyed to have to pay at the small car park at the end of Elizaveta’s road.

  ‘Will we be out within the hour?’ she asked as she took her change purse out of her neat and nearly empty handbag.

  ‘I’d pay for two,’ said Jude. ‘Never know how long something like this’ll take.’

  Huffily Carole paid for the requisite ticket, placed it prominently on the dashboard and locked the car. The two women were both rather tense as they walked along.

  ‘I wonder if she’ll be on her own …’ Jude mused.

  ‘Why shouldn’t she be? Did she say there was anyone with her when you rang?’

  ‘No, she didn’t. But I’ll bet from the moment I put the phone down she’s been ringing round all her cronies to tell them about our visit.’

  ‘Do you think so?’

  ‘I’m sure so. Maybe some of them will have rushed round to give her support.’

  ‘You don’t think any of them will be armed, do you?’ asked Carole.
r />   Jude giggled. ‘No, I don’t think any of them will be armed.’

  The doorbell was answered promptly. Dressed in another ample kaftan, Elizaveta once again led them to the upstairs sitting room. Once again they took in the memorabilia of past SADOS triumphs on the walls. Jude looked particularly at the ‘canvas effect’ print of the Macbeths.

  The beauty of the day meant that the view over Smalting Beach was better than ever. One of the high windows was raised a little to let in a soft, salty breeze. On the sand they could see parents and grandparents playing with pre-school-age children. Both Carole and Jude found themselves instinctively looking over towards the rows of beach huts and remembering a previous investigation that had focused on one of them.

  Elizaveta sat them down. They refused her offer of coffee and so she sat facing them. Her chair had pretensions to being a throne. There was another identical one in the room. Presumably ‘His’ and ‘Hers’ when Freddie had been alive. Elizaveta looked as if she expected some major confrontation, and it was a prospect that excited rather than frightened her.

  ‘So,’ she said rather grandly, ‘to what do I owe the honour of your visit?’

  They hadn’t planned any particular approach, so Carole decided to open the proceedings. ‘We’re here to talk about Ritchie Good’s death.’

  ‘Are you really?’ Elizaveta let out a long-suffering sigh. ‘If you were listening when you were here on Saturday, you should have realized I do not particularly wish to talk about Ritchie Good.’

  ‘But I think we have to talk about him.’

  ‘Do you? I must say I think it’s a bit rich that I should be being told what to talk about by a mere prompter.’

  ‘The fact is,’ said Jude, ‘that we are not convinced the Ritchie Good’s death was an accident.’

  ‘I imagine that is a subject on which there has been a great deal of fevered conjecture amongst the SADOS members. Now I’m no longer with the society, I cannot obviously—’

  ‘Oh, come on, Elizaveta, you get reports from your personal grapevine about everything that goes on there.’

  ‘Perhaps I do. But I still can’t see how the accidental or non-accidental death of Ritchie Good has anything to do with me.’

  ‘You can’t deny,’ said Carole, ‘that his death suited you very well.’