Love Lies Bleeding (25 page)

Beard pointed to the two women sitting at the far end of the reception waiting area.

Rafferty recognised Stephanie's French
au pair,
Michelle Ginôt, and Felicity's plump champion, Sandrine Agnew. They hadn't noticed him enter and with their heads close together, whispering, they had a distinctly conspiratorial air.

As he studied them, he recalled Llewellyn's
``Cherchez la femme`
comment and wondered whether his sergeant might not have the right idea, but the wrong target.

He walked over to the two women. ‘Mademoiselle Ginôt. Ms Agnew. I believe you wish to see me?’

They both nodded.

‘What can I do for you?’ he asked.

‘I am troubled, inspector,’ Michelle told him. ‘I liked the
pauvre petite
Felicity. I would not wish for her to remain in the prison when the others they are plotting against her.’

‘Plotting? Who precisely is plotting? And what are they plotting?’ he asked. From the look of these two as he had entered reception, they might well have been doing some plotting of their own.

Rafferty noticed that Michelle had used the past tense when she spoke of Felicity Raine; he wondered if she was being prophetic or if her less than perfect English was to blame. Either way, she made it sound as if Felicity had not simply lost her freedom, but her life. Which, he supposed, she, effectively, had.

‘Perhaps we should go up to my office?’ he suggested. He nodded at Llewellyn to accompany him; the women's air of being about to confide something explosive made him want a witness.

Michelle nodded and she and Sandrine Agnew followed Rafferty and Llewellyn up the stairs.

Sandrine Agnew spoke up once they were seated. She was again dressed in a very mannish way, he noted: tailored trousers, practical lace-up shoes and yet another tweedy jacket.

She explained that as she was a good friend of Felicity's, Michelle had asked her to accompany her to the police station to help her explain something she had overheard.

Rafferty, looking at the almost masculine Sandrine Agnew, couldn't help but wonder what the pretty, feminine and totally French Michelle thought of the young woman at her side. But Michelle's manner betrayed her feelings for the plain, large-boned and plump Sandrine and her masculine attire. Beneath the surface gratitude that Sandrine had agreed to accompany her to the police station, Rafferty detected a measure of — what? Pity? Contempt?

After shushing Michelle, who had once again started on about
la pauvre Felicity
, Sandrine Agnew said, ‘Let me explain why we've come to see you, inspector. Michelle told me that she's worried Felicity is being set up. Frankly, so am I.’

‘Go on,’ Rafferty invited.

‘Michelle came to see me this morning — she knows that Felicity and I are friends — and confided that she had overheard Stephanie on the phone late last night. She didn't know to whom Stephanie was talking, but from what she says, I suspect it must have been Mike Raine. Anyway, Michelle told me she hadn't been able to sleep. I think she finds Stephanie's house a little frightening at night,’ she added as an aside. ‘It's large, fairly isolated and very quiet. Far from what she's used to as she comes from a big Parisian family. I gather she's taken to raiding Stephanie's drinks cabinet as a cure for her insomnia.

‘Anyway, I digress. She was just rounding the bottom of the stairs when she heard Stephanie's voice.’

Rafferty nodded. ‘And what did she hear, exactly?’

‘Michelle thought herself quite alone as she crept down the stairs in search of her nightcap. But then she heard Stephanie's laugh. And when she rounded the bottom of the stairs she saw the light in the drawing room. She heard Stephanie quite clearly, she assures me.’

Rafferty sighed quietly to himself as he waited impatiently for this rigmarole to reach some conclusion. He just hoped this revelation of a late-night conversation hadn't been made up by Michelle as a way of getting back at Stephanie for telling her she had been an embarrassment at the barbecue, though, hopefully, the phone records would be able to prove that the conversation had at least taken place. Though how they'd prove that the conversation Michelle was going to quote had done so, particularly if Stephanie and Mike contradicted her, he did not know.

Perhaps Sandrine Agnew heard the sigh, for her plain face reddened and she drew her short, square-built body together, sat further forward on her well-fleshed buttocks and said, ‘I gather Stephanie sounded pleased with herself. As if she'd pulled off some tremendous coup, and with Felicity as the obligatory sacrificial lamb.’

Sandrine's cheeks reddened some more, but this time Rafferty felt the cause was anger that anyone — especially Felicity's stepmother-in-law — should fail to be consumed by grief at Felicity's plight.

Rafferty already suspected that the plain and mannish-looking Sandrine Agnew held something of a torch for Felicity Raine. A love certain to be unrequited, he thought with a fleeting pity. Though clearly Sandrine Agnew wasn't one to lightly give up on a cause, even when it appeared hopeless.

‘Anyway, Stephanie sounded very hyper. Michelle told me she heard her say quite clearly, “Let Felicity take the blame.” Then she laughed and said, “It's not as if, being childless, she's now got anything to lose, unlike us. With Raymond dead, I feel I must grab whatever else I can. Besides, it's plain the police would be glad to have the case cleared up quickly.’”

Rafferty winced. He was sufficiently put out to see that Sandrine Agnew saw no reason to argue with Stephanie Raine's assumption that he felt the necessity to defend himself.

‘Catching the killer is always going to be near the top of the wish list of every policeman investigating a violent, non-accidental death,’ he agreed in a firm voice. ‘But most of us place the capture and conviction of the
right
person in the top spot. We don't get any satisfaction from jailing the innocent.’ He paused. ‘Was that all Stephanie Raine said?’ It didn't seem to amount to much, he thought.

But Sandrine Agnew shook her head. ‘No.’

She pulled a sheet of paper from the pocket of her tweed jacket and held it up close to read. ‘Hang on.’ Her face cleared. ‘Here we are — I made notes so I didn't miss anything. Stephanie went on to say, “And they
do
have her confession. And while she may have retracted it, I'm sure, between us, we can concoct something to encourage them to push on with the murder charge. And then you and I will both be home and dry.’”

Sandrine Agnew sat back and fixed Rafferty with small, near-sighted brown eyes. ‘It's clear to me that Stephanie at least has been plotting to make sure Felicity takes the blame for Raymond's death. Although,’ she was honest enough to admit, ‘from her responses to Mike's replies it seems he's not anything like as keen to plot against Felicity as Stephanie is. Anyway, what are you going to do about it, inspector?’

Rafferty studied her anxious but determined expression and wondered how Sandrine had managed to convince herself that Michelle, with her poor grasp of English, should have understood what Stephanie Raine had said at all, never mind be word-perfect when she recounted its contents to her.

Anxious not to antagonise her and reinforce her belief that the police, once they had charged someone, wouldn't be over-interested in their guilt or otherwise as long as they got a conviction, he explained patiently, ‘First, I want to be sure that Mademoiselle Ginôt is certain about what she heard. Her English—’

‘Her understanding is better than her spoken English,’ Sandrine was quick to reassure him.

That hadn't been Rafferty's experience. But he felt he must attempt to offer some reassurance.

‘I'll make some enquiries,’ he promised. ‘I'll speak to Michael and Stephanie Raine, though I hope you and Michelle appreciate that it's unlikely Mrs Raine will think kindly of Mademoiselle Ginôt when she learns that she not only eavesdropped on her conversation, but then divulged its contents to you, my sergeant and me.’

Michelle immediately demanded of Sandrine that she explain what Rafferty had said, thereby negating Sandrine's claim for the French girl's ability to understand more English than she could speak.

Once she grasped what he had said, Michelle said,
‘Pouf
— and for a second, Rafferty thought she had taken to sexist name-calling out of frustration — but then she added, ‘What do I care for Stephanie and the work that I do
pour elle
? Such jobs are twenty to a euro. The agency they will find me another.’

‘The agency may not find you something else immediately, Mademoiselle Ginôt, especially if Stephanie contacts them and gives you a poor reference.

‘Obviously, as Mademoiselle Ginôt's a witness in this case, I do not want her leaving the country should Mrs Raine ask her to pack her bags,’ Rafferty advised Sandrine Agnew.

‘Don't worry, inspector. It's not a problem. Michelle can always come and stay with me.’

Michelle didn't look too thrilled at the prospect, thought Rafferty. ‘Just as long as we're kept informed of her whereabouts.’

To his surprise, Sandrine Agnew seemed satisfied with his response, for she got up, gathered her bag and Michelle together and said thank you to Rafferty and Llewellyn, and ‘We'll wait to hear from you,’ and left without further ado.

‘What do you make of that, sir- Joseph?’ Llewellyn asked.

Rafferty shrugged. ‘God knows. Though it struck me as unlikely that little Mademoiselle from Armantières, with her less-than-wonderful grasp of the lingo, took in all that late-night conversation and was able to report it to Sandrine Agnew verbatim.’

Llewellyn nodded. ‘Exactly what I thought myself. Didn't you say that the first time you spoke to Mademoiselle Ginôt she got her yesterdays confused with her other days?’

‘Mm. It seems to me that either young Michelle's English is about to put mine to shame or she's been prompted, encouraged and had words put in her mouth by Ms Agnew -presumably she's hoping this evidence will help get Felicity released and that Felicity will be suitably grateful.’

Llewellyn nodded sagely. ‘Love, they say, does the strangest things to a person's ability to reason.’

Aint that the truth, thought Rafferty, whose reasoning ability since Abra had taken off for points west had dipped way below that expected of a detective inspector, as the Super hadn't been slow to tell him.

He had seen more than enough of Stephanie Raine and her determined spite to last him a lifetime, but he supposed he had no choice but to face the music again. He sighed, sure Mrs Raine Senior could be relied upon not only to take umbrage that he had come to question her on the word of her own
au pair,
but, of course, to also deny any conspiracy against Felicity.

‘I suppose we'd better get over there and hear what Madam Stephanie's got to say for herself. We'll speak to Mike Raine afterwards.’ No doubt, he thought, with a similar result.

Stephanie
Raine turned out to have plenty to say for herself, none of it helpful, unfortunately.

‘Of course I deny saying such things. And I shall continue to deny it, as it's not true. What that girl thought she was doing, sneaking about the house in the middle of the night, spying on me—’

‘I believe she suffers from insomnia,’ Rafferty put in on behalf of the absent Michelle, who, he learned, had yet to return. He didn't envy her reception when she did so.

‘Well she can suffer from insomnia elsewhere from now on. I'll not tolerate someone spying on me in my own home and then lying about what I said, as I shall tell her the minute she returns.’

Just then, the front door banged. Stephanie immediately strode to the drawing-room door. ‘So it's you. Come in here this instant.’

A sulky-looking Michelle trailed into the room after Stephanie.

After haranguing the unfortunate Michelle for five minutes, Stephanie told her she could take her things and leave. ‘And you needn't expect a reference from me. I'll explain exactly why to that agency when I speak to them.’ Stephanie stared hard at Michelle, who had made no move. ‘Well? What are you waiting for? I told you to pack. I meant now, not tomorrow or next week. I want you out of my home immediately since you've proved you can't be trusted.’

After directing a vituperative volley of what sounded like French swear words at Stephanie, Michelle turned on her heel and flung out of the room.

After that, they made their excuses and left, though as they were about to turn out of the drive, Rafferty said, ‘Hang on. I've just remembered a couple of things I think Stephanie and Michelle might be able to provide answers to. In private,’ he added as Llewellyn made to follow him. ‘I think I'm more likely to get truthful answers if there aren't any witnesses. Wait for me here. I doubt it will take long.’

After
questioning Stephanie again about the barbecue she had held in July, he went looking for Michelle. He found her in her flat over the garage. It took only a few minutes to get the truth out of her, less to retrieve the expensive trinket she admitted stealing.

Satisfied that his theory was now advancing better than he had dared hope, Rafferty resolved, as he still felt he had some ground to make up on the case-resolution front, to keep his thoughts to himself for a while longer. And even if several more supportive elements had been added to the pattern he had discerned, he was painfully aware that it still lacked that one essential, additional ingredient to round it all off perfectly. So when Llewellyn questioned him on his return to the car, he revealed nothing of his conversation with either Stephanie or Michelle.

Instead, when Llewellyn showed signs of tight-lipped annoyance at Rafferty's uncharacteristic discretion, he changed the subject and said, ‘I wonder if there's much point in speaking to Mike Raine. Stephanie will have got on the blower to him as soon as the front door shut behind us and he'll have his story ready.’

‘Perhaps,’ was Llewellyn's stiff comment. ‘Perhaps not. But as Ms Agnew said she thought he wasn't as ready to fall in with Stephanie Raine's plans as she might like, it's possible he'll share what he knows.’

‘Unlike some people’ was the implication Rafferty had no difficulty in discerning behind Llewellyn's frosty demeanour.