“And Donna,” says Elizabeth, gesturing to the blue file. “Do call me if your bedtime reading gets complicated.”
“Thank you, Elizabeth,” says Donna. “I’m sure I’ll struggle through.”
“Here, you should probably have my number too,” says Elizabeth, and hands Chris her card. “We’ll have lots to chat about in the weeks ahead. Thank you for coming to see us; we do love visitors.”
Donna smiles as Chris virtually bows to Elizabeth and Joyce.
“It really was an education,” says Joyce with a smile. “And you should probably let Donna drive, DCI Hudson. There was an awful lot of vodka in those cakes.”
33.
Elizabeth had come straight over to Willows after meeting with the police. She makes sure that Penny has a wash and a set once a week. Anthony, the hairdresser, comes to Willows at the end of his appointments, and always insists on doing it for free.
One day, if Anthony ever gets into any sort of trouble, or ever needs help, he will discover how grateful Elizabeth is for this kindness.
“Mafia, I heard,” he says, gently running a soaped sponge through Penny’s hair. “Tony Curran owed them money, so they cut off his fingers and killed him.”
“That’s an interesting theory,” says Elizabeth. She has a hand cupped under Penny’s neck, and lifts her head. “And how did the Mafia get into the house?”
“Shot their way in, I suppose,” says Anthony.
“Without leaving bullet holes?” asks Elizabeth. Penny’s shampoo smells of rose and jasmine, and Elizabeth buys it at the shop on-site. They stopped selling it for a while, but Elizabeth paid them a visit, and they changed their mind.
“Well, that’s the Mafia for you, Elizabeth,” says Anthony.
“And without tripping any alarms, Anthony?” says John Gray, from his usual chair.
“Have you seenGoodfellas, John?” says Anthony.
“If that’s a film then I won’t have,” says John.
“There you are then,” says Anthony. He is now combing Penny’s hair. “You’re going to need a little trim next week, Penny, darling. Get you disco-ready.”
“No bullet holes, Anthony,” says Elizabeth. “No alarms, nothing broken, no sign of a struggle. What does that suggest to you?”
“Triads?” Anthony is unplugging his curling tongs. “One of these days I’m going to unplug you by mistake, Penny.”
“As Penny would be the first to tell you,” says Elizabeth, “it suggests that he let his killer in. So it must have been someone he knew.”
“Oh, I love that,” says Anthony. “Someone he knew. Of course. You ever killed someone, Elizabeth?”
She shrugs.
“I can just picture it,” he says, putting on his jacket. “There you go, Penny. I’d kiss you, but not with John in the room. Look at those forearms.”
Elizabeth stands and hugs him. “Thank you, darling.”
“She looks gorgeous,” says Anthony. “If I say so myself. See you next week, Elizabeth. Bye, Penny, bye, handsome John.”
“Obliged, Anthony,” says John.
As Anthony leaves, Elizabeth sits by Penny again. “Here’s another thing, though, Pen. They took young Jason out for a photo afterward. I know he gets that a lot, but something didn’t seem right. It felt off. Why go outside? Joyce has one of those big picture windows. You know, the ones in Wordsworth? That would be a lovely photo.”
Mentioning Joyce again. Easier every time.
“Do you think they were asking Jason about something? Are we missing something? We passed him on the stairs coming back up, and he was his usual charming self, but who knows?”
Elizabeth sips some water and feels grateful. Then she feels guilty for feeling grateful. Then she feels weak for feeling guilty. So she carries on talking to Penny. To Penny, or to herself? Who knew?
