Ivy looks thoughtful. ‘I can find out. Gemma mentioned he’s renting somewhere from a friend.’
‘OK,’ Teddy nods. ‘That’s good.’ She looks down, her expression serious. ‘Right, firstly, I think we need to do some surveillance. Although, Ivy, it might be a good idea to put some distance between yourself and Gemma for now. We’re unlikely to be suspects if none of us have any connection to the man, but it would still be better to give her some space.’
Ivy nods and Teddy looks around the group. ‘We need to make a plan. Brainstorm some ideas. Decide where andwhen.’ She keeps nodding and Paula finds herself nodding along, then stops. What’s happening right now? Teddy’s still talking but her voice seems faraway. ‘What do we know about planning a murder? What do we need to watch out for? How do most people get caught?’
‘DNA!’ Ivy interjects, wild-eyed. ‘We need to be careful about DNA.’
Teddy nods. ‘Right. I guess that’s a good place to start. Ideally we would do this somewhere that has a lot of DNA from strangers. That way, if we leave any traces, there will be too much of it around to locate us.’ She looks blank. ‘What else?’
‘Disposing of the body?’ Audrey offers, and Paula thinks how odd it is to be able to see her neck, though it’s a very nice neck. And what an odd wordneckis.
‘Ideally we would get rid of it.’ Teddy looks thoughtful, then smiles dryly. ‘I know better than most people that no body means no investigation. Did you know around six hundred thousand people go missing in the US every year?’
Audrey snorts. ‘I should’ve shipped Harold’s body off to the States. That would’ve stumped Columbo!’
Paula’s stomach flips. ‘I should think a lot of people get caught because the police are already familiar with them. So maybe Audrey should stay away from this completely? With a police officer watching her every move? I know I said it before but maybe none of us should be—’
Teddy interrupts, fixing Ivy with a determined stare and ignoring Paula’s fearful babbling. ‘The best way to avoid a murder investigation would be to make it look like it wasn’t a murder.’ She leans closer. ‘Is this Dominic guy a drug user? He could overdose or something.’
Ivy shakes her head. ‘I don’t think so. Gemma says he drinks a lot, but I don’t think he does anything harder than that. I don’t know for sure though.’
‘That’s where the surveillance comes in.’ Teddy nods.
‘I could ask her?’ Ivy offers and Teddy shakes her head.
‘No, don’t ask Gemma anything else about him for now. We don’t want to raise any suspicions.’
‘You know . . .’ Audrey looks excited. ‘I once read that the best getaway vehicle to escape a crime is a bike! I’ve got a lovely bike!’
Paula opens her mouth again to object – especially about the cycling part, murder is bad enough, for goodness’ sake – but is interrupted by a loud buzzing. They all jump, then Teddy laughs.
‘It’s my front door,’ she says, standing up.
‘Don’t answer it!’ Paula says, her voice full of terror.
‘Why?’ Teddy looks puzzled.
‘What if it’s him – Dominic Shipman? Or Columbo? Or maybe the entirety of the police force? Maybe they heard us? Seb always says our phones are listening to us and I have been getting an awful lot of targeted ads about visiting the Austrian Alps ever since John’s car crash.’
Audrey cackles that throaty cackle, throwing an easy arm around Paula. ‘God, it’s times like this I wish everyone still smoked. That would soon relax you, my darling.’
Teddy pats her on the shoulder gently. ‘It’s not the police, babe. Chill out.’ She throws her sunglasses onto the table with abandon and disappears back inside the apartment.
Ivy leans closer, resting a hand lightly on Paula’s arm. ‘Are you OK?’ she says in a low voice.
Paula nods slowly. ‘Just a little bit on edge, I suppose.’
Ivy cocks her head. ‘Have you been getting any more strange messages? Y’know, like that one at the car showroom, asking for money?’
She hesitates, wondering how much to share. Yes, there have been more odd texts from unknown numbers. But what about the rest of it? Should she tell Ivy about the men – the loan sharks who haunt her thoughts? How she lies awake at night wondering if they’re about to turn up at her door? How she’s been stashing cash every day, feeling increasingly helpless and frightened as it amounts to nowhere near fifty thousand pounds? Should she tell Ivy about the phone calls from breathy no ones who hang up after a few seconds? And those texts, all asking for money.
Apart from the last one. That last one . . . was different.
If she were braver, she’d message back telling them off. Maybe she’d even call the number to tell them to stop. If she didn’t have a bunch of murderer friends and loan sharks on her tail, she might’ve even considered calling the police to report it.
At last she nods gloomily and Ivy looks stricken.
‘That’s horrible,’ she says with sympathy, her eyes wide. There is something in her expression, and Paula regards her quizzically. After a moment, Ivy leans closer, placing a smooth little hand on Paula’s gnarled old fingers. Did she ever have young hands like Ivy’s? ‘Um, Paula, have you been online much at all? I wondered if you’ve seen—’
