Poinsettias and the Perfect Crime Page 5

“Ooo, touchy,” Fergus said, still grinning.

  I shot him a reluctant smile back… one that promised payback. I’d find a way to get even later.

  “Canapé?” a familiar voice said.

  I looked down at the short and stout waiter carrying the tray. All of the waiting staff were wearing ornate masquerade style masks, covered with fake ivy or gold-gilt. However, this one did have a rather odd shape, and a rather odd voice.

  “Deirdre? Is that you?” I asked, almost certain that this waiter was my old friend from the allotment.

  “You’re quite the sleuth, aren’t you? You should really come along to the club one of these days. I heard you’ve been involved in quite a lot of trouble recently.” Deirdre leaned in closer. “You’d fit in perfectly!”

  Deirdre was a member of the Merryfield Murder Mystery Fans book club. I had thought that most of their meetings revolved around discussing their favourite books, with a definite focus on Agatha Christie. Posing as waiters at the Merryfield Ball was not implied in the name of the club.

  “What are you doing dressed as a waiter?” I asked. I was all out of sleuthing.

  “It’s a funny story. We’re in disguise! The whole club is here. You won’t believe…” she started to say and then scurried off with a small squeak of alarm. I watched her go, mystified… until I heard a voice behind me.

  “You’re Diana, aren’t you?” I turned around to discover Cordelia’s boyfriend had snuck up on me. I was reserving judgement as to whether or not I was grateful that Cordelia wasn’t on his arm right now. All I did know was that I wasn’t going to trust him an inch. I still had that vivid memory of Cordelia’s scorching look at the forefront of my mind. I very much doubted I’d be getting through tonight unscathed.

  “And you’re Harrison, Cordelia’s boyfriend. Now we’ve made sure of one another’s identities, I must excuse myself to go to the loo.” It was the best excuse I could think of.

  “I’ll come too,” Harrison said.

  I turned and looked at him, but the man was unflappable. “I don’t think that would be appropriate,” I commented.

  “You just want to avoid speaking to me.”

  I thought about lying, but why did I need to lie? I didn’t owe the man in front of me anything. He’d already shown his true colours by being amused by Cordelia’s taunting of me. “You’re right,” I told him and then turned to walk away.

  The hand on my upper arm was unwelcome, but not entirely unexpected. I should have known that a man of Cordelia’s would be grabby. The question was, why was he intent on grabbing me?

  “I just want to get to know you,” he said, his hazel eyes trying to burrow into my own.

  “Why?” I made it sound every bit as incredulous as I felt. This had to be some strange, twisted ploy of Cordelia’s.

  “You seem like an interesting person. Cordelia really doesn’t like you.” Harrison looked amused by the thought. I silently reevaluated my initial judgement. Perhaps he simply found everything a source of amusement.

  “Really? I had no idea…” I said, still unwilling to play nice.

  “I wanted to make my own mind up, but you’re not making it easy.” He took another step closer, and all of a sudden, he was all up in my personal space. I looked up at his waving hair and those hazel eyes. They seemed far more thoughtful than they’d looked from my place at the bottom of the stairs earlier. I wouldn’t have ever imagined that Cordelia would date someone capable of much thought. Or any thought.

  “I’m not sure what game you’re playing, but I’m not going to be a part of it. If Cordelia has asked you to set me up in some way, you can forget it. I’m just here as a favour to a friend.” A friend who has gone missing right under my nose, I suddenly realised, glancing over to where I’d last seen Fergus and discovering that he, Charlotte, and Samuel, were all missing.

  “Some of us grew up when we left school. I’m not a part of any petty games. I’m just… curious.”

  I looked back at him. “About what?”

  “What did you do to make her hate you? Cordelia won’t tell me.”

  No surprises there, I thought. When the truth of the incident had come out, Cordelia had been slated for being a drama queen. “She was a thorn in my side for years. One day she pushed me too far. I threw vinegar on her and told her it was acid. If she’d been listening to the lesson, she’d have known there was no acid in the classroom.”

  “That sounds pretty cold to me.” Harrison looked impressed - not an expression I was sure I wanted to see paired with what he’d just said.

  “What was cold was how bad my time at school was up until then, courtesy of Cordelia. In case you didn’t already know, she hasn’t changed her spots.” Of that much, I was pretty darn certain.

  “Maybe I don’t know her as well as I thought.” Harrison’s expression changed but now he was looking at me in a different way. What was it with the men here tonight? All of them were acting strangely.

  He gave me one last lingering smile before melting back into the crowd, like he’d never been there.

  “Uh, excuse me!” a voice that made my hairs stand on end said from behind me. “Is it not enough that you’re crashing my party? You’re also making eyes at my boyfriend? I don’t care what my mum says. Get out. Get out now!” Cordelia’s voice was close to hitting crescendo.

  “I’m not interested in your boyfriend or you.” If she thought she could cow me the way she used to, she was sorely mistaken. Some of us had grown up since secondary school.

  “Cordelia, it’s so good to see you again!” Fergus seemed to appear out of nowhere, stepping smoothly in front of me and taking Cordelia’s hand. I couldn’t help raising my eyebrows as I waited for her to ignore him and carry on screaming at me.

  What I didn’t expect was for her to blush and - horror of horrors - actually giggle.

  “Fergus! I missed you. You said you’d come around for coffee. Why is this the first time I’m seeing you? And did you have to bring her?” Even though she was still throwing shade at me, I was surprised again to hear that her anger was more of a growl than the roar it had been.

  “We’re old friends. I didn’t want her to be left on her own tonight. After all, it is Christmas,” Fergus sparkled at my arch-enemy.

  I opened my mouth to tell him what he could do with his pity invite, but he stood on my foot.

  “I suppose it is the season to be charitable.” Cordelia looked down her nose at me before sharing another moment with Fergus… at my expense. “But I can’t forgive her starting on my boyfriend. I knew she was low, but that’s just beyond a dirty trick. I’m going to have to speak to my father about this,” she told Fergus, as if I wasn’t even there.

  “I’ll keep her out of trouble, I promise.” Fergus hadn’t let go of her hand, and Cordelia hadn’t released it either, I noticed. Now who was the one stealing boyfriends?

  “You owe me,” she said to Fergus, making her intentions oh so obvious. I thought I was going to be sick if this carried on too much longer.

  Fortunately for everyone in the vicinity, Cordelia disappeared through the crowd again, only pausing once to throw me a scathing look on her way through.

  I turned to Fergus. “You have got to be kidding. You and Cordelia? You do know what she is like, don’t you?” For all of Fergus’ wild theories, I had believed he was a pretty good judge of character, and I had never thought him to be stupid.

  “You mean vapid and snake-like? I know. But I also know that it is better to keep your enemies close. Just look at the advantage I now have. You’re allowed to stay, aren’t you?” He raised his dark eyebrows at me.

  “I’m pretty sure Cordelia is expecting you to pay for the privilege.”

  Fergus smiled his crooked smile. “She’ll have a long wait ahead of her. I like to play hard to get.”

  “Just ewwwww,” was all I could manage in response to that. It was hardly mature, but neither was anything about this situation.

  “Anyway, the time for idle cha
tter is over. We’ve got work to do.”

  “You never explained why you wanted to come here,” I said, my thoughts finally taken off Cordelia. Fergus was up to something.

  “I’ll have to fill you in as we go. There’s not much time. With you and your feud, someone’s going to notice if we’re gone for too long.” He turned and shook his head at me. “Did you really throw acid at her?”

  “Who told you?” I muttered before frowning. “Of course I didn’t! I mean, it technically was an acid, but not a proper acid.” Could I sound any less scientific right now?

  “Come on. We’re trying to uncover the Wrexton family secret,” Fergus said, taking my hand and pulling me through the crowd with him. I was so surprised I let myself be led and didn’t even take my hand back. I was just starting to remember how nice it was to hold hands with someone - especially a male someone - when the moment ended, and I discovered we were standing in front of Gillian Wrexton. A single glance at Fergus was enough to let me know that he was nervous. I hoped that Gillian Wrexton wasn’t as familiar as I was with his mannerisms, or we were both in a lot of trouble.

  “It’s lovely to see you again, Fergus. I’m so glad you accepted the invitation. I see you invited the flower girl.” Gillian smiled at me. I genuinely saw no malice there, but I didn’t take kindly to being called ‘the flower girl’. For the second time that evening, Fergus stood on my foot.

  “Diana told me she’s always wanted to come to your ball. I thought this year would be the year for it. Time to let bygones be bygones, don’t you think?” Fergus twinkled in the direction of the event organiser.

  She smiled a cool smile back at him. Gillian Wrexton was far more levelheaded than her daughter. “I’m glad you came,” she said, before turning to address me. “I love reading Fergus’ novels. They’re so thrilling and outlandish. I’ve asked Bill to get me his newest one for Christmas,” she said, as if I’d have the faintest idea of what she was talking about.

  “Fergus is very talented when it comes to works of fiction,” was all I could think to say in response. Fergus opened his mouth, but now it was my turn to tread on his foot. Whatever it was that might have got lost in translation between Fergus and Gillian, he really didn’t want to help her translate it when we were about to go hunting for their family secret.

  “Well, enjoy the rest of the evening! You haven’t seen Bill, have you? He’s due to make a toast in ten minutes’ time. He’s probably by the bar.” Gillian sighed, before sweeping off in a breeze of subtle leather-scented perfume and grey satin suit. Even though she was the mother of my nemesis, I couldn’t deny that Gillian Wrexton had style.

  I turned to face Fergus. “Novels? Fiction?”

  He blushed. “A misunderstanding, that’s all. Come on. We don’t have all night.” He pulled on my arm again.

  “You’re not getting out of answering me that easily. I’m not going to forget this,” I told him, delighted that I may finally be getting closer to the truth about what Fergus did for a living.

  My foot slipped on something. I looked down and discovered I’d just trodden in a clump of dirt. There were other clumps elsewhere, too. Someone had walked through the ball wearing dirty shoes. I wondered why I was being scrutinised when there were people who genuinely didn’t understand event etiquette. Fergus tugged on my arm again and we carried on walking. We climbed the stairs to the first floor and made it across the landing unseen. With every step, I felt prickles of apprehension. This was the home of the girl I’d despised for years. I was both horrified and intrigued about what lay beyond.

  “What is it we’re looking for?” I asked. Fergus had avoided sharing the details so far, and I wasn’t fool enough to not realise it was deliberate.

  We kept walking along the corridor with Fergus leading the way. “There’s a theory about a diamond the Wrexton family may have in their possession. It’s a very large and very valuable diamond, but, if you listen to the stories, it’s cursed.”

  “A cursed diamond? I didn’t even know the Wrextons had a diamond. They’re just rich.” I’d lived in Merryfield my entire life and had never heard a whisper of a gem, cursed or otherwise. “Where did you get this ‘theory’ from?”

  Fergus shrugged his shoulders. “I have my sources. I’ve also done my research. Recent events would imply that the family is in possession of a diamond.”

  “Recent events? You mean you heard some kind of gossip?”

  Fergus cleared his throat. “I believe that the diamond was acquired during Victorian times - an era when the ancient Egyptian gold rush was taking place. Do you remember reading about that in history class? So many tombs were uncovered during that time that mummies practically became a commodity for every household. Even parts of mummies were sold off as dinner party curiosities.”

  “History wasn’t really my thing,” I said, thinking back to hours spent in a dusty classroom more focused on the beam of sunlight illuminating dust particles than the droning voice of what had surely been one of the most boring men in all of history - which was ironic, given that it was the subject he’d chosen to teach.

  “It is my belief that around that time the Wrexton family came into possession of the cursed diamond of Ptahkhansekh, one of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs.”

  I looked sideways at Fergus. “Are you sure this isn’t a work of fiction… just like your novels? Perhaps your source likes to make up stories, too.”

  My companion didn’t take the bait. “I believe it is real and potentially really cursed. If this is the diamond that belonged to the pharaoh, it has a lengthy dark history littered with sudden deaths. You’ll have heard of the curse of Tutankhamen, but this diamond is about a hundred times more deadly.”

  I hesitated. “So, why on earth are we looking for it?!”

  “I need to find out if it’s true. If I can prove that there really is a curse, it would change everything. A diamond like that should be tested in case it has some mystical properties. Who knows what influences it might be exerting, even now?”

  “Do you think it could be the reason why Cordelia’s such a brat?” I wasn’t buying it. No diamond could be responsible for her level of brattiness.

  “Probably not,” Fergus acknowledged, “but I do think it’s a powerful object. I just need us to verify its existence before I can approach Gillian about potentially examining it for the curse.”

  “So, that’s why you helped the family out with those theorists who were trespassing on their land.” I paused as a thought suddenly occurred to me. “Fergus… was there genuinely a theory about something buried on the Wrextons property, or did you set the whole thing up?” I did not have a huge amount of faith in Fergus’ morals - especially when it came to getting his hands on something he believed would prove him right.

  “Who really knows what motivates these treasure hunters? The promise of treasure, or a well-placed bribe…” He cleared his throat. “I think we’re getting close. The room on the right looks like the kind of place you’d hide a safe. Just look… the door is new. It’s a fire door and it’s been reinforced. It’s probably connected to the burglar alarm, so that if anyone breaks-in to the property, the whole room will lockdown Probably trapping the burglars inside.”

  “That won’t happen to us, will it?” My relationship with the Wrextons was hardly healthy. I could only imagine the fire and fury that would be flung at me if I were caught stealing from them. All these years I’d felt I’d been justified in my actions against Cordelia, I’d been the good guy, but this could change all of that.

  “No, the system won’t be hooked up. That’s why I picked tonight to come here. Everyone is busy downstairs and there are no active alarms. We’ll slip in, I’ll jimmy open the safe, and then we’ll be out again. No one will ever know that we were here.”

  “You’re going to break into the safe?!” I looked at Fergus. “Do you even know how?”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he said, doing his best to look mysterious as he pushed ope
n the door and walked into the study.

  I followed and nearly collided with him when he suddenly stopped moving.

  “The good news is, I found the safe,” he said, lifting a finger and pointing.

  I stepped to the side of him and took in the startling scene laid out before me.

  The door to the safe was ajar, revealing the empty interior. In front of the safe, lying on the floor with a dagger sticking out of his chest, was Bill Wrexton.

  I didn’t have to ask for the bad news.

  6

  A Nasty Proposal

  “I’m no scientist, but I’d say he’s dead,” Fergus said, breaking the silence.

  I walked over to the body and checked his pulse, just in case. Judging by the pool of blood that stained his dress shirt and his glassy stare, I didn’t think I was going to find one.

  “Dead,” I confirmed a moment later.

  I stood up and together we looked from the empty safe to the man lying on the floor.

  “It looks like someone forced him to open the safe and then killed him. Or perhaps he found them breaking-in and there was a struggle,” Fergus said.

  I found that I was inclined to agree. There were bits and pieces strewn all over the room that were indicative of some kind of fight taking place. The knife, left embedded in Bill Wrexton’s chest, looked professional. It was a sleek and deadly thing with a Micarta handle that had clearly been designed for use in ‘self defence’. Someone had either planned this murder, or they’d been well-prepared to act, in case of resistance. Next to the body was a ball point pen, presumably swept from a desk. More interestingly, there were the traces of blue ink on Bill Wrexton’s outstretched hand… like he’d been writing before he died. I looked over on the desk and discovered a small jotter pad. One word had been scrawled on the top of the pad, the biro running right off the page, as if the writer had managed one last word before falling to the ground.

  Elephas

  I stared at the word, trying to make some sense of it. Was it the name of the person who attacked him? Was it some secret message that would mean something to someone? Or did it have something to do with the curse on the diamond, which may or may not exist and may or may not have been stolen?