Murder at the Villa Byzantine

36

I Confess

‘A folie a deux, eh?’ Lady Grylls suggested hopefully.

‘No, no, darling. They weren’t in it together,’ said Payne. ‘Nothing like Laurent and Therese Raquin or the Honeymoon Killers or Bonnie and Clyde or the Macbeths. Poor Morland had no idea what his teenage inamorata had done. When enlightenment finally came – when he realized that she had killed not only once but twice – he broke down and wept like a child.’

It was exactly three weeks later, another grey afternoon, and he and Antonia sat in Lady Grylls’ drawing room in St John’s Wood, having tea.

‘Stella signed her death warrant the moment she told Moon about Tancred Vane’s samurai sword,’ said Antonia. ‘She described the sword in some detail. She knew Moon would be interested. Stella had been anxious to “bond” with her daughter, you see.’

‘Moon decided she simply had to have the sword,’ said Payne. ‘Stella objected at first, saying it would be impossible to steal it and carry it back. Moon insisted that nothing could be easier. They would do it together.’

‘How do you know all this?’ Lady Grylls scowled. ‘Of course you are simply frantic with brains, but you couldn’t have deduced everything – could you?’

‘No, darling. We didn’t deduce everything. The girl confessed. The girl seems rather proud of what she has done. She is completely without remorse. A callous attention-seeking narcissist.’ Payne shook his head. ‘Once they arrested and handcuffed her, there was no stopping her. She wanted everybody to know what she had done.’

‘The police had been keeping an eye on her and they got her as she was driving at breakneck speed towards a scrapyard somewhere in East London,’ said Antonia. ‘Her intention, on her own admission, was to strip the car of its plates and abandon it there.’

‘Inspector Davidson let us listen to a recording of her recital – as a token of his gratitude.’

‘He did? Highly irregular,’ Lady Grylls said with relish.

‘Well, he was jolly grateful. It was Antonia, after all, who alerted him to some of the facts and she also gave him an idea or two.’ Payne reached out and patted his wife’s hand across the tea-table.

‘Tell me about the day of the murder.’ Lady Grylls held up her cup. ‘What happened exactly?’

‘Moon drove her mother to the Villa Byzantine in James Morland’s old car. Stella knew Vane wouldn’t be in. He had told her he was going to the British Library. She had managed to pinch one of the front door keys. She sat in the back of the car. Morland’s old jacket was lying on the seat beside her. At some point she seemed to pick up the jacket. Moon saw her bury her face in it.’

‘That’s how Stella found Moon’s letters?’

‘Yes. They were in a pocket of Morland’s jacket. Apparently they were rather frank love letters. Short – but uninhibited. There were about ten of them, I think the girl said. Morland had kept them all, stupid old fool.’

‘He is only a couple of years older than you,’ Antonia said.

‘He looks like the Ancient of Days compared to me.’ Payne waved a breezy hand. ‘Stella recognized her daughter’s handwriting at once. By the time the car drew to a halt outside the Villa Byzantine, she had worked herself up into a dreadful state.’

‘At first she said nothing – she must have been speechless with shock.’

‘Moon described her mother as looking like a “dazed zombie”. Stella unlocked the front door and they went into the drawing room,’ Payne went on. ‘Moon took the sword off the wall and unsheathed it. She delivered a couple of blows, decapitating one of Vane’s golden chrysanthemums as well as a curtain tassel. Clearly Morland was exaggerating her wrist injury!’

‘It was then that Stella started screaming,’ Antonia said, taking up the tale. ‘She stood in front of the fireplace waving the letters in the air like a flag. She demanded an explanation. Had Moon been sleeping with James? Were they really lovers? How long had it been going on?’

‘Moon told her mother to stop shouting, but Stella became even more agitated and vociferous. She said she wanted the whole world to know what kind of daughter she had.’

‘Stella threatened to take drastic measures. She told Moon she intended to go to the police and report James, whom she referred to as a “perverted” type and “disgusting paedophile”. This made Moon laugh. Stella said she would make sure James was put in jail for child abuse.’

‘She had lived in England long enough to know that her allegations would be taken very seriously indeed,’ Payne murmured.

‘Moon explained to her mother, very calmly, or so she claimed, that it was she who had seduced James, not the other way round, after she noticed how he kept staring at her.’

‘Stella called her a “shameless slut”. She said she would take Moon back to Bulgaria.’

‘She threatened to have Moon put in a “reformatory”. These, Moon explained, are special units for delinquent teenagers, notorious for their harsh discipline. Her mother had used that threat before, Moon said, but now it sounded as though she meant it.’

‘That’s when it happened.’ Payne pursed his lips.

‘That’s when the gel-?’ Lady Grylls broke off. ‘Goodness.’

‘Apparently it all happened very fast,’ Payne said. ‘Moon had been holding the sword aloft. She admitted to having smoked a spliff earlier on in the car, so it all felt a bit like a dream. There was a thud as her mother’s head fell on the floor and rolled towards the window. Then she saw her mother’s body fall. Talk of lethal Lolitas!’

‘Some of the blood went on Moon’s clothes, but, as it happened, her brand new clothes were in the boot of the car. Morland had bought them for her,’ Antonia explained. ‘She changed into the new clothes and stuffed the jeans and the jumper she had been wearing into the Top Girl bag. She had worn her black gloves throughout, so she didn’t have to worry about fingerprints. She left the house, got into the car and drove off. She dropped the bag in the river.’

‘She didn’t take the sword with her? After everything?’ Lady Grylls said in some surprise.

‘No. The sword had been contaminated with her mother’s blood. She said she couldn’t bear to touch it ever again. She left the car near the river, smoked another spliff, then wandered round London. She went on the tube where she was eventually picked up by the police.’ Payne frowned. ‘Am I missing anything?’

‘She hadn’t wanted to kill her mother. It simply “happened”. She has already pleaded diminished responsibility. She is very clever,’ Antonia said. ‘It was all her mother’s fault, she insisted. Her mother had no business to threaten her with the reformatory… I hope they keep her in for a very long time.’

‘What about the handkerchief with the initials? MM, which was actually WW?’

‘That, darling, is what I believe experts call a non-clue. Isn’t that so?’ Payne turned to Antonia, who shrugged. ‘The handkerchief was important in that it alerted us to Winifred’s part in the affair, but, strictly speaking, it did not constitute a clue.’

‘Stella had a sneezing fit at Melisande’s party. As she had no handkerchief, Winifred lent her hers,’ Antonia explained. ‘It was a silk handkerchief with the initials WW embroidered on it. Stella forgot to return it. She had been using it moments before she was killed. She took it out to wipe her tears, Moon said. She happened to be holding it in her hand when the blow fell. That was how the handkerchief got soaked in blood.’

‘Why did the gel kill Winifred exactly?’ Lady Grylls asked.

‘Winifred was killed in mistake for Melisande,’ Payne said. ‘Stella had told Moon that “Miss Hope” was Melisande in disguise. Moon regarded Melisande as a rival. Melisande had been trying to poison Morland’s mind against her. Morland had complained that Melisande had been ringing him, trying to get him back. Moon admitted she feared Morland might change his mind and go back to Melisande. At one point Morland had expressed misgivings about what he and Moon were doing. Moon said she wanted to make sure Morland stayed with her for ever.’

‘She had been sitting in Morland’s car outside Kinderhook on the morning Winifred set out to destroy the Prince Cyril biography. When she saw “Miss Hope” emerge and hail a cab, she started tailing the cab. She guessed “Miss Hope” was on her way to the Villa Byzantine. She had been looking for an opportunity to kill Melisande, she said.’

‘She also said she meant to make it look as though Tancred Vane was the killer. She has an extremely inflated opinion of her intelligence and ingenuity.’ Payne shook his head. ‘She sounded impossibly smug on that tape.’

‘Hubris leads to Nemesis,’ Lady Grylls said sententiously.

‘Yes, quite. By creating a second mayhem at the Villa Byzantine, the girl had also hoped to distract the police’s attention away from her… She left some notes for the police to find – she is manipulative – uncharacteristic emotional outpourings, quite convincing, apparently – she was innocent, but no one believed her – she related a childhood memory – some rigmarole about seeing a roe deer once and how it made her want to cry.’

‘I suppose she is being assessed by all sorts of loony doctors?’ Lady Grylls said.

‘Well, yes. She likes that.’

‘Do they really believe they’ll be able to straighten out the kinks in her brain? More tea, Antonia?’ Lady Grylls picked up the teapot. ‘What’s happening to Morland?’

‘He is in a bad state. Looks a shadow of his former self. Emaciated – grey-skinned – wild staring eyes – brings to mind one of those warning posters the Department of Health releases every now and then. His sister Julia appears to have taken complete control of his affairs.’ Payne paused. ‘We caught a glimpse of the two of them going into the police station the other day. Julia is the unflappable kind. He had a stick and he was leaning on her arm. She has managed to get him a first-class defence lawyer.’

‘Did Julia know what was going on?’

‘She guessed,’ Antonia said. ‘Apparently, like me, she went to the Corrida Hotel herself and made inquiries. It had occurred to her there was something not quite fatherly about the way her brother kept looking at Moon.’

‘Morland continues to deny that he and Moon were having an affair,’ said Major Payne. ‘The girl, on the other hand, has been eager to provide all sorts of embarrassing details – but everybody agrees she is a compulsive liar as well as a dangerous attention-seeker. That, I imagine, would be the line of the defence lawyer, so Morland might get away with it.’

‘What about the actress woman? She is not dead, is she?’

‘No. It seems Melisande has recovered from her breakdown and is now working on a one-woman show called Lizzie. She says she’s finding the work therapeutic.’

‘I see. An autobiographical kind of show?’

‘No, darling. It’s about the life and times of Lizzie Borden, the axe murderess. By an odd coincidence Tancred Vane has started writing a book about Lizzie Borden. It is quite a departure for him, but he and Melisande have been paying each other visits and comparing notes, so romance may be in the air.’

Lady Grylls nodded. ‘Another extraordinary affair – and one more feather in your collective cap. I’ve ceased to be amazed. Don’t you ever get sick of sleuthing? No, of course not. Pointless kind of question. I expect you relished the symmetry, my dear?’ Lady Grylls turned to Antonia. ‘Two terribly obsessive love affairs, so intricately interwoven? I bet it appealed to your – what do they call it? Sense of form?’

Antonia admitted that the case had indeed appealed to her sense of form.