The Face That Must Die

Chapter XIII

Just as Cathy reached the landing, the door opened. Light leapt out at her. Her hand jerked; a potato jumped out of her shopping bag and rolled downstairs, loud as a severed head in an absurd horror film. It seemed no louder than her heart, for she’d thought for a moment that it was Mr Craig’s door that had opened.

“ I didn’t mean to startle you,” Fanny said. “I’m sorry.”

“ That’s all right, Fanny. I’m just being stupid.”

“ No, you aren’t. I feel the same way about the house now.”

Then for God’s sake let her keep it to herself. Cathy groped about the dim half-landing for the potato, averting her gaze from the wall at the foot of the stairs. That was stupid too – there was nothing to see. She would be all right so long as she didn’t think about it.

Fanny stood as though awaiting the password for the stairs. Cathy made to hurry by; she didn’t want to talk just now – not about that, anyway. But Fanny said “Do you want a coffee?”

“ I’d better not, thanks. Peter will be home soon.” She couldn’t think of a better excuse.

“ Come in for just a little while. There’s something I’ve got to talk about.”

Cathy sidled towards the top staircase, to make her next refusal easier. Then she saw that Fanny’s wardrobe was open. It looked empty, apart from the flowered overalls Fanny often wore when painting. Clothes gathered in a suitcase on the floor. “You aren’t moving, are you?” Cathy demanded, dismayed.

Fanny stepped back into her room, so that Cathy had to follow her for a reply. “No, but I’ve got to get away for a while. Some friends have invited me.”

“ When are you going?” Cathy was taken aback by her own wistfulness.

“ The day after tomorrow.”

“ But your exhibition won’t be over then, will it?”

“ It’ll have to look after itself. I’ve got to go, Cathy.” She seemed almost to be apologising for leaving her in the house. “I haven’t been able to paint since. I’ll be all right once I’ve been away.” As though to emphasise her own restraint she said “Mr Harty’s moving, you know.”

On Friday night he had been waiting in the hall when Cathy and Peter had come home. He’d seemed almost to blame them and the other tenants for having left him alone in the house to deal with the situation. He had been in his toilet when he’d heard scuffling in the hall and had thought a drunk had got in. When he’d looked out at last he hadn’t recognised the man propped against the dim wall. He’d called the police to tell them that a drunk had passed out. Only when they’d lifted the slumped head -

“ Are you sure you wouldn’t like a cup of coffee?” Fanny said.

“ No, really. What did you want?” Cathy wished she didn’t sound so irritable.

Fanny glanced at her unfinished painting of people in a gallery. She tidied a dress which lolled from her suitcase, neck gaping. Then she seemed to run out of distractions. “You know that Roy – ” She faltered, perhaps at having to speak his name. “Did you know that someone was trying to drive him out of the house?”

Of course Cathy didn’t – she had hardly known him. “Why should anyone want to do that?” she demanded.

“ You know he was gay.”

“ We assumed so. You don’t mean they wanted him out because of that?”

“ They must have. They called the police and tried to make out he was a criminal.”

“ God, how disgusting. How can people be like that?” She was growing uneasy: who might the culprit be? “But the police didn’t arrest him,” she said and wished that were reassuring.

“ No, but he was upset, you can imagine. I’m not supposed to tell anyone this, but – he hired a detective.”

“ Oh.” Cathy wasn’t anxious to help the conversation, which seemed more and more threatening.

“ I met him once. He didn’t look like a detective. Of course that helped him do his job.”

Fanny seemed glad to avoid the point too. “What did he look like?” Cathy said to delay further.

“ Like that,” Fanny said, pointing.

From the foreground of the picture of the gallery – insofar as you could speak of a foreground amid the painting’s jokes about perspective – a man’s face gazed. It looked glowingly scrubbed, like a little boy’s before a party. His vividly blue eyes fastened on his audience, scrutinizing them. His thoughts were unreadable.

“ Why, I know him,” Cathy said. “He comes into the library.”

“ Well, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t,” Fanny said. She sounded nervous.

“ No, of course not. He has a limp, doesn’t he?”

“ He puts it on sometimes as a disguise.” They were drifting away from Fanny’s point. She said abruptly “He was sure it was someone living here who wanted Roy out.”

“ That’s terrible.” Cathy felt less outraged than numbed.

“ I know. But do you think that’s the worst of it?”

“ What do you mean?” Vague panic roughened her voice.

“ Oh, I don’t know, Cathy.” Plainly she did, but had been hoping not to have to be specific. “Suppose whoever wanted to get rid of Roy didn’t stop at calling the police? Suppose they – ”

“ Oh, no. I don’t think so, Fanny.” She interrupted quickly: she didn’t want to hear. “Nobody here could have, not that. It isn’t the same sort of thing, is it? Someone who makes anonymous phone calls isn’t going to – to act. It must have been two different people.”

Fanny’s look of doubt forced her to continue. “Don’t you think it must have been someone Mr Craig was involved with who – killed him?” Each phrase struggled not to leave her mouth. “It sounded like a crime of passion, don’t you think so? They do things like that sometimes. I suppose having to be secretive puts a strain on them. Sometimes their emotions must be too much for them. It’s a different world.”

“ I hoped you’d say something like that.” Fanny looked ready to smile. “So you don’t think I should tell the police about the detective?”

She’d reached her point at last, though for a moment it seemed that she’d lurched away. “I don’t see why you should,” Cathy said eventually. “Presumably if he knows anything that might help them, he’ll go to them himself.”

“ Of course he will.” Fanny was smiling, and seemed eager to be active. “Well, I mustn’t keep you. Thanks a lot, Cathy. You’ve made me feel a great deal better.”

Cathy couldn’t return the compliment. She climbed the stairs hastily, before the time-switch overtook her. Her steps sounded isolated; the emptiness of Mr Craig’s room seemed to have affected the house. Which room hid his persecutor? Whose face was a mask?

Peter came home shortly after she did; she heard him go into the main room. She turned down the moussaka on the stove, and followed him. He was sprawled on the bed, reading The Savage Sword of Conan. “Oh, hello,” he said as though faintly surprised to see her but hardly caring.

“ Don’t read for a minute. I want to talk to you.”

“ Oh, Christ. Can’t it wait? I won’t have a chance to read this tomorrow if we’re going to see my parents.”

“ Well, they are your parents.” She sat on the bed and captured his irritable hands. “Just listen,” she said, and told him Fanny’s tale.

As soon as she’d finished, he pulled his hands away. Had he been impatient to do so? He didn’t like her to touch him so often now. Had marriage separated Ben and Celia too? “So what do you want me to do about it?” he said to her story.

“ I’m not sure. What do you think we ought to do?”

“ Nothing. Bugger all, that’s what I think. She just wants you to do something so she doesn’t have to. What are you suggesting, we go to the police?”

She hadn’t considered the notion seriously – but perhaps it might be safest, at that. “Well, no chance,” he said. “There’ve been too many fuzz around the house. You start inviting them up here, just watch them sniff out my dope. They’ve got me paranoid enough.”

“ We ought to start looking for a house of our own.”

“ Sometime. No point until I’ve finished University. Listen,” he said, taking her hands, “don’t get paranoid. We’ll be all right here for another year or so. Nothing else is going to happen. It’s a good house.”

So he did know how she felt, and was actually responding. He stroked her hair as she rested her cheek on his chest. She didn’t want to move, for their shared moments were becoming rarer – she wasn’t sure why. Did that happen in all marriages? She’d have to move soon, to tend the moussaka.

“ Hey, listen.” He patted her cheek. “Christ, I’ve just had an idea.”

She sat up eagerly. “You say old Harty’s leaving,” he said. “I’ll bet he was the guy who set the fuzz on Craig.”

She sagged a little; she’d hoped he meant to talk about moving. “Just think about it,” he urged her. “He didn’t seem too upset on Friday night, when you think what he must have seen. I’ll bet he was glad someone got Craig.”

Perhaps he was right, or perhaps the caller had been the other man on the ground floor: he was anonymous enough. Both ideas depressed her. “I’ve got to look after the dinner,” she said, standing up.

“ Smells good.” Had that cost him an effort? He seemed disappointed that his theory hadn’t cheered her up. “Things are going to be all right,” he insisted. “Let’s just stay away from the law, okay? We won’t need them.”