The Murder Of Gonzago

18

Stephan Farrar sat frowning down at his mobile phone. ‘Mummy isn’t answering. She’s the busiest woman in the world. She hasn’t got a moment to spare. That’s why I’m here, I suppose?’

‘That indeed is the reason, dear,’ Nurse Highgrove said comfortably. She plumped the pillows and smoothed the bedspread.

‘I must speak to her. I’ve remembered something. It’s rather urgent, actually. Perhaps I could speak to someone else. Someone who was at La Sorcière when Daddy R. died? Let me see.’ He looked down at his mobile once more. ‘I’ve got Auntie Lou’s number. And Gloves’s. Now, shall I ring Gloves or shall I ring Auntie Lou?’

He was a slender youth who looked about fourteen, with hair the colour of pale butter, cut en brosse, a small nose, a wide mouth and startlingly bright blue eyes that burnt with a feverish flame. He was wearing dark blue silk pyjamas styled as some sort of uniform. He brought to mind Saint-Exupéry’s petit prince.

‘Why don’t you phone both of them?’ Nurse Highgrove suggested. ‘I am sure they will be pleased to hear from you. What are friends for? But wait till you’ve had your tea first, why don’t you?’

‘I don’t want any tea. What I want is a fix.’

‘You know you can’t do that sort of thing here, Stephan.’

‘I can see you’re brimming over with moral indignation, aren’t you, Highgrove?’

‘Not at all. I wouldn’t know what moral indignation was if it hit me on the nose. I don’t want you to make yourself sick, dear, that’s all.’

‘I won’t make myself sick. I’m used to it.’

‘You’re sucking your thumb again, Stephan.’

‘Am I? Sorry. Shall I tell you why I like having a fix, Highgrove? Shall I give you a highly rationalized explanation of my addiction? It’s because I like being the subject and the object, the scientist and the experiment, all at the same time. When I have a fix, I’m setting the spirit free by enslaving the body.’

‘That’s clever talk, but I am not sure I approve of it,’ Nurse Highgrove said briskly. ‘Enslaving the body indeed. Doesn’t sound at all nice. As a matter of fact, I’d rather you didn’t say things like that ever again, Stephan.’

‘I remember there was a dinner at Remnant once – a rather grand dinner party. As it happened I’d taken something earlier on, Diamond Skies, I think, while they were serving cocktails. As soon as we sat down, I removed my black tie and announced that I was in fact a rat, then I got under the table and proceeded to gnaw at the ankles of each guest in turn. I eventually passed out at Princess Michael of Kent’s feet.’ Stephan laughed. ‘Everybody pretended nothing had happened, but I don’t think Daddy R. was amused.’

‘What’s Diamond Skies? No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.’

‘As in “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” – everybody knows what that means.’ There was a pause. ‘I’ve got something on my mind, Highgrove,’ he said.

‘What is it, dear?’

‘You know that I said I killed Daddy R.?’

‘Yes? What about it?’ Nurse Highgrove had already heard the story of the killing of Daddy R. She was a stoutish, grey-haired woman in a neat uniform, with a robust no-nonsense air about her. She not only looked but sounded like an old-fashioned nanny of the tender ogress type. That, indeed, was one of the reasons she had got the job at the clinic.

‘Well, I don’t think I could actually have done it,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘It suddenly came to me.’

‘Shall I tell you something? I never for a moment imagined you killed anyone, dear.’ She patted his arm. ‘A nice boy like you.’

‘Could I have a smoke, do you think? It would help me to concentrate.’

‘You know you can’t, Stephan. It’s not allowed.’

‘I don’t mean Mariá-Juana. I mean a cigarette.’

‘Who is Mariá-Juana? Oh! I see. You are so naughty, Stephan!’

‘I want a cigarette. I know you smoke. Give me one of your cigarettes, Highgrove. Please.’

‘I am sorry, Stephan, but smoking is not allowed on the premises. Dr Mandrake would be furious. You don’t want to make Dr Mandrake cross, do you?’

‘No.’ Stephan sighed.

‘I might lose my job, you know… What was it you were saying about the murder? I thought it sounded very interesting.’

‘Daddy R. was jolly rich and I always thought how good it would be if he were to die because then Mummy and Uncle Gerry would get everything. I hated Daddy R. because he was a bully and a madman. But I couldn’t have killed him. I thought I did, but I was wrong.’ Stephan frowned. ‘I was at the right place, at the right time, as they say, but I couldn’t have killed him.’

‘A good thing you remembered, dear.’

‘I was on the terrace and I remember wearing Bottom’s head, but it was too hot, so I took the head off. It was very quiet. There was a full moon. It was the colour of blood oranges and it had taken its place, like something in a stage set, above and to the right of La Sorcière… I stood by the french window and peeped in. They were starting the play. Daddy R. was alive then. He and Mummy were wearing crowns and looked really silly. Daddy R. had a beard and a false nose.’

‘A false nose! Fancy!’

‘It was too hot, not a breath of wind, so I went to the pool. It is always cooler by the pool. I felt like having some Mariá-Juana, I really wanted some, so I rang Karen and told her to bring me some. I’d already had some cocoa, but that was earlier on, much earlier on.’

‘Cocoa? Did you really? A nice hot cup of cocoa?’

‘No, not that kind of cocoa, Highgrove. I mean cocoa.’ He held up his pockmarked arm.

‘Dear me! Please, don’t do that, Stephan.’ She covered her eyes with her hand. ‘It gives me the heebie-jeebies.’

He laughed. ‘I sat by the pool and waited. Then Karen came and we lit up.’

‘Who was Karen? Do remind me.’

‘My girlfriend. Sort of. Her skin is as black as the coal Tradewell puts in the fireplaces at Remnant. I like that. When it’s dark, she is practically invisible. I don’t like English girls. English girls are pink and they look like shrimps, or they are fat, and they can’t kiss properly. Anyway, we kissed a bit, then we lit up. I don’t remember what happened after that, but Karen stayed with me all the time and she only ran away when Aunt Tense and Gloves appeared, you see.’

‘You remember them coming?’

‘No – but Aunt Tense told me about it the next day. I phoned Karen earlier on, actually, because it bothered me. I mean the time factor. I asked her if I ever went somewhere and she said no. I then asked her if she ever left my side and she said, no, she didn’t. Not till she’d heard footsteps.’

‘You phoned Jamaica on your mobile? Isn’t that expensive?’

‘I phoned the Grenadin Island. That’s not Jamaica. Mummy told me I could talk on my mobile as much as I pleased. We are awfully rich, you know. Daddy R. used to feed his dog with caviar. He loved his dog, but then one day he got angry with him and shot him. Anyway, Karen says she was with me all the time. She said I never went anywhere. She’d have known if I had. She wouldn’t lie, why would she? There’s also the gun.’

‘What’s so special about the gun?’

‘It was the gun from Daddy R.’s desk, Highgrove. I mean Gloves said that. That’s Renée. Now, I remember I meant to take the gun, I can’t remember why exactly, but I sneaked up to Daddy R.’s study and opened the drawer and the gun wasn’t there! That was earlier on. While everybody was getting into costume. Do you see what that means?’

‘What, dear?’

‘It means it couldn’t have been me. I couldn’t have shot Daddy R. It was somebody else. They thought it was me because I hated Daddy R., because I’d already tried to shoot him, but it wasn’t.’ Stephan frowned again. ‘As a matter of fact, I think I know who killed him.’

‘Who is it? Who killed Daddy R.?’ Nurse Highgrove stood beside the door, looking at him. There was an odd expression in the boy’s eyes. She knew it was all nonsense; the doctor had warned her to expect a lot of nonsense, yet she had to admit there was something in the way Stephan spoke, something about his wide staring eyes, that she found compelling.

‘It’s too scary. You’ll probably think I’m making it all up. It’s too scary,’ he repeated. ‘You’ll get the heebie-jeebies,’ he warned her.

‘I won’t.’

‘You’d never believe it. You’ll say I’m making it up. Would you let me have a smoke if I told you?’

‘No. Smoking is not allowed.’

‘Please.’

‘Out of the question.’

He sighed. ‘All right. It was the Grimaud. It was the Grimaud who killed Daddy R.’