It took a moment for Letitia’s words to sink in. Her mother hadn’t been a whistle-blower after all. There were no noble motives. Instead she had been just as greedy as the rest of them. The disillusionment settled like a stone in Helen’s stomach.
‘It was necessary. I’m sorry if you thought your mother was a saint, but there it is.’ Letitia shrugged. ‘I knew this crazy woman – this Fay Cooper – had been stalking Mimi. I wanted to make it look like she did it. When one of my associates told me your mother had another meeting planned with Moody, my man broke into Fay’s house and stole a very recognisable knife, then used that.’
‘And what about me?’
‘Well, what person in her right mind brings a child to a secret meeting? You should’ve been at home, with a babysitter or something. When he spotted you in the back, the useless moron panicked and left the bloodied knife instead of putting it back at Fay’s house as he was supposed to. It was pure luck Fay was there at the time and was convicted, that your condition made you so unreliable.’
Condition. Despite being a murdering bitch, at least Letitia didn’t make Helen feel like a freak. If she could only keep her talking …
Then what? No one was going to come. Charlie was bluffing, and Helen suspected Letitia knew that.
Even so, it might give her a chance to think of what to do.
‘If your hit man used Fay’s knife, why did you steal my mother’s?’
‘Your mother’s what?’
‘Knife. They were identical, part of a set. Ruth said she found it in the packaging hall. Said you knew it was one of four.’
‘I didn’t steal Mimi’s knife. When I heard it was missing, I worried the police would start looking beyond Fay Cooper, but in the end it didn’t matter. I never knew what happened to the other knife. If Ruth says she found it in the packaging hall, she’s probably lying to cover having stolen it herself, but then again, my sister is good at that.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
Letitia shrugged again. ‘Up to you. I’ve lost count of the number of times Ruth has reinvented the past. She’s probably told you some cock and bull story of why she won’t agree to a post-mortem on Mother. One might wonder why.’
That was exactly what Ruth had done, but Helen wasn’t going to give Letitia the satisfaction of having guessed that.
Instead she said, ‘What about these statues? What’s that all about?’
‘You ask a lot of questions. They were a miscalculation, to be frank. Too recognisable, as your friend pointed out. I’ll have to sell them behind closed doors. Should fetch about twenty-five grand each, after Mr Singh here has taken his cut.’
‘To line your own pockets.’ It was the first time since her empty threats that Charlie has spoken up.
Letitia looked genuinely affronted. ‘Only some of it. Although sometimes what we sell is sold as copies, in certain circles our reputation – my reputation – helps generate twice as much business as we’d otherwise have had. There’s a lot of people out there who are happy to sell their valuables in a less conventional way. Ransome’s was a cottage industry when I took over, and look at it now. Because I bend the rules, we generate millions.’ For a moment pride gleamed in her eyes, then turned cold once again as she stared at Helen. ‘I need your shares,’ she said.
‘Even if I die, Ruth says you can’t afford to buy them.’
‘Well, Ruth is wrong. She doesn’t know I’ve been profiting off the books.’ Letitia gave a short laugh and fished a hand mirror and a lipstick out of her handbag, then began applying lipstick. ‘It’s a pity you can’t be part of it all. We’d have made a good team. And you’d have been useful, especially now that you’ve shacked up with Moody’s son.’
Helen’s eyes widened.
‘Didn’t think I knew, did you?’ I know when everyone in that house of yours comes and goes. It was easy enough for Pete here to wait for the right moment. Trouble is, he hit the wrong person.’
‘It was you? That ran over Fay?’ Charlie’s scowl was fearsome. ‘You fucking bitch!’
Before Helen could stop her, she charged at Letitia with the screwdriver raised. Quick as lightening the chauffeur caught Charlie’s arm, wrenched it behind her back and upwards, snapping the bones. Charlie screamed as he pulled the screwdriver from her paralysed fingers and drove it deep inside her back, then pushed her to the ground. She landed with a groan, a plea in her terrified eyes, then her head dropped to one side, and she lay still. Slowly a dark red stain fanned out from under her body.