Love Him to Death Page 8
We didn’t need to. Angelica had finally got the boat under control. Five minutes later she had plucked us from the water and we were heading for the shore.
There’s not much to add, really. Tessa clearly had had ambitions to become the third Mrs Strummer. When Graham and I returned to the villa with Angelica, dripping wet and with a long story for the police, she was None Too Pleased. We gave our statements, a bemused Sally standing by as the Responsible Adult, her eyes growing wider by the second. “I am never, ever taking you two anywhere again,” she told us afterwards – which I didn’t think was very fair. It wasn’t us who’d committed all those murders. “What on earth will your mother say? No – don’t tell me. I can imagine. You’ll be lucky if she ever lets you out of her sight in future.”
After paying Sally an enormous wad of cash in tight-lipped silence, Tessa despatched us off the island as fast as she could. Somehow I suspected she wouldn’t get in touch with her old college friend a second time.
When the news got out about Josie’s murder she was elevated to heights of fame that she could only have dreamt about while she was still alive. She became the embodiment of tragically doomed youth and beauty – standing somewhere between Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana. It can’t have been much compensation for being murdered by the man she’d had a crush on since she was seven.
Overnight, Bill went from being rock-star-superhero-who-does-so-much-for-charity to murdering-scum-of-the-earth-who-deserved-everything-he-got. While his reputation nosedived, Angelica’s rocketed into the stratosphere.
She seemed to develop a new lease of life. With our evidence backing her version of events, her story was accepted not only by the police but by the public at large. Everyone wanted to know her side of things and she suddenly found herself invited to chat shows all over the world.
Mick’s dog, Dinkum, was freed from the canine equivalent of death row, where he’d been languishing since Mick’s so-called accident, and was rehomed with Angelica. It was good to know that one innocent life had been spared.
The fact that Angelica had steered a speedboat over her ex-husband didn’t seem to bother anyone unduly. She claimed it was an accident and everybody believed her. Well, almost everybody. Graham and I weren’t convinced. I mean, she’d managed to handle the boat well enough when she rescued us. We didn’t say anything, though. We couldn’t exactly blame her after everything she’d been through. And if she hadn’t killed him, we’d both have drowned. Bill suffering death by misadventure seemed like poetic justice.
The rock star had left his entire fortune to Angelica but she didn’t want to touch a penny of it – she gave everything away to good causes. A large chunk went to the children’s home where Josie had been brought up and they erected a really nice memorial to her in the garden.
Meanwhile, Angelica made her own fortune by writing her autobiography. Please Believe Me became an international bestseller. It was dedicated to Mick. And to me and Graham.
Tanya Landman is the author of many books for children, including Waking Merlin and Merlin’s Apprentice, The World’s Bellybutton and The Kraken Snores, and three stories featuring the characters Flotsam and Jetsam. Of Love Him to Death, the eighth title in her popular murder mystery series, Tanya says, “I love celebrity weddings – the more ludicrously flamboyant, the better! I was reading about a particularly tacky one when it occurred to me that it would make a great backdrop for a murder mystery.”
Tanya is also the author of two novels for teenagers: Apache, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Booktrust Teenage Fiction Prize, and The Goldsmith’s Daughter, which was nominated for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. Since 1992, Tanya has also been part of Storybox Theatre. She lives with her family in Devon.
You can find out more about Tanya Landman and her books by visiting her website at
www.tanyalandman.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated, as they may result in injury.
First published 2011 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
© 2011 Tanya Landman
The right of Tanya Landman to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-4254-3 (ePub)
www.walker.co.uk