Ramsay 04 - Killjoy by Ann Cleeves Page B

looked as if they might once have belonged to Prue and had hardly been opened. There were birthday cards, post cards from friends, pop magazines. There was a typewritten script entitled The Adventures of Abigail Keene with the main character’s words marked in orange highlighter. He looked at each item and set it aside on the bed. He piled the cassette tapes together and moved them on to the bed. Many had lost their plastic cases and the scribbled identifying labels meant nothing to him. He supposed that ‘Bald Mice’ was a group and it was while he glanced at the others, trying to find another, even more outrageous name, that he came across the Teach Yourself Spanish tape. Why, he wondered, did Gabby want to learn Spanish? Was it some romantic idea of recovering her roots?
    By now the top of the desk was clear except for a swirling pattern of dust and Ramsay turned his attention to the desk drawers. He was afraid that the top one was locked but it was just stuck and when he lifted it and pulled at the same time it came out altogether. Ramsay set it beside him on the bed. It contained a diary, two sheets of paper, an envelope, and a building society passbook. This must be all that Gabby needed to keep from prying eyes.
    The diary was small, of the size to fit in a handbag, and there were none of the teenage outpourings which Ramsay might have expected. In it Gabby noted her appointments, rehearsal times, the dates when essays were due to be handed in. The only inclusion of any interest was an E which appeared at approximately fortnightly intervals. Beside it was a time, usually different. Was E for Ellen, Gabby’s aunt? Ramsay wondered. If so, why the secrecy. Unsatisfied, he moved to the other items in the drawer.
    The first sheet of paper was a printed programme for Romeo and Juliet , a Youth Theatre production. Gabby had been playing Juliet. The programme had been autographed by each member of the cast and she had kept it, Ramsay supposed, for sentimental reasons. He noticed briefly that John Powell had played Romeo and wondered if that was Evan’s boy. The second sheet was a lined piece of A4. He would have to check the handwriting but he presumed it was Gabby’s and thought it was the draft of a letter. It was a love letter in which Gabby pleaded to be noticed, to be taken seriously. It was addressed to ‘John’ and Ramsay, whose memory of his own teenage pain was heightened by his meeting with Prue, thought that it had probably never been sent.
    The building society account had been opened three months previously with £500 and payments had been made since then to bring the total to almost £800. Ramsay wondered where the money had come from. Her family? A holiday job? The timing of the opening of the account at the end of the summer would suggest that. He would have to check with Prue.
    The envelope, which had been at the top of the pile in the drawer, contained no letter. It was cheap and white with Gabby’s name and the Bennett’s address printed in blue ink. It was post-marked the day before her death. Why had she kept it? Ramsay wondered. What had it contained that was so important? And where was the letter that had been inside? He straightened and returned to the warmth of the kitchen.
    Anna was there, still in her outdoor jacket, already drinking tea, fending off her mother’s concern about how she was feeling.
    ‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Really. Please don’t fuss.’ But she looked tired and unhappy and had nothing in common with the girl who beamed out at him from the photo on the noticeboard.
    ‘John Powell,’ Ramsay said. ‘Was he a boyfriend of Gabby’s?’
    ‘She liked him,’ Anna said. ‘I don’t think they ever went out together.’ She shivered slightly and dipped her head over her mug.
    ‘She had a letter yesterday,’ Ramsay said. ‘ Who was it from?’
    ‘How would we know?’ Prue said. She was quite angry. ‘We never read her mail.’
    ‘She might have told you,’ he