by Sherri Bryan
“Excellent! Love the costumes!” Charlotte clapped as they all gave a twirl to show off their outfits.
“Well, we try. We’re not old fogies yet, you know.” Ava peeled a rubber wart from her nose and stuck it to her chin. “That’s better. I could see it out of the corner of my eye ... very distracting. I think we’re all having a plate of the Paella. Everyone? Yes? Five plates, please, Charlotte.”
“And five cups of punch, too, please, Jess.” Harriett surreptitiously reapplied her lipstick before handing a cup of punch to Leo and toasting him with hers.
“You’re welcome to sit at a table and eat.” Charlotte gestured to the tables set up on the terrace.
“I think we’re okay as we are, thank you, dear. You feel more involved when you’re standing up - in the thick of the action, as it were.” Ava took a sip of punch and visibly recoiled.
A cheer rang out as local band, Night Vigil, began tuning up for their set.
Betty started tapping her foot but stopped shortly afterwards. She pulled a face. “They’re not very good, are they?”
“They haven’t started playing yet, Bet. They’re just tuning up the instruments.” Harry chuckled.
“Oh, I see. Well, hopefully they’ll improve. That’s the band Larry Hall plays in, isn’t it?”
“Yes. They’ve always been very good when I’ve seen them.” Charlotte handed everyone a plate of Paella and a dual-purpose plastic spork.
“Charlotte, you’re so thoughtful to have these plates with a little hole for the cup to fit in. I don’t know how we’d manage otherwise - we haven’t got enough hands for everything. And thank you for peeling the prawns, dear. They’re so much easier to eat, this way.” Ava speared a fat pink prawn with her spork.
“Yes, excellent idea. And excellent paella. I’m having another plate when I’ve finished this.” Leo joined the ever-growing queue for a second helping as he tucked into his first. “Better get in line. Don’t want to miss out.” He mumbled between mouthfuls.
The band struck up with their first number, a very passable rendition of Stevie Wonder’s, Superstition. Just for the evening, they’d agreed to play a set to fit in with the Halloween theme, instead of their usual heavy rock, and Charlotte grinned to see Marigold and Lavender Burridge happily bopping away in front of the temporary stage.
“Ah, yes, I see what you mean. That’s much better.” Betty began to jig about, totally out of time with the music and quietly singing out of tune.
“It’s going quite well, don’t you think?” Jess ladled another six cups of punch as Charlotte plated up more paella.
“Really well. I should’ve made another pan.” Charlotte’s eyes followed the footsteps of the customers as they took their plates and found a table on the terrace. Not a cheetah in sight.
“Will you stop checking everyone’s footprints!” Jess scolded. “Give yourself a night off from playing detective and enjoy yourself, for goodness’ sake!”
ººººººº
“That was a great set you played.” Charlotte congratulated Larry Hall as she handed him two cups of steaming punch. “Really great. I don’t think I can remember a local band being so good. Can you, Jess?”
“No, I can’t. You were fantastic. I bet you get a load of gigs on the back of this. Your phone’s going to be ringing off the hook with people wanting to book you for their events.”
Even under the glow of the green and purple lights, Charlotte could see that Larry Hall was blushing as he gave a very gap-toothed grin.
“Thanks - glad you enjoyed it.” A somewhat awkward man when it came to interaction with others, Larry’s delight was obvious as he wandered off to chat with a fellow band member.
It was almost quarter-past eleven when Lavender and Marigold wandered back down the busy marina, each with a shovel over their shoulder.
“These’ll be much better at clearing the snow but, before we get started, is there any more of that soup left?” Lavender hovered, hopefully.
Charlotte tipped up the pan. “Hmmm, maybe half a cup each but that’s the best I can do, I’m afraid. All of a sudden, we were mobbed with people wanting food. It was like a swarm of locusts.” She poured the soup into two cups. “You’re not going to start work again now, surely?” she asked, before disappearing inside with the empty pan.
“We most certainly are,” said Lavender. “We gave our word that we would do the job and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re not just good for making cakes, jam and homemade ginger wine, you know.”
“I can see that,” said Charlotte as she re-emerged to see Marigold bashing the compacted snow with the end of the shovel to loosen it from the paving stones.
Charlotte and Jess quickly cleared up. Now they’d stopped working, the decidedly colder air was more noticeable and they began to realise how inadequate their costumes were against the cold, even with thermal underwear underneath.
They were changing into some warmer clothes when a piercing scream rang out, causing Pippin to leap out of his basket and run to the doors, barking furiously.
“What on earth ....?”
Running outside, Charlotte looked through the polythene window in the centre of the awning screen. On the other side, Lavender and Marigold were clinging onto each other, Marigold’s face pressed into her sister’s jacket.
“What’s on earth’s the matter?” Charlotte went to the end of the terrace and poked her head around the end of the awning to see what the cause of the commotion was. “Oh my God!”
“What is it?” Jess was right behind her, rubber nose in hand. “Bloody hell!”
Pippin followed them out and ran to the snow pile, nose to the ground.
“No, Pippin!” As Charlotte bent to pick him up, she shuddered as she turned her face away.
She didn’t want to look at the body at the foot of the polystyrene headstone, a blue eye of which gazed sightlessly up at them out of a face, still covered with snow and eerily illuminated by the candlelight from one of Jess’s menacing pumpkin lanterns.
Chapter 4
Sirens and the screech of tyres signalled the arrival of the police.
Charlotte heard the click-clack of police issue shoes walking swiftly up the footpath and was relieved to see Detective Sergeants Ben Dillon and Fiona Farrell lead a group of officers onto the marina.
Over the years, Charlotte had come to know Ben and Fiona well. In Nathan’s absence, they were the two officers she trusted the most and whom she knew would do everything they could to ensure that the cause of the unfortunate individual’s death be determined as quickly as possible.
“Evening, Miss. Denver, Miss Beddington.” They nodded to Charlotte and Jess as they walked past them to the small crowd gathered around the body.
“Okay, everyone, stand back. Stand back, please. There’s nothing to see here. PC Milton, PC Willis, can you cover the body with a tarpaulin and get a cordon in place, please? And get a tent set up as quickly as you can.”
“Oh! Oh! I feel sick!” Marigold Burridge leaned against the railings at the edge of the marina and even under the coloured lights there was no mistaking the ashen pallor to her face.
Charlotte and Jess took an arm each and helped the woman into the café.
“Come on. You too, Lavender. You’ve had a terrible shock.” Charlotte gently sat the sisters down.
“I’ll put the kettle on,” said Jess. “Y’know, I have a feeling we’re going to be pretty busy for a while.” She made two cups of Charlotte’s special cure-all; hot tea, sweetened with honey and laced with a splash of brandy, and gave one to each of the women.
“I just can’t believe that all day yesterday, that poor person’s body must have been lying out there under the snow,” Charlotte whispered as she switched on a small fan heater to keep the sisters warm. “It must have been there since Thursday night - that was the only time we had enough snow to have covered it. And I was here for ages yesterday morning on my own, just inches away from it.” She shuddered.
Ben knocked on the glass door. “Sorry to disturb. Ladies, I understand you found the body, is that correct? If you’re up to it, we need to ask you some questions. Will that be alright?”
Staring blankly ahead, the sisters nodded.
“Right, Miss. Burridge,” Ben spoke kindly to Lavender, “you and I will go and sit over at the table in the corner and my colleague, DS Farrell, will speak with you, Miss. Burridge.” Marigold nodded soberly but panicked at the mention of her sister leaving her side.
“Don’t worry, we’ll only be sitting over there. She’ll be back before you know it.” Ben assured her.
“The crowd out there’s getting bigger by the second.” Jess watched the proceedings from the doorway. “Nothing like a body to kill a Halloween party stone dead. Ironic, isn’t it?”
“Oh, I can’t tell you how awful it was.” Lavender was telling Ben as she wiped her arm across her face. “We were shovelling the snow pile and halfway down, I uncovered some hair. I thought it might be an animal at first - you know, a cat or something - but then we saw skin ... and that eye. Oh, it was horrible! I’m not going to sleep tonight, I just know I’m not.” She began to wail loudly and Ben stopped the questioning until she’d calmed down.
“You might as well go home, Jess,” Charlotte said, wearily. “There’s no point in us both staying here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, absolutely. I’m surrounded by police, what’s going to happen to me?” If I’m here till really late, I’ll ask one of them to take me home. Really, go on.”
“Well, if you’re sure.” Jess didn’t look entirely convinced but she put on her coat.
“I’m sure.”
“Excuse me.” Jess interrupted Ben. “Sorry to butt in, but is it okay for me to leave? Or do you need to speak to me too?”
“Well, we will need to, but when we do, we’ll know where to find you. You can go for now, though.” He smiled briefly at his girlfriend before resuming his questioning.
See you at home, Jess mouthed at him behind Lavender’s back before giving Charlotte a hug and slipping out quietly.
Charlotte sat on a barstool, wishing she could call Nathan. He was only a few miles away at a hotel in St. Matlock, but the training course was residential and all the participants were required to stay until the course finished on Monday morning.
She picked Pippin and hugged him close before settling him in his basket. “Let’s hope this turns out to be an accident,” she whispered. “I can’t bear to think there might be another murderer on the loose after all this time.”
She put her jacket on and went out for some air. She stood away from the crowd, not wanting to get caught up in the questions and speculation.
Leaning on the railings at the entrance to the pier, she tried to block out the babble of voices behind her. The beauty of the clear, star-filled sky and the gentle, calming movement of the boats on the water were in complete contrast to the ugliness of death, so close by.
She gulped down a lungful of cold air and blew it out again. As she turned to go back into the café, she glanced idly up the marina and stopped dead in her tracks.
It was just a silhouette but the stance was unmistakeable. If there had been any doubt at all in her mind, the slight limp that was always evident in cold weather would have given away the identity of the man walking towards her.
She sighed with relief.
Nathan was back.
She ran all the way up the marina and threw herself into his arms. “I’m SO glad to see you! Can I kiss you, or am I not allowed because you’re the Detective Chief Inspector and you’re working?”
He smiled and shook his head. “I haven’t seen you for almost five days and you want to know if you can kiss me? You’re damn right you can!” He took Charlotte in his arms and kissed her for all he was worth.
She held him close. It was so good to have him home.
“You know what’s happened, I suppose?” she asked, when they broke apart.
“Yep, that’s why my training course has been cut short. I had a call from the Super, asking me to get back asap.”
As they walked back to the café, arm in arm, the forensic pathologist met them from the other direction. “Evening, all. Let’s have a look at this body, then.”
“I’ll see you in a while.” Nathan followed the pathologist into the tent which had been erected over the body.
“The DCI’s back,” said Charlotte as she stepped back into the café. “He’s in the tent.”
“Can we go now?” Lavender asked. “We’ve told you everything we can.”
Ben and Fiona nodded. “Yes, thank you both. You’ve been very helpful, considering the terrible shock you’ve had. We’ll be in touch if we need any more information.”
Lavender nodded and took Marigold’s arm. “Come on, Mar. Let’s go home and have some cocoa with a little shot of something stronger in it. I think we’re still in shock.”
As the sisters made their way out, Nathan came in to the café, his face grim.
Oh no, I know that look. Charlotte’s heart sank.
The mood was lightened somewhat by Pippin jumping out of his basket and jumping on Nathan’s shoelaces as soon as he saw him.
Nathan bent to pick him up and ruffled the fur under his chin.
“Evening, Ben, Fiona. Can one of you find out where SOCO are, please, and tell them to get their backsides down here asap. We are now dealing with a murder investigation.”
ººººººº
“Have you any idea who the victim is?” Charlotte peered out of the doors to check on proceedings.
Nathan didn’t tell her everything about a case, but he trusted Charlotte not to share anything he did tell her with anyone else. “Yes, it’s Slippery Samuel Slade.”
“Oh no! Not Maureen’s Slade’s son?”
Nathan looked surprised. “Yes. How d’you know about the Slades?”
Charlotte told him about the Slades’ visit to the café. “The poor woman, she’s going to be devastated.”
Nathan scoffed. ““Poor woman?” You must be joking. That woman is a witch, pure and simple, and not just at Halloween.”
“Well, I think you’re being very insensitive - she might not be your favourite person, but she’s a mother who’s just lost a son. Have some sympathy, will you?” Charlotte scolded him gently. “Anyway, why did you call him ‘Slippery’ Samuel Slade.”
“Because every time I thought we were getting close enough to arrest him, he slipped out of our grip. We used to call his brothers Wriggly Richard and Tricky Trevor for the same reason.”
“How did he die, do you know?”
“Well, first signs indicate that he was strangled because of the bruising around his neck but the post-mortem will tell us more. If there’s any more to tell, of course.”
“Who’s going to tell his mum?”
“Me, probably. Unfortunately.”
“Honestly, it’s so awful. They’ve just come back from a lovely holiday in Tenerife and within a few days, her son turns up dead.”
“Ah, that explains the tan.”
“What was the motive, any idea?”
“Well, there are a few people around here who’d probably like to see Samuel Slade dead but, at the moment, robbery’s a possible motive because his watch is missing. And if I know Samuel Slade, it would have been a damn expensive one.”
“How d’you know he had a watch? Not everyone wears one. I don’t.”
“Because there’s a tan line on his arm - a white band and a hexagonal-shaped mark on his wrist - it’s quite distinctive.”
“How awful to think that someone may have lost their life because of the watch they were wearing ... I shudder to think.” Charlotte frowned as she pulled her jacket around her.
“Well, unfortunately, not everyone’s as decent as you.” Nathan squeezed her hand.
“What about his phone? Are there any clues on that? You never know, maybe the killer called him. Don’t they say that most m
urder victims know their killers?”
“They do say that, yes, but he didn’t have a phone. Well, not on him, anyway.”
“That’s weird, don’t you think? I mean, how many people leave home these days without their phone?”
“It’s surprising, yes, but not beyond the realms of possibility. He could have forgotten it when he went out, or mislaid it.” Nathan picked up his notebook and pulled up the collar on his coat.
“Right, I’ve got work to do. I’ll take you home first and then I’ll go down to the station. You almost ready to leave?”
“I’m ready now.” Charlotte switched off the lights and picked up Pippin before closing the front doors and fastening the heavy chain and padlock securely around the handles.
Averting her eyes from the tent on the other side of the awning, she prayed that Samuel Slade’s murderer would be found very soon.
Chapter 5
Nathan stood on the doorstep of the handsome town house, DS Farrell at his side.
“Have you met the Slade family?”
“Erm, no, I don’t think I have, Chief.”
“You’re in for a treat.”
The blurred image of Richard Slade grew closer through the opaque glass panel in the door. When he opened it, the look on his face told the police officers he wasn’t impressed with being woken at twenty-to one in the morning.
“Good morning, Mr. Slade. This is my colleague, DS Farrell. I apologise for the hour, but I need to speak with you and your family as a matter of urgency.”
“You know, of all the people I didn’t want to set eyes on again during my lifetime, you’re at the top of my list, Costello.”
“The feeling’s mutual, I can assure you, Mr. Slade. Now, if we could come in, please?”
“What for? Is it about Samuel?”
“I really would prefer to discuss the matter inside.” Nathan was quietly insistent.
Richard Slade cursed loudly and stood to one side. “Thank you.” Nathan and Fiona stepped into the house.
“Wait in the living room. I’ll get Ma, but I’m warning you, she won’t be happy about being woken in the middle of the night.”