by Kate Adams
‘Let me think. I have it all on a spreadsheet back at the office, but off the top of my head, we started work at six. A number of us were in the greenhouses until seven, and then Elliot and I went up to the Rock Garden. We were there until eight-thirty, we grabbed a quick coffee together back in the break room, and then we both made our way over to the stalls to start helping there.’ He laughed. ‘You don’t think I did it, do you?’
I smiled and nudged him with my elbow. ‘Even weeds get handled gently by you, so I doubt it. Look, this is a bit awkward, but how well do you know Elliot?’
He looked at me with one raised eyebrow. ‘Really? You think he did it?’
‘I’m not saying that. It’s just… well, did you see him flip out at Ben on Friday when they were setting up? Elliot was really mad, I thought he was going to hit Ben.’
Robin shook his head. ‘I didn’t see it, but I heard about it. Elliot can get a bit hot-headed; people often describe him as someone who shouldn’t be crossed, but he’s the kind of person that explodes and then comes back down to earth almost as quickly. I’ve never known him actually hit someone.’
I found that hard to believe; I’d never seen someone have to rein themselves in quite so much. Elliot had been as mad as hell.
‘Can you think back to Saturday morning? Are you sure that Elliot was with you the whole time you were up at the Rock Garden? Was he ever out of your sight, no matter for how short a period of time?’
Robin rubbed his soil-covered hands across his face, leaving a brown streak on one of his cheeks. ‘You’re barking up the wrong tree, Sophie, honestly, love. Like I told the police, I was with him the whole time. We were tidying up the borders, making notes of what areas might need refreshing, picking up some rubbish, then I had to…’
He stopped and thought for a moment.
‘Hang on, there was a point where… oh God, I forgot all about it. I didn’t mention it to the police.’
‘What?’
‘Look, I still don’t think for one minute that Elliot had anything to do with Ben’s murder, but there was a point when I left him to it. You know the old shepherd’s hut on the path that leads to the Rock Garden? We used to use it to sell ice cream in the summer, and then your predecessor decided it wasn’t profitable enough. Well I’d noticed on the way past that a couple of the panes of glass in the small windows had been broken, so I went in to tidy them up and put a couple of pieces of cardboard in the holes, make them safe. I must have been in there twenty, maybe thirty minutes at the most. When I got back, Elliot was right where I had left him.
‘He’s a good man, Sophie. Hot-headed, yes, but he’s a kind, reliable man who dotes on his family and loves his job. He wouldn’t jeopardise that, no matter what it was that Ben had done to make him so angry.’
There was a pleading look in Robin’s eyes. I liked him a lot, and I trusted him. But I didn’t know Elliot, and I certainly had no idea if he could be trusted.
Chapter 13
Leaving Robin looking pensive, I felt bad for spoiling his day like that, but at least I had jogged his memory. I knew how easy it was for things to be so routine or instinctive that they didn’t stand out in your mind, so I didn’t blame him for not remembering that bit of information when he had been questioned by the police. No wonder detectives on police shows always handed out their card and said, ‘Call me if you think of anything else.’
I didn’t have any more meetings until after lunch, so decided to check out the Rock Garden. The glaring summer sun was still hanging around, but it was a little chillier than it had been at the weekend, and every time I walked into shadows, I shivered. The Rock Garden was about fifteen minutes’ walk from the house if you knew where you were going, but I wanted to be sure.
Most visitors stumbled upon the Rock Garden accidentally as it was tucked away behind a small thicket of trees, and the pathways that brought you to it were winding and branched off in different directions at numerous junctions, but you were in for a treat when you made it. A waterfall tumbled over a mountain of dark grey rocks, then down a steep bank, round a few twists and turns, and finally into a large rocky pond. A maze of paths meandered their way up and down the surrounding ground, past rocks and displays of beautiful flowers.
I recognised a swathe of purple as a bank of irises. Pretty little violet-blue flowers covered the ground immediately next to the water, and the colour theme continued with deep purple flowers that had round pin cushion-like heads on tall green stalks. I was determined to learn more about horticulture now I was here and I made a mental note to ask Robin to walk me round this area and teach me a few things.
There were some visitors around, stopping to bend over and smell the flowers, or read the miniature wooden signs that said what they were. An elderly couple sat on a bench opposite the pond, holding hands as they took in their surroundings, occasionally following the flight path of a bird or pointing something out to one another. It seemed like everyone who walked these paths found themselves afraid to disturb the sounds of nature, opting to whisper to their companions if they deemed any conversation necessary.
I checked my watch; it was two thirty-two. Setting off down the path at a decent pace, round the pond, back up the other side of the waterfall, around the trees, over a miniature meadow and along a gravel path, I had a few more twists and turns and two gates to walk through. Once I made it to roughly where Silver Bullet Coffee had been based on Saturday morning, I checked my watch. It had taken me nine minutes. Bearing in mind that I didn’t know any short cuts, I wasn’t wearing the right footwear for cutting across flowerbeds, and I had walked at a steady but not particularly fast pace, I figured that Elliot could have made it in six or seven minutes. That gave him time to have a ten-minute argument with Ben, kill him and make it back to the Rock Garden in time for Robin to find him at work. OK, so it was cutting it fine, I knew that, but it was possible. If Elliot was already in a bad mood and had been quietly fuming all morning over whatever Ben had said and done, then it wouldn’t have taken long for him to get mad enough to kill him. I couldn’t explain how Elliot would have known Ben was alone in the van, but maybe he didn’t. Maybe he just took a chance and got lucky. Either way, Elliot had the opportunity to kill Ben. Now I just needed to find out if he had a motive strong enough to kill someone.
Behind Charleton House, just beyond the back lane, is an enormous yard that’s home to the gardens team. Five huge greenhouses stand side by side; surrounding these are old single-storey stone buildings, and every corner of the yard is dedicated to something: oversized plant pots; trees waiting to go into the gardens; a miniature allotment; small electric-powered vehicles; free-standing signage waiting to be called into use. It looks like well-organised chaos; it is busy and definitely lacks space.
I walked past the greenhouses, peering in as I went by. A number of them were empty, but in some there were signs that the team was starting to prepare the winter bedding plants. Small plant pots stood in hundreds of rows, some containing fresh soil, others waiting to be filled.
A black and white cat trotted past me, then backtracked and rubbed itself around my ankles before disappearing into another greenhouse. I spotted a cat bed and bag of dried cat food in the corner and guessed it was a stray who had been made welcome and, if it was anything like Pumpkin, now ran the show.
I spotted Elliot ahead of me, sitting on a low red-brick wall, cleaning tools. He was using a wire brush to scrub off the worst of the muck and had a focused look on his face.
‘Elliot?’
He looked up. ‘Yes?’
‘I’m Sophie, we’ve not met before. I run the cafés.’
He nodded and turned back to the tools. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘This will sound a bit odd, but I wanted to ask you about Ben, the man who was killed.’
Elliot immediately stiffened and stopped what he was doing, but he didn’t look at me.
‘I know you knew him and I thought maybe you could tell me about him.’
‘I’v
e nuthin’ to say.’
‘So you did know him?’
‘I told you, I’ve nuthin’ to say.’ Elliot started cleaning the tool again, only this time with even more vigour. It was only at that point that I noticed the size of the blade on the large pair of shears he had in his hands.
‘Elliot, I saw the way you spoke to him on Friday. A lot of people did…’
‘I’ve already spoken to the police, it’s none of your business.’
‘You nearly broke my arm when you slammed into me as you walked towards him. The resultant bruise rather makes it my business.’
Elliot stood. As much as I’m used to being the smallest person in the room, having him stand over me with a large, sharp blade in his hands made him seem about ten feet tall. I slightly regretted being so brusque with him, but I didn’t warm to the silent, moody type at the best of times, and he was being foolish if he didn’t think people were going to be interested in him after his display of anger towards Ben.
‘It’s none of your damned business.’ He scooped up a couple more tools and marched off across the yard. I followed close on his heels.
‘Elliot, I’m not saying you’re involved, I just want to know if there’s anything you can tell me that will help. I’m trying to figure out what happened.’
‘What the hell has it got to do with you anyway?’ He didn’t wait for an answer and strode through a large open door into one of the stone buildings. Hanging in perfect order along the back wall were dozens of tools: hoes, shears, scissors, knives, shovels – you name it. They were spotless and clearly cared for; many of them also looked extremely sharp and I started to regret following him in.
Elliot hung up the tools he had been cleaning, and then turned to face me. ‘Back off, I’m warning you.’ His eyes were wide and there was a fury in them as he stormed past me, bashing into me as he went. ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ he shouted sarcastically over his shoulder.
I was relieved that he’d gone. I knew there were cameras in the yard, but I still didn’t feel safe around him, no matter what Robin had said about his temper flaring up but crashing down just as quickly.
I watched Elliot walk into the gardeners’ break room. It was three o’clock and the first shift would be clocking off now. A number of gardeners were already leaving for the day, bags over their shoulders, striding towards freedom and a chance to rest their weary bodies. I left them to it and walked back towards the lane, wondering how on earth I was going to find out what Ben and Elliot had been arguing about.
It turned out that Elliot had taken a different route to the lane, and by the time I arrived, he was already standing by the security gate, chatting to one of the guards and looking a lot calmer. I hovered in the background and watched as a small car pulled up next to him. Elliot drew his conversation to a close as a woman with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail got out and walked over to him. They briefly kissed, and after she’d exchanged a few words with the guard, they both got in the car. She performed a nifty three-point turn, and as they drove off, Elliot stuck his arm out of the window and waved at the guard. A small child I hadn’t noticed before did the same thing, its arm barely visible from within the child seat.
‘Sophie?’ The car had just driven past Joyce and she was heading my way. ‘Are you alright? You look miles away, have you been neglecting to top up your caffeine levels? Nice top – I keep telling you that brighter colours suit you, and I’m glad to see you’re listening.’
‘Hmm?’ I looked down to see what she was talking about. I’d gone for a loose-fitting wide-necked t-shirt that was bright red on one side and navy blue on the other. Bold, but still smart enough to wear when meeting the Duchess.
‘Now, if I were you, I’d finish it off with an extremely chunky necklace, either bright red or navy. A pair of bright red shoes would be perfect and… ooh, you ought to get yourself some glasses with a red frame. Daring, but with your silver hair you could pull it off. You’d look marvellous.’
Once I assumed that my fashion consultation was over, I changed the subject. ‘What do you know about Elliot?’
‘Forrester? Been here for years, wouldn’t surprise me if he came here straight from school. Never quite become one of the old guard, though. Not old enough for a start, but he’s also a bit aloof, hard to warm to. You’ve heard about the girlfriend, right?’
I shook my head.
‘Well, a few years ago…’ Joyce linked her arm through mine and steered me towards the side door that would take us to the Library Café. I mentally checked that I had some decent cake to offer her, and then tuned back into what she was saying.
‘…Carla had only been here about a month…’
‘Hang on, who’s Carla?’
‘Pay attention, girl! The woman in the car, Elliot’s girlfriend. I’ll start again. Carla started working as a gardener here a few years back and had only been here a month or so when she and Elliot got together. Love’s young dream, they were. We were quite relieved; Elliot had always been a bit sour faced, but he seemed to perk up when she arrived. We actually started to see him smile – personally I thought his face was going to crack. Well, they were together about six months when things seemed to get a bit rocky. Elliot’s period of smiling was over and she got a bit withdrawn.’
We’d reached the café and I got Joyce to take a break and grab us a table. There was plenty of choice as the visitors were starting to thin out. I cut a couple of slices of lemon drizzle cake, made two mugs of coffee and returned to join her. The enormous chunk of cake that Joyce indelicately shovelled into her mouth kept her quiet for a minute, and I took the time to admire today’s choice of nail polish. She had opted for a delicate pale pink, but each nail had the added detail of a small – I presume fake – diamond. I just hoped one didn’t come off and get swallowed up with the cake. Joyce wasn’t the most delicate woman I’d come across, but she was inhaling the cake like she hadn’t eaten for a week.
She paused and looked at me, at the plate, then at the full slice of cake I was holding, and smiled coyly. ‘It’s been a busy day, I barely had time for lunch.’
‘But you did have time for it?’
‘Well, yes, but… oh, be quiet. Are you going to eat that?’
I quickly took an enormous bite of my own slice and grinned at her triumphantly as crumbs fell from the corners of my mouth onto the table. Joyce laughed and I covered my mouth with my hand to avoid hitting her with crumbs as I joined in. Some people found Joyce intimidating, but I found myself able to relax easily around her, and I loved her upfront nature.
Once I’d swallowed my mouthful, I got her back on track. ‘You were saying something about a rocky patch between Carla and Elliot.’
‘Ah yes. Well, we all thought that things were going to be short-lived – this was just six months after they’d started dating. Neither of them looked happy, and then all of a sudden, she left. No one knew why – here one minute, gone the next.
‘Things got back to normal and no one talked about it anymore. Elliot was back to sulking around the place, and then three months later, he perked up again. We started to wonder if he was dating someone else, but no, it turned out that he and Carla had never actually split up and he was grinning like the Cheshire Cat because she was pregnant.’
I tried to do the maths. ‘What are we talking here? Two, three years ago?’
Joyce paused, the mug just in front of her lips, the jewels glinting on her impossibly long nails.
‘Little Isabella was born three years ago, so Carla must have started a year or two before that.’
‘You made it sound like there was something scandalous. That just sounds like normal relationship ups and downs, with a baby thrown in, albeit quite quickly.’
Joyce waved a glittery nail in my direction. ‘Hold your horses. When Isabella was about three months old, a rumour started going round my team. Heaven knows how they got hold of it, but once I got wind of it, I gave them all a lecture on spreading gossip and the damage it can do. I w
asn’t specific, of course, but they must have known what I was talking about. That put an immediate stop to it.’
I wasn’t surprised – Joyce had instilled the fear of God in her team. They loved her and were terrified of her in equal parts.
‘They were saying that the baby wasn’t Elliot’s and Carla had stopped working here because she’d had an affair with someone. He’d forgiven her on the understanding that she quit her job and stay away from “him”, whoever “he” was.’
‘So she’d slept with someone they worked with?’
‘That was the assumption.’ Joyce didn’t sound in the slightest bit judgmental, but that didn’t surprise me. I knew that she had, until recently, been ‘the other woman’ in a relationship. ‘We never found out who it was; there’s always some turnover in the gardens team, so he might still be working here, he might not. After a while it became yesterday’s news. We often see Carla picking Elliot up from work and they seem happy enough. He dotes on Isabella, that’s for sure; he’s still a miserable devil, but not when his little girl is around.’
Joyce changed the subject, her story at an end. ‘Now, tell me, when are you going to let me take you shopping?’
I smiled as the image of flying pigs appeared in my mind.
Chapter 14
There was a knock at the door. I knew it was Mark so I called out that it was open.
‘It’s just me, I come bearing gifts. Bloody hell, what’s that?’
I dropped my knife and walked out into the hallway. Mark and Pumpkin were standing stock still opposite each other. They’d never got on.
‘That’s Pumpkin. You met her the last time you were here, and the time before that.’
‘I know, but she wasn’t this big last time, was she? I think Pumpkin’s eaten a pumpkin. A large one. More than one.’
‘Oi, you’re talking about a family member, and you’re on her home turf, so be nice.’
‘I will, I will, for fear she’ll eat me if I don’t.’ He tentatively stepped past her. She gave him a look that made it very clear she still wasn’t warming to him.