Murder on the Island

by Daisy White

  ‘You want to keep it quiet so we keep the Palm Bay contract?’

  ‘Exactly. And the other guesthouse ones that have come in off the back of Goldie’s disappearance and reappearance. If the business is going to survive we can’t afford any more trouble. So when you’ve finished your coffee, would you mind washing that paint off the yard, please?’ She smiled. ‘I’ll muck out and do the water buckets. I think I’ll try and bring Hilda with me, because Helen said the more she gets used to my usual routine the easier she’ll settle in.’

  ‘Wow, you are something else, Mrs C. But just promise me if you think there is any real danger, you’ll call the police?’

  ‘I promise. Now get moving, because we have a busy day. I’ve been redesigning our website and sorting out social media accounts. I want some nice photos of the horses and you in the yard,’ Chloe told him.

  ‘I thought you were going for a ride this morning?’ He was halfway out the door, mug still in hand.

  ‘I am, but business first. I’m multitasking,’ she informed him, shooing him out, and shutting the door firmly on a gaggle of chickens who were clucking hopefully towards her. Hilda sniffed at the closed door, and then wandered over to her water bowl and drank noisily.

  She checked the news and saw another few articles on Matthew’s murder and Kaila’s arrest. It was reassuring, somehow, to see it down in print.

  Alone in the kitchen with her dog, Chloe felt a surge of confidence. She wouldn’t allow herself to be bullied. She’d been weighed down with Matthew’s murder and Melissa’s odd behaviour, and it had clouded her judgement. Nothing that had been done to her was dangerous. Mildly threatening, but not enough to scare her out.

  Chloe briskly ticked off the facts in her mind. Goldie had been stolen but unharmed. Practically unharmed, and that was the only major crime against Beachside Stables and Chloe herself.

  As for the murder, and attempted murder, Kaila Montana was the perpetrator, and no doubt she would soon be charged. Reiterating the facts gave her the reassurance she needed.

  There was still a niggling little unvoiced worry, that someone might be trying to put her out of business, but she felt safer knowing the murderer had been caught.

  She would continue with her plans, let gossip spread about her future ideas, and about how well Beachside Stables was doing. Chloe picked up one of her home-made candles and held it to her nose, inhaling the sharp sweetness. Hilda settled at her feet with a heavy sigh, resting her square nose on her rather large front paws.

  Chloe reached down to stroke the dog, before getting back to work. After yet another edit, taking a deep breath, she hit the publish button on her new website, reasoning that it was easy to add more photographs, and best to have something in place while she did so.

  The home page was headed with a snap of all six horses looking out over their stable doors, and the contact page was neat and easy to navigate. Done. Chloe felt a fizz of excitement. The social media accounts were now set up too, just waiting for her to add updates and gorgeous photos.

  The Kite Festival started tomorrow and she would go looking bloody gorgeous, distributing her business cards to all and sundry. If Finn hadn’t wanted to kiss her last night, he certainly would when he saw her again.

  This thought made her pause on her way to the shower. Did she want him to kiss her? Would it ruin their developing friendship? She certainly found him attractive, but she also loved the time they spent together, and wasn’t sure it was worth risking a friendship. Still, there was no harm in being a bit more adventurous. She might even go for another swim tonight.

  A large parcel arrived just as she was ready to go out to the yard. The candle-making equipment she had ordered online. Taking a few moments to unpack, she sorted the boxes of soy flakes, labels and jars until she reached the fragrances. All natural, because she hated the synthetic smell of air fresheners and cheap candles, and felt breathing in chemicals couldn’t be healthy.

  The pine was lovely, and there was salt, lavender, ylang-ylang and rose. Carefully picking the scents, she decided to make some for her neighbours, one for Antoine’s girlfriend Louisa, one for Peter and his wife, and one for Finn. It was a good way of showing how much she appreciated their kindness and welcome, she thought.

  She had been so engrossed in her tasks she hadn’t noticed four chickens slip in at the open door. They were now sitting comfortably on her rug by the sofa, beady eyes taking in the industry in the kitchen, wings spread out in the warmth. Hilda was eyeing them guiltily but made no move towards the feathered intruders.

  Chuntering to herself, Chloe shooed them out, grabbed an iced drink, and her phone and hurried down the garden path with Hilda trotting beside her on her smart leather lead.

  By the time she got out to the yard, the concrete was back to its usual pristine state, and Antoine was saddling Star and Jupiter ready for a booking. Chloe had elected to ride gentle Goldie again.

  ‘Okay, I’ll take some photos for the website now, before the clients arrive if you don’t mind?’ Chloe said. ‘Just look natural.’

  Antoine looked stunning in the photos, as she had known he would. He could easily pursue a modelling career, but when she mentioned it, he brushed the idea off, laughing.

  ‘Louisa would kill me! She says I should stick with horses.’

  ‘Well, you are brilliant with them. Does Louisa like horses?’

  ‘Yeah, she rides really well, but what she really wants is to make lots of money. It’s tough at the moment, which is why she’s studying graphic design and working two jobs. I think she prefers working for the tourist board though.’

  Chloe had seen pictures of Louisa, although they hadn’t met yet, and she was very pretty, with curly brown hair, green eyes, and a determined set to her jaw. ‘You’re both still so young. There’s no hurry to decide. Sometimes careers change. Look at me! I never thought, at fifty, that I’d own a riding stables.’

  ‘It suits you, Mrs C, and so does Bermuda. When you first came here you were really quiet and sad, and now you seem happy.’ He frowned and flushed. ‘Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have said that.’

  ‘I’m glad you did,’ Chloe assured him, ‘and you’re right, I’m happy now. I used to think fifty was like a full stop in my life, when I hit old age and there was nothing to look forward to. Now I see I was completely wrong, and I just needed to make some changes. Thanks to Dre, I came here to make them.’ Thinking she might have said too much herself, Chloe glanced away a little awkwardly, but was relieved to see Antoine was amused.

  ‘You remind me so much of Dre sometimes!’

  ‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ Chloe said, picking up a body brush and unbolting Goldie’s door. She had already set out a space in the shade for Hilda, and she tied her lead to a long rope, giving the animal access to a big water bowl. ‘I hope Hilda’s going to be okay. I won’t be gone long, and in time I’d like to train her to run alongside the horses.’

  ‘She’ll be fine. I’ll keep an eye on her,’ Antoine called from the next stable. ‘We’ve got a booking later, but there’s plenty of time for you to get your ride in.’

  ‘Don’t you ever ride out?’ Chloe asked suddenly.

  He shrugged, eyes on the dog, who was dozing peacefully in the shade. ‘Not really. I might take Jupiter down the beach in the evenings sometimes but I’m happy enough looking after them. I had a bad fall showjumping at a competition a few years ago, right before I came to work here, and I guess I lost my nerve a bit.’

  ‘Well any time you want to take a horse out, please do,’ Chloe said gently. He was a lovely boy and she was very lucky to have such a good stable manager, she thought.

  Deciding that the half doorway framed the yard beautifully, Chloe took out her phone again, and carried on snapping pictures, and a short video of Star and Jupiter dozing in the sunshine.

  Goldie seemed to feel she was being neglected and reminded Chloe of her presence with a sharp nudge in the back.

  ‘Sorry, sorry, I’ll
get you ready now,’ Chloe told her, patting the sleek neck and brushing out the mare’s white mane. But as she worked, her mind was still on the business, mulling over new ideas.

  The setting of the yard, right on the edge of the trail to the beach, and the picturesque white-roofed building was so perfect and would surely help her to get more bookings if she could manage to convey its tranquil beauty through her photos and videos. ‘Oh, Antoine,’ she called across the yard, ‘I need you to write a short piece on the horses, when you get a minute later. You know, age, height, cheeky personalities. Obviously we can mention Goldie being used in a photoshoot too.’

  ‘An equine CV? Yup. Hey, do you want me to take Hilda for a little walk around the neighbourhood while you ride. I haven’t had a dog since I was a kid.’ He was smiling.

  ‘Yes, please, if you don’t mind? I’ll clean Goldie’s tack when I get back. I’ll be about half an hour!’

  Chloe waited until dog and boy had left, before she took Goldie over to the stone mounting block, and hauled herself into the saddle. Glad there were no spectators, she chose the higher trail, which wound above Tranquility House through the trees. Common sense told her there was no need to avoid the lower trail, but still that frisson of fear made her turn right.

  Goldie plodded obediently along, occasionally shaking her mane when tiny flies landed on her golden neck. The screams of seabirds, the chirp of insects and the gentle thump of Goldie’s hooves were a soothing accompaniment to Chloe’s tangled thoughts.

  Tranquility House was almost right next to this trail. Instead of the shadowy, tantalising glimpses she had caught before, Chloe found herself viewing a once grand house. Stone walls had been decorated with some vulture-type stone birds, which now lay crumbling in the undergrowth.

  As usual, when confronted with a derelict building, Chloe felt a surge of excitement. If she had been younger and more aware of the possibilities, she might have done as Shay and Michelle were doing – breathing life and imagination back into the beautiful old structures.

  Finn had said the police searched the building after Matthew’s death, and there was evidence of trampled paths to and from the doors and windows. Chloe dismounted and tied Goldie’s reins firmly to a twisted tree next to the wall. She gave her a pat, and a handful of feed from the bag in her pocket.

  The mare sighed gustily and settled down to wait, lazily swishing her tail, and Chloe trod carefully up the path to the front door.

  The proportions of the house were lovely; symmetrical with lots of windows. Shutters still hung crookedly from some of these. Most of the windows were boarded up, but several, probably used by the police, were accessible and hung open on broken catches, bare of glass and inviting.

  Shay’s pictures tempted her in. She gave a quick, wary glance at Goldie, but the horse seemed contented enough. Fallen masonry made a natural step up, and with a heave, Chloe was inside, breathing in dust, flinching away from cobweb-encrusted corners.

  The rooms were still partly furnished, and she could immediately see the area where Shay and his girlfriend had set up a few pieces for their shots. The old sofa, with its elegant scrolled hand rests was carefully positioned beside a heavy table.

  Moving to the kitchen, Chloe wiped her hot face. It was at the back of the house and the windows were all boarded up, making her feel claustrophobic. There was enough light to see from the cracks in the ceiling and the lines around the glass, where the boards didn’t quite fit. As she turned to inspect the table, treading tentatively on the rotten boards, a sound made her jump.

  It was a sharp click, as though somebody had shut a door, or dropped a latch on one of the windows, followed by a quick scuff of footsteps. In an instant the house went from pleasant eeriness to downright terrifying.

  It was a moment before she realised what had happened. The kitchen door had been closed behind her. She was shut in the fetid darkness of a derelict house with an unknown person.

  Trying to control her rising panic, Chloe held her breath, peering at the door. Had it swung shut on its own? Had she imagined the footsteps? There must be numerous animals and birds now living in the house… She slipped a hand into her pocket and dragged out her phone with a sweaty hand. Her breath now came in short, sharp gasps and the shadows seemed to lengthen towards her.

  ‘Stop it,’ she told herself sharply. Then, gathering courage. ‘Is anyone there? Shay?’

  Outside, she could hear the vines shifting against the roof in the light breeze. Sweat dripped down her nose. Okay, if somebody had followed her in, what would they do now? Was she just imagining things?

  There was no other way out of the kitchen. The boards at the windows looked pretty secure and a quick glance told her there were no heavy implements or furniture she could use to batter them with.

  She looked at her phone. No signal.

  It would have to be the door. Cautiously, she edged towards it, then took a deep breath and shoved at it. It swung open easily enough, and as it did so she saw a broken latch dangling from the framework. It was rusty and fragile. Gaining confidence, she dodged quickly around the furniture to her exit point, scrambling unhindered from the glassless window.

  Blinking in the sunlit jungle, she focused on the spot where she had left Goldie. With a definite feeling of disbelief she saw that the mare had vanished.

  Chloe ran back out of the tangled garden, onto the trail and saw with relief the horse was grazing on a patch of grass about ten yards away, her golden coat dappled by the tree canopy, long white tail swishing lazily.

  Dropping to a walk and approaching carefully, Chloe picked up the reins and tugged the mare’s head up. Goldie, mouth full of grass, looked at her reproachfully, but she didn’t seem bothered. The reins were unbroken.

  ‘So,’ Chloe addressed the horse, ‘did you untie the knot yourself and I imagined someone in the house, or did someone set you free and come inside to try and scare me?’

  Her phone buzzed as the signal returned, and she pulled it from her pocket, relieved, hands still shaking.

  Keep away from Melissa. She is dangerous.

  Really? For heaven’s sake! It was time to get on with the ride, so Chloe shoved the phone away, determinedly swung back into the saddle and continued until she reached the road. Goldie was keen to canter on the way home. As there wasn’t anyone to witness her being feeble (she felt), and holding on to the saddle, Chloe let her, arriving back at the stables unscathed, with aching muscles and a sense of satisfaction.

  She untacked and chattered nonsense to the horse as she rubbed her down, still thinking about the possibility that someone had been in the house. In the bright sunlit yard, with the animals around her, and the sea murmuring below the cliff, the ghosts had faded and she was very ready to believe she had just imagined the incident.

  The messages on her phone must be from a crazy person. How could Melissa be dangerous? Trouble was she had now given her mobile number to so many people, not to mention it was up on the website along with Antoine’s for bookings. She frowned at the possible mistake. Maybe she should get a business phone and keep her personal number private.

  ‘You’re back sooner than I thought!’ Antoine walked back into the yard with the dog trotting happily next to him on her long lead.

  ‘Was Hilda okay?’ Chloe asked quickly, bending down and making a fuss of her dog. Hilda bounced happily around, licking her bare hands.

  ‘Yeah, she was fine. Shall I tie her back up until you’re done?’

  ‘Please.’ She refilled Goldie’s water bucket, checked Hilda had drunk some water and prepared to head back inside. She closed the garden gate with a sharp click and unclipped Hilda’s lead.

  The dog trotted happily round the garden, snuffling at the chickens, who seemed to be digging up plants in Chloe’s flower beds.

  ‘Hilda!’ Chloe called, and was pleased when the dog bounced towards her on her short, stout legs, ears flapping in the breeze. She cast a quick glance back at the stables at the noise of a vehicle on the dr
iveway.

  Antoine went out to greet the taxi that was now pulling up outside the yard. A large man and two slender teenage girls emerged. The girls immediately went up to the horses, petting them and talking eagerly.

  By lunchtime, she’d fed Hilda, made a sandwich for herself, added several posts to all the social media feeds, and fired off emails to all of their current clients thanking them for their custom.

  Next up was emailing all the photographers on the island offering Goldie as an equine model.

  Ailsa popped over at three, practically bursting with excitement, followed by her usual avian entourage, who were screeching away at the cockerel in the far hedge. ‘Chloe, have you seen they’ve actually charged Kaila Montana?’

  24

  ‘No. Have they really?’ Chloe asked, putting a tin of flapjacks on the table, and flicking the switch on the kettle. ‘I did see something in the news this morning about it…’

  Ailsa and Hilda collided in the doorway and Chloe hastily called the dog off. ‘Sorry, I forgot you two hadn’t met! This is Hilda, she’s super friendly.’

  ‘Nice. I thought you said a Staffie cross?’ Ailsa inquired, reaching down, smiling at the dog, who promptly rolled onto her back, tail still wagging. ‘She looks like a right mixture. Maybe some terrier in there somewhere too!’

  ‘Probably lots of things, but yes, she is great and I’m very happy with her,’ Chloe said. She debated whether to tell Ailsa about the disturbance in the night, but decided against it. Her neighbour had enough on her mind, and Chloe still felt awkward after her suspicions about Jordan. The more she thought about it, the more she felt he was the only person who could have taken the painting and the money.