by Daisy White
He grinned lazily down at her. ‘Mrs Canton is back on the case.’ His expression changed. ‘I know you’ve been worried about her all along, and I understand why. But family dynamics aren’t a police matter. And we’ve solved the murder case now. This could just be a simple matter of family disagreements.’
‘I know, and I do see. There’s just something still bothering me about Melissa. She never admitted she’d given me the package, so is she going to leave it with me, and pretend it never existed, or will she tell me what happened at some point? She had that bruise, Finn. Somebody had hit her, and she was terrified.’
‘I know…’ His expression was thoughtful. ‘There is no solid evidence to tie her to any of Matthew’s or Kaila’s illicit dealings with drugs in the States. She may have bought or even sold some pills for Matthew, and perhaps still owe money… I don’t know. This is pure speculation, unless she asks us for help.’
‘She doesn’t seem to be the type to ask for help,’ Chloe said dryly, and smiled when he laughed. ‘Yes, I can see why that’s funny. I’ll still keep an eye on her. And I want her to have the painting back.’
He picked up a slice of watermelon. ‘Why don’t we wait and see if she reaches out to you now she’s back on the island?’
‘I suppose’ – Chloe narrowed her eyes against the sunlight, taking in the party atmosphere – ‘she might even come back for a chat.’ She bent down and gave Hilda a crisp, checking she wasn’t too hot in the shade. But her coat was cool, and her nose still wet. There were a few other dogs on the beach and she supposed she might be fussing unnecessarily.
‘If you can get her to ask for help, then we can do something, but until then, my hands are tied.’ He poured her a glass of water and passed it across the blanket, before taking out a box of cupcakes.
Chloe accepted the water, sipping slowly, still thinking. ‘I’ll work on it. I know I’m nosy, but I feel… I don’t know… like she needs help.’ She thought this sounded a bit stupid and hastily changed the subject. ‘Hilda has her beady eyes on those luscious-looking pink cupcakes.’
Finn removed the box from the dog’s reach, ignoring her reproachful glance. ‘She’ll be fine here for a minute and we can keep an eye on her. Come and watch the sandcastle competition!’
Chloe and Finn joined the audience, clapping as various sand sculptures and multi-turreted castles were judged and winners announced, enjoying the live music and the buzz of chatter. But her eyes were searching the crowds for Melissa.
‘Chloe!’ This time it was Ailsa, with her daughter and Jordan dragging baskets and a picnic blanket. ‘Hallo, Finn. Hallo, Hilda, darling!’
‘She’s sulking because Finn wouldn’t give her a cupcake,’ Chloe told her, laughing. She greeted Cheryl and Jordan. The boy seemed slightly sulky too, his wide mouth turned down, shoulders drooping, dark hair tumbling into his eyes. He kept his eyes lowered and mumbled ‘hallo’ in response to his grandmother’s prompt.
‘Nice to meet you properly,’ Chloe said, as they settled side by side, squeezing into a space next to the rocks.
Cheryl was tall and pretty, with long curly hair tied back in a floral scarf, and a wide smile. ‘I’m so sorry about everything. Mum told me what happened. How are you coping after the fire?’
‘Nearly cleared up already. Antoine is a brilliant worker. He managed to get some tack on loan from a friend of Louisa’s and it will be business as usual from tomorrow.’
‘I’m so glad,’ Ailsa put in. Her bruises had faded into her tan, but she put up a hand and touched them self-consciously. ‘I’m also glad Ellis won’t be able to hurt anyone else.’
‘Or blackmail them,’ Cheryl said, frowning, turning back to her mother. ‘I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!’ Clearly she had no problem with bringing everything out into the open, and Ailsa gave a martyred sigh.
Finn started pouring drinks, passing Chloe a Dark ‘n’ Stormy straight from the tin. ‘I have added ice flakes from the box, but I’m short on glasses.’
‘It’s lovely, thank you,’ Chloe told him.
Kites fluttered as the breeze picked up, pulling hard against their restraining strings, and more families arrived. Tanned teens were dancing to the live band, younger children paddling in the sea, and a group of men were playing cards in a sheltered corner by the rocks.
Ailsa, on the pretext of taking Hilda for a walk, was now up by the washrooms, chatting to a group of friends. Hilda, still on the lead, was leaping around with two terriers and a hairy, cream-coloured dog.
After they had eaten, Chloe saw Jordan slouch down the beach, brushing off a friendly greeting from another boy. Checking that her companions were still busy with various conversations, she followed him, weaving her way through the mass of people.
He kept close to the water’s edge and went right to the end of the beach, where another curve of rocks divided the sand from the next cove. Pulling himself up onto a rock, he seemed engrossed in his phone.
‘Jordan?’
He jumped violently, and scowled at her. But not before she’d seen a flash of panic in his eyes.
‘Can I talk to you for a moment?’
He shrugged.
This child was responsible for recklessly taking someone’s life, Chloe thought, but he just looked sad and very young. ‘Did your grandmother tell you that someone broke into my house?’
‘Yeah. She reckons it was probably Ellis, but he said no. I heard them talking on the phone when she came out of hospital.’
‘Do you know anything about the break-in?’
He stared at her for a long moment, before he seemed to deflate. The arrogance faded from his expression and the childish helplessness was back.
‘Why don’t you tell me what happened to the money, Jordan?’
‘Are you going to tell the inspector?’
‘It depends on what you tell me. It was you, wasn’t it?’ Chloe said gently.
‘Yeah. I saw that girl from the gallery, Melissa, come to your house in the night. I was staying with my gran because I had a row with my mum, and the scooter woke me up. The girl was carrying a package and I thought maybe you were into drugs too or something and she was doing a delivery. I’d heard a lot of rumours about her and the gallery so when I saw who it was I was interested. I stayed awake and saw her leave a couple of hours later, without the package.’
‘So you decided to find out what was going on?’
He glanced down at the rock, tracing the lines with a fingertip. ‘It wasn’t just that. People said you must have a lot of money, to just come in and live here without working.’
Chloe laughed. ‘I wish. I took redundancy from my job in London, which left me just enough to live on until I get the stables up and running.’
‘I needed money.’ For the first time he met her eyes. ‘I was going to pay off Ellis Jack for Gran. I knew what was going on, and if he had the money, he just needed you out and he’d leave her alone.’ He paused, still glaring right at her, fists clenched at his sides. ‘I gave him the money, I stole the horse and I set the fire.’
Stunned by the half-expected revelations, Chloe leant against the rock herself. ‘You did?’
He nodded. ‘I had to get him off her back.’
‘I understand that, but you could have just told the police, and they would have helped. So Ellis Jack has the money?’
‘Yeah, all of it. You going to tell the police?’
‘You could do it yourself?’ Chloe suggested. ‘I admire the fact you wanted to protect Ailsa, but the money isn’t actually mine. It belongs to Melissa, so it would be good to get it back. I assume the money was to buy my house when I sold up?’
‘He already had some stashed away that he managed to hide from the taxman, but he needed more. That was why this seemed like it was meant to be. He was seriously crazy, and I was afraid he’d lose it and kill my gran or something…’
29
Chloe watched the waves dashing lazily onto the beach. The noise of the festival see
med miles away. She would give him a minute, she thought, and if he disagreed she would hand him straight over to Finn.
‘All right, I’ll do it,’ Jordan told her suddenly.
‘You will?’
‘Yeah. You’re right. It isn’t for me to be ashamed of, is it? It was him that started it all, and him that beat up Gran.’
Chloe said nothing as they walked back along the sand, dodging partygoers, but Jordan kept sneaking her little glances seemingly relieved to have got the weight of the confession off his back, if clearly worried about what would happen next.
She watched as he went straight over to his mum and grandmother, and started talking. Finn had once said he was clearly a good kid at heart, which under the circumstances was amazingly forgiving, but in this instance she would make sure he followed through on his promise.
Meanwhile, Chloe accepted another Rum Swizzle from Finn, and sat back on the blanket, stroking Hilda’s soft ears. ‘Ailsa gave her back, then? I thought she’d kidnapped her for the day.’
‘She was worried about her getting too hot.’ Finn grinned. ‘And I think they’ve done the social rounds anyway.’
Chloe smiled, narrowed her eyes against the sun, and rummaged in her bag for sunglasses. The drinks were very strong, and she was already getting a bit dizzy. She made a mental note to stick to juice for a bit after this one.
‘Oh look, my sisters are here,’ Finn said, waving through a crowd of picnicking families at a group of newcomers. ‘Tasha, Karren and Rita, this is Chloe.’
Chloe suddenly felt her social anxiety return under their assessing eyes, and she smiled quickly, gulping the last of her drink. ‘Nice to meet you.’ Her voice, to her own ears, sounded far too high-pitched, and she hastily cleared her throat.
Mary, who looked just like Finn, and was almost as tall, broke the ice. ‘Great to meet you too. Finn has told us so much about you, and we were all close to Dre. She taught the kids to ride, you know. Is this your dog?’
Hilda, seemingly exhausted by all the attention, had flopped upside-down in her shady spot.
Karren and Rita were also so warm and friendly Chloe felt herself relaxing a little. She was soon asking about their children, their jobs and explaining her own business ideas.
‘Finn said you make candles too? I’m such a sucker for anything like that,’ Mary said.
‘She’s got a house full of embroidered cushions and scented candles already, but every time we shop, she buys something else.’ Rita laughed, one eye on her two teenage girls, who were running in from the sea with bodyboards.
‘Hey, I only buy things I need,’ Mary told her, with a twinkle in her amber eyes.
‘Like the onion doorstop last week?’ Karren suggested, grinning.
‘Don’t ask,’ Finn advised Chloe, laughing at his younger siblings.
They chatted some more about the Stone Gallery and Kaila, before Chloe spotted Melissa at one of the pop-up bars near the entrance to the beach. She excused herself quickly and went after her quarry, threading her way around sandcastles, parasols and buckets.
The girl paid for two cans of Coke and turned back to the beach.
‘Melissa!’ Chloe was slightly breathless, but determined to get this sorted out.
A quick flash of panic shadowed across Melissa’s face, but her eyes were still hidden by the expensive sunglasses. ‘Sorry, Chloe, can we talk later? I need to get these drinks back.’
A few metres away, Chloe caught sight of Arron beckoning his stepdaughter, with Jonas beside him in a panama hat. She dropped her voice, blocking Melissa’s way. ‘Sorry if I seem nosy, but you did leave me with a bit of a mystery, and I’ve been worried about you.’
‘No need,’ Melissa told her, but her voice wobbled slightly. ‘It’s nothing I can’t handle.’
‘Okay, but you can come to me if you do need help.’
She wavered. ‘You told the police about my painting.’
‘I had to.’ Chloe explained about the theft. ‘But that’s all sorted now. I’ve got the painting back. I don’t know what will happen about the money, but I would guess if Ellis Jack wanted it to buy my place, he still has it. It will be returned.’
‘I…’ Melissa dithered, scuffing a sandal in the white sand. One of the cans of Coke slipped out of her hand and she and Chloe knocked heads as they both bent to retrieve it. ‘I need them both, really, the money and the painting, but…’ She glanced over at her stepfather, who had started walking towards them. ‘I’ll ring you. But not from my mobile, from the gallery, okay?’
‘Chloe! Is Melissa buying you a drink? Let me get it for you!’ Arron reached them and took the cans from Melissa’s hands.
‘No, thank you very much, I was just… coming back to join the party.’ Chloe waved vaguely towards the long, low building which housed the washrooms. ‘And I bumped into Melissa.’
‘Do join us for a little while. Jonas mentioned that he wanted to see you.’ Arron was still trying hard, the genial party host, and shepherded them both towards a little group of elegant festivalgoers.
Chloe, with sandy feet and windswept, salty hair, decided to escape from these immaculate women as soon as she could. Silk dresses and a few floral playsuits fluttered in the sea breeze, and their hair and make-up was immaculate.
Jonas, cool and poised, passed her a champagne flute, and she took it, sipping for the sake of politeness. She really must stop or she was going to be drunk. They talked about the gallery, the island, the festival, and the brightly fluttering kites. It was painful and Chloe soon felt she had observed social niceties for long enough, excusing herself on Hilda’s account.
Walking back, she took off her sandals and splashed along the shoreline, letting the clear water cool her feet. Throughout the conversation Arron had watched his stepchildren, smiling too much, hanging around like a hopeful outsider. When Melissa, all false chatter and glamour, told one of the elegant women that her inspiration to paint came from the sea, Arron smiled indulgently, and opened his mouth to contribute.
But she quickly flipped the conversation on to another banal subject, her voice brittle and the hand that smoothed her long dark hair was a little shaky.
Even so, it was as Finn had observed, a tense family dynamic. At least Melissa had seemed relieved by the news of the money and her painting, and she had said she would call.
‘Where have you been? We thought you’d got lost!’ Ailsa was sitting in a deckchair, wriggling her toes in the sand, Hilda now lying underneath the chair.
‘Oh just chatting to a few people,’ Chloe told her. ‘Is Jordan talking to Finn?’
‘He is,’ Cheryl said. ‘Thank you for giving him a push, love. He’s told us all about it. He said you wouldn’t press any charges about the money he stole from you?’ Her voice was hopeful, and Chloe hastened to reassure her.
‘No. I’m just glad it’s all sorted out, and Ellis Jack can answer for his crimes. Jordan shouldn’t have taken the money, but he did it for his grandmother so…’
‘I’m still grounding him,’ Cheryl said decisively. ‘And if his dad gets out of the office for long enough, we’re going to England to see Alfie play in some county games next month. That should wake Jordan up a bit.’
‘I always said he could be just as good if he set his mind to it,’ Ailsa put in. She had a plastic cup on the sand next to her and she was carefully sewing a little needlework picture as she enjoyed the sun.
Chloe leant over and smiled when she saw the outline of a flock of chickens appearing from the clever needlework. ‘You know, if Jordan wants to come and help out at the stables, he’s very welcome.’ She hoped Antoine wouldn’t mind. ‘I can’t afford another member of staff at the moment but he could do some mucking out and things.’
Cheryl’s face lit up. ‘That would be kind. And he can work for nothing and start repaying his debt. It’ll be character-building.’
Chloe grinned. ‘Well, mucking out six horses is certainly good for the muscles!’ She decided she liked Cheryl a
lot.
As the sun started to sink towards the sea, bathing the waves and beach in a beautiful blush pink, people started to pack up, gathering children and picnics. The music went up a notch and several buskers had joined the group of teens at the water’s edge.
‘Shall we make a move?’ Finn asked Chloe, and she nodded.
But as they loaded the car, popping Hilda in amongst the basket and blankets, she caught sight of Arron driving carefully out of the car park. Beside him, Melissa sat stony-faced, hands knotted in her lap, shoulders tense, not responding to Chloe’s wave. Something was very wrong.
30
It was late when Finn dropped her off, and he drove away quickly in response to a call from work, mouthing that he would call her.
The house seemed very silent and Chloe ignored a twinge of unease as she made some toast and scrambled eggs for dinner. Checking her phone for missed calls, she was disappointed to find Melissa hadn’t taken the chance to get in touch. By the time darkness fell she was still wired and worrying.
Her mobile rang, making her jump. It was Finn.
‘Chloe, I just thought you should know that Ellis Jack committed suicide this evening. Nobody else was involved and he left a note confessing to trying to drive you out. He admits he was responsible for the various acts against you, but he doesn’t mention anyone else.’
There was stunned silence.
‘Wow. Oh God, Finn that’s awful. I feel responsible somehow.’ Chloe put a hand out and leant against the table, heart pounding. It was true, at that moment she felt nothing but guilt for setting this in motion.
‘Well you aren’t. I’m sorry but I thought you would rather hear it from me.’
‘Are you going to tell Ailsa?’
‘Yes. I’m sending someone over to her daughter’s house now.’
Drained by the news of another death, Chloe decided to do a last check of the yard and then go to bed. With Hilda trotting beside her, she walked swiftly down to the stable yard. The horses watched with interest as she carefully unlocked the storage shed. No damage and no lurking watchers tonight, but she glanced over her shoulder, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise.