by Ashley Cain
“I’m not sure that I was beating him”. April looked down the cliff to where she could just make out the lights of Gull Bay. “I have no home and no business. Although apparently I have land that is worth millions if I sell it soon”. She laughed hollowly.
“And you won’t sell”. Hope put her hand out to stop the door of the ambulance closing, wincing as she made contact with the metal. “You’re more like your Grandma Ruby than you realise April. Money meant nothing to her. She loved the simple life of waking up in one of the most beautiful spots on earth. Where would she have gone if she had sold up in Gull Bay, and where would you go? Back to Manchester. I can’t see it somehow”. The door closed.
Where indeed? It was a question April had been asking herself the last couple of days. She started as a hand touched her shoulder. It was Rachel with Miguel.
“So, it looks like it was Ivan Fletcher all along”. Miguel said. “I guess that means I have lost my job in the Domar. I’m not sure what I’m going to do now’’.
“Miguel” Rachel admonished him. “With all that has happened, you are thinking of that”.
Miguel gave a wry smile. “I know, but we have to be practical. Our home and my job were tied up with Ivan Fletcher. We will have to make plans sometime soon, even if not tonight”.
“I know the feeling”. April said. “Look, I doubt anything is going to happen over the next few days so I think you have got some time. And we have still got customers to serve with the bakery, I will need that to work more than ever over the winter. Why don’t you help Rachel instead of me, I think I have a lot to think about and could do with taking some time off?”
“Are you sure?” Miguel’s face lit up. “That would be awesome. I could start making some of my famous quiches and pasties, I have a great recipe for a salmon and feta cheese quiche”.
“Not so quick buster” Rachel punched him lightly on the arm. “Help me, was what April said. We already have orders waiting, so you will be making what I tell you to make” She winked at April.
“Fine” Miguel grumbled although the grumble soon turned in to a grin. “It will be good working together though again won’t it? Like old times”.
They turned and started to make their way across the grass. It would never be like old times again April thought as she mentally looked back over the last few weeks to when she had a bustling café and the only question on her mind was how to keep the trade going over the winter months. But maybe the new times could be just as good or even better.
Chapter 32
It had been a week since they had all been able to get together and catch up. Hope had been kept in hospital for a couple of days, as her arms and shoulders were badly bruised and sore from when Ivan and Imelda had tried to pull her apart. April had been too busy sorting things out with the insurance company and looking for somewhere to live and so had left it to Rachel and Miguel to run the bakery. She trusted them and her trust had been repaid as they had received several new orders and were trying some new lines. Two of the new products sat in the middle of the table in Hope’s front room, a large turkey, bacon and cranberry pie that Rachel had made in preparation for Christmas which was just three weeks away now, and a smoked salmon and potato quiche that Miguel was convinced would sell well. There was also a large iced Christmas cake that was from the first batch that Rachel had made ready for deliveries across the island.
Hope brought a plate of sandwiches out that she had been busy making in the kitchen just as the fifth and final guest of the afternoon knocked on the door. April went to open it, and let in Sergeant Tozier. He had phoned the evening before to say that he wanted to give her an update, and she had thought it was only fair that the others hear it as well given their involvement. He was in casual clothes, a black puffa jacket and grey jeans which surprised her as she was so used to seeing him in his uniform. Taking his coat off to reveal a black sweater he looked ill at ease, as though he was not sure what to do, until Hope ushered him to a chair at the table which she had got out from its normal place under the stairs. It filled the entire small room.
Once they were all seated and Hope had handed round the china plates with the pattern of birds around the rim, they all looked expectantly at Sergeant Tozier. He cleared his throat nervously and put down the sandwich, which had had just a few seconds before taken a bite out of.
“Well,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, to dislodge any crumbs that might be there. “Like I said on the phone to Miss Hart yesterday, I thought I should give a bit of an update, seeing as there has not been any news about it at all over the last week”.
“Why is that?” Hope asked. “I thought it would have been all over the local news”. They all nodded, it had been a surprise to them that there had been hardly any mention of it, save from a small article in the local paper a few days earlier which had stated that police were pursuing a number of leads in relation to the two fires at Gull Bay, and that residents should not be alarmed as they were believed to be linked, but isolated, incidents.
“Well,”, Sergeant Tozier said again nervously. “Mr Fletcher has appointed Peter Knighton as his lawyer and he has taken out an injunction on any reporting”.
“Typical” muttered Hope in annoyance. Peter Knighton was one of the top lawyers in Jersey. “I might have known he would try and wriggle out of it”.
“There is not much evidence you see” Sergeant Tozier continued looking down at his plate. “Both his sister Imelda Van Leeuwen, and his nephew Isa Van Leeuwen have given statements saying that Ivan Fletcher was hoping to buy the land on which the Gull Bay Café and your home stood. Isa has also signed a confession to say that his uncle had asked him to take a job at the Bluewater café and attempt to sabotage the meals. Other than that, there is not an awful lot of evidence to suggest he did anything else. He has not got an alibi for the three nights in question, when the café was burgled, when it was set fire to, and when your home was burned, but no alibi is not the same as evidence linking him to the crime. It is all circumstantial, and a good lawyer would be able to get him off, never mind a great lawyer like Peter Knighton. The only thing we can charge him with is the assault on Mrs Marchant” He stopped and looked at Hope.
The others shook their head.
“So, he has got off scot free then?” said Miguel.
“Not exactly. I think we will be able to get him on the assault charges, and on trying to incite criminal damage, but unless we can get concrete evidence linking him to the other crimes, we will be unlikely to charge him with those. And as we haven’t been able to put anything in the paper it is unlikely anyone will come forward to provide any evidence” He shrugged. “For what it is worth, I think it was probably him but thinking and proving it are unfortunately two different things”.
“What I want to know though is why?” April said. “I’ve been thinking and thinking about this since I spoke to Connor. Isa” she corrected herself. “I just can’t get used to referring to him as Isa. I don’t understand why he would have gone to these lengths to try and buy the land. He was a regular customer, why not just take me to one side and make me an offer I couldn’t refuse?”
“He didn’t have the money” Hope said. “That evening when I went up to see him, I had been thinking the same thing. I was sure that it was him, everything seemed to have fallen in to place. The knowledge that his father had been involved in dodgy land deals and had left the island was the final piece. I went for a walk to clear my head, because I knew that Ruby had said something to me years ago and I just couldn’t remember what it was. And then as I stood on the cliffs and looked down at Gull Bay and the plot of land that the café and your grandad’s old boathouse stood on, I could see how far back it extended and I remembered what Ruby had said to me in passing one day. Harold Fletcher was trying to convince your grandpa to agree to some ridiculous scheme that would make them both some money and let them retire to the south of France and go fishing every day. Ruby had no intention of being a wealthy expat
and so that put paid to that idea, but I honestly think your grandpa would have gone along with it if she had agreed to it. Him and Harold were very close at one point.
“It’s a wonder grandma didn’t get bumped off then” April thought out loud. “I wonder what changed now and made Ivan so desperate?”
“Money” said Hope simply. “Ivan Fletcher had lots of money in those days and the fact that his father was doing dodgy land deals wouldn’t have really hit his radar. Oh, you can be sure that he was in on them, but if they didn’t come off it would be no skin off his nose. But things are different now. I put another call in to my friend Renee at the Belvedere, and she filled me in on all the gossip. Apparently, the Belvedere is heavily mortgaged along with most of his other properties. He didn’t have the money to make you an offer for what the land was worth, hence why he resorted to other means”
“We have no proof of that” Sergeant Tozier said officiously “although that is what I am trying to get. How do you know his properties are heavily mortgaged?”
“It’s a small island” Hope said patting her nose with her finger, “and I am a very old lady who has grown up here and lived here all my life. I have my sources”.
Sergeant Tozier smiled. “I know where to come to then, if I need some information on any of my cases” he said helping himself to a large slice of quiche. “This is very good quiche” he mumbled through a mouthful. “When are you going to open the café again?”
April felt all their eyes on her. “I’m not” she said quietly. The room went silent. “You may as well know now. I know that Hope didn’t expect me to but I have decided to sell the land”.
“What?” Hope looked shock. “April you can’t, why would you let him win?”
“He hasn’t won Hope. It just seems such an opportunity. I have managed to find a buyer over the last few days who has made me an offer I can’t refuse. He is going to build two split level houses on the land and to be honest that plot of land deserves two beautiful houses from where the owners get a wonderful view every day”
“So, you’re definitely not going to open the café again?” Miguel looked crestfallen. “I was hoping that you would. That’s two pieces of bad news” He looked at Rachel dejectedly who looked close to tears. “Ivan Fletcher has given us a months’ notice to vacate the apartment, so it looks like we are going to have to find a new home as well as new jobs”.
“I might be able to help you”. April said. They all looked at her in surprise. “I have only sold the land behind the bakery and to the side where my grandma’s old café which is going to provide an entry road. The cottage is staying as the bakery and I hoped Rachel that you would stay on and run it. With the money that I will get for the land I have been able to buy another place as well which will be a café and bar. It means that I can keep James on as the cook and Martha as a waitress. And I wondered Miguel if you would like to be Head Chef?”
Miguel’s face lit up. “Of course, where is it?”
“It’s the Bay Harbour Grill. It would appear that Hope is right and Ivan Fletcher does have money worries. He was keen to offload the Bay Harbour Grill, probably to pay his legal expenses, and so I picked it up very cheaply. He doesn’t know it is me of course, I’ve bought it through a holding company. When he finds out it is me, he will be furious, but it serves him right”.
“That is fantastic news” Rachel looked ready to burst. “I knew things would turn out alright. We just need to find somewhere to live, ideally around here as we will be both working in Gull Bay”.
“The Bay Harbour Grill has another advantage” April continued. “It has two apartments above. I’m going to take one and I wondered if you wanted to rent the other, if you don’t mind living above the shop that is”.
“I could kiss you” Miguel said ecstatically. “That’s amazing news”.
“Yes, I’m planning to open just after Christmas” April said. “It doesn’t need much doing to it as Imelda and Isa decorated it very similarly to the Bluewater Café. I’m going to take down the chandeliers though, a bit over the top for a cafe” They all laughed.
“What happened to Imelda and Isa?” Miguel asked suddenly “Have they been charged?”
“There was nothing to charge Imelda Van Leeuwen with” Sergeant Tozier said. “And she did try and save Hope’s life, which suggests that she had nothing to do with it. She hotfooted it back to South Africa as soon as she had signed her statement. Isa Van Leeuwen on the other hand has been charged with impersonation, obtaining employment unlawfully and malicious damage. He has a lawyer, not the same one as his uncle, and is probably looking at a suspended sentence and community service.
“He will probably abscond to South Africa before he has chance to do the community service” huffed Miguel.
“Apparently not”. Sergeant Tozier gave April a look which she couldn’t quite fathom. “I believe he is planning on staying in Jersey. He has had to leave the Rockspur, as his uncle kicked him out, but he has given his address as an address in Gull Bay. I believe he is staying with Marcy Brownlow”.
Despite herself April let out a laugh. “So, we will be neighbours then”, she said. “Well, as long as he doesn’t come to me looking for a job then I’m sure it will be fine. I doubt he will anyway, he is unlikely to want anything to do with me”.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that”, Hope mumbled in to her teacup. “I doubt very much that Marcy Brownlow is the real reason that he is staying in Gull Bay”.
“What do you mean?” she asked turning to her.
“Ignore me, I was just thinking aloud. You know, April” she said changing the subject “I think I’m going to retire, although seeing as I am going to be living between the bakery and the café, I’ll be able to pop in daily after my walk to make sure that things are running smoothly. After all I did promise your grandma….”
“That you would look after April until your dying day” they all chorused.
“Not that I get any thanks for it” Hope grumbled getting up to clear the tea things from the table. But there was a twinkle in her eye as she turned away.