A few minutes later, they arrived at the restaurant. Rachel realized she had been there before.
“Oh Josh, I love this place. I’m so glad you brought me here.”
“Good, I hoped you’d like my choice,” he grinned.
As soon as they parked up, Josh jumped out of the car and rushed round to open Rachel’s door. She was impressed, not having had this done for her many times before.
As they went into the restaurant, Rachel felt bold and took Josh’s arm. She turned to look at him and he was smiling. She smiled back, the warm feeling in the pit of her stomach starting up again.
As soon as they had handed in their coats, they were lead to a table and Josh immediately ordered champagne.”
“I love champagne,” Rachel said.
“Good. I should really have asked what you wanted to drink, but I did read an article about you which said your favorite drink was champagne. Mind you, it could have backfired if you’d changed your mind.”
Rachel was flattered that Josh had taken the time to read up about her and when the champagne came round, she smiled broadly as they toasted each other.
“Here’s to more evenings like this one,” Josh said.
As Rachel clinked glasses with Josh, their eyes met.
“You really are beautiful, Rachel,” Josh continued, “But then you always were, even as a young girl.”
Rachel could feel herself blushing. Josh knew all the right things to say and she knew she was starting to fall for him. She told herself to go slow, to remember what had happened with James, but she was finding it hard. She loved being with Josh and all thoughts of Peter Taylor had gone from her mind.
The starters soon arrived. Josh had chosen thinly sliced roast beef with artichokes, Parmesan and rocket, while Rachel had plumped for homemade mozzarella and tomato salad with avocado and Italian dressing. Both looked so good that they ended up sharing their starters, Rachel thinking how romantic it was.
She couldn’t believe how well the evening was going. They were finding so much to talk about; their work for example which had so many similarities. However, they avoided talking about Jane Simpson, that is until Josh suddenly stopped eating and looked almost tearful.
“I’m sorry, Rachel, perhaps this wasn’t the best place to take you. Mum loved it here and I just remembered coming here with her, dad, Catherine and Ben back in December.”
“I’m sorry Josh, Unfortunately a lot of things and places will remind you of her and it’ll be difficult.”
“You’ve lost both your parents, haven’t you?”
“Yes, and you never forget them, but it does become easier as time passes.”
They were interrupted by the waiter and Rachel was relieved. She was feeling awkward talking about Jane, especially as a vision of her dead body suddenly entered her mind.
The waiter brought the wine Josh had ordered for the main course. It was a Chablis, golden in color with hints of green. When Rachel drank it, she could smell a wonderful bouquet of citrus and lemon.
Shortly after the wine had arrived, their main course was brought out, lobster and prawns for Josh, while Rachel had mushroom and truffle risotto
“You don’t eat a lot of meat and fish, do you Rachel?” Josh asked.
He could only tempt her with a bite of his lobster and she had eaten very little of the beef from the starter as well.
“No, I am thinking of becoming vegetarian, but I haven’t been able to take the plunge yet.”
“Yes, it’s a big change. I was vegan from the age of sixteen for about twelve years.”
“What made you eat meat again?”
“I was sick with pneumonia and decided I’d try meat one time in case I didn’t make it. I didn’t want to die without having meat again. Unfortunately, I took to eating meat like a duck to water. All my principles went out of the window.”
“I love animals. That’s why I want to be vegetarian, so I will try to give it a go soon,” Rachel said taking another mouthful of risotto.
They carried on chatting and Rachel felt relaxed talking to Josh. However, sometimes when their eyes met, she couldn’t help but tremble.
Soon, however, their plates were empty and Rachel was disappointed. She wanted the evening to go on for ever.
“So what do you want for dessert, Rachel,” Josh asked. “I like to see a girl who eats well and still has a good figure.”
“I am full,” Rachel admitted, smiling. “But the desserts here are wonderful that I am tempted. Why don’t you choose and we’ll share.”
Josh agreed, but instead of choosing one dessert for both of them, he chose two, a duetto de mousse which was a pistachio and white chocolate mousse with a dark chocolate topping. The other dessert was a peach tarte with amaretto crème patisserie and almond flakes. They were delicious and Josh took great pleasure in feeding Rachel small spoonfuls of both desserts.
After coffee and petite fours, Rachel had to accept that the evening was almost coming to an end. She was disappointed, especially as she realized that she hadn’t enjoyed herself so much in a long time. She hoped Josh had as well and that he wanted to see her again.
* * *
Soon Josh was driving Rachel back to Oakfield Hall. She felt warm and cozy inside the car despite the freezing temperature outside. However, she was a little nervous. Should she invite Josh in for coffee or would he take it to mean something else? It was only their first date and Rachel never rushed into her relationships. She didn’t care if people called her old-fashioned; that was the way she was.
Josh stopped his car close to the front door. Despite their continuous chatter all evening, they were quiet now. However, the atmosphere in the car was charged with electricity. Josh reached over and touched Rachel’s cheek. She felt herself shiver and realized that it would be hard to only say goodnight to Josh. He pulled her closer and ran his fingers up and down her back. Then he gently moved his lips onto hers into what Rachel felt was the perfect first kiss; not too soft, but not too passionate. They were both left happy, but anticipating more.
“Are you going to ask me in, Rachel?” Josh asked a moment later.
“Not tonight,” she replied quickly, realizing how much of a temptation it would be.
“I understand. Let me at least walk you to the front door.”
Rachel acquiesced even though the door was only a few meters away.
Josh jumped out of the car and dashed round to open Rachel’s door as he had done earlier.
Rachel grinned at him. “What a gentleman.”
“I am, aren’t I?” he smiled. “Not that I don’t believe in equality and all that, but there’s nothing wrong in a bit if chivalry now and again.”
As they walked towards the house, Josh suddenly stopped.
“It looks like you’ve got a flat tire.”
“Oh no, not again,” Rachel replied. “I only had one a couple of weeks ago.”
She walked towards her car to have a look, the outside lights of the hotel giving her enough light to see.
“Oh no, it looks like the back tire is flat as well.”
Josh came over and he looked at the tires. Then he moved round to the other side of the car.
“I’m afraid the tires are flat on this side as well and it looks like someone has slashed them.”
“What?” Rachel exclaimed. “Who would do that? Oh no, it’s like last year all over again.”
“Hey come here,” Josh said, taking Rachel in his arms. “It’s probably only kids having a bit of fun; well fun for them. I can’t imagine that someone’s trying to kill you.”
“No, not kill me, but somebody definitely has it in for me. Perhaps they want to scare me before attempting to murder me. I thought it was all over and done with five months ago. However, it’s not a year since George died so the codicil in the will is still valid.”
There was a codicil in George Robertson’s will saying that if Rachel should die within the first year of his death, the house would be split between his br
others, Arthur and John, and Rachel’s Uncle Sam.
“I’m sure nobody would dare after what James did last year,” Josh spoke reassuringly.
“I suppose you’re right. I trust Uncle Sam implicitly. We’ve always been very close. John is in prison. That just leaves Arthur. He’d have had to come after it got dark, so there would have been less chance of him being seen, but I can’t imagine him crawling about in the dark slashing my tires.”
“Nor can I. Let’s get you inside. A brandy should do you good, don’t you think?”
“Yes, that would be lovely,” Rachel replied, totally forgetting that she had not wanted to invite Josh in.
As they entered the house, Sarah was crossing the hallway on her way to bed.
“Sarah, how did it go tonight?’ Rachel asked, her business head appearing.
“Oh, it went well. As we expected, the guests did ask a lot of questions about the murder, but we all managed to be as discreet as possible.”
“You haven't seen anyone suspicious lurking outside this evening have you Sarah?” Josh asked.
“No. Why, what’s happened?”
“Somebody has slashed all of Rachel’s tires.”
“Oh no,” Sarah exclaimed and rushed over to give Rachel a hug.
“You don’t think it has something to do...”
“To do with the will,” Rachel interrupted. “I thought that, but Josh thinks it’s highly unlikely. I suppose if someone wanted to kill me, they’d go right ahead and do it, not just try and frighten me.”
“Are you going to ring the police?” Sarah asked.
“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that,” Rachel replied.
“I think you should,” Josh agreed with Sarah. “Though I hope you don’t get that dour faced Chief Inspector again. He’ll probably make you feel worse than you already do.”
Rachel suddenly forgot about the romantic evening she’d just had and her defenses came up.
Peter’s not dour faced. He’s just lonely and hurt. Josh has no right to criticize him.
“I think I’ll call the police in the morning. It’s not urgent. And I’ll skip the brandy, Josh, if you don’t mind. I’ve had enough to drink this evening. You won’t be offended if I turn in now?”
“No, whatever you want, Rachel,” Josh replied.
Rachel quickly walked him to the door. He wondered why her mood had suddenly changed. However, he was sure it was nothing but shock.
“I’ll ring you tomorrow if that’s alright, Rachel?’ he asked.
“Yes, I’d like that,” Rachel said, trying to sound more upbeat.
She wanted Josh to go, but she didn’t know why. At the door he kissed her lightly, realizing that Sarah was at the reception desk. Rachel was grateful for that as she felt confused. What on earth was wrong with her?
* * *
“I’m so sorry about your car, Rachel,” Sarah said as she walked towards her. “What an end to a lovely evening.... it was lovely wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was very nice," Rachel replied absentmindedly.
“Just nice?” Sarah asked, hoping Rachel would elaborate.
Rachel snapped out of her almost dreamlike state.
“No, it was more than that. Josh is witty, clever, and funny. I couldn’t ask for a better first date.”
“Then why do you look as if you’ve had a horrid time, not to mention the fact that you did rather chase Josh out of here.”
“I was upset about my tires, Sarah, and, yes, I was a little annoyed with Josh’s attitude to the Chief Inspector; I will admit that. Taylor did support me through a terrible time when James was trying to kill me.”
“I knew it; you have got a thing for the Chief Inspector.... and I know he likes you.”
“Not in that sort of way. He’s never given me one bit of encouragement.”
“So you are admitting you are attracted to Taylor?” Sarah grinned.
“To be honest, I’m totally confused about my feelings. I thought I’d got Taylor out of my system until he turned up here on Saturday night. Then everything came flooding back, but I’d already agreed to have dinner with Josh and well, he is absolutely gorgeous and we have so much more in common.”
“Well,” Sarah continued. “You’ll have an opportunity to sort out your feelings tomorrow when you report your slashed tires to the police.”
“I doubt that Taylor will come out just for that. I’m sure a junior officer will turn up.”
“We’ll see.... Rachel, who do you think could have done such an awful thing to your car? It’s frightening.”
‘It could just be some thugs out for a bit of fun.... or somebody could be trying to frighten me; why I don’t know. What if James sent one of his friends over to do this? Oh God, it must be him at the back of this. He won’t leave me alone.”
“Come on, Rachel. I’m sure even James wouldn’t be that mean.”
“He wanted me dead and probably still does. I think I will have that brandy after all. I’ll take it to my room and then try and get some sleep. You too should get to bed; you’ve had a busy few days.”
Sarah nodded even though she was reluctant to leave Rachel on her own. However, what could she say to make her feel better? Nothing really. Somebody probably had a grudge against her and there was nothing they could do about it at the moment.
Chapter 6
The following morning Detective Chief Inspector Taylor went to visit Edward Simpson, taking Helen with him. She had dressed and made-up particularly well that day and it worried him. While working on Rachel Fisher’s case the previous year, he had been sure that Helen was attracted to him. However, since then she had eased up on her make-up and had been a little distant with him. She spoke mainly about work matters while before she had chatted about what she had done on her day off and would slip in hints of where she might be in the evening. Taylor had been relieved when she had stopped as he dreaded having to tell her that he wasn’t interested. He wasn’t very good at that sort of thing.
Helen, however, had been playing hard to get. Flirting with him hadn’t proved successful, so perhaps appearing uninterested might do the trick. When she realized that this also wasn’t proving fruitful, Helen decided to try a more direct approach again.
Unfortunately for Taylor, she had decided that very morning to pursue her boss again. She felt that he would be miserable about Rachel’s relationship with Josh Simpson and would now know that there was no future with her. Taylor would need a shoulder to cry on and she had one vacant. It had been waiting for him for a long time.
“Here we are,” Taylor said. “Yet another big house.”
The Chief Inspector wasn’t jealous of these rich people; he just didn’t appreciate their attitude to him. Most of all he felt that they often thought they were above the law.
“So this Edward Simpson is in the music business like his brother?’ Helen asked.
“Yes, he’s a producer as well. I believe they run the company between them.”
“I doubt if he’ll be very keen to talk to us, sir?”
“No, I don’t suppose he will be,” Taylor replied, knocking on the door.
Eventually a tall leggy blonde in jeans and rather a revealing top answered the door. Taylor wondered if she was cold; after all it was only February and there was an icy wind blowing.
“Yes,” she said, looking Taylor up and down.
“We’d like to speak to Edward Simpson, please,” Taylor asked, feeling uncomfortable.
Why was that woman looking at him as if she were mentally undressing him?
“He’s not up yet. Can you come back later?” she drawled.
“No we can’t,” Taylor said, now getting cross.
He got out his ID. “We are police officers and we need to speak to him now.”
Helen took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Her boss was wonderful when he was forceful. She could throw her arms around him right now.
“You’d better come in then,” the blonde said. “I’ll get hi
m, but he won’t be happy.”
She went upstairs, leaving them standing in the hallway.
“What a rude woman,” Helen said. “Mind you, I can see why she’s so flimsily dressed. The house is like an oven.”
“Yes, it’s absolutely stifling in here,” Taylor agreed. “They must have money to burn.”
Taylor looked around. There were a lot of paintings on the wall and he wondered if they had been expensive.
After about ten long minutes during which Taylor and Helen said little to each other, Edward Simpson came down the stairs followed by the blonde.
“Officers, do excuse Natalie. She should have got you a drink and let you sit down, but her qualities are in other departments, aren’t they darling?” he said, turning towards Natalie. He then grabbed her and kissed her right in front of Taylor and Helen. Taylor wished the interview was over. He didn’t take well to flamboyant men and this guy would probably tell him a pack of lies anyway.
“Come into the lounge officers. Natalie, get Mrs. Hancock to make some coffee.”
Natalie wandered off looking fed up.
“Fancy a brandy, officers, to go with your coffee?”
“No thank you,” Taylor said. “It’s a little early for us. Plus we are on duty.”
“Please yourselves. I’ll have one myself if you don’t mind.”
Edward Simpson went and poured himself a large brandy and then flopped onto the sofa.”
“Good pick-me-up, this brandy. Had a pretty hectic evening last night.”
Helen had to try very hard not to show her feelings of disgust for Mr. Simpson. How terrible it was drinking at this time of the day. She thought he must lead a very debauched lifestyle. Men like that didn’t impress her, not their wealth, their big houses or their flashy cars. No. he didn’t hold a candle to Peter Taylor. In fact she wouldn’t be at all surprised if he had something to do with Jane Simpson’s death.
“I understand that you were at Oakfield Hall at around the time your step-mother was murdered.”
“Ah, so you think I killed Jane?”
Edward laughed out loud surprising both Taylor and Helen.
Death of a Dancer Page 6