by Sam Speed
Soon I noticed how she was asking everyone questions about the previous week and realised she was doing her own amateur sleuthing. Maybe it was as well. I didn't have any faith in Detective Black who seemed more interested in Dawn's boobs than any detecting.
I told Christine she should tell Jean if she was interested in our first foraging ramble, the Saturday after next. It was proving very popular and if she wanted to go she should put her name down soon.
In fact, when we finished that night the list for the forage was full.
I hoped we would still have a crowd the next week for the exercises. It depended on how soon the novelty wore off. But Dawn had already made enough, even after giving Jean her cut, to give her a healthy bank balance. She could keep going for now and who knew, folk might actually like living like cave people. Anything was possible.
For the next week, we didn't hear from Detective Black. I suppose he had other crimes to investigate that were definitely crimes. It was increasingly strange that, despite police appeals, no-one had come forward to admit to donating the fatal berries. Even if they had been afraid at first, you'd think it would have played on their mind so much by now that they would feel the need to confess.
On the day of the next class, Dawn got a call. I knew straight away from the sudden stammer and the rush of blood to her face who was on the phone.
'Yes, oh yes. That's right. This Saturday. Yes, fine. That's not a problem. We'll be very happy for you and Detective White to join us. Yep, that's fine, I'll say to Jean.'
'Jean, DI Black is coming out for the forage and he'd like you, if possible, to show him some Baneberry growing among haws.'
Jean nodded.
'Oh, right Rosy,' I said, 'so he's only coming to see the berries.'
Dawn flushed even redder. She turned away and rustled through her papers. As if that would stop me noticing or commenting on it.
About half the people from the week before failed to turn up for class. It was a drop, but not too bad. Anne and Christine came, as did Sheila and her entourage. To my surprise, Mary was sticking it out. Her doctor must have had a firm talk with her. A couple of my fellow nurses also came along out of curiosity.
We decided that the next week we would try still having the three classes, but only using the big hall. Dawn would do the first and last class and Jean and I would muddle through in the middle class to give Dawn a break.
On Saturday morning the three of us arrived early to walk the path for the ramble. Jean taught us the basics so that Dawn and I could pull our weight when we took the class out. The walk was longer than I imagined and I had a sinking feeling that I might end up healthy if this went on much longer. I'd even given up my usual breakfast of two yumyums. I would lose my status as slob of the ward at this rate.
'It's nice to have company for the forage,' said Jean. 'Unless I take a class out it's usually quiet. Although sometimes I bump into other walkers and I help them identify which items are poisonous and which safe. I've recruited several members for my group doing that.'
'What about before Yvette died?' I asked her. 'Did you see anyone else picking berries around then?'
'Not that I remember, but there are so many places you can forage around here.'
A short break for lunch and it was time for the official ramble. We were raring to go again. At least Dawn and Jean were. All the ladies on the list had turned up.
Although DI Black was supposedly there for Jean to show him the berries, he attached himself to Dawn's group. We split the victims, err, participants into three groups and left twenty minutes between them. That way each group would have enough room, but if we had any questions, Jean who was taking the middle group would be close enough. We'd found a patch with red Baneberry growing among haws. When Dawn's group got to that, they would wait for Jean to catch up so she could answer DI Black's questions.
Dawn's group left first, then Jean's and I waited for the stragglers.
To my surprise, Wendy attached herself to my group. I thought she would go with Jean as they seemed on better terms, after the fun of last week's class. Christine was asking questions about Yvette's death. She seemed a bit put out when Wendy and I strolled along chatting. I suspected she planned to interrogate me about my part in Yvette's unfortunate demise. But instead, she worked on the other members of our group. As we walked, I overheard her from time to time. She was taking her role as amateur sleuth seriously. She seemed to have established where most people were when the berries were left. I even heard her giving poor Sheila the third degree in front of several of her followers.
I got on very well with Wendy. She had a great sense of humour and we were soon having a bit of a carry-on, between food patches. It was while Wendy was trying to cover me with sticky willows that we heard a commotion behind us. Christine had cornered Mary and Carol and was questioning them. They looked uncomfortable and were trying to get away from her. I rescued them and we walked on to catch up with the rest of our group. Wendy held Christine back to have a serious talk. When they caught up Christine looked very subdued and didn't speak again for the rest of the ramble.
I showed Wendy where the red Baneberry was. Apparently, DI Black was quite happy for his DC to have my second-rate guidance, as long as he had his instruction from Jean.
'It's not so difficult to tell the difference.'
'Not when you know what to look for.'
We arranged to finish the ramble at a health food shop and cafe to reward the participants. Soon we were all thankfully ensconced on chairs, tucking into herbal tea and rice cakes with fruit.
The detectives, Dawn, Jean and I were at a table apart from the others.
DI Black still hadn't taken his eyes off Dawn.
'Thank you, Ms Jackson, for showing me the Baneberry and haws. Although the difference seems obvious once you see them, I accept that it might be easy for an amateur to mistake the Baneberry for the edible haws. So, I have decided that I am going to recommend we close the case into Miss Yvette Wright's death as due to accidental causes.
Dinosaurs and Bikes
Dawn's cheerful mood evaporated and I saw a tear in her eye. I was pretty sure it wasn't her class she was worried about. She'd made enough by now to cover the cost of the hall for the year. And she had enough class members who genuinely interested in the class to make it viable.
Later I saw her at the side, deep in conversation with DI Black and she was smiling again. When we were alone she confided in me.
'Michael says that now that he has closed the case, he can ask me out. He couldn't when there was any risk that I could be a suspect in a murder. Not that he imagined for one minute I could do anything like that.'
I smiled and congratulated her while all the time worrying if this might affect our close relationship. Still, her marriage to that waste of space - Donald - hadn't interfered with our friendship, despite his efforts.
The next Monday, Yvette was cremated. The waiting room was full and people had to wait outside until the previous cremation was finished. There was a large crowd considering I had yet to meet anyone who liked her. It was a dreich3[3] late summer day. Not cold, but the rain and the wind made it seem chilly. Everyone huddled around trying to use the person next to them as shelter from the weather.
I recognised people from the scheme who had hardly been out of their houses before, never mind been friendly with Yvette. And some of the people I didn't recognise at all. You'd think now Yvette's death was classed as an accident that interest would lessen, but rumours were still circulating, and not only the ones I started.
Yvette's cousins from England were her only relations. They sat in the front row with Suzy and Lorna, who it turned out were her friends from work. They hadn't seemed that friendly at the class.
The service was quick. David, Sheila's husband took it which showed how little her cousins knew about Yvette. She would be turning in her grave, if she had one, at the thought of a religious ceremony. There was no invitation for tea and cakes after, which put
the locals' noses out of joint.
I'm not one for sentiment, but I did think it a bit sad that there seemed to be no-one who cared about Yvette. Suzy and Lorna were close to each other, but they didn't seem particularly upset about Yvette. I got the impression they had only included Yvette in their nights out because she was their supervisor at work. Of course, if I'd known then the truth about Yvette I would have felt very differently.
Dawn was rather distracted for the next few days and I had a feeling she wasn't thinking about the class. I was beginning to feel a bit neglected. Even Snowball was out most of the day, lying stretched out soaking in the warm sunshine.
I suppose that's one of the reasons I couldn't resist looking into Yvette's death. That and being nosy. Besides, I would love to see DI Black's face if I solved a murder that he was convinced was an accident. And a murder would help Dawn's class. Then there were the berries. Why did we still not know who provided them?
There was no point in asking Dawn to help. She was busy with organising her class and way too close to DI Black. There was no way he was going to take credit for anything I found.
Maybe I should talk to Christine. It seemed pointless to spend time going over the same ground as her, but she had no idea of how to be subtle. I could see what information she had gathered and add the Lisa touch. Approached the right way people would be only too happy to gossip about Yvette's death. Besides, an accidental poisoning did not have the same gossip potential as a murder.
I decided to ask Jean if she was interested in helping me. An accidental poisoning might not help her foraging class either.
Jean was happy to meet with me. We got together at the local grease shop for a coffee and a nice healthy roll and sausage, with ketchup.
Jean was already taking the whole thing very seriously and had started collecting information. As we talked she made notes.
First, we considered who had the opportunity.
All the class participants could have left the berries. John, the janitor had opened up about an hour before Dawn got there. Anybody could have slipped in and left the dishes. In fact, anyone in Nu Faran could have. Everyone knew John liked to open early so he could get home for his favourite TV show.
'Right, so basically every person in the entire world had the opportunity,' I said.
'Pretty much' said Jean, 'How about we stick to those in the class to narrow it down.'
'Ok, what next?'
'Who from the class knew Yvette?'
'I did,' I said, 'and Dawn, of course. She was well known and pretty much everyone at the class would at least know her by sight.'
'What about motive?' said Jean.
'She wasn't exactly Miss Popularity and had fights with lots of people. Mary over the cat, Angela because she is a fitness freak and Yvette obviously wasn't. I heard Anne having words with her about an unpaid bill in the shop. Suzy and Lorna were her friends, but only because she was their supervisor and they didn't like to refuse her. Suzy doesn't seem particularly upset Yvette is dead. It could be because Yvette accused Suzy of stealing her boyfriend. Of course, Suzy's boyfriend Neil was never interested in Yvette. But I felt there was something more. None of it seems to be a motive for murder.'
'Well, let's count Dawn and you out for now.'
No-one had what you would call a real motive that we knew. Lots of people disliked her, but you can hardly go about murdering everyone you don't like. Hmm, now there's an idea. Mary had been worried about the lawyer's letter, but again, that's not something you would kill over.
'I always thought she was quite popular,' said Jean. 'Anytime I passed in the street, she was always deep in conversation with someone.'
'Yes, but that was because no-one could walk past her without her stopping them to see if they had any gossip for her,' I said. 'People didn't like her. They just couldn't get away from her.'
'Since she was so good at ferreting out people's secrets,' said Jean, 'she might have discovered something that got her killed.
'Or maybe it was because she was pregnant,' I said. 'Perhaps she was pressurising the father to marry her or at least support her.'
The shock on Jean's face proved she was as surprised as Dawn and I had been.
'It's strange Suzy or Lorna didn't mention her being pregnant. They were the nearest she had to friends. Surely, she would have told them. And although they might not have told anyone when she was alive, I can't see any point in keeping it secret now she is dead.'
'You would think any guy close enough to her to get her pregnant would have turned up for her cremation,' I said. 'Still, he could have been there and we didn't know. There were a lot of strangers there.'
'True, but you'd think he would have introduced himself to her cousins or even said something nice about her. It's not like anyone else was bothering.'
The rest of the conversation was equally uninspiring.
I asked Jean if any of the class had ever been on a forage with her. None had but she had met just about all of them on her rambles and was in the habit of warning off any-one she met about poisonous food.
'What now?' I asked.
'I thought I might try to find out where the dishes were bought and see if the shop has any CCTV footage that might help.'
'Good luck with that. Even if you can find which shop sold them, I doubt if they will let you see the CCTV images,' I said.
'You underestimate me.'
I was beginning to agree.
'I'll read through all your paperwork again.' I indicated the piles of notes she had made as we talked. 'It might jog something in my memory.'
Another Thursday came around and the class lost a few more members. I was beginning to think Jean and I had better prove Yvette's death a murder soon or the class would die out completely. And I had my reasons for wanting to keep it going.
There wasn't much interest in Jean's foraging class, but she carried on coming to help and I enjoyed her company. Wendy also came along to help whenever she could.
Sheila was late and it wasn't like her.
Shortly before the first class started, we heard a screech of brakes. The girls and I poked our heads out to see what the noise was about. Outside the door, Sheila was trying with difficulty, to dismount from a rather large bike. She shoved it into the bike rack outside the door and rushed up to Dawn almost bouncing with excitement.
'Look isn't it great,' she said. 'It's David's old bike. I'm going to use it to get about instead of the car. I knew you'd be pleased with me.'
Jean, Wendy and I stifled our laughter as we watched Dawn rolling her eyes.
I so wanted to say, 'How many dinosaurs do you think were able to ride bikes?' but I could see Dawn looking at me with a plea in her eyes.
'That's good Sheila,' she said. 'It will give you more exercise and help the environment. Of course, dinosaurs would have walked everywhere, but it's a good step in the right direction.'
As we turned away, I noticed Sheila's habitual smile falter and a look of confusion on her face. Then she shook her head and the smile returned.
After the class, Dawn, Wendy, Jean and I got together to try and think of something to spice up the class.
'Another murder would help,' I suggested.
Jean choked with laughter, but Dawn gave me one of her looks. Not a patch on my look of course, but she knew it worked on me.
Just then DI Black or Michael as Dawn now called him, arrived to collect her so I thought it wise not to discuss murdering someone. He beamed at Dawn then scowled at me when I linked my arm with hers. I got the impression he didn't like me much.
For the next couple of weeks, I couldn't attend classes because of my shifts at the hospital. To my surprise, I still saw quite a bit of Jean. She seemed to be there most days after her shift ended, checking up on patients she'd brought in. I hadn't noticed her as often as this previously. Mind you, I'd only seen her a couple of times before with Dawn and might not have noticed her at the hospital.
A hospital is always full of peopl
e wandering about. Like everyone else I didn't notice strangers unless they looked lost. If someone looked confident, especially if they were carrying a folder, it was unlikely they would be challenged. It would make an ideal place for a murder. Oops best not start that again or DI Black would end up arresting me. I suspected he would enjoy it.
When I was working Jean kept me up to date. It seemed Christine was making herself very unpopular with the other class members. I suspected that was because most of them would have something to hide, even if it wasn't murder.
By the time I got back to the community centre, Dawn was down to one class and Sheila's bike idea had caught on. When I arrived, the bicycle rack was full. There was no sign of Sheila's bone shaker. No doubt she would be away ministering to one of her husband's flock. She'd have to find somewhere else to leave her bike when she arrived.
Sheila arrived looking flustered while Dawn was talking about an idea for a day out at a dinosaur exhibition.
After Dawn's pep talk, we started getting ready for her latest lot of exercises. Christine was deep in conversation with Angela.
Instead of taking her place Angela stormed up to Dawn.
'I'm not gonna to keep coming to this class only to be threatened and accused.'
Dawn looked confused.
'I don't understand. Who's threatening you?'
'Her of course.' Angela pointed to Christine. 'If you don't get rid of her I'm leaving.'
Almost the entire class stood up and started making similar threats.
'I'm sorry,' Dawn said to Christine, 'I don't have any choice. I'll have to ask you to go, for tonight anyway. Next week when everyone calms down, we can try to talk this out. But for now, please leave.'
Christine flounced out.