Peridale Cafe Mystery 18 - Cheesecake and Confusion

by Agatha Frost

  Though her previous visit wasn’t long ago, the changes had completely transformed the energy in the air. The constant underlying tension of fear seemed to have blown away, giving way for some much-needed community spirit to reclaim the space.

  Deciding she was likely a lot safer here than her last visit, she walked straight over to the small group of young mothers watching their kids play. A couple of them were smoking, but they didn’t greet Julia with the hostility she had grown used to in Fern Moore.

  “What happened around here?” Julia asked the young lady in a pink tracksuit who first met her eyes. “The place has been transformed.”

  “New government grant,” she replied before sucking on her cigarette. “They found time in all the Brexit mess to throw us a couple of coins. The shop came first, and then they sent the workmen in to give the place a new lick of paint.”

  “Still haven’t fixed my shower though,” one of the women added. “Been asking for that for nine months.”

  “Will you stop mentioning your bloody shower?” the first woman replied, rolling her eyes. She turned back to Julia. “It’s nice though, innit? I’m not scared to bring my kids down here anymore.”

  “Wouldn’t let them come down alone though,” another of the women said, glancing at a small gang leaning against the wall next to the new shop. “Still the same rodents lingering around if you know what I mean.”

  “I do,” Julia said, glancing at the small gang, sure they were the same teenagers who had mugged her. “I was wondering if you could help me find someone. I’m looking for a young woman who goes by the name of Louise Henshaw. I heard she lived around here.”

  “Lucky Louise?” said the woman with the broken shower, her upper lip curled into a slight snarl. “What do you want with her?”

  “Ignore her,” the first woman said to Julia with a sideways glance at the complaining girl. “She’s just jealous she didn’t get the job at CostSavers.”

  “We’re all jealous,” the third woman added, glancing at the shiny new shop. “I think everyone on the estate applied to work there, but they only have so many positions, and Louise has that degree.”

  “Still boomeranged back here though.”

  “Give it a rest,” said pink-tracksuit girl as she put out her cigarette on top of a glossy new bin. “We’re on the up and up here. More businesses will move in when they see how busy CostSavers is. Right, time for lunch. Come on, Lilly-Mae, you can play later.”

  Lilly-Mae, a little blonde girl with a bright red face and woodchips in her hair, hurried over to her mother. Julia couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t given much thought to whether she wanted a boy or a girl. She didn’t mind either way, but she was excited to one day be one of the mothers on the side, watching her child have fun.

  Leaving the playpark, Julia entered the bright CostSavers shop. It looked like any normal small supermarket, except all of the prices were anywhere between 10p to £1 cheaper than what she was used to paying. Deciding to kill two birds with one stone to save her wandering around the shop looking for a girl she had never met, she picked up a basket and strolled the aisles.

  The range surprised her, and by the time she was in a queue at one of the three small checkouts, her basket was full of things for the cottage, including ingredients to make another batch of cheesecakes and a bottle of kitchen cleaner that claimed to be ‘natural.’ Julia hadn’t spotted a ‘Louise’ name badge on any of the workers on the shop floor, but her luck turned around when she spotted it on the shirt of a young black woman at one of the tills.

  Julia tagged onto the end of Louise’s long line, uncertain of how to approach questioning her, given the exchange would last mere minutes at the most.

  “Who’s next?” the girl called when it came to Julia’s turn.

  Julia put her basket on the designated spot and took her place on the other side to bag her shopping. Louise was a pretty black girl, with hazel eyes and soft curls. She had a ‘customer service’ smile plastered on her face, but Julia could tell that, deep down, the girl probably wanted to be anywhere but behind the till at a shop.

  “I think I know you,” Julia said, snapping her fingers like she had just remembered. “Didn’t you work at Peridale Manor?”

  “Briefly,” the girl replied, narrowing her eyes. “Did you, too?”

  “I’m one of Vincent’s nurses,” Julia lied. “I probably look different out of my uniform.”

  “Oh,” the girl gave Julia a quick once over. “Yeah, I think I remember you.”

  Julia hadn’t planned what to say, nor had she expected to lie so freely, but she was glad her prevarication had given her a small step through the conversational door.

  “Weird place, isn’t it?” Julia pushed. “The manor, I mean.”

  “I guess.” She shrugged. “It was a job.”

  “Did you not like it there?”

  “It was all right.” She shrugged again. “Hard work, and that Hilary woman was the devil, but the pay was supposed to be good … not that I ever saw any of it.”

  “Oh?” Julia noticed how few items were left to pack up. “They didn’t pay you either, then? They tried that with me once.”

  “Never got paid at all.” Louise pursed her lips. “Was supposed to be getting paid fortnightly for the first few months because they knew I had a young kid to look after, but when it got to the three-week mark, and I had nothing, I knew they were up to something sketchy, so I just stopped going in. I wasn’t sticking around to play their rich people money games. At least ‘round here we know we’re poor and don’t pretend otherwise. My dad always said rich people like that only had nice houses, nice things, and empty bank accounts.”

  “Well, you don’t get rich by spending money,” Julia said with a laugh, noticing she was down to her final item, a carton of fresh raspberries. “I heard they were robbed the other night.”

  “Yeah, I heard that too,” Louise said, no flicker of interest running across her face. “Serves them right. I was working here all night, but word spreads pretty quickly. Lots of mouths. My mate, Samantha, was supposed to be starting a job there. I told her not to bother, but I haven’t seen her since. Hopefully, she came to her senses before she started.” After a brief pause, Louise added, “Right, that’ll be £19.49.”

  Julia pulled her purse from her handbag and quickly paid with her contactless debit card. Louise handed over the receipt with a brief smile before turning to the next customer. Julia left the shop with more questions than she had entered with. She hadn’t given much thought to Samantha, the housekeeper who had locked herself in the bathroom before running out into the storm, but now she was all Julia could think about.

  “Julia!” a familiar voice called.

  She turned to see Billy jogging towards her from the direction of the staircase and lifts.

  Julia pushed forward a smile. “Billy, what are you doing here?”

  “Visiting my mum.” He hooked his thumb over to the flat Julia knew belonged to Billy’s mum, Sandra. “Well, I was more visiting my little brother and little sister. Haven’t seen them in a while.”

  Julia had been unlucky enough to have had a single encounter with Sandra, a chain-smoking, loud, brash, aggressive woman, and that one time had been enough. She had also briefly met Billy’s younger half-siblings, Mercedes-Mae and Leo. She had grown so used to Billy living in Peridale with his father, Jeffrey, she had almost forgotten all about his old life here.

  “Here, let me.” Billy took both the bags from Julia and looked around for her car. “Didn’t think this was your kind of thing.”

  “I was here to see someone,” Julia admitted. “Louise Henshaw. She was a housekeeper at the manor.”

  “I know Louise.” Billy nodded. “Sort of. Nice girl. Last I heard she went off to university. It’s always a shame when people rebound back here. Once you’re in Fern Moore, it’s hard to get out.”

  “You got out,” Julia reminded him, “and it looks like the place is getting nicer.”

/>   “Give it a few months, and it’ll be back to how it used to be,” he replied flatly. “The council try to do this every few years, and it never lasts. They need to rip the place down.”

  “Perhaps this time will be different?”

  “I doubt it.”

  When they reached the carpark, Julia realised she had a Fern Moore source right in front of her, so she turned her thoughts back to the housekeeper.

  “I don’t suppose you know a girl called Samantha?” Julia asked. “She was at the manor the night of the robbery.”

  “Samantha Wicks or Samantha Smith?”

  “I – I don’t know,” Julia replied. “Could be either or none. I just wanted to make sure she got home safe.”

  “There’s a bunch of Sams here,” Billy said, looking around. “And more might have moved in since I left. Sorry, Mrs S.”

  “It’s all right.”

  They reached Julia’s car, and Billy loaded the shopping bags into the small boot. He stepped back and awkwardly looked around like he didn’t know what to say to his ex-girlfriend’s mother.

  “Are you heading back to Peridale?” Julia asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Then hop in,” Julia replied, already walking to the driver’s side. “I’ll give you a lift.”

  “Are you sure?” He scratched the back of his head. “Won’t Jessie mind?”

  “I still like you, Billy,” Julia said with a soft smile as she opened the door. “And you and Jessie are friends now, right?”

  Julia climbed in, and even though Billy hesitated, he eventually slid into the passenger seat next to her.

  “I think I blew it with Jessie, Mrs S,” he said with a sigh as Julia reversed out of the parking space. “I got drunk the other night. Wasted, in fact. Alfie told me I needed to get back out there and move on.”

  “That’s not bad advice.”

  “Well, Alfie pulled a vanishing act and left me alone to drink myself into oblivion.” Billy looked down at his hands, clearly embarrassed. “I really miss her, Mrs S.”

  “I know you do.” Julia sighed as she drove away from the estate and back towards the village. “Where did Alfie go?”

  Billy shrugged. “No idea. Probably met some girl and went back to her house or something. He sloped off before it even hit midnight. What do I do about Jessie, Mrs S? I don’t want to lose her.”

  Julia considered her response for a moment, not wanting to give him the false hope he clearly craved.

  “You don’t want to push her away,” Julia said carefully. “You need to respect her decision. Believe me when I say I know it wasn’t an easy one for her to make. If things are meant to be, they’ll work out in the end, but you can’t guilt-trip Jessie into giving things another go. It needs to be a mutual decision, and right now, she’s in a different place than she was when you first met.”

  “I know.” His head sank further. “She was always too good for me, but she made me better. Now I’m just nothing. I might as well move back to the estate and get on with it.”

  “Don’t say that.” Julia glanced at him and tried to offer him a smile. “You have a great job at the builder’s yard with Alfie, and you and your dad have built an amazing relationship after not knowing who he was for most of your life. You’ve still got plenty to live for, and if you tread carefully with Jessie, you’ll still have her in your life too, just in a slightly different capacity.”

  Billy nodded but didn’t reply. Julia knew her words were falling on deaf ears, but she shouldn’t have expected anything less from someone who had yet to mature. As grown-up as Billy and Jessie thought they were, they were still teenagers fumbling through the dark, imagining they had everything figured out already.

  She wished she could make him see how different his life would be in ten, five, or even two years, but no matter how she would phrase it, it wouldn’t sink in. Some things could only be learned by going through the fire and coming out the other end a stronger and more well-rounded person.

  A small traffic jam on the lane back to the village brought them to a halt. Julia rolled down her window and popped her head out. Temporary traffic lights had been set up on the road ahead, but the real point of interest lay just after the lights.

  “Police,” Julia said to Billy, who was also craning his neck to see what was going on. “Looks like a crime scene.”

  “Might have been a crash?”

  The cars slowly edged forward when the lights turned to green, but nobody sped up until they were past the cluster of police. Julia would like to think she wasn’t one of those people who slow down to ogle what was happening, but like the others, she drove as slowly as she could.

  There were four police cars, a crime scene investigation van, and beyond the bushes lining the road, people in white suits searched the undergrowth. Julia scanned the faces for one she recognised, but they were all unfamiliar – possibly from another village’s station.

  A car horn honked behind her, forcing her to move along before the lights changed to let the people queuing on the other side of the scene get past.

  “Looks serious,” Billy said, glancing in the rear-view mirror as they drove away. “I wonder if someone has died.”

  Though she had met Samantha only briefly, the young housekeeper’s face was vivid in her mind. They were on the same lane into the village she would take if she were driving back from the manor.

  “I hope not.”

  7

  While Katie hacked away at Julia’s nails with a file in the middle of the empty café, Julia watched Dot and Percy perform yoga on the village green.

  Regardless of her age, Dot’s long and slender limbs moved with ease and grace, her body transforming into the different positions with no trouble. Percy, on the other hand, appeared to be struggling with his shorter and slightly rounder body.

  “Ouch!” Julia cried out, ripping her hand away from Katie for the fourth time.

  “Sorry.” Katie sighed, dropping the file onto the table. “My mind isn’t where it should be.”

  Julia had suspected as much, given the frustration-fuelled beating her poor nails had taken for the past ten minutes. Julia had hesitated when Katie showed up to practise on her nails, but she hadn’t wanted to upset Katie any further than she clearly already was. With it being a quiet Monday morning, as usual, it wasn’t like she had anything better to do while she waited for her infrequent customers.

  “How could he do such a thing?” Katie yanked Julia’s hand back and continued aggressively filing. “How could he lie to me like that?”

  “Who?”

  “Your father!” Katie cried, waving the file around. “My husband. How could he cancel the home insurance without consulting anyone?”

  “He didn’t know the manor would be burgled.”

  “And you never know if you’re going to crash your car, but you still need to have insurance.” Katie pointed the file at Julia as though she was about to lunge at her throat with it. “How could he play with our lives like that?”

  “I’m sure he didn’t mean—”

  “And he still doesn’t have his car back!” Katie cut in, her nostrils flaring as she hacked away at Julia’s thumb. “I bet he’s lying about that, too. What else is he keeping from me? Is there another woman?”

  Katie glared up at Julia as though she could answer the question. Wide-eyed and stunned, Julia stared at her stepmother, unsure how to respond.

  “I’m sorry,” Katie said with a moan before relaxing into the chair. “I haven’t been sleeping much. This is all too much for one person to deal with.”

  “Has there been any news?”

  Katie shook her head. “The police want me to go in and talk to them at some point today, but they didn’t seem to be in a hurry to tell me anything, so it can’t be that important.”

  “And your father?”

  Katie stared blankly at Julia for what felt like an age. Her bottom lip trembled at the moment before she collapsed into a sobbing heap on the table, heedle
ss of her nail equipment.

  “They’ve told me to prepare for the worst,” Katie managed to say after catching her breath. “They don’t think he’s got long left. They were even suggesting turning off the machines to see if he could breathe on his own! How could they say that, Julia? How could they be so cruel? This would never have happened at the private hospital where he should be.”

  Julia didn’t know how to tell Katie she was sure it would have. Anyone with eyes and a little distance from the situation could see that Vincent Wellington had already left; only his fragile vessel still remained. She bit her tongue because it wasn’t her place to try and make Katie see that. If the shoe were on the other foot, Julia couldn’t imagine how she would face such a decision.

  “Daddy would be so embarrassed if he knew where he was,” Katie continued, wiping away her mascara-streaked tears. “It’s so noisy there. There are too many people for the doctors and nurses to get around. They don’t care.”

  “I’m sure that’s not true,” Julia said, reaching out to grab Katie’s hand. “Granted, I’ve never experienced private care, but I’m sure they’re doing what’s best for your dad. Is there no way you can get him back home?”

  Katie shook her head. “The machines belonged to the private hospital. They’ve taken them back, and the National Health won’t set it up for us at home because of his age. They said he was braindead, Julia, but I know it’s not true! He’s still in there. I talk to him every day, and I know he can hear me.”

  Julia wondered if Katie could hear the denial in her voice. Dealing with such an ill father would be enough for anyone to reach the breaking point, even without the added stress of the robbery.

  “I’m being silly.” Katie forced a laugh as she picked up the file again. “I came to do your nails, not burden you with all of my drama.”

  “We’re family,” Julia assured her, pulling her hands away and tucking them under the table. “We’re all in this together. Maybe leave my nails for another time?”