by Agatha Frost
“Why?” Thomas stood again. “This jumped up little nobody is acting all grand, accusing us of all sorts! I’m not surprised the publishing company ditched you.”
Barker jumped up. His chair went flying, making Julia unclench her legs enough to know she needed to run to the bathroom. The men stared at each other across the room, fresh testosterone pouring from them.
“How dare you?” Barker asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
“I dare.” Thomas walked around the table, nodding for Barker to meet him halfway. “Why don’t we settle this like men, huh? You and me, right here.”
To Julia’s utter shock, Barker met Thomas at the side of the table. Chests puffed out, they stood red face to red face, their flared-nostril noses millimetres from touching.
“Barker—”
“I’m handling this, Julia.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Dot cried, slamming her hands on the table. “This is all we need! A man has died, and unless you want to make it two more, I suggest you both step down right now. You won’t win, Barker. He has trophies to prove he can kick your behind into next year.”
Julia wanted to jump up and push herself between them, but she didn’t trust her bladder. Barker had never been one for violence, but the more she thought about it, the less she was surprised at his reaction. He might have been acting like he didn’t care about the abrupt end to his writing career, but he did; his books were his children.
“Right!” Eugene boomed, also standing. “We’ve had quite enough of this! Honestly, what is it with you heterosexual men and fighting to solve your issues? We’ve evolved past this!”
Barker was the first to snap to his senses, and even though Thomas didn’t immediately back away, his fists unclenched enough for Julia to feel safe enough to dart for the door. She waddled up the stairs like a penguin, somehow making it to the toilet in time. With the pressure gone, she left the bathroom.
“Oh!” she cried, jumping back. “Percy, I didn’t see you there.”
“I didn’t mean to frighten you, child.”
Percy stood in the shadowy doorway to Dot’s bedroom in a simple dressing gown, his signature glasses missing from his little, round face. He blinked his tiny red eyes, clearly only just awoken. His wrinkles might have given away his actual age, but in the dark, he looked like a little boy.
“I heard shouting,” he said meekly, glancing to the top of the stairs. “Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine,” she replied, scrambling for an explanation. “You know how loud Dot likes the telly. Can I get you anything?”
Percy shook his head and retreated into the bedroom, his usually bouncy steps drained of life. He carefully closed the door, and Julia headed downstairs. Another commotion started before she reached the bottom step.
In the dining room, everyone stood away from the table, and the ripped-up notes and surviving papers were soaking wet thanks to the upturned teapot.
“Helen, you’re so clumsy!” Eugene cried as he dabbed at his wet velvet jacket. “You could have scorched us!”
“I didn’t realise how heavy it would be,” she replied quietly as she wiped her wet hands on her jeans. “Maybe we should go.”
“Good idea.” Thomas marched to the door, his shoulder barely missing Julia’s. “Tell Uncle Percy I’ll come back when PC Plod isn’t here.”
Barker shot up again, but Julia pushed him right back down. She clamped her hands on his shoulder and squeezed hard enough to let him know exactly what she thought of him rising to Thomas’s insults.
“Helen?” Thomas cried from outside the cottage.
“I’m sorry about him,” Helen said as she backed away from the table. “Tell Uncle Percy we asked about him.”
The front door slammed, sending a chill rippling through the cottage. All eyes went to the ceiling; it sounded like Percy had climbed out of bed again.
“You’d think they’d know better at their age,” Barker replied, shrugging out from under Julia’s hands. “What are they? Fifty?”
“What they are is grieving,” Eugene snapped, the next to stand. “You might want to remember what that feels like. They walked into an ambush. We all did! C’mon, Marley. After this, I think I need one of Evelyn’s aura-cleansing teas.”
Eugene and Marley left, neither bothering to say goodbye. The cottage door slammed again, leaving Dot, Julia, and Barker alone once again.
“What was that, Barker?” Julia collapsed into the chair next to him, fingers rubbing her temples. “Is that how they train you to do things in the police? It was like good cop, bad cop with no good cop.”
“You’re the good cop,” he replied with a frown. “I thought you’d back me up.”
“How could I back you up when you didn’t let me in on any of this?” Julia shouted, casting her hand across the ruined research. “Honestly, Barker. If you want to be a private investigator, you need to work on your tact! Sometimes, you have about as much as Jessie!”
Barker went to reply, but his jaw clenched. He exhaled, and from his expression, it was clear he had only just realised how he had acted.
“I think I might be rusty.” He gave a small shrug as he looked at his soaked ‘evidence’ sheets. “But I really thought I had some good stuff.”
“And you might have,” Dot said, her words slow and tired, “but you’ve just blown any chance we have of catching them out.”
“You still think one of them did it?” Barker asked.
“Who else is there?” Dot wafted her hand around in the air. “If it wasn’t me, it wasn’t Percy, and it wasn’t either of you, who else could have it have been? The mystery American man? Do you even know his name?”
Julia and Barker shook their heads.
“I didn’t think so.” Dot stood and squeezed past their chairs towards the door. “I asked you to come because you’re usually the voices of reason, but you just acted like a boy pretending at being a detective.”
Dot disappeared into the sitting room, leaving them alone. Barker’s nostrils flared, and his face turned red again. This time, he wasn’t angry; Julia knew he was upset because Dot’s assessment was correct.
“Maybe I’m not cut out for this.”
“You are.” Julia rested a hand on Barker’s knee. “You just got a bit ahead of yourself. Go home. Try to unwind.”
“What about you?”
“I can’t leave my gran like this.” She looked around at the mess and then up at the ceiling. “She doesn’t have Percy to lean on tonight. I have to be here for her.”
Barker left the cottage without putting up a fight, although something told Julia he was headed straight to the pub hoping to find Christie instead of going home. After clearing away the tray, mopping up the water, and throwing away the mushy paper, Julia crept into the sitting room. Dot sobbed on the floor next to the armchair, her face in her hands. Without saying a word, Julia absorbed Dot in a hug; the shoe had been on the other foot many times over the years.
“Will you stay tonight?” Dot managed through the tears.
“Of course,” Julia replied. “I’m not going anywhere.”
12
The café was moderately busy the next day thanks to Percy’s arrest and subsequent release. With Jessie by her side, it would have been a breeze. Still, Julia stuck to her word, letting Jessie have the day off for to her role in confronting the American on Mulberry Lane. The brunt of the workload fell on Julia’s shoulders, which would have been easy to handle without the twice hourly trips to the bathroom; the baby had doubled down on her bladder. Still, the customers never would have known. Julia never let a busy day impede a friendly greeting.
After locking up, Julia drove straight home. She pulled up behind Katie’s pink car, ready to get into bed. She wasn’t prepared, however, for the chaos she knew would greet her the moment she opened the door. The days when she had been able to return to a quiet home weren’t too long gone, and yet she yearned for them like a lost love.
Julia opened t
he door, expecting the usual wall of noise accompanied by a hazy nail polish cloud, but neither did. Cartoons drifted from the sitting room, and she could detect the faintest whiff of acetone, but both were at their lowest levels yet. Feeling like an atomic bomb might land on her any minute, she kicked off her shoes; the relief was too sweet to put them on to go back out again.
She followed the noise of the cartoons and found her father and Vinnie sat on the hearthrug in front of the fireplace that hadn’t seen flames since the cooler spring days had passed. Rather than the crying Julia had grown used to, Vinnie’s joyous laughter filled the air. How long had it been since she had heard her baby brother laugh?
“Having fun?” Julia asked, tossing her handbag over the sofa.
Brian spun around, revealing the source of Vinnie’s joy. Against all the odds, Mowgli lay on his back between them while Brian tickled his fluffy white tummy. While surprising that Mowgli had ventured out from under the bed, the most unexpected twist was the little outfit he wore.
“The boy came out voluntarily,” Brian explained as Mowgli flipped over when he spotted Julia. “The dress, on the other hand, was Vinnie’s idea.”
Mowgli sauntered over in a little white dress and rubbed his bonnet-adorned head against Julia’s leg. She picked him up and gave him a snuggle, unsure how they had wriggled Mowgli’s fluffy legs into a dress clearly belonging to a Maine-Coon-sized doll.
“Where’s everyone else?” Julia perched on the chair arm, holding Mowgli in her arms like a baby.
“Barker’s hiding in the bedroom,” Brian replied with an almost apologetic look, “and Katie’s with a client in the dining room.”
“I can’t smell the—”
“I bought her an air purifier,” he interjected as he stood up with the aid of the coffee table. “Well, I bought it for you, really. I got a good deal from a mate. I know the bottles say they’re non-toxic, and Katie tries to use the stuff only when you’re not in, but I didn’t like the thought of you breathing all that in, considering.”
Julia couldn’t help but smile, and her earlier resentment about her full cottage melted away. For a split second, she forgot all about the stress having them here had caused her, and she wondered if it had really been so bad having her family close by.
“Thanks, Dad.”
The front door opened and closed, and just from the way it slammed back into its frame, Julia knew it was her gran.
“Hello, all,” Dot announced as she marched into the sitting room, Percy close behind. “I don’t mean to alarm you, Julia, but your baby appears to have turned into a cat.”
Julia chuckled, pulling off the bonnet. Mowgli wriggled away and slipped through the cracked bedroom door before she could tackle the dress. Dot and Percy stood side by side in the wide, arched doorway to the hall, looking better than they had when Julia left earlier. Dot looked to have had the sleep and shower she had been missing all week.
“You’re looking well, Mum,” Brian said as he scooped Vinnie up.
“I feel it,” Dot replied with a curt nod, her eyes darting to Julia briefly. “I’ve been acting somewhat pathetic as of late.”
“You’ve been through a lot,” Julia jumped in. “You both have.”
“That may be the case,” Dot said, her neck lengthening, “but a little local gossip should never have been enough to make me crumble like it did. I may be married now, but I’m still a South woman, and South women don’t buckle.”
Julia’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “It’s good to have you back.”
“I’m not quite at the same place as my Dorothy,” Percy said, almost hiding behind his wife, “but I’m sure I’ll get there. Her optimism is infectious. Julia, thank you for being there for her when I couldn’t be.”
Julia waved her hand, not needing thanks. Even though Dot hadn’t been much of a conversationalist during their sleepover, Julia had enjoyed lounging in front of the TV with her. They had done little of that since the early days of Julia’s return to Peridale.
“However,” Dot said, unclasping her hands to pull a black leather volume from her handbag, “as determined as I am to let everyone know they can’t tear me down, this has slightly thrown me.”
Dot handed the book to Julia like it was a rotten banana found at the bottom of her bag. Julia turned the book upright and squinted at the tiny gold lettering on the front.
“Your wedding album.”
Dot cleared her throat. “Quite.”
“How did the pictures come out?” Brian asked, balancing Vinnie on his hip. “Do we look like the fools you intended us to be?”
“Well, that’s the thing.” Dot glanced at her new husband and then to Julia. “I can’t seem to bring myself to open it.”
“Neither of us can,” Percy added. “So, we thought you could have a flick through, Julia, and tell us what you think.”
Julia understood their reservations all too well. Not too long ago, she had been the one hesitating to look at her professional wedding pictures. The death of the choirmaster in the middle of the ceremony had stopped them from having the wedding they had planned, meaning the official album was comprised of camera-phone images.
She flicked the book open. The collection began with Dot alone in her bedroom in full Dorothy Gale costume, looking at herself in the mirror.
“Why are you smiling?” Dot demanded, peeking over the top of the album but not looking at the pictures. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Julia replied as she turned to the next page. “You just look beautiful, that’s all.”
Dot’s protests about not wanting to look at the book went out the window with the compliment. She snatched the book from Julia and sat on the armchair next to her. She rushed through every page, and Julia watched the colourful day whiz by over her shoulder.
“Dorothy?” Percy called, still in the doorway. “Can you tell?”
Dot returned to the front page and began a slower examination. She shook her head at Percy, engrossed by the beautiful work of the photographers she had hired; the whole day looked like a movie.
“You’d never know how it ended.” Dot finished the book and clasped it against her chest as she let out a sigh. “I looked rather young, didn’t I?”
“You did.” Julia rested a hand on her gran’s shoulder. “And I looked rather green. Can I have a closer look?”
Despite her earlier willingness to pass on the book, this time Dot handed it over with more reluctance. Julia examined the pictures until she landed on the one she had mentally earmarked for a closer look. The photograph had been taken from the perspective of the church, focussing on the poppy arch. Julia and the rest of the family were making their way down the yellow brick road, Julia leading the charge with her broom. Her eyes drifted past the archway to the red phone box on the corner outside the post office. On the day, Julia hadn’t noticed that someone had been in the phone box with the phone to their ear, their gaze fixed on the unfolding event.
“Wait a second.” Dot snatched the book back. “That’s that American fella who keeps sniffing around! What was he doing in the village?”
“Playing cat and mouse with Ian,” Julia theorised. “I think he was waiting for him to turn up.”
“Why?” Percy took a step into the sitting room, eyes not as keen on heading straight to the album. “Who is this man?”
“I have no idea,” Julia admitted with a shrug, “but I think Ian took something from him, and he will rip the village apart until he finds it.”
The dining room door cracked open, bringing with it the sugary pop music from Katie’s small radio. Julia slid off the armchair and hurried into the hallway, ready to perform her usual routine of crisis-management. Shilpa Patil, the post office owner, walked out, eyes firmly on her new nails, but the expected frown was nowhere to be seen.
“I love them!” Shilpa exclaimed, grinning back at Katie. “They’re gorgeous. Look, Julia.”
Shilpa held up her dark pink, glittery nails. Holographi
c sparkles reflected the shades of the rainbow underneath a glossy topcoat. Julia was shocked; they were gorgeous. Katie emerged from the dining room, but she was nowhere near as enthusiastic as Shilpa. Instead, she looked like her own clients usually did.
“And so affordable.” Shilpa reached into her handbag and pulled out a twenty-pound note. “Keep the change, you earned it! I’ll tell my girls about you. And I meant what I said about putting some business cards in the post office. I’m all for supporting local businesses.”
Katie accepted the note meekly, but Shilpa didn’t seem to notice Katie’s lack of a smile. She hurried out of the cottage, leaving Julia and Katie alone in the hallway.
“Is everything okay?” Julia asked.
Katie didn’t respond. She nodded and silently walked into the kitchen, leaving Julia to wonder if she had done something wrong.
“Where’s that husband of yours?” Dot called into the hallway as she looked through the pictures again. “Is he hiding from us after how he acted yesterday?”
Julia glanced at the bedroom door. She could just make out Barker’s legs and the glow of his laptop in the bedroom; the curtains were closed, and the lights were off. She hadn’t seen him since he left Dot’s cottage the night before, and a part of her was a little hurt he hadn’t ventured out to greet her when she came home.
Before Julia could answer Dot’s question, a loud bang came from the kitchen. Julia rushed in to find Katie on the floor and the microwave on fire. She yanked the plug from the socket and grabbed the tiny fire extinguisher off the wall.
“What on Earth happened?” Brian cried as he rushed in, Vinnie wailing and thrashing against his hip. “Katie?”
“I’m fine,” Katie called out as she pulled herself up with the counter’s assistance. “I was just making something to eat.”
Julia opened the door and extinguished the flames. The foam settled around what appeared to be a tin of soup.
“You can’t put metal in the microwave,” Julia said softly, unsure where to look.
“You silly girl!” Dot cried. “Were you trying to kill us all?”