by Alana Ling
The sour cherries she exuded dried out my tongue for a moment and I knew I’d caught on to something.
‘Oh, I didn’t date him until after I’d asked her. And she was nice about it. Shocked at first, but then she came to her mind,’ which was nice talk for she was furious, but then gave in. ‘I mean, she’d dumped him anyway, so she couldn’t really say much on the matter. Dumped him for his brother, nonetheless. Poor Lloyd was devastated. But it was all for the best. They weren’t a right fit for each other…’
‘I know. Rory and her, on the other hand…’ I started.
‘Like a glove,’ she finished for me.
I was starting to lose track of who knew what about which situation. Soap operas didn’t have that many secrets and plot twists and I’d watched my fair share. But there was no way in hell one would think Rory and Poppy were a right match.
‘When did you last see her?’ I asked her.
She lifted her eyes and stared right into mine. ‘At the rehearsal. I wished her good luck and then she had to get ready so I joined the others outside.’
I sucked my lips, feigning compassion, and as I honed my acting skills I threw in my next question. ‘What did she say to you? What were her last words…’ I purposefully didn’t finish that sentence.
Her reaction was exactly what I needed. She got agitated and rubbed her knees eagerly. ‘Oh, I didn’t speak to her much. She was really stressed so she checked my dress was all right and then she…’ She burst into tears.
Fake tears, if her intense shaking shoulders were anything to go by.
‘I can’t believe someone would poison her on her wedding day,’ I spat out before I could help myself.
Gemima’s panting eased down as she slipped her eyes over her hands and glanced back at me. ‘She-she was poisoned?’
I shrugged. ‘That’s what I heard. Someone used hemlock.’
She winced. ‘Hem—what?’
‘Hemlock. Apparently it’s a very poisonous plant. I don’t know. I’ve never heard of it.’
‘Me neither,’ she said. ‘Who would ever want to hurt her?’
That was the question of the decade, wasn’t it? Everyone had a motive. But was it strong enough to kill?
‘Did you see anyone acting suspiciously that day? Or before? Was Poppy worried for her life?’ I asked.
Gemima shook her head. ‘None other than Robert. He was going in and out of the house, but I didn’t think anything of it.’
‘Why didn’t you think anything of it?’ I asked.
‘Well,’ she looked at me pointedly, ‘they were having an affair, of course, so I assumed she was giving him some on the side before she walked down the aisle.’
I gasped. I couldn’t help myself. Robert had told us he didn’t care about Poppy, even when we thought he had a crush on her. And according to Gemima not only did he care for her, but he also had an affair with her?
‘I can’t believe it.’
‘We all have our weaknesses,’ she said as if she didn’t think anything was wrong with it, when only moments ago she’d admitted what a good fit Rory and her best friend were.
I sighed. Knowing I wouldn’t get much more out of it, I stood up and Alfie mimicked me, heading towards the door. Gemima stood to let us out. Alfie sniffed around the door. He then stopped in front of something white and peed on it.
‘Alfie!’ I shouted.
He casually ignored me.
‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry. He never does that,’ I told Gemima.
She smiled and waved her hand in front of me, dismissing the idea. ‘Don’t worry about it. Dogs are dogs.’
‘If you’ll get me a cloth, I’ll clean it up.’
I approached the door and look at the spot of pee on the floor next to the bright white thing. It was a dried bouquet of white roses and baby breath, wrapped in white net and white ribbon. Rose Turkish delights sweetened my mouth. Gemima passed me a cloth and I cleaned up Alfie’s mess.
‘I’m surprised you’re not saving your bouquet in water,’ I commented.
She looked at the flowers with disgust. ‘I should have thrown it in the bin. It reminds me of that dreadful day. I was going to dry it, but even looking at it makes me want to vomit. It’s been there since the rehearsal. I haven’t had the guts to touch it yet, let alone throw it out. As if keeping it is going to bring her back. Silly, sentimental me.’
I left Gemima’s flat and walked with Alfie to Robert’s office, which was only a couple of blocks down the road. His secretary was not the chirpiest to see me, but let me in anyway. Robert was on his lunch break, but instead of eating out, today he was eating in his office from a takeaway box.
‘Jhannu—gwd ta—see you.’ He chewed up the last bits of salad and was finally able to make sense. He stood up to shake my hand and take a good look at my body. Alfie went around to him and tried to get more than a whiff of what was on his desk, but when he realised it was greens he came back around to me and settled on my lap.
’What can I do you for? Where is the lovely Samantha today?’
‘She’s in Brighton on some errands. This is why I came actually. The other day when we were here, she told me you admitted to having feelings for Poppy.’
He looked away from me and nodded.
‘What does that have to do with anything?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know. Yet. It came to my attention that you actually had an affair with her. People saw you walking in and out of the house on the day of the rehearsal.’
He chuckled wholeheartedly. ‘A lot of people were going in and out of the house that day, it doesn’t mean they all killed her, does it?’
I shook my head. ‘No.’ I didn’t want to have him think I suspected him. Not yet anyway. ‘No, of course. But I saw you at the funeral and I wanted to—you know— check on you. You also lost a loved one.’
He sat back on his chair. ‘Yeah, that.’
‘When did you last see her?’ I asked, getting a déjà vu.
‘At the rehearsal, of course. I went to see how she was doing. Give her a little boost, you know.’
I narrowed my eyes. ‘A boost?’
‘That’s not what I meant. I was checking on her. I knew she was nervous.’
I nodded.
‘Did you give her any food or drink?’
He shook his head.
‘Did you notice her having any of those in the room?’ He shook his head again. ‘What time was that? When you went into the study to see her, I mean?’
He looked up at the ceiling and mumbled to himself. ‘I don’t know. Like, eleven, eleven-thirty. I seriously don’t know. What’s it to you anyway?’
Robert sat up and leaned forward on his desk.
‘Nothing. I-I just really liked Poppy. Couldn’t wait to do her wedding and then…to find her like this.’ I trembled. ‘I can’t believe anyone would poison such a nice woman.’
Robert had a similar reaction to Gemima. ‘I thought she was strangled.’
‘Ah yeah, that too. But, apparently, she was poisoned with hemlock,’ I whispered and looked from left to right to give him the impression I was spreading a rumour.
‘How the hell did they get hemlock in her system? I thought that was a plant.’
I shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Maybe there was something in a salad?’
‘She was on a juice cleanse for the last couple of weeks. She wanted to make sure she stayed fit for the dress.’
I nodded.
‘You…you seem to know her well, I mean, it’s no surprise, considering your relationship. Did she look scared for her life? Did anyone want to hurt her? Was anyone acting suspicious? Did she tell you anything?’
He thought for a moment. He shook his head.
‘Did you not see anyone? I mean, something to give to the police when they come-a-knocking?’
He grimaced at that. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You understand that people have seen you going in the house; your prints are all over the room. And with you
r affair becoming almost common knowledge, suspicion will turn to you.’
‘But I wasn’t her lover,’ he shouted.
‘What?’
He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. ‘I wasn’t her lover. Yes, I had feelings for her, but she was using me. She needed someone to throw Tia Blakely off the scent. She was still seeing Lloyd on the side and Mrs Blakely was getting suspicious. She had told her if she kept seeing Lloyd she would get nothing and the deal would be off. So, she was using me.’
‘You do understand that gives you more motive, right?’
Robert looked from left to right and collapsed on his desk.
‘I loved her. I loved her with all my being. I couldn’t ever hurt her.’
‘Yet, only days after she died, you go out snogging other women.’
‘What?’
‘At the Oak Tavern.’
‘I was drunk. Tom was trying to help me forget her and move on.’ He grimaced and shook his head. His eyes turned red.
‘Tom looked like he hardly cared what was going on around him. I couldn’t see him forcing you to do anything.’
He took a deep breath. ‘Well,’ he started. ‘He had his own troubles. Rory had told him Tia had already found another bride for him.’
More Tia Blakely. She seemed to be the dragon of this little circle of mix and matchers.
‘That has been very helpful, Mr Law. Thank you for seeing me,’ I said and got up, rushing to the door with Alfie in tail.
Eighteen
Sam was back from her errands in the evening and we met up at Devi’s after closing. She liked doing a deep clean on her shop every Monday after closing and there was usually booze involved. I had joined her on more than one occasion since my return to Haven-on-Sea, and it’d become something of a tradition.
Samantha put all her bags down on the floor and I supplied her with a large glass of wine, rosé was her preference, and took in a big gulp. ‘Today has been…chaos. Absolute chaos.’
I nodded. ‘Tell me about it. But what happened?’
‘Where do I even start?’ She shook her head and plonked herself on one of the sofas with a big thud. ‘First of all, the man that told me he would hire me half the shop wasn’t there. His son tried to “a” flirt with me, “b” get me to agree to a ridiculous price if I slept with him and “c” decided he couldn’t be bothered when I told him I’d rather have sex with a sea urchin than him. So, because I didn’t want today to be a waste, I had to travel around all the small towns and find the antique shops slash houses to see if I can find all the stuff we need. I am absolutely fed up with men. And of haggling. But mainly, men,’ she finally announced and returned back to her glass of Grenache.
Devi appeared from the back with cleaning products stuffed in two buckets, wearing yellow vinyl gloves and a smile.
‘You poor thing,’ she said to Sam. ‘You look terrible.’
‘Thanks.’ Sam grimaced. ‘What are you doing anyway?’
Devi looked from one bucket to the other with a blank stare. ‘What does it look like?’
‘And you’re helping?’ she asked me and I nodded. ‘Okay.’ She shrugged. ‘I guess I’ll help too.’
She drank the last dribs and drabs of her rosé and stood up only to fall back down again.
‘Uh-oh.’ I laughed.
‘Commander down. Commander down. Send for help…female help, for crying out loud. I can’t look at another guy today.’
Devi and I cackled while Sam looked like she was losing the plot after a long day, holding her back and swiping loose hairs off her sweaty forehead.
‘Actually, I was hoping you’d come with me to see one more guy tonight,’ I told her. ‘But it can wait until tomorrow.’
Her eyes did all the questioning, so I told her everything and then to get Devi caught up, we recounted everything we had found out since Poppy’s death.
‘Sounds like a script out of a bad TV drama,’ she commented when I’d finished. ‘Has anyone not slept with each other?’
Sam giggled. ‘Well, the parents seem quite faithful to each other, at least.’
I nodded. ‘What do you think happened?’
‘I think…I think Rory did it, which would make sense why, shortly after, he told Amanda to talk to his mum and take her offer.’
‘But he’s so sweet,’ I said, knowing fully well there was no sense behind my defence. ‘Devi? Who do you think did it?’
‘I think…it’s time to do some cleaning. I do not understand murder. But I do understand coffee. And to get the perfect cup, I need to clean my machines,’ she said and escaped back to her beloved coffee makers.
I busied myself cleaning the tables, under them, around them and anything to do with the customer areas. By the time I was done, the place looked brand new. The only thing that needed doing was washing the cushion covers from the sofas and dry-spraying the fabric seats, which Sam decided to help with after she’d finished a third glass of wine.
We arrived at Hotel Margot the next morning at eight, bright and early with no chance of Lloyd evading us. Reception called his room and he met with us down at the restaurant, where he proceeded to treat us to breakfast.
I got a bacon butty with English mustard and scrambled eggs. Partly because Lloyd’s flavours didn’t allow me to taste anything but, and partly because my stomach growled with hunger. Sam got a full English and Lloyd a vegetarian dish which I found quite ironic, considering the flavours he gave off.
Our coffee was served almost immediately but remained untouched. Filter coffee should only be consumed in emergencies and this wasn’t one. Sam happily drank what was in front of her and I dumped down my desire to scold her. She was young. She would learn.
‘So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?’ Lloyd asked, sipping a cup of tea, which I secretly craved.
‘Well,’ I started, but Sam cut in.
‘We wanted to ask you when the last time was that you saw Poppy? It’s come to our attention that she was visited by a lot of people in the hour before her death and, I guess, the last one to see her is the most likely suspect.’
‘Oh, jolly.’ Lloyd laughed. He laughed so much he actually choked on his tea and spilled some on the clothed table. ‘Ladies, what makes you think you can do a better job than the police?’
Sam was stumped on what to say, but I wasn’t. ‘Because we want justice for Poppy, and the investigation is taking longer than it should. Mr and Mrs Guildford deserve to see justice for their daughter’s death. The world deserves to be rid of another murderer. We want this town to remain the haven, and pardon the pun, that it has always been. So if it means we do some of the legwork ourselves, so be it. We’re happy to do so.’ I hadn’t realised how much I meant my words until I actually uttered them. Yes, I was a busybody and I liked to dig my nose into other people’s business, courtesy of my very Greek mother, but I also loved my hometown and the thought that a killer was on the loose was making me more furious than anything.
‘So, humour us, Mr Blakely,’ I pleaded with him.
He pursed his lips in defeat and nodded. ‘Oh, jolly. Humour you, I shall. I saw Poppy the day of the rehearsal, obviously. I visited her while she was getting ready to see how she was.’
‘Why? Why would you want to see the woman you broke up with, the woman that broke your heart, the woman who was marrying your brother?’ I asked.
‘I wanted to see her in a wedding dress before anyone else. Because, yes I might have broken up with her, but I still loved the woman and I wanted to see her as a free one one last time.’
‘Mr Blakely, we know you were still seeing Poppy behind your brother’s back. What did you really do there?’
‘So? That doesn’t change anything.’
‘When I spoke to you last time, you said Poppy came here to harass you about getting back together, but you sent her away.’
‘So what? Was I supposed to admit to still seeing my brother’s fiancé? What would you think of me then?’ He scowled.
‘I can’t remember. It was before everyone got there. I arrived with Rory and I went to see her then. After that, I didn’t go anywhere near the house until I saw the police.’
‘And where were you between the last time you saw her and the time she was found dead?’ Sam asked.
‘I was with my parents, having drinks.’
‘Both your parents?’
‘Yes. No. Come to think of it, my dad wasn’t with us. It was my mum and some family friends. Mum was quite nervous so she was drinking a lot, so I decided to stay by her side in case she did or said anything embarrassing.’
Sam glared at me and I stared at my lukewarm coffee. The Blakelys had an alibi. And now so did he.
‘Do you know who would want to hurt her? Was anyone acting suspicious around her? You had an affair with her. Did she not confess any concerns to you?’
Lloyd shook his head and silence encompassed the table. Our waiter came back with our food and placed it in front of us. I was taking a bite of my butty when Lloyd’s face lit up.
‘The only thing is…’ He stopped and shook his head. He lifted his knife and fork to cut into his veggie sausage.
‘What is it?’
He hesitated. ‘I don’t think it’s relevant.’
‘It might be,’ I insisted.
He stared at me for a moment too long. ‘Well, one night after visiting Mother and Father, I went out into the garden for a cigarette and I heard Rory and Tom. They were meeting in secret because Mother had found out about them. They didn’t see me, but I heard them talking.
‘They were talking of how much Tom has saved and Rory was saying it wasn’t enough and that they needed more time. Then Tom agreed, they kissed and he left.’
‘More time for what?’
‘I think they wanted to elope. They were talking of France and Italy.’
Sam blew raspberries. ‘Rich people! When they elope they elope in the prettiest of countries. What happened to good old Gloucestershire when you don’t want to be found?’
I glared at her and her eyes shied away to her plate. What was Sam hiding?