by Agatha Frost
“That would be lovely,” Julia said, not really wanting to sit and chat with Katie, but knowing it would give her a reason to stick around and find out what she wanted to know. “It really is good lemonade.”
“Thank you,” Katie said, a grin spreading from ear to ear as she rested a hand on her chest. Julia was amused to see a small streak of lipstick on Katie’s teeth. “Do you really mean that?”
Julia nodded. Katie looked on the verge of tears for a moment, but she shook out her white blonde hair, and pulled a huge jug of the lemonade from the fridge. She poured two large glasses before sitting across from Julia, facing away from construction in the garden. As Katie busied herself stirring the lemon wedges and ice with her straw, Julia peered through the window and watched a team of workmen dig out what she suspected was going to be the pool Katie had wanted to show her unimpressed guests.
“I see work is still going ahead.”
“No time like the present,” Katie said, staring blankly, and yet somehow deeply into Julia’s eyes. “There is lots of work to get done. The pool is just the start. We’re converting the spare bedrooms into luxury guestrooms, each with their own bathroom. It was murder trying to get planning permission for all of this, but my father called in some favours from the council.”
“It all seems rather grand,” Julia said, trying to fake interest. “You must have been thinking about this for a long time.”
“It’s always been a dream of mine,” Katie said. “Like that little café of yours.”
Julia gritted her teeth and smiled. She could tell Katie viewed her café the same way her father did. Using what was left over from her lifesavings after buying her cottage hadn’t been an easy decision. Julia had known there was every chance her venture would fail, and she would be left broke with no income. Luckily, her cakes had hit the spot with the villagers, unlike Katie’s idea for a spa. Julia looked at the wealthy woman examining her nails as if they were the most important things in the world. Julia wondered if she had ever had to worry about anything serious in her entire life.
“Any idea what time my father will be back?”
“No,” Katie said, glancing to the giant station clock on the wall. “He’s been there since this morning.”
Julia glanced at the clock. It was nearly six in the evening. The police weren’t taking a statement from her father; they were interrogating him.
“Where was my father when – when it happened?” Julia asked, her finger circling the lemonade glass.
Katie’s expression tightened, as did her eyes. The caked on makeup creased into her fine lines, revealing her true age. Julia was glad she had lived a life without the shackles of makeup because she was sure it had allowed her to age a little more naturally.
“He was with me. After my brother ruined everything, we came inside to find him. We couldn’t find him, so we went into Brian’s study. He gave me some whiskey to calm my nerves. When I’d calmed down, we came out and – and saw him.”
Julia thought for a moment that Katie was about to crack and start shrieking again, but she composed herself, showing more self-restraint than Julia had previously thought the vapid woman possessed.
“Did anybody see you together?”
“You sound like the police!” Katie said, her shrill voice suddenly rising at a rate that made Julia’s arm hairs jump up. “Me and Brian were together. Now, if you don’t mind, my father needs his medication. Hilary will show you out.”
Julia hadn’t realised Hilary was standing in the doorway, waiting to usher Julia out of the manor. She practically dragged Julia away from her lemonade, and tossed her outside. Standing in between the police car and her own vintage automobile, she pulled her notepad out of her bag, considering tearing out the notes she had made, so she could go home and forget about the whole thing. She ran her finger along the points she had made, pausing at ‘Establish Katie and Dad’s alibi’. Julia pulled out her small metal pen and twisted out the nib to draw a big question mark over the word ‘alibi’. If she hadn’t learned that her father had been at the station all day, she might have believed Katie’s story about drinking whiskey in the study, but something wasn’t sitting right with Julia.
Instead of walking towards her car, she cast an eye back at the manor, and when she was satisfied that she wasn’t being watched, she crept around the side of the house, past the crime scene. A white tent had been erected and was being guarded by a lone officer. Julia sent a smile in his direction, but he didn’t send one back. Walking past the crime scene, she made her way beyond the stage, which was still there from the day before, and towards the construction site she had seen through the kitchen window. She knew Katie would easily spot the yellow polka dots on her navy blue dress if she looked out, so Julia knew her time to investigate was limited.
“Julia?” a familiar voice called to her across the construction sight. “Julia, over here.”
Julia looked past the construction workers to see Joanne Lewis standing by a car. Joanne worked in the village’s charity shop, making her a regular in Julia’s café. She was a tall, slender woman in her early-forties, with an elongated face and high forehead. Her tightly wound brown curls had been cut just above her jawline, making her face look even longer. Julia had always thought her hair would complement her face more if she let it grow out a little, but she was too kind to point that out.
“Joanne, what are you doing here?” Julia asked after weaving her way through the construction workers, who appeared to be packing up for the day as the blue sky turned pink.
“My Terry got the contract for this spa job,” Joanne said, casting an eye over to the manor.
Julia looked over to the builders, instantly spotting Terry’s bald head and potbelly hanging over his faded jeans. He was reading something from a clipboard on the steps of a builder’s cabin. When Julia had first moved to the village, she had called on Terry’s building expertise to help fit the kitchen and counter in her café. Terry had heavily discounted the work because Julia was a local, and she had thought favourably of him since.
“I didn’t see you at the garden party yesterday,” Julia said.
“I was back here with the boys. We were expecting Katie to bring the crowd around to see the progress on the digging, but – well, you know what happened next. We were waiting when we heard the glass shatter.”
They both smiled awkwardly at each other, neither appearing to want to talk about the death. Julia was sure this was the first villager she had encountered all day who didn’t want to gossip, and she was glad of it.
“I’m sure Terry is pleased to get such a big contract,” Julia said, wanting to fill the sudden awkwardness.
“He’s managing the whole project,” Joanne said proudly, her face lighting up. “It couldn’t have come at a better time.”
Before Julia could ask why the timing was good, Joanne’s teenage son, Jamie Lewis, walked towards them, covered in mud and wearing a yellow hardhat.
“Hello, Jamie,” Julia said, smiling at the teenager. “I didn’t realise you had finished with school already.”
“Dropped out,” he said with a shrug, followed by a heavy yawn as he got into the car without saying another word.
Julia looked to Joanne who was maintaining her smile, even if it did look uncomfortable and strained.
“He was always going to end up in the family trade,” Joanne offered, her tone sounding like an excuse, rather than an explanation. “He was never really good at exams, so we spoke to the school. They agreed to let him leave with our permission to start his building apprenticeship early. He’ll get a qualification from it in the end. I hear you’ve taken in a young girl off the streets?”
Julia sensed the urgency in Joanne’s voice to quickly divert the topic of conversation away from her family. Julia hadn’t told many people about what she had done for Jessie, but word had somehow still spread all over the village, and everybody seemed to have their own opinions on the situation, and they weren’t shy about telling J
ulia about them.
“She’s a good girl,” Julia said. “Same age as your Jamie I think.”
They both looked into the car as Jamie tapped away with his thumbs on his phone. In a way, he reminded Julia of Jessie. She wondered if all kids that age were allergic to talking.
“You should get her on an apprenticeship at the local college,” Joanne suggested. “They help out with their wages, and you get them trained up. I’m sure I saw a baking apprenticeship in the prospectus. I’ll drop it around to yours if you like?”
“That would be kind of you,” Julia said. “Thank you.”
“Are you adopting Jessie?” Joanne asked, still obviously wanting to keep the focus on Julia rather than herself. “I heard you were.”
“You did?” Julia asked, wondering why she was surprised that false information had somehow spread around the village without her knowing about it. “I’ve spoken to her social worker, but I’m waiting on a letter about the next steps.”
“It’s a big responsibility taking on a troubled kid,” Joanne said, pulling her car keys out of her pocket as Terry walked towards them, also covered in mud. “I better go. I’ve got a stew on a low light back home. I’ll drop that college prospectus off sometime this week?”
“Thank you,” Julia said, stepping away from the car.
She smiled at Terry Lewis, but he blanked her completely and jumped into the car. Julia wondered if she had misjudged the man.
Joanne gave Julia a little wave as she ducked into the car. Julia waved back, peering through the windows as Terry and Jamie both tapped silently away on their phones, the mirror image of each other. Julia’s day had been long and exhausting, but she couldn’t imagine how difficult a day of digging was on the mind and body.
As she drove through the darkening village, she was far too tired to think of anything related to Charles Wellington. Her mind was securely fixed on a cup of peppermint and liquorice tea, a bubble bath, and a good book.
Julia woke to her alarm, groaning as she rolled over, wishing she could have another hour in bed. Jessie had woken her again with the sleepwalking in the early hours of the morning, but after she had stopped Jessie climbing into the shower in her night clothes, she crawled back into her own bed and fell straight back to sleep.
Over breakfast that morning, neither of them spoke much, and Julia wondered if Jessie knew about her sleepwalking. Either way, Jessie didn’t mention it, so Julia didn’t push it.
When they arrived at the café, Julia was glad to see there wasn’t a gossiping crowd waiting for her to open up. She left Jessie in charge of the counter and started on her deep clean, which would give her time to think, away from the few customers.
Unluckily for Julia, her thinking time was interrupted when Sally Marriott came into the café, requesting to speak to her. When she noticed her red raw eyes and dishevelled appearance, Julia took Sally through to the kitchen.
“I suppose you’ve heard,” Sally mumbled as she dabbed her nose with a shredded tissue. “Richard has called off the wedding.”
No sooner had the words left Sally’s lips did she double over, her mousy hair hanging over her eyes as she sobbed her heart out. Julia pulled the useless tissue from Sally’s grip and replaced it with her own handkerchief from her dress pocket, which Sally gratefully accepted.
“I had heard, but I didn’t want to assume it was true,” Julia said softly, her hand rubbing the back of Sally’s shoulders.
Sally paused her sobbing to smile at Julia, but the smile quivered and the tears resumed almost instantly. She was a young woman in her mid-twenties and even through her upset, Julia could still see the natural English rose beauty radiating underneath. She had always admired Sally’s looks from afar, and along with the rest of the village, had been surprised when she announced that she was marrying Richard May, who despite being handsome, was twenty years her senior.
“I thought I should tell you not to bother with the wedding cake,” Sally said, sniffling into the handkerchief as the tears calmed down. “You can keep the deposit.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Julia said, already pulling her purse from her handbag, which was hanging from a hook on the wall. “Besides, I was having trouble making a cinnamon, rose and orange cake work.”
Sally laughed softly, and Julia was glad to see a little lightness appear in her face before another flood of tears took over. She pushed the deposit she had taken into Sally’s blouse pocket, sending a soft wink to the jilted girl. Julia knew what it felt like to have a man pull the rug from under her feet, and she knew how expensive starting out on your own could be.
“I should have seen it coming,” Sally said, drying her eyes for the final time before inhaling deeply and looking up at the fluorescent lights in the kitchen’s ceiling. “My mother always did say I wanted what I couldn’t have.”
Julia rubbed Sally’s shoulder sympathetically, wondering if what she had heard about Sally ‘carrying on’ with another man was true.
“Maybe there’s a chance you’ll reunite?”
“There isn’t,” Sally said, letting out a bitter laugh. “He’s already cancelled the venue and told his parents it’s over. He’s so angry. I’m such a stupid girl. I tried to talk to him at Peridale Manor yesterday, but he refused to talk to me.”
“You were at the garden party yesterday?” Julia asked. “I didn’t see you.”
“I only went to find Richard, but he wouldn’t speak to me. I wanted to talk to him, to explain, but he pushed me away and he left. And then I heard about – about -,”
Sally didn’t finish her sentence. Her sobbing started afresh, harder and heavier than ever before. Julia took Sally into her arms, and the crying woman clung to her like a baby to its mother. Through the beaded curtain, Julia could see Jessie and the few customers, her gran being one of them, all staring into the kitchen to see what was happening.
When Sally finally pulled away and handed back Julia’s handkerchief, she shook out her mousy hair and composed herself.
“I’ve still got to see the florist and the dressmaker,” Sally said, her bottom lip trembling, but no tears appearing. “All I ever wanted was the fairy tale wedding.”
Julia knew she should tell her that she was still young and there was still time, but her own experience of the so-called fairy tale had jaded her. Instead, she wanted to tell Sally that it was overrated, and even if she walked down the aisle with Richard, ‘till death do us part’ could really mean ‘until I leave you for my young secretary’. Julia decided neither were appropriate, so she offered Sally a drink and a cake on the house, both of which she declined. Julia let Sally leave out of the backdoor to avoid getting caught up in being questioned by the villagers.
“So?” Dot asked, looking at Julia expectantly along with the other villagers. “What did she say?”
“Whatever she said was said to me in confidence.”
“Didn’t you find out if the rumours about her and Charles Wellington having an affair were true?” Dot asked, her eyes wide and her mouth practically salivating.
“It wasn’t my place to ask.”
There was a loud groan from the watching crowd, and they quickly dispersed, some of them sitting, and some of them leaving as if they had only come for the gossip. Julia wondered if they had seen Sally entering the café and decided to follow her. How many people would suddenly find themselves in the florist and dressmakers?
After Dot told Julia and Jessie that they were having dinner at her house that afternoon because she had some lamb chops that needed to be eaten, Julia retreated back to the kitchen and pulled her notepad from her bag.
Flipping to a fresh page, she wrote Charles’ name in the middle and circled it. She reluctantly drew an arrow from Charles and added her father’s name. Less reluctantly, she drew another arrow and wrote Katie’s name, followed by a line connecting the two. Next, she added two more arrows and two more names, which were also connected. She stared at Sally and Richard’s names, adding a question mark ne
xt to the latters.
After witnessing the fight between Richard and Charles, the village had come to the conclusion that Charles was somehow involved in Richard calling off his engagement to Sally. After seeing Sally and looking into her eyes, Julia felt like she had all but confirmed this to be true. She traced over the question mark next to Richard’s name, wondering if a broken heart could drive a man to commit murder.
At the end of the workday, Julia and Jessie drove back to her cottage to pick up a pecan pie that was chilling in her fridge. Her gran didn’t specifically ask Julia to bring dessert, but if she didn’t they would be eating something that came out of a packet.
As the first signs of night started to tickle the pale sky, they pulled up outside of Julia’s cottage. Julia killed the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt, while Jessie continued to stare blankly ahead, not seeming to notice they had even stopped.
“Is everything okay?” Julia asked softly, making Jessie jump. “You’ve been quiet today.”
Julia didn’t want to mention she had noticed Jessie growing increasingly quieter over the past week, although it hadn’t gone unnoticed that it had started around the same time as the sleepwalking.
“I’m just tired,” Jessie said with a shrug. “It’s nothing.”
“Am I working you too hard at the café?”
“It’s nothing like that. Like I said, I’m just tired.”
Julia smiled softly at Jessie, who strained to smile back. Jessie was filled with so much passion and energy, so she hated seeing her young lodger’s fire being dimmed. Julia had never wished to read another person’s mind as much as she did in that moment.
They got out of the car and walked towards Julia’s cottage. Further down the lane, her elderly neighbour, Emily Burns, was pruning her immaculate rose bushes. She spotted Julia and vigorously waved her over.
“Let yourself in,” Julia whispered into Jessie’s ear. “Emily is waving to me, and if I don’t go and talk to her, I have a feeling she’s going to hack my door down with those pruning shears.”