Raspberries and Retaliation

by Katherine Hayton

  Matthewson disappeared inside, while the fireman continued to dampen down the outside of the vehicle. The sergeant returned to the doorway a minute later, holding a limp body in his arms.

  Holly wanted to run toward the scene and saw the same tensing of muscles in the family group standing around. Wisely, everyone held back, waiting until Matthewson had staggered with the body to the waiting paramedic. He quickly examined the man, then sat back on his heels and shook his head.

  “This ain’t right,” a man from the family group called out. “He was just fine a few hours ago. We were going to meet down at the pub tonight for a few drinks.”

  “Did he leave a note?” another woman called out. “It’s not like Danny Chilvers not to want to have the last word.”

  Matthewson stood up again and waved the family group back where they’d started to edge forward. The fireman stepped up closer to the vehicle, this time aiming the foam spray indoors.

  The one who’d talked about meeting Danny at the pub, suddenly broke free of the group and ran toward a picnic bench nearby. He knocked a stone off the top and held up a square of paper that had been folded beneath its weight.

  “Give me that here!” A woman—Holly recognized her from Meggie’s salon, but didn’t know her name—came racing forward and snatched the note out of the man’s hand.

  When Matthewson saw what was happening, he tried to follow her and grab it back. The family moved as one unit, blocking his path.

  “That’s evidence,” he called out, his voice greeted with stony silence. Surprisingly, he gave up the fight immediately, lowering his voice to grumble, “Just make sure you hand it over when you’re done.”

  The woman with the note clambered up onto a park bench, standing above the crowd of family. “He says, I didn’t mean to kill Jessica. It was a mistake.”

  The group gasped as one and the woman reading the message out started crying. When another man climbed on top of the bench to help her, she shoved him away. “I can do it.”

  After a second, she cleared her throat and continued. “I was upset about my daughter. We’d had a fight, and I said a bunch of things I shouldn’t. When I went looking for her, we had a small tussle, and she fell. I never meant for it to happen, but I can’t live with the consequences. I hope that I’m in heaven soon with my sweet Jessica.”

  There were a few call-outs of sorrow or disbelief as the woman then climbed down from the bench with the help of the man who’d followed her up. She walked over to the sergeant, handing him the letter. “Sorry not to hand it straight over, but we needed to know what happened.”

  Matthewson nodded to her. “Just tell your family to keep back while we look through the motorhome. It’s a crime scene until I say different, and if they come forward, then I’ll charge them with interference, no matter how harsh that might seem.”

  The woman—apparently now a spokesperson for the larger family group—nodded in assent. She walked back to her relatives and began talking to them in a lower voice, so Holly could no longer hear.

  “How awful,” Crystal said.

  When Holly turned, she saw tears were streaming down her sister’s face. She wrapped an arm around Crystal’s waist and gave her a quick hug. “We’d better get back home. There’s nothing that we can do here.”

  “Where’s Clarence?” a voice called out from the family group, loud enough to have Holly pausing, back to them.

  “He’s been gone all day,” another family member responded. “Just like him to clear off when things get tough.”

  As Holly and Crystal headed up the path back home, Matthewson spotted them both for the first time. “Hold up,” he called out, jogging over to them. The mask he’d worn as protection against the gas was now hanging loosely around his collar, appearing like the world’s worst necklace.

  “Do you need our help?” Crystal asked, turning her red eyes toward him.

  “Probably not,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder as the ambulance began to turn around and drive away. “But I do want to know how long you’ve been around here.”

  “We followed you,” Holly said. “The police car went past with its lights on, and we just followed out of curiosity.” She stared at the scene below her, feeling her stomach turning over until sweat beaded on her forehead. “I guess that was a horrible idea.”

  The sergeant gave her a stern glance, then turned to Crystal. “So, you haven’t been around this area at all today?”

  While Crystal said no, Holly remembered her detour while out making deliveries. “I was,” she admitted, holding up her hand as though she was in class. “I drove down here for a short break earlier.”

  Matthewson sent a scowl in her direction. “Why?”

  The answer was so long and complicated that Holly felt tired at the thought of it. Instead, she shrugged. “Mainly, to avoid people in town. I’ve had a stream of well-wishers through for the past few days, all reassuring me that Aidan isn’t a murderer.”

  At that, Matthewson gave a wan smile and nodded. He held up his notepad. “I’m writing both your names down in here, so if you get asked down to the station later to explain yourself more fully, don’t waste any time wondering why. Okay?”

  He turned to go, and Holly patted Crystal’s shoulder before chasing him. When they were a few yards away from her sister, she touched him lightly on the arm. “Can I ask you something?”

  “You can ask me anything, Miss Waterston. Just don’t expect an answer. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m in the middle of an investigation.”

  “It’s about Aidan. I just wanted to know if he’d really hit Jessica Chilvers when they were fighting.”

  The sergeant stopped walking forward and looked at her, a deep crease between his eyebrows.

  “It’s just that I heard from someone that you attended. The person said that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t a physical fight.”

  Sergeant Matthewson sighed and shook his head. Holly’s gut clenched as she steeled herself for an answer she didn’t want to hear. Instead, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

  “I can’t tell you details about a case, and I think you know that. If you want to know what happened that day, I suggest you talk to your boyfriend about it. He knows better than me.”

  Matthewson turned and walked down to the camping site, Holly staring after him, uncertain whether to feel relieved. He was right, of course. She should be asking for information directly from the source, not an intermediary.

  As she rejoined her sister, Holly nodded. She’d phone Aidan up and do that the minute she got home.

  As Holly and Crystal walked back home, the route taking twice as long as the journey there, her thoughts strayed to Clarence, missing in action, and the words he’d said during their conversation in the police waiting room.

  Mr. Chilvers hates my guts… we had a tense relationship…

  Holly hoped that Clarence had the good sense to stay well away.

  Chapter Twelve

  “At least now they know who did it, I should stop getting a flood of well-wishers passing on information they should be keeping secret.”

  Meggie laughed and shook her head. “I doubt it. Now, they’ll come in and say they always knew that Aidan couldn’t have done it because of dot, dot, dot.”

  Holly laughed, hoping that the prediction didn’t turn out to be true. It would be nice to greet each new customer with the understanding that all they wanted was a cupcake.

  “What’s up?” Meggie asked after a short silence.

  “Nothing,” Holly said, turning to her friend, puzzled. “I’m fine.”

  “Mm-hm. You realize that you finished your coffee almost ten minutes ago.”

  Holly looked down at the cup she’d been about to sip from and placed it back on the table, blushing.

  “Out with it.”

  “Well, I made a date with Aidan for tonight to ‘talk about our relationship,’ and I’m not exactly looking forward to it.”

  “Good for you.�
� Meggie laid her hand on Holly’s forearm. “I always thought he was a lovely man, but after what he’s done, I’m all for kicking him to the curb, if you have to.”

  The phrase made Holly laugh. “Is that still what the young people say?”

  “Hey. I’m a young person, and I say it. What are you implying?”

  They laughed, and Holly lifted her cup up to her lips again, surprised when it turned out to be empty.

  “I wonder if the camping ground ends up being empty for the rest of the season.” Meggie traced a figure of eight on the tabletop, staring into the middle distance as though it held the answers to the universe.

  “I doubt anybody will care too much. It’s mainly tourists or regular campers who use that spot.” Holly shrugged. “I can’t imagine that the tourists will care, and for the regulars, it’ll just be a nice piece of gossip to turn into an urban legend.”

  Meggie shivered. “Oh, I hope not. That seems like adding insult to injury.”

  “I’m sure that Jessica and her dad don’t care, wherever they’ve ended up now.”

  She was surprised to see that Meggie’s eyes were filled with tears. Holly hadn’t realized that the case was having such an effect on her friend.

  “What’s the matter?” When Meggie shook her head, Holly didn’t let her get away with it any more than Meggie had let her off the hook a few minutes before. “Did you know the family?”

  “Everyone who was in town a few years back knew that family. I don’t know, I guess I'm being silly.” Meggie shrugged and scraped her fringe back from her forehead. “It’s just that Danny Chilvers and I used to hang about a bit, back in the day. It was nice catching up with him again, and now he’s gone.”

  “Oh, honey, I had no idea.” As Meggie started to cry again, Holly pulled her into a hug, rubbing up and down her friend’s back. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I think you’ve had enough on your plate,” Meggie said with a laugh, putting a tissue carefully up to her eyes to dab away the tears without smearing her makeup. “And it’s not like we were close, or anything. Not really. I just feel so sad for how it all turned out. It’s a tragedy, especially with the whole family here.”

  Crystal had come into the room while they were talking and now leaned on the counter. “They’re not all here. Not any longer. As soon as the family got the all-clear from Matthewson, half of them have gone.”

  “I can’t blame them,” Holly said. “I wouldn’t want to hang around in those circumstances, either.”

  “Well, I hope they all find some peace when they’re back at home,” Meggie said, getting to her feet. She gave Holly a prod in the shoulder. “And you give me a call tonight when you’re finished and let me know how it went. I can even shout you a late dessert if there’s still someplace open.”

  Holly nodded and smiled, waving goodbye as Meggie walked back to her salon.

  “As soon as you fix a date for your wedding,” she told Crystal, “I hope you book in with her and Wendy for the flowers. It’ll be nice to have all your friends making you look your best for the big day.”

  Chatting loosely about wedding plans, the sisters got back to work.

  “Was the drive over, okay?” Aidan asked, showing Holly into the house. She could hear Tilly moving about in the lounge, and the back and forth of conversation between her and Elvira.

  “Fine,” Holly said. “But do you mind if we go outside to talk? I’m not sure that I want anyone breaking into our conversation.”

  From the pained look on Aidan’s face, he knew exactly where the conversation was heading. It was a pity, then, that it didn’t make the words any more comfortable for Holly to say.

  “You know that I really like you, and I love Elvira and Tilly, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to see each other any longer.”

  When Holly looked up, having squeezed the sentences out of her throat through sheer willpower, Aidan was looking at her with a slightly blank face. She frowned, for a split second thinking that it had only happened in her imagination. Then his expression collapsed and Aidan ducked his head down, letting his long fringe fall over his face to shield his eyes. “I figured.”

  “I’ve had a lovely time,” Holly said, trying to fill the awkwardness with happy memories. “I know that we haven’t known each other long, but I’ve had a real blast.”

  She winced as the words came out of her mouth, knowing those phrases would be back to turn over in her mind on nights when sleep seemed very far away. As Aidan continued to stare down at the table, Holly opened her mouth again, desperate to fill the silence. Then she dug her fingernails into the wood of the outside bench, scolding herself to stop.

  It’s his turn. If he wants to speak, let him. If he wants to go silent, wait a minute then say goodbye.

  Holly turned and looked through the net curtains into the lounge. Elvira was sitting cross-legged on the floor—a position that Holly hadn’t been able to get into since she waved goodbye to her twenties.

  Tilly sat behind her, occasionally leaning forward to ruffle her daughter’s hair. It was hard to tell from the reactions of the two if it was a gesture of affection or just to annoy her daughter. From the look of it, Tilly wanted Elvira to do something, and her daughter was steadfastly ignoring her.

  “I suppose that I knew this was coming,” Aidan said slowly to Holly’s relief. The silence was harder to bear than she’d been expecting. “Although, I did try to warn you it was going to be a lot, me looking after Tilly and Elvira.”

  Holly stared at Aidan, feeling frustration tightening the muscles of her throat until the words spilled out of her on a wave of indignation. “It’s nothing to do with Tilly and Elvira. It’s to do with you covering up your previous relationship and lying about what you’ve been up to. I shouldn’t have to find out that your ex-fiancée is in town because you’re dragged down to the police station. Do you realize how that made me feel?” Holly slammed her palm against her chest hard enough to make a slapping sound. Across from her, Aidan winced, refusing to meet her eyes. “Did you slap Jessica in the street the other day?”

  “What?” Aidan looked up, his expression genuinely startled. “No.” His voice filled with anger. “Of course, I didn’t hit her. Who the hell told you that?”

  “A few people,” Holly said. “But that’s not the point, is it?” She jabbed her finger into the bench top. “The point is that I should’ve heard about that argument from you before anybody else. Instead, I’m the last to know.”

  “There was nothing to tell.”

  “You were going to marry her.” Holly heard her voice rising and forced it back down. She didn’t need the neighbors hearing and reporting everything to the gossip mill the next day. “At some point, not all that long ago, by all accounts, you intended to spend the rest of your life with that woman, and I didn’t even know she existed. Do you think that’s being honest with me?”

  “Jessica was in the past. She didn’t have anything to do with our relationship.”

  Holly thumped the table with her fist. “She wouldn’t have if you’d told me about her. The fact that you didn’t made it a big deal.”

  “Why? I don’t ask you about your exes.”

  “You didn’t need to.” Holly stared at Aidan, seeing a stranger looking back at her. Does he really believe his behavior is acceptable? Doesn’t he want to share his life with me at all?

  “I told you about Simon because that’s what people do when they’re getting to know each other. They talk about the people who were important in their lives. What don’t you understand about that?”

  “And I talked about Elvira and Tilly and Esmerelda because they’re the people who’re important to me now.” Aidan folded his arms across his chest. “I warned you that this relationship would be difficult. I tried to break it off with you, and you refused to let it go. Now, you want out, and you’re trying to blame it on me because I didn’t tell you about someone who was ancient history.”

  “You had an argument with Je
ssica in the street a few days ago, Aidan. It was so bad that not only does the rest of the town know about it, the police thought it implicated you in her death. Are you seriously saying that you didn’t think I should know that?”

  “It was my business.”

  Holly started to retort, then shook her head. She gazed into the lounge again, seeing the quick jerk of Tilly and Elvira’s heads that told her they’d been listening. Well, good on them. From what Aidan was saying, he wouldn’t bother to tell them about it when he went back inside.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Holly said. Sadness welled up inside her, sitting across from Aidan. She remembered how much fun he’d been at the Inglewood Manor wedding—how steadfast when everything was falling down around their ears. The man across from her may be fun and dependable in a crisis, but Holly thought that she’d never really known him at all.

  Just like you never knew Simon was unhappy. There’s something wrong with you.

  Holly shook her head again and stood up. The self-recriminations could wait until later when she was tucked up in bed and failing to sleep.

  Now, Holly just wanted to get out of there and go talk to someone who understood her. If Meggie was still open to the offer, they could go and pig out on ice-cream or cheesecake until her bursting stomach equaled the weight of sadness in her heart.

  “Wait a minute.” Aidan stood and came around her side. A shiver ran down Holly’s spine as a gust hit her, dying away to stillness a second later.

  “What is it?”

  “Do you mind…” Aidan trailed off and looked over at the lounge, apparently noticing for the first time that he was in plain view of his cousins. He turned his back to the room, hunching a shoulder down to block his face. “Would you be able to keep the break-up just between us for the time being?”

  Holly stepped back, shaking her head.

  “Please.” Aidan looked back at the house for a second, then caught Holly’s gaze. “Just until this thing with Jessica is over. I don’t want people putting two and two together and coming up with me being a murderer.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Holly frowned and shook her head. “The police already know who killed Jessica, her father. They’ve closed the case.”