Cold Death

by S. Y. Robins

  “Maybe he’ll talk to you? Perhaps you can convince him to tell them when you speak with him?” Mr. Barrows said hopefully.

  “I’ll do my best. Ah, here we go. Wish me luck, I’ll pass along your love, Jake.” She told the boy as she squeezed his arm in passing. With a grim smile she followed the female guard into a small grey room with only a table and two grey chairs. The room looked as though it belonged in a horror film and certainly didn’t invite happy conversation. The door was pushed open and then Callum was there, trailed by more guards.

  “You have fifteen minutes. No embracing, no touching, only talking, am I clear?” The guard asked. They both nodded their heads and the guard moved out of the room.

  “Oh, you are a sight for sore eyes, Milly! I’m so glad you came! But then again, I’m sorry to drag you into this... ” his voice trailed off as he looked down at his hands, cuffed together with shiny metal braces.

  Milly smiled over at him, noting how tired he looked, his dark-brown eyes shadowed, and how dishevelled he was with his hair going in a million directions. He still had that rogue’s smile hidden behind a day’s growth of beard, however, and her heart melted, seeing that one slightly crooked tooth of his. Then her smile turned grim. “If you’d just tell them why you went out of town, Callum, they’d let you come home.” She broke off as he pushed back in his seat, shaking his head.

  “Jake sends his love and he misses you. You have to do everything you can to get out of here because that lad needs you, Callum. I miss you as well and I’m taking care of Jake but your nephew needs his uncle. So tell them what they need to know? Please?” She reached out her hand to take his manacled one but then stopped; she didn’t want to get him in further trouble for breaking the rules. She looked away from his hands, the cuffs were a visual reminder that she had to leave him there when her time was up and she wanted to pretend that wasn’t going to happen.

  Callum looked panicked for a moment, and then resigned as he brushed his hands through his curly hair. “You’re right, as usual, Milly. I’ll tell them. I just wanted to keep it all private and quiet for a while longer. But I suppose everyone will soon learn about it now. Ah well, I can prove I didn’t do it, at least. We can hope.”

  The rest of the visit went far too quickly for Milly, and she tried to hide her tears as the guards came back for him. Callum saw the one that managed to escape as she rapidly blinked her eyes and reached up to wipe it away but the guard jerked him back with a reminder. “No touching.”

  Milly glared at the man but kept quiet, not wanting to make matters worse for Callum. She walked back into the room where the solicitor and Jake were waiting and sank into one of the chairs there. “Well, I think he’ll tell them where he went and why now, at least. That should be enough shouldn’t it?”

  “I don’t want to give you false hope, but it should. It just depends on where he went and if he can prove it. I’ll go talk with him now. I’ll give you a call later, alright? Get Jake home and get your business back open. The best thing to do right now is to stay busy. And thank you, Ms. Dupont, you’ve been brilliant.” Mr. Barrows said as he shook Milly’s hand then disappeared to find Callum.

  “Come on Jake, let’s get back to the shop.” Milly said, deflated but hopeful.

  “I wish I could have seen him, Milly, did he look alright?” Jake asked, worry in his voice.

  “He’s very tired, I doubt you get much sleep in a place like this, but he’ll be alright, lad. Maybe he’ll even be home soon. We can hope, anyway.” Milly ushered Jake out into the cold air and couldn’t wait to get back to the warmth and familiarity of her shop. The police station had been so cold, impersonal, and unwelcoming that she needed something warm to get the chill out of her spine.

  Milly walked into the welcoming atmosphere of her shop and felt some of the tension easing from her body. The familiar sight and smells always brought a smile to her face and today was no different. She loved the smell of the tea and coffee mingling with the pastries; she loved the curtains in the window that she’d spent months picking out, and she loved the way the wood on the floor gleamed in the sunshine. She loved it all. But it was not the same knowing Callum was locked away. She reminded herself that he could be home at any time now and thought she should prepare something special, just in case. And if he didn’t make it home then Jake would appreciate it; the lad was constantly eating.

  Milly wandered into the kitchen to check on whether she had onions or not and stopped as she spotted Edgar resting on a counter. He knew better than that, she thought, as she went over to shoo him away and clean the counter. She was just reaching for a cloth and some disinfectant when she saw he’d been curled around two objects. One was flat, a photograph, and the other a tiny toy mouse. She looked over at the cat wondering where he’d found the objects but knew she’d likely never find out. She could understand why he’d picked up the toy mouse, a tiny little thing no bigger than an actual field mouse, and then slid a finger under the photograph to look closer at it.

  Milly let her glasses slide down her nose and brought the picture closer to her face.

  “Yes, that’s definitely Maria, but who are those other two people with her?” She wondered aloud. A man, no taller than Milly who was rather short, and a tall, slim, black-haired woman had Maria sandwiched between them. All three were smiling at whoever held the camera and it was obvious they were in some sort of disco with coloured lights sparkling behind them. Milly looked over at Edgar again, wondering if he’d pilfered the picture from the dead woman’s house but she saw no bite marks in the picture. How else could he have carried it home, she wondered?

  Putting the picture down, Milly tried to imagine who the people were but gave up because she knew Maria had travelled extensively, the couple may have been fellow holidaymakers in Ibiza, somewhere Milly had never been, for all she knew. She’d hand it over to the solicitor, she decided, then checked on onions and decided a menu for the evening. A chicken pie should fit the bill. Dismissing the whole event, because there really wasn’t much she could do about any of it, Milly went back to preparing food and saw to the few customers that came in that afternoon. For once she was glad of the few customers and the distraction of losing herself in food preparation.

  Later that evening, Milly tried to control her dancing as she prepared an American version of pasta salad a social media friend had told her about. The friend had gone on about it so much that she’d decided to try it with the pie; an odd pairing, perhaps, but she thought it might be nice. As she chopped vegetables and boiled eggs, she lost herself in the music and rhythm of chopping celery and wasn’t paying attention when someone came in the back door.

  Milly was so lost that she didn’t even hear the door open or close and was so startled when she felt arms wrapping around her hips that she screamed, threw her arm with the hand holding the knife out, and jumped away all at the same time. “Stay back,” she shrieked at the same moment she realized who the intruder was, and then laid the knife down so she could throw her arms around Callum’s neck.

  “Oh my word! Callum, you’re home! Oh I could have hurt you, you silly man!” She hugged him tight, stepped back to look at him, and then threw her arms back around him once more. “You’re really here, you are! I’m so glad you’re home!”

  “I am, I’m home Milly and hopefully that’s the last of it.” Callum squeezed her tight once more and moved away, looking around. “I thought Jake would be in here with you.”

  “He will be shortly; he’s helping Thomas close up for the night. So tell me what happened?” She asked, on edge and worried that the police might change their minds and come back for him. She didn’t know how any of this worked and felt helpless.

  Callum looked sad for a moment then leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest as if to hold himself up or away from the pain the words would cause. “It seems that Maria was going to die that night, whether someone came along and murdered her before she died or not. Which is rather confusing,
isn’t it? So much for me being mysterious.” He gave a rueful grin before continuing. “Right, it seems Maria had overdosed on heroin. She was already dying when she was hit over the head.”

  “What?” Milly exclaimed, not believing Callum. She’d never known Maria to use such dangerous drugs. Party drugs, yes, everyone knew Maria loved those but not heroin.

  “Yes, it’s quite true, Milly. It’s one of the reasons I ended our relationship, she had started using heroin a few months back. She refused to go to rehab, refused to stop or seek any kind of treatment. I couldn’t handle life with a junkie so I broke it off with her.” Callum said, looking ashamed for some reason.

  “I had no idea, Callum. How awful for both of you. Drugs are so insidious and ruin so many lives. I’m glad she didn’t drag you into that world but how awful and what a heart-breaking decision you were forced to make. Well, I suppose in the end Maria made that decision didn’t she? Suddenly the words Callum had spoken a few months ago about their friend Davina, who had accidentally been killed by a jealous wife, came back to Milly.

  Callum had said Davina’s death wasn’t her own fault but she’d made the decisions that had led to her death. They made more sense now that Milly knew what Callum had been dealing with. Sometimes you have to own up to your choices and fix what you can, before it’s too late to do anything about them. Even when those decisions are hard. The tenderness she felt for Callum grew as she tried to imagine Callum quietly handling such a big responsibility. You couldn’t do something like that alone and now this, poor man. She took his arm in a friendly manner and led him out to the shop floor.

  “Well, I’ve made a chicken pie for tea so if you’re hungry go get scrubbed up and round Jake up and we’ll eat.” She told him, leaving the rest of the conversation for later, and perhaps a glass of the wine she’d picked up from the shop next door.

  They were all fed and Jake had gone back over to the shop flat to go to bed, Edgar following along behind him, while Callum and Milly shared a glass of wine.

  “You’re free for now then?” Milly asked.

  “Yes, they couldn’t really charge me with anything. I provided proof I’d gone into the city with a receipt for a purchase I made. The time stamp shows I wasn’t in the area at the time Maria died, according to their calculations of when that time was. They tried to use an email I sent to Maria months ago as evidence I’d been threatening her and that I was upset because she’d started to date someone else but it wasn’t that at all. I’d just grown tired of the lies and told her if she kept on the path she was on she was going to get what she deserved. She also refused to return my ring. I don’t know why she had it on her when she died but maybe she’d planned to sell it. I assumed that’s why she refused to return it in the first place, that she’d already sold it off somewhere.”

  “That makes sense. We all knew in the village that you couldn’t do something like that; you just don’t have it in you. That still doesn’t answer who killed her, however.”

  “I sat in my cell thinking about it and I can’t come up with anybody. She knew so many different kinds of people, and with the drugs involved, well, we all know what kind of people that draws. It could have been anyone really.” Callum finished, an air of defeat in his words.

  “I’m sure we can figure it out, somehow, Callum. You have the support of all of us, we won’t let you go back to jail; I can promise you that for nothing.” She smiled, knowing the promise was true of everyone in the village.

  Chapter Three

  Milly woke the next morning with a slight headache. Callum had left soon after they finished that first glass of wine but she’d carried on to a third. She’d never been much for drink but she wanted to sleep and thought the wine might help her sleep. Gathering up the animals she pondered how well she’d slept versus the headache. Maybe not such a good idea, after all. At least it was Sunday and she didn’t have to open the shop today, she told herself.

  Walking along the hills she enjoyed the scenery, as usual. The sun was hidden behind clouds today but you could still see the sheep on the distant hills, gnawing their way around the terrain. At least the cat didn’t find a body or a bloody shirt this morning, she thought as she walked back to her shop. She did, however, spy Jake making his way into her shop via the backdoor. Wondering what the boy was in such a rush about, Milly picked up her pace and was soon in the shop and saw Jake hovering over a book of some kind. Now why would he come over here to read, Milly wondered.

  “What have you got there then, lad?” Milly asked, sitting a cake and tea in front of Jake.

  “Maria’s diary.” He said when he looked up, then went back to reading.

  “Pardon? Maria’s diary? How on earth did you get that then?” Milly asked with astonishment.

  The boy looked sheepish for a moment, a hint of his uncle’s grin showing through his own, and cleared his throat. “Well, the police left a door unlocked, didn’t they? And while you and Uncle Callum were talking last night I ran over to see if I could find anything that would put him in the clear. I found this hidden on the top of a wardrobe.” He held the diary up and then handed it over to Milly.

  Milly took the diary, seeing that the first entry was 10 years ago. Maria hadn’t written in it very much until the last year. Perhaps the heroin had opened up her mind to writing? She’d heard similar excuses for drug use. Looking in the book, not really wanting to invade the dead woman’s privacy but wanting to help Callum, she saw pictures inserted between pages, tickets for derbies, and various mementos woman usually kept. She looked up as Callum came in an hour later, looking for Jake, and they both explained what Jake had found.

  “Well, I really shouldn’t let Jake stay here and he should also be punished but this isn’t something I think he’d do under normal circumstances. What have you learned then?” Callum asked, looking sternly at his nephew.

  “Maria was very sad, Callum. I’d even say depressed. She had far more insecurities than I’d have ever imagined a woman as lovely as she was would have had. She wanted plastic surgery and to run away and couldn’t decide which was better. Do you know who this “A” person was by any chance?”

  “A? No, I’ve no idea. We didn’t spend a lot of time together the last couple of months we were together, and rarely since we parted. Why?” He asked curiously as he drank his tea.

  “Seems she’d developed quite a passion for him but felt she wasn’t good enough. Though she doesn’t use gender-specific words, just ‘they’ or ‘them’, things like that. I have to wonder if it’s actually a couple. I forgot but I found this, or Edgar did rather, and I don’t know either of them, do you?” Milly asked, handing him the photograph Edgar had managed to produce.

  Callum looked at it closely but then shook his head. “No, can’t say as I do. It’s hard to tell who they really are.”

  “I’ve seen the woman once or twice; she’s familiar but I can’t remember why.” Jake said, looking over Callum’s shoulder.

  “In any case, I’ll hand it over to the police. Maybe it will help.” Callum said, standing up. Just as he was turning to get more tea something came shattering through the window and fell to the floor in front of him.

  Milly jumped for Jake, thinking only to protect the boy, as Callum dived for both. The reactions were instant, no real thought went into either action but both resulted in the same thing, Jake being tackled by both adults in the room. A few minutes passed and Milly looked up at Callum, wondering what had just happened.

  Callum finally let go of both Milly and Jake and bent down to pick up the object on the floor. A brick covered in a letter. Milly had to suppress an urge to giggle at how childish the whole thing was. A brick through her front window, how very original, she thought, realizing hysteria was setting in. They’d all been through a lot over the last few months and the last few days had been extreme. Now this. Who wouldn’t be a little hysterical? She checked Jake one more time then took the piece of paper Callum handed her, a worried look on his face.

&n
bsp; “Remember the line about the cat? Missing anything? Give back what you took!” The note stated.

  “What? I don’t get it. What cat?” Milly asked before screaming for Edgar.

  Callum and Jake ran to their flat and Milly checked hers but Edgar was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t out back; he wasn’t on the roof; he wasn’t at Callum and Jake’s; he wasn’t anywhere in either of the shops either. He was gone.

  Milly sat in her living room, staring out the window, a crumpled facial tissue in her hands that she was busy shredding. Tears streamed down her face and sobs could occasionally be heard. Callum had even put on one of her favourite rap songs, though she didn’t realize he knew anything about her music, but then realized he’d probably heard it when she was jamming in her kitchen, and that did raise a smile.

  “We’ll find him, Milly, I promise. I think they somehow know we have the diary and they want it back. I bet we’ll hear from them again before the night is over. Where’s your copy scanner? I want to make a copy of everything in this diary before we hand it over. Because if they call, we will be handing it over, we’re getting your cat back.”

  The text came in at 3 am on Callum’s phone. He and Jake were asleep in the spare bedrooms and Milly heard the phone going off. She ran into Callum’s room to find him speedily pushing buttons and swiping screens until the message came up.

  “Leave it in the bin beside the bus shelter. You’ll have your cat back by morning.” The number didn’t show, the display simply said ‘unknown’ but Callum saved it, in case the police could do anything with it.

  “Right, you ready then?” Callum said, getting out of the bed fully dressed. He looked down at Milly, also fully clothed, and realized they’d had the same thought. “I see you are, let’s go.”

  They didn’t wake Jake and walked down the stairs quietly. Milly hadn’t engaged her alarm that evening, not wanting to set it off in the middle of the night if one of the blokes came down stairs, so she passed it by as she went out the door.