by Agatha Frost
“Barker?” Julia said, one eye closing as she heard the forced lightness in her voice. “Good morning.”
“I’ve been trying to call you!” Barker cried. “I’ve been worried sick! I thought something had happened!”
“I’m fine,” Julia said. “My phone was on silent.”
She paused and waited for him to ask if she put it on silent on purpose, but he did not.
“Oh,” he said, his voice calming down. “Well, that makes sense. I wanted to come and check on you, but I’ve got a full day of meetings planned for today. I wanted to get away, but Izzy said –”
“Where did you stop last night?” Julia interrupted when she remembered the untouched bed.
“I did text to ask if it was okay, but you didn’t check your messages,” Barker said. “Izzy managed to get me another TV interview. We had to get down to London so they could tape it before tomorrow. We ended up meeting up with some guys from the publishing company to celebrate the book, and it got late, so we got a room. My meetings are in London today anyway, so I didn’t see the point driving home to come straight back.”
“We?”
“Huh?”
“’We got a room’,” Julia said, her eyes closing as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “That’s what you said.”
“Oh,” Barker said, his voice small across the line. “Well, they only had one room left, so Izzy and I just shared. I slept on the couch. The publishing company paid for it, and –”
“I need to go,” Julia butted in. “I need to open the café.”
“But it’s –”
“I need to go,” Julia repeated. “I’ll see you when you get back.”
Julia quickly ended the call and tossed the phone onto the draining board. She backed away from it as though it was going to blow up in her face. Her heart pounded in her chest. She closed her eyes to calm down, but it only helped her visualise Izzy and Barker sharing a fancy hotel room in London.
“Everything okay?” Alfie murmured as he crept into the kitchen, back in his work clothes from the day before. “I couldn’t help but overhear. You sounded upset.”
“I’m fine,” Julia lied with a fake smile. “It’s just – it’s nothing.”
Alfie nodded, but he took a step forward. As he looked at Julia with his kind eyes, she could not help but see Jessie in them.
“Barker’s a good guy,” Alfie offered with a slight shrug. “I don’t think you need to worry about him.”
“It’s not him I’m worried about,” Julia said, turning to grab plastic boxes from the cupboard. “I’ve met women like Izzy before.”
“Who’s Izzy?” Alfie asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Julia said, shaking her head and pushing forward a real smile. “I’m worrying about nothing. What have you got planned today?”
Alfie assessed Julia for a moment before helping her pull the muffins from the tray to box them up.
“I’m meeting with the guy who owns the builder’s yard at noon. Kylie put me in touch with her Uncle Keith, and he’s set up a meeting with us all to see what can be done.”
“Uncle Keith?” Julia echoed. “Do you mind if I tag along? I need something to take my mind off things.”
“Sure,” Alfie said with a shrug. “It would be good to have someone there who has done this sort of thing.”
Julia thought back to her notes and how she had yet to speak to Keith. Pushing Barker to the back of her mind, she turned her thoughts back to Mabel Crump.
The beautiful morning turned into a beautiful afternoon, and when Alfie pulled up outside Julia’s café on his motorbike at noon, the hot sun was shining down on Peridale.
“Aren’t we walking?” Julia asked as Alfie held out a spare helmet. “It’s only around the corner.”
“Where would the fun be in that?” Alfie replied playfully. “Have you ever been on a motorbike?”
“Not that I can recall.”
“Well, if you had, you’d recall,” he said, cramming the helmet over her curly hair. “Everyone should experience it once in their life.”
Julia looked into her café, where Jessie was laughing at them from behind the counter as she served a customer. Feeling uncertain, Julia clumsily climbed onto the back of the motorbike, careful that her flared dress was protecting her modesty.
“Hold on,” Alfie cried.
“To what?”
Instead of replying, he set off, causing Julia to wrap her arms around his leather jacket. Instead of speeding towards Mulberry Lane, he performed a sharp U-turn and took her around the village green, where a group of small children were playing a game of football despite the recently erected ‘NO BALL GAMES’ sign that the neighbourhood watch had petitioned for. They sped past Dot’s cottage, and Julia was sure she saw her gran twitching at the curtains.
With the wind in her face and fluttering at the edge of her dress, she felt a type of adrenaline rush she had never experienced before as they zipped and turned down the winding streets of Peridale. When they reached the bottom of Mulberry Lane, a small part of Julia wished they had taken an even longer route.
“What did you think?” Alfie asked with a grin as he helped Julia off the bike. “Fun, right?”
“I can see why you love it,” Julia replied, her legs feeling like jelly as she stepped onto the cobbled road. “Although, I don’t think I’ll be trading in my Ford Anglia for a bike quite yet.”
Julia pulled off the helmet and passed it back to Alfie before running her fingers through her hair and tucking it behind her ears. She looked up and down Mulberry Lane, which was full of afternoon shoppers, some of them looking in the direction of the motorbike. Mulberry Lane was the oldest known shopping street in Peridale, its buildings dating back to the 1700s. To date, it was still the shopping hub of Peridale, its crooked buildings filled with boutiques. At the bottom of the lane stood the antique barn, which was managed by Julia’s father, Brian. She caught a glimpse of him polishing a mahogany desk near the entrance, but he appeared to be so deep in thought he did not notice them.
The builder’s yard was tucked just behind the barn, down a small path lined with overgrown bushes on either side. It would have been a tight squeeze to get the bike down there, so Julia was not surprised they had stopped where they had.
After locking the bike, Alfie led her down the path, which circled around the barn and to the builder’s yard. The yard, which was surrounded by a metal fence, looked as though it had not been touched in years. The sign, which read ‘Crump’s Builders’ dangled messily at a slant from one rusted nail. Weeds lined the fence and the building in the middle of the yard. The space was comprised of three main elements. The first was a large empty concrete courtyard, which Julia guessed was for materials and vehicles. The second was a two-storey red brick building, which appeared to date back to Victorian times. It had large wooden doors, bearing evidence of decades of repainting, and two windows above the door, which she supposed belonged to an office. The third element was a metal structure attached to the side of the building, which was made from scaffolding. The whole site appeared to be in a state of disrepair, and it gave Julia an uneasy feeling.
“I think they’re inside,” Alfie said after checking his phone.
They walked through the open metal gate and towards the red building’s double doors. Alfie yanked one of the doors open, and they slipped inside. The musty scent within the empty building gave away its true age. They headed for a set of dusty, wooden stairs, which did not look as though they could take the weight of one person, let alone two. The stairs led to a small office, and Julia could see two shadows behind the frosted glass.
Julia followed Alfie up the staircase, the aged wood creaking loudly with each step. She held her breath, praying she was not going to be the one to cause them to collapse. When they reached the door, Alfie knocked, and when a jovial voice called for them to ‘come in’, they walked into the office, the wooden floorboards feeling slightly more secure than the stairs.
; Keith, whom Julia had met at the party, was leaning against a lone desk in the middle of the office, his arms folded across a tight white shirt. His thick moustache twitched as he looked from Alfie to Julia, a hint of recognition in his gaze as he looked at her. The second man, who was the shortest of the quartet by at least a foot, wobbled towards Alfie and shook his hand heartily with a beaming grin.
“You must be Alfie!” he exclaimed before moving onto Julia, his bulbous red nose commanding attention on his tiny face. “And who is this beautiful young lassie?”
“This is Julia,” Alfie said, as he looked at her, clearly trying to think of the best way to describe her. “She’s a local business owner.”
“A business owner!” the man exclaimed as he shook Julia’s hand like they were long lost friends. “I’m Bob Slinger, the owner of this fine building. When Keith called to tell me someone was interested in renting it, I almost fell off my seat! To be honest with you, it’s been that long since I visited Peridale, I think I’d forgotten I even owned this place!”
Keith chuckled as he adjusted his glasses. He stepped forward and shook Alfie’s hand before taking Julia’s.
“We know each other, don’t we?” he asked Julia with squinted eyes. “You’re Brian’s daughter.”
“I am,” Julia said with a nod. “And you’re Mabel’s son. I’m sorry to hear about – well – I’m sorry to hear about everything. It can’t have been an easy couple of days for you.”
Keith fiddled with his glasses as he smiled his appreciation for Julia’s concern. He retreated back to the desk and re-folded his arms as though to protect himself.
“It’s all been quite a shock,” Keith said, his gaze concentrated. “But, that’s my family for you. The Crumps always have some surprise up their sleeve. Truth be told, I’d got used to the idea of my mother not being around, so for her to turn up like this has been a shock to the system.”
“I must say, I was surprised to hear about it!” Bob said as he rocked back and forth on his heels. “I live down on the South Coast in a beautiful little fishing town, but I saw something about it on the television. A young man was promoting his book, and my ears pricked up when I heard ‘Peridale’. I haven’t been up here since Keith retired from the building trade and handed me back the keys to this place, but this little village always held a special place in my heart. It’s rather beautiful, don’t you think?”
“Wouldn’t want to live anywhere else," Keith agreed with a nod. “I’d still be renting this place off you if it wasn’t for the damn arthritis. Could barely hold a screwdriver properly towards the end.”
Keith flexed out his fingers to demonstrate. His knuckles looked twice the size of Julia’s, and he could not fully extend any of his fingers.
“At least you got an early retirement out of it,” Bob said with a misplaced chuckle as he slapped Keith on the shoulder. “After all those years you put into the army before taking up the trade, you deserve to sit back and do nothing for the rest of your days.”
“You were in the army,” Julia said with a nod, suddenly remembering why her childhood memories of Keith were few and far between. “My memory isn’t what it used to be.”
“That makes two of us,” Bob said with another chuckle as he continued to rock back and forth. “I can’t remember if it’s Wednesday or Christmas half the time, and don’t even get me started on the television remote! Can I ever find the thing? Can I heck? I think it’s conspiring with my keys to send me to the loony bin before my time.”
“I signed up when I was eighteen,” Keith said with a fond smile as he looked through Julia and into the past. “It was the summer of 1971. I tried to convince your father to sign up with me, but he was too smitten with your mother to leave the village. I came out in 1996 after a good quarter-century stretch.”
“You get less for murder!” Bob cried with another deep chuckle, the tone deaf nature of his ill-timed joke going over his head. “Should we get down to business then, young chap? If we can shake on it before one, I can jump on the next train. Let’s say, five hundred a month in rent?”
“F-Five hundred?” Alfie stuttered as he looked around the empty office. “I know you should never show your hand in a negotiation, but I was expecting double.”
“Then I think that’s a deal to be shaken on,” Bob said before hobbling over to Alfie with an outstretched hand. “I’m not one to con and cheat, and you have an honest face. Someone with that many tattoos has experienced enough life to know what’s right and wrong. I’d rather you be in here if only to keep the cobwebs out. There’s no running water or electricity, but I’m sure a young chap like you is resourceful.”
Without a moment of hesitation, Alfie accepted Bob’s hand and shook it more than was probably required. When Alfie finally let go, with a befuddled expression, Bob yanked back his jacket sleeve to look at the chunky watch on his wrist.
“Well, I think I’ll treat myself to some lunch before I go,” Bob mused as he tapped his finger on his chin. “Is there a café in this village?”
“There’s one next to the post office,” Julia offered. “You can’t miss it.”
“Then I shall bid you all good day!” Bob said as he shook Keith’s hand. “It’s been good to see you again. Enjoy the rest of your retirement, old friend.”
“I’ll try,” Keith said as he folded his arms again, making Julia wonder if he did it out of habit to hide his curled fingers. “That’s if my Sandra ever gives me a moment’s rest.”
“Do you have a fax machine, young chap?” Bob asked as he looked Alfie up and down. “I don’t do emails.”
“I can’t say I’ve ever seen a fax machine in person,” Alfie admitted with a shake of his head.
“I have one,” Keith offered. “I’ll get Kylie to pass it on. You still have my address?”
“Oh, it’ll be somewhere,” Bob said with a wave of his hand as he headed to the door. “Alan, Julie, it was lovely to meet you. I suppose I should give you these.”
He tossed a set of keys to Alfie, and before either of them could correct the peculiar little man, Bob Slinger tottered down the creaky staircase.
When the trio was alone, there was an awkward moment of silence. Keith assessed Alfie with narrowed eyes as he stared at him without blinking.
“You’re not going to mess my niece around, are you?” Keith asked as he cocked his head back. “I know she’s a handful, but she’s a good girl.”
“No, sir,” Alfie said quickly after gulping. “I really like her.”
“Good,” Keith said as he made his way to the door. “At least you have an honest trade. That’s more than the last one.”
With that, Keith walked through the open door and made his way down the stairs. When they were alone, Alfie allowed himself to smile as he looked down at the keys.
“And just like that, I have a builder’s yard,” he said as he twirled the keys around on his index finger. “Billy is going to lay an egg when I tell him.”
Alfie led the way back to his motorbike, which was where he had left it outside the antique barn. Julia’s father was chatting to Keith by the entrance to the barn, and this time he noticed Julia. He waved, and she waved back as she crammed a helmet on her head.
“Café please, driver,” Julia said with a tap on Alfie’s shoulder after climbing onto the back of the bike. “Post-haste, if you can. My boss doesn’t like it when I take long breaks.”
“Who’s your boss?”
“Who do you think?”
They arrived back at the café, and just as Julia had expected, Jessie looked at the clock and commented on how long she had been gone. After throwing her apron back on, she looked at the display case, glad to see that all of her real blueberry muffins had already sold.
7
After closing the café, Julia and Jessie walked across the village green to Dot’s cottage. When she had heard about Alfie securing the builder’s yard, she had burst into the café insisting that they all assembled at her house for a celebrat
ory meal.
“I’ve done one of my special stews,” Dot announced as she put a large red stoneware pot in the middle of the table with gloved hands. “I just threw everything in and hoped for the best.”
Jessie lifted the lid, her nose wrinkling when it was met with a watery gravy concoction of what appeared to be beef and carrots.
“Smells delicious!” Billy said without a hint of irony as he grabbed a soup bowl from the pile in the middle. “I’m starving. All this excitement has worn me out. I can’t believe we’re going to be a real business.”
“You’re already a real business, dummy,” Jessie said as she watched him ladle the stew into his bowl. “You’ve been doing jobs nearly every day.”
“But now we’re a real business, babe.” Billy’s grin spread from ear to ear as he filled the bowl to the rim. “We have somewhere to hang a sign, and all that stuff. I can’t believe we got it just like that.”
“I’m a master of negotiation,” Alfie said, slapping Billy on the shoulder as he smirked at Julia. “The old fella put up a good fight, but I beat him down.”
Dot hurried back from the kitchen with an entire loaf of bread still in its wrapper. She dumped it next to the stew pot, before vanishing to return with a block of wrapped butter. She peeled back the edges, stabbed a knife into its glossy surface, and nodded her satisfaction at her presentation skills.
“Tuck in!” Dot declared as she took her place at the head of the table, her back to the large window overlooking her overgrown but still beautiful garden. “There’s another pot of the stuff in the kitchen. I’ve never been very good at knowing how much is too much.”
Julia knew that all too well. Dot had never been the best cook, and her recipe repertoire was limited. As soon as Julia had figured out how to work the oven without burning herself, she had taken over most of the cooking duties. When Dot had cooked, she always made enough to feed half of Peridale, meaning whatever ‘surprise stew’ she had made would be eaten for every meal over the following four days.