Murder in Thistlecross

by Amy M. Reade

  I excused myself and went downstairs where I found Maisie leaning heavily against one of the wooden counters in the kitchen, drinking from a steaming cup.

  “I thought you were going to sit down and take a break,” I scolded her with a smile.

  “I will. I just need to get a couple more things done for dinner and then it’s just a matter of letting everything cook for a while. I’ll rest then.”

  “I came down for more teacups and biscuits,” I told her. “Hugh and Cadi are upstairs.”

  “I know,” she said, pushing herself away from the counter. “Brenda came to tell me. How’s it all going up there?”

  “Okay, I suppose. It’s a bit awkward.”

  “They haven’t seen each other in a long time,” Maisie said, shaking her head. “I imagine none of them knows what to say to each other.”

  “That’s why I left to come down here, and it’s why I should probably get back up there,” I said. I took two teacups from the orderly cupboard where Maisie kept them and grabbed a plate of biscuits Maisie had prepared while we talked. “Thanks.”

  When I got back to the sitting room Annabel was pouring tea into her own cup and Hugh and Cadi were at the window where Annabel had been standing just moments earlier. He was talking in a low voice and pointing to something in the distance. Annabel took a deep breath when she saw me. Her relief was almost palpable.

  “Here are teacups and more biscuits,” I said brightly. “Cadi, Hugh, please come help yourselves.”

  Hugh and Cadi left their posts at the window and each of them reached for a cup and saucer. Hugh helped himself to several biscuits and poured a hefty amount of sugar into his cup. Cadi took just one biscuit and a cup of tea, which she drank black.

  Annabel settled back into her armchair, seeming to relax a bit. She asked the couple questions about their trip from London and about their jobs. Hugh worked as an accountant and Cadi was a speech pathologist. She didn’t seem to notice Annabel’s glare when she mentioned that with her recent raise, she now made just a tad more than Hugh. Both Cadi and Hugh perked up when they were talking about themselves, and I noticed they didn’t ask Annabel how she spent her days.

  When they had finished talking, silence settled over the room again. I set down my teacup and offered to take them to their room. Brenda had apparently taken their luggage because they had none with them. They both took leave of Annabel with a nod, then followed me down the hallway.

  I walked them past the room where Andreas and Sian were, then at the next door I opened it and stood aside while they entered in front of me.

  “It’s cold in here,” Cadi said, hugging herself and shivering dramatically.

  “I’ll ask Brenda to come in and set a fire for you,” I offered.

  “I’ll do it,” Hugh said. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “Can’t we open the drapes?” Cadi asked. “It’s awfully dark in here.”

  I walked over to the first window and pulled a long cord that hung down next to the drapes. I swept them open to reveal a beautiful view of the fields and the stone stables where Annabel kept her favorite horses. Then I did the same at the other window and turned to Cadi. “Is that better?” I asked.

  “Much,” she said. “Thank you.”

  I turned to leave the room and Hugh stopped me. “How long have you worked for Annabel?” he asked.

  It always annoyed me when people referred to their parents by their first names. “Just over two years,” I said with an icy edge to my voice.

  “Oh.” He turned back to the fireplace where he had been crumpling paper. I assumed he was done asking questions so I left, closing the door quietly behind me.

  I returned to Annabel, who was standing at the window in the sitting room again, this time with a cup of tea. She smiled at me when I came in. I knew she kept a flask of whisky in a desk drawer, and I suspected she had added a tipple to her hot drink. Her eyelids were a bit lower than they had been when I left the room, and she seemed more relaxed. I raised my eyebrows at her. “How’s your tea?” I asked pointedly.

  She giggled. “Better now,” she said. “That Cadi is insufferable.”

  “She wasn’t so bad,” I said. “She just likes to talk about herself.”

  “It was the way she talked about herself,” Annabel said. “And I’m just sure she was ticking off my shortcomings in her mind while she prattled on about her job.”

  I smiled at my boss. “This will all be over in less than a week. Don’t forget that.”

  “I won’t, believe me.” She raised her teacup to me in a mock salute. I smiled, thinking she must have used a fairly heavy hand when she poured the whisky. “Has Maisie said when dinner will be?” she asked.

  “I’ll run down and ask her,” I said.

  I left the room, hoping Annabel would leave the rest of the whisky alone, and ran lightly down the stairs to the kitchen below. It was empty.

  “Maisie?” I called.

  “In here!” came the muffled response. “I’ll just be a minute!”

  I waited in the kitchen, closing my eyes and smelling the air, which was scented with beef, roasted vegetables, cinnamon, and apples.

  Maisie came in a moment later, pushing hair back from her forehead. “Sorry, Eilidh. What do you need?” Her eyes held a worried look.

  “Is everything all right?” I asked.

  “Ach-y-fi. Eighteen-year-old girls are not easy to deal with,” she said. I didn’t pry. There was obviously something going on with Brenda and it was really none of my business.

  “I remember being a teenager,” I said. “As hard as it is for the parents, I think it’s even harder for the girl.”

  “You’re probably right about that,” Maisie said. “You were one more recently than I. I can hardly remember.”

  “She’ll be fine,” I assured my friend. “You’ve done a good job with her.”

  “Thanks, but sometimes I wonder…”

  Dinner was to be served in an hour. I went upstairs to report to Annabel and to suggest that she rest before the evening meal. When she went to her room, I went outdoors for some air. I felt sorry for Brenda. It was indeed difficult being a teenage girl, and I suspected she was sweet on Andreas, the handsome man forbidden to her.

  It was brisk outside, and I walked quickly to stay warm and to clear my mind. I started down the long drive in front of the castle, content to be outdoors and alone with my thoughts. Fields stretched into the distance on both sides of the drive, and I gazed at their endless undulations, fading with the coming of winter. There was a soothing rhythm to the seasons here at the castle in Wales, just as there had been in the Highlands of Scotland. Autumn brought a slowing down, a dormancy of both people and growing, living things.

  The sound of a motor from an approaching car startled me away from my thoughts. I instinctively stepped closer to the side of the drive to let the newcomer pass. A small blue car sidled up to me in the drive.

  “Eilidh?” came the voice from the car.

  I bent down slightly to peer into the driver’s side. It was Rhisiart. “Rhisiart! We didn’t expect you so early!”

  “Can I give you a ride back to the house? Hop in,” he said, reaching over to open the passenger door. I slid into the seat beside him and blew on my hands to warm them. “What are you doing outside without gloves?” he asked. “It’s cold out here.”

  “I was just taking a quick walk before dinner,” I explained. “I didn’t realize it was this cold out.”

  He turned the heat up in the car, though we would be at the house in a couple minutes. “So how’s everything at the house? How’s my mother?” he asked. I looked sideways at him, wondering if there was a hidden meaning behind his words. He looked genuinely interested. I decided he was just being curious.

  “As you’d expect,” I said. “A bit tense, but otherwise fine.” I didn’t tell h
im Annabel had felt the need to add whisky to her afternoon tea.

  Rhisiart hadn’t been to visit his mother since the first month I was living at the castle, working as her assistant. His hair had grown longer and he wore different glasses, but otherwise he looked the same as he had the last time I had seen him—same long aristocratic nose, same dark brown eyes with the same long lashes, same fair skin.

  He pulled up to the front of the castle and I got out. Then he drove the car round to the parking enclosure while I went inside to tell Annabel and Brenda of his arrival. Annabel was surprised that he had gotten out of London so early, and Brenda hurried to his assigned room to make sure everything was in order.

  “I haven’t seen Rhisiart in over a year,” Annabel fretted, toying with the silk scarf around her neck.

  “Everything will be fine. He seems happy to be here. He asked about you,” I said, hoping this would help relax her. But I wasn’t sure it worked. She seemed to retreat within herself.

  “I made so many mistakes when the boys were children,” she said quietly.

  “But that is all in the past, and this is your chance to make a fresh start,” I said gently. “Isn’t that why everyone is here?”

  “Yes, but I’m thinking I made another mistake,” she said miserably.

  “This was the right thing to do. It’s not a mistake. Now perk up—Rhisiart will be here any minute.”

  Annabel smiled up at me from where she sat in her chair and reached up to pat my hand, which rested behind her head on the chair. We were silent for a few minutes, then there was a soft knock at the door.

  Annabel gave me a quick glance as she stood up to greet her youngest son. He strode into the room, as if he had just been at the castle days earlier, and went to his mother. He held her at arm’s length and looked her up and down.

  “Mum, you’re looking well,” he said with a smile, then kissed her on both cheeks as Cadi had done.

  “It’s lovely to see you, my dear,” Annabel said. Her voice was tinged with something—was it hurt?—when she replied to Rhisiart. I think she hoped he would give her the big hug she so longed for. But he clearly wasn’t ready.

  “Where are all the others?” he asked.

  “In their rooms. Brenda will show you to your room—I gave you your favorite—and we’ll all gather in the dining room for dinner.”

  Brenda must have been lingering outside the door waiting for her cue, because she appeared almost immediately and offered to take Rhisiart to his room. He smiled at her and declined. “I know the way,” he said curtly. He lifted the leather satchel he had brought inside with him and left the room without a backward glance for his mother.

  She turned to me after we had listened to his footsteps receding down the hallway opposite the one where Hugh, Cadi, Andreas, and Sian were staying. “The room where he’s staying used to be the boys’ playroom. He would spend hours in there as a child. He would rather be in there than on the horses or outdoors or playing with his mates from school. His favorite activity was to read. I suppose that’s where he found his passion for writing, too.” Rhisiart was a writer of thriller novels and he had found great success with his published works.

  “Is he working on anything new?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. We’ll have to ask him at dinner,” she answered. “I email him every so often, but I haven’t talked to him in a while.”

  I found it sad that she didn’t have contact with her sons on a regular basis. I was on the phone with my mother at least once a week, and with both Greer and Sylvie, too. They had kept me from losing my mind when Callum and I divorced after the dreadful mistakes he made that landed him in prison, and I couldn’t go more than a few days without talking to them. I tried to imagine how I would feel if I only communicated with them by email. But then, I had a different relationship with my family than Annabel did with hers.

  Annabel went up to her room to change into her new dinner dress and came back down just a few minutes later. She looked lovely as usual, but her eyes betrayed her worry and insecurity.

  Maisie rang a bell that indicated dinner would be served in five minutes. Annabel and I stood up to be the first ones in the dining room. I knew Annabel wanted to be in her seat when everyone came in for dinner. I hadn’t wanted to join the family for their first meal together because it seemed somehow intrusive, but Annabel had insisted that I be there for her. She needed the moral support, she said.

  The dining room was cream and gold with gilt furnishings and a long cherry table. Striped drapes matched the rest of the room and held some of the gloom from outdoors at bay, with the help of a magnificent crystal chandelier centered over the table and several lamps placed discreetly around the large room. The chairs were upholstered in the same fabric as the drapes and it gave the room an elegant, cultured look.

  I stood behind my chair while Annabel took her seat at the head of the table. I was surprised to feel a bit nervous as we waited for Annabel’s sons and the others to join us. There was an empty glass by my plate and I took it over to the sideboard where there was a heavy crystal decanter full of red wine. I poured myself a generous measure of it and took a long sip. Annabel watched me and giggled. “You’re nervous, too, aren’t you?” she asked in a low voice.

  “I guess I am. I didn’t think I was,” I said. “Hopefully the wine will help with that.” I smiled at her, then went to sit down.

  Hugh and Cadi were the first ones to come in. Cadi preceded Hugh through the double doors. She was wearing a cabled gray sweater dress and sported another colorful silk scarf around her neck.

  “Have you had a chance to get settled in?” Annabel asked, as Brenda showed Hugh and his wife to their chairs.

  “Yes, although Hugh forgot our toiletry kit,” Cadi answered with a withering glance at her husband.

  “Not this again, Cadi,” he replied with a scowl. “I told you I’d go out after dinner and find a shop that sells whatever you need.”

  “Humph,” she said. “I’ve already made up my list.”

  He rolled his eyes and pulled out his chair, then sat while Cadi stood next to her chair, obviously waiting for him to pull her chair out for her. After a long moment it became clear he wasn’t going to do it, so she pulled out her own chair and sat down with a heavy sigh.

  Hugh had just opened his mouth to say something else when Andreas and Sian came into the room. Sian waddled a bit, but she looked more rested than she had earlier. “Sit here next to me,” Annabel instructed Andreas. He pulled out Sian’s chair for her and sat down between his wife and his mother. Hugh gave his brother a long look.

  “How have you been, Hugh?” Andreas asked, turning his attention to the others at the table.

  “Fine,” Hugh answered in a clipped tone.

  “And you, Cadi?”

  She shrugged. “All right.”

  Andreas waited a beat before speaking to his brother again. “Sian and I are fine, too. Thanks for asking.”

  Hugh looked up from the napkin he was tracing with his finger and sneered at Andreas. It was quickly becoming clear that this meal might not be terribly pleasant.

  Sian smiled brightly at Annabel then looked around the room. “Everything looks lovely, Annabel,” she said.

  “Thank you, dear,” Annabel answered.

  There were three quick taps on one of the open doors and Rhisiart came in. Andreas stood up and walked over to where his younger brother stood in the doorway and shook his hand, then Hugh rose and shook hands with Rhisiart, though he wore a stiff, almost pained, expression.

  Rhisiart came over to the table where all the women were still seated, and he bent down to kiss Sian, then Cadi, on the cheek. “What lovely ladies you are! Sian, you’re simply glowing!” She blushed in response.

  Rhisiart seated himself on Annabel’s other side, opposite Andreas, and opened his napkin. “I’m sure you have something wo
nderful planned for dinner, Mum,” he said.

  As if on cue, Maisie appeared with Brenda at her side. Each woman carried a large tray. On Maisie’s tray was the roast of beef with all the vegetables. On Brenda’s tray were assorted serving vessels, one with gravy, one with green salad, one with dressing for the salad, and one a basket of delicious-looking rolls.

  “Can I help you two with those?” I asked, rising and beginning to push my chair back.

  “No, no. Have a seat,” Maisie insisted. Brenda placed her tray on the sideboard and set each item on the table. Maisie put the large platter with the meat and vegetables in the center, smiling as Annabel’s sons looked on with expressions of “ooh” and “looks delicious.”

  And then it happened. Brenda was placing the gravy next to Sian when her hand slipped and the gravy spilled over the table and into Sian’s lap. Sian let out a cry and Brenda stepped back in surprise, her hand over her mouth and a look of horror in her eyes.

  “Are you all right?” Andreas asked Sian, standing up and pulling Sian’s chair out. Annabel hurried over to where Sian was standing up before grabbing a napkin from the table and wiping Sian’s sleeve where the gravy had spilled.

  Maisie had looked up from arranging the platter in the middle of the table and was giving Brenda a look of fury. “What’s the matter with you, Brenda?” she cried.

  “Are you burned?” Annabel asked anxiously.

  Sian was angry. “No, but just look at this sweater! That gravy will ruin it,” she said, glaring at Brenda.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. Honest, I didn’t,” Brenda sputtered. She backed away from the table, then turned and fled from the room.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am,” Maisie said. She held her hands out toward Annabel in a pleading gesture, as if begging forgiveness for her daughter. “I just don’t know what’s gotten into Brenda lately. She’s not been herself.”

  “We can talk about this later,” Annabel said to her. “For now, let’s worry about getting the gravy off Sian and off the table and the floor.”

  Maisie bustled out of the room and was back in just a few minutes with rags and a bucket of soapy water. In the meantime, Sian left to change her clothes and get cleaned up.