by Issy Brooke
She did not get far.
In fact, she had barely got to the end of the street when her way was blocked by a police car pulling across the junction. She hastily braked, and waited for them to move. Obviously, they were engaged in some kind of operation.
But the police car didn’t move. The window wound down, and an arm with so much muscle it looked like a triangle emerged, pointing down the street.
From around the corner, two more police officers appeared. Both were male, and one was holding back a flappy-eared spaniel who wanted to bounce into everything.
They approached her, looking serious. She wound her own window down and smiled cheerily. “Hi! Sorry, am I in the way here?”
“Ms Penelope May? Is this your car?”
“It is,” she said, suddenly gripped by panic. “It is taxed and insured. Isn’t it? Have I missed a deadline?”
“If you could step out of the car, please.”
“Don’t you want me to move it? I can reverse, you know.”
The police officer who was not encumbered by a dog glared at her. “Please stop your engine and remove the keys. And step out of the car.”
Oh. So they were engaged in some kind of operation, and it appeared that the object was her.
She pulled the keys free of the ignition and stepped out onto the pavement. The first officer took her keys and motioned her away from her car.
“My bag–” she started to say, but the officer’s blue-eyed stare lasered her into silence. She followed meekly to join the police officer who had gone to stand by the car that was blocking the end of the road.
The dog sprang into her car and began sniffing everywhere, its feathery tail thrashing in the delight of the game.
“What on earth is going on?” she asked, even though it was blindingly obvious it was some kind of drugs bust. You didn’t bring the sniffer dog to a car with no tax.
“Is there anything in the car that you should not have?” the officer asked.
“No,” she said indignantly, folding her arms defensively, and then just as quickly dropping them to her sides so that she looked as if she didn’t have anything to hide. Which she didn’t, except there was something about having to explain yourself to the police that made you instantly feel guilty of something. She hoped it didn’t show on her face.
“No drugs of any kind?”
“Absolutely not! I don’t even smoke.”
“Ms May, does anyone else have access to your car?”
“No, just me.”
“Your sister, Ariadne Jones, was living with you until recently. Did she borrow your car?”
“No, she’s not insured for it. In fact it was me that ended up having to ferry the kids around,” she added grumpily, remembering the mess she’d had to clear up. The drinks bottles, the sweet wrappers…
…the tin of something that looked like sweets or mints, but now that she thought back, had looked like no sweets that she recognised.
Small, round, white objects.
Much like tablets.
Oh no.
But Destiny and Wolf didn’t do drugs, did they? She frowned. Was she so naïve? Had she missed something? She thought back to her own teenage days. Wolf was so sensible and serious, he’d weigh up the pros and cons of drug taking and probably decide, rather logically, that it wasn’t worth the risk. Destiny? Penny could picture her at a party, accepting a quick puff on a joint being passed around.
But she couldn’t imagine her taking pills or keeping a stock of them. No. It was unthinkable.
“Ms May?” the police officer prompted, his notebook open in front of him and his pen poised to write down a searing and sudden full confession.
“No,” she said again, out loud. “No one had access to my car, and I can guarantee you that there are no drugs in the vehicle.” Because I think I’ve thrown them out, she thought to herself. So, that’s … er, that’s good.
The spaniel was being urged to jump around the now-open boot, but the face of the dog handler suggested that nothing had been found. He glanced up at the officer standing with Penny, and shrugged almost imperceptibly.
“Why, though?” she said. “I am pretty sure that I don’t present as your typical drugs user, so why come and investigate me?”
“You’d be amazed at what the ‘typical’ user looks like,” the meaty-armed officer in the car said, almost cracking a smile.
“Okay, fair enough,” she said. “Even so. Hey … were you tipped off? Did you get some kind of anonymous call to come and search my car?”
The officers exchanged quick glances, which was confirmation enough for Penny even though no one spoke.
Then the officer with the notebook sighed. “For protocol,” he said, “I need to ask you some questions.”
They were joined by the dog and his handler, and she pursed her lips while she muttered her responses.
While she parroted through the usual things, confirming who she was and where she lived, she was furiously analysing the situation in her head. It had been a tip-off, she knew. Spite? she asked herself. Who have I upset lately? Alf?
He knows I have been watching him. He knows that I helped find the killers in those other murders. Maybe he is scared, she thought, and needs to get me off the scent.
Is this a warning? Oh, no. If this doesn’t work, what will he do next?
And then another thought occurred to her. Alf could have easily planted the drugs in her car. The police were supposed to have found them. She was supposed to have been arrested by now.
After all, he owned a garage.
If anyone could break into a car without leaving a trace of damage, it would be Alf.
Chapter Twelve
Penny didn’t tell anyone. Once the police had confirmed she was in the clear, and no further action was going to be taken, she reversed all the way back up the street and parked outside her house, feeling slightly sick. She certainly wasn’t in the mood to go to the records office or library now.
Kali was as excited to see her return as if Penny had been away for half a day. Penny sat heavily on the sofa and petted the dog absently, wondering what to do.
She could talk to Cath but Cath would no doubt assume it had come about because of Penny’s meddling. She could talk to Francine, whom she hadn’t seen for a while, but Francine had become entirely too close with Inspector Travis lately, and it was inevitable that information would get back to him. He, like Cath, would assume Penny had brought it on herself by meddling.
What about Drew? She pulled out her phone and stared at the black, blank screen.
No, he’d worry.
The same with Ariadne. She didn’t want to alarm her sister.
She decided to keep it to herself.
At least, for the moment.
* * * *
After lunch, she went to walk Kali out on the slipe, the popular dog-walking area by the river. On a pleasant balmy late-summer Saturday, it was busy with people, and Penny was feeling lonely. She hoped to bump into people that she knew, and have idle, everyday conversations with them about the weather and the traffic and who had said what to whom; all the tedious and yet necessary details of small town community life.
She was going to walk down the main path, but up ahead she could see a woman with seven dogs on various different leads and head-collars and harnesses. When the woman stopped, the dogs wove around her, looking like a hairy maypole-dancing display. Kali’s reactivity was never going to be cured, though Penny could now cope with most of it; seven dogs, however, was a stimulus too far. As soon as Kali noticed the mass of legs and tails and fur, Penny fed her a rapid succession of cooked chicken as she made a wide sweep and headed for the far end of the field. Kali’s brow furrowed briefly but soon they had enough distance that Penny could relax.
She glanced back over her shoulder. The woman was struggling to get all the dogs facing in the same direction without them tangling up together. Who’d walk that many animals all together? Instantly, Penny realised she was a professional dog-wal
king service, although the “professional” side of things seemed to need some work.
She shook her head, and pottered along, in her summer dress and sturdy, sensible walking boots, head held high, a smile ready to greet people.
Something was wrong.
People were looking her way, yes, and nodding – to one another, not to her.
She spotted a couple from the rambling club, and raised her hand as she began to walk towards them. But the short woman nudged her tall, rangy partner in the ribs, and both women looked at Penny with open expressions of curiosity and not a little disgust. As Penny got closer, the smaller woman was about to say something but the taller one pulled at her arm and they both turned away, whispering.
Penny stopped short. She heard a few words, but prominent among them was “drugs.”
So, she thought, everyone knew – already. Some people had seen the morning’s adventure and now word had spread. And rather than come up and ask her, outright, instead they all turned to gossip. Her stomach twisted with the unfairness of it.
They don’t know the truth, she thought angrily. Am I going to get a chance to put my side of the story? What do I need to do, put an ad in the local paper?
And why would anyone believe this of me? It doesn’t make sense, she thought, continuing her walk. She grew more and more aware of the nudges, the winks and the whispers.
What else has been said about me, she thought suddenly. This is more than your ordinary, everyday gossip.
Someone is slandering me.
They must be, she thought. Otherwise everyone would be rushing up to ask me what had happened. No, there is far more malicious intent here. What is really going on?
She looked around, hunting for someone she knew well enough to ask directly what had initiated all this. Agatha would be at work, and so would Sheila. Maybe, she thought, I should call by the hairdressing salon or the post office and ask them. They will tell me. Oh, where is chattering Mary when you need her?
Suddenly, there they were. Two familiar faces and more welcome than ever. Kali pricked up her ears and strained forward, her tail rising.
“Auntie Penny!” Wolf called as he jogged along the path. Destiny was just behind him. They cut a corner over the green grass, skirting around a picnic and through a small group of kids playing football.
“Hey, there. I’m glad to see you two,” Penny said as they reached her. “I’m guessing you’ve got stuff to tell me, right?”
“Have we!” Wolf declared. “Yeah, listen to this!”
Destiny pushed him to one side. “Shut up, I found out and everything. Penny, guess what?”
“I can guess but I want to hear it from you in your own words,” Penny said.
Wolf was about to speak but Destiny blared over him: “The protestors are all leaving!”
“I … what?” That wasn’t what she expected to hear.
Destiny and Wolf both grinned in triumph. “Yeah, can you believe it? They’re all packing up right now. Come on, you’ve got to come and see.”
“But why are they going?”
“We don’t know.”
* * * *
Penny, Wolf, Destiny and Kali powered up through town but it was still a good twenty minutes before they got to the other side, and the camp hove into view ahead of them.
And it was absolutely true. Even as they walked along the path by the road, they were passed by three vans and a battered car pulling a trailer tent.
They reached the entrance and Penny was pleased to see one familiar person who didn’t hide her face or turn away.
“Hi, Sal,” Penny said.
Sal straightened up and smiled. She was holding a half-full bin bag in one hand, and a litter-picking stick in the other. “Come back to see the newts? Oh, what a lovely dog. Hello, pretty. May I touch it?”
“She’s called Kali. Just let her sniff you for a moment, and then she’ll be fine. Oh, and these are my niece and nephew, Wolf and Destiny.”
“Hi, guys.”
“You’re all leaving,” Wolf said.
“State the obvious,” Destiny teased. “Why are you all going?”
“It’s obvious,” Sal replied with a smile directed at the mulish Wolf. “There is no reason to be here.”
“Why?” Destiny asked.
“It’s obvious,” Wolf parroted, and he looked at Sal. “The houses aren’t going to be built, then, are they?”
“Get you, Sherlock,” Destiny muttered.
Sal shook her head at the pair of them, but she was still smiling. “That’s right. The land can’t be built on.”
“But the property developer bought it for that reason,” Penny said. “She bought it specifically as housing land. Was it the presence of the newts, then?”
“Not really. It turns out to never have been residential land in the first place.”
Penny frowned. “Developers can get the usages changed, can’t they?”
Sal shrugged. “I don’t know the legal details. But we are calling it a victory, anyway.”
Penny glanced around, and her gaze finally came to rest on the hotel over the road.
“Hmm.” It did not add up.
* * * *
It’s not meddling, she said to herself sternly as she stood outside the door that led up to Tina’s offices. Anyway, it’s Saturday. She probably won’t be in work.
Penny had sent Kali home with Destiny and Wolf, claiming that she needed to call in for some food at the mini-market, and obviously she couldn’t take the dog inside with her. Now, instead, she pressed hard on the buzzer and wondered if she’d strike lucky.
She did. The self-employed were always working, and by the haggard, grey looks of the woman who answered the door, Tina hadn’t had a break for many days.
She was still wearing impeccable make-up but it couldn’t hide her baggy eyes. She glared at Penny. “You again.”
“Yes, me again. I’ve just been down to the protestors’ camp,” Penny said. “They’re all leaving.”
Tina sighed. “You’re not going to leave this alone, are you?”
Penny shook her head, but tried to look as sympathetic as possible. With real feeling, she said, “Are you all right?”
“Nope.” Tina hesitated and then threw her hands into the air. “Oh, come on up.” She turned and stamped up the stairs, her three-inch heels looking as comfortable as slippers in the confident and well-practised way that she walked.
Penny didn’t need to be invited twice.
Once they got into her office, Tina threw herself into her large leather chair and rocked back. She didn’t look like a woman relaxing. She looked like a woman who was utterly exhausted. She nodded at the smaller chair that faced the desk.
It was a desk that was remarkably clear of paperwork. Penny immediately jumped to some conclusions. “How’s business?” she asked, carefully.
“Oh, I’ll survive,” Tina said. “I always do. I will just work harder, that’s all.”
Maybe the clear desk was a sign of impending bankruptcy or maybe it was just the hallmark of a very tidy and efficient woman.
“Is there … anything that I can do?” Penny said. “I mean that. I’m not saying it in a sort-of prying way, or anything. I do have some skills, and contacts, and I don’t know what you need but if I can help, I will.”
“Why?”
Penny scrolled through the possible answers in her head. Female solidarity? Feminism? Admiration for a working woman juggling home and family and business?
“Because it’s a neighbourly thing to do,” she said finally.
Tina nearly smiled. “Thanks. No, it’s fine.”
“So, what happened?” Penny asked, hoping that they had reached a point that she was able to ask that question and get an honest answer.
Tina tapped her manicured nails on the leather arm of her chair. “Oh, it’s going to be common knowledge so I may as well start the gossip-mill with you. It turns out that the land, or at least most of it, can’t be built on. And it also
turns out,” she added darkly, “that I am a monumental idiot.”
“Oh. Was it the newts?”
Tina stared at her.
“You’re supposed to tell me that I am not an idiot,” she said eventually.
“Oh,” said Penny. “Yes, sorry. But why did you buy the land, then?”
“Because I am an idiot. Yes, yes, I know. What newts?”
“Never mind.”
Tina sighed and rolled her head back against the top of the chair, half-closing her eyes as if praying. “I usually do all the right background checks. I would not have got to this point in my career if I didn’t pay close attention to every detail. But this time, I got scammed. It was a company in London with all the right credentials and I even went to their offices! It wasn’t some boiler-room scam. Except, of course, that it was a boiler-room scam, just a very sophisticated one. They had a few delays, they said, with this paperwork and that paperwork. They showed me enough to convince me. Well, they showed me enough to trick me. And I fell for it.”
“I am sorry, I really am,” Penny said with feeling.
Tina shrugged and sat forward, and rested her arms on the desk. “Like I said, I will get over it. But now I own a vast piece of land that I can’t do much with. Newts, you say? What can I do with newts?”
“Nothing,” Penny said, getting to her feet. “They’re all protected.”
Tina made a snorting sound of resignation. “Of course they are. Just my luck.” She stood up to see Penny to the door. She paused as she opened it, and took a step back, blinking.
“Oh, that was it,” she said, almost to herself as she looked at Penny. “I knew there was something else. I’ve been so caught up in my own problems. Aren’t you the drug dealer?”
Chapter Thirteen
Since when did libraries get so noisy? Penny sat in a far corner of the reference section, and quietly seethed. Actually, she could have noisily seethed, and no one would have cared, apparently.
She knew that much of the reason for her irritation was down to her recent experiences at the hands of the police. More than anything, she was convinced that the tin had contained drugs, that it had been deliberately planted in her car, and that then the police had been called on her.