The Peridale Cafe Cozy Box Set 2

by Agatha Frost

Above Andrew’s apparent return to work, Julia was even more surprised to learn from one of the other guests that the dinner in the drawing room was still happening as scheduled that night, despite what had happened to Mary. Even though she wouldn’t put anything past Charlotte at this point, she didn’t quite understand how she could transition from grieving stepdaughter to gracious host in the space of a day.

  “I haven’t seen a single man in a kilt yet,” Dot complained as she settled into a chair in the sunroom with a cup of tea. “I wanted to check Jessie’s theory about the underwear. Despite that, this trip has been rather lovely.”

  “Ignoring the two deaths,” Sue whispered as she peeled the wrapper off one of the cupcakes Blair had brought them.

  “Everybody dies, sweetheart!” Dot exclaimed loudly, turning the heads of the couple who were enjoying the view on the other side of the room. “It doesn’t mean I can’t relax! I’ve had at least one of every facial and massage on the menu, and I feel remarkable for it. Feel how soft my skin is.”

  Dot crammed her hand in front of Sue’s face, who recoiled before reluctantly giving it a stroke.

  “Like a newborn’s behind,” Sue mumbled.

  “We need to do this more often,” Dot said, sighing contently as she turned back to look out at the clear loch. “I’ve really enjoyed this time alone with my two favourite granddaughters.”

  “We’re your only granddaughters,” Sue said.

  “And that’s why you’re my favourites,” she teased with a wink. “Are you okay, Julia? You look distant.”

  Julia broke her gaze from the bank across the loch and turned to her gran, forcing a smile. She nodded, unsure if she had the energy to deny it. The truth was, she was distant, and she didn’t know how her gran was so oblivious to what was going on in the castle. Every fibre of her being was telling her something bad was going to happen very soon, like an orchestra rising to its final crescendo.

  “I think she’s just missing Barker,” Sue answered for her when she noticed Julia’s lack of response. “I know I’m missing my Neil. Do you think we’ll be able to drive into the village on the way home and pick up some souvenirs? I promised I’d bring him something.”

  “Sure,” Julia replied, souvenirs the last thing on her mind. “Is that Benjamin?”

  She stood up and walked over to the window, squinting at the mossy bank ahead. Benjamin was walking amongst the heather in his usual green Barbour jacket. With Andrew apparently being back she had assumed Benjamin had already been given his marching orders. She had even tried to put Blair’s distance down to that, and not what had transpired yesterday in the kitchen.

  “Looks like him,” Sue said.

  “Who’s Benjamin?” Dot asked. “Whoever he is, he looks like a fine specimen of a man.”

  “He is,” Sue said, blushing a little, no doubt remembering him with his shirt off the morning before. “He’s the cook’s brother.”

  “I wonder if he’s as miserable as her,” Dot exclaimed, catching the attention of the couple again. “My stomach hasn’t felt right all week!”

  “I thought you said you’d been relaxed?” Julia mumbled over her shoulder, her defence of Blair automatic by this point, despite being blanked that morning. “Why have two groundskeepers?”

  “Huh?” Dot replied, arching a brow. “Why does it matter?”

  “Because we’re in a castle that has been running with a skeleton staff since we arrived. Why rehire the old groundskeeper and keep his replacement around?”

  “Maybe because there’s a lot of ground?” Dot suggested with a roll of her eyes. “Honestly, Julia, I don’t know why you care so much about these things.”

  “Because somebody has to,” she said before pulling her phone from her pocket and walking out of the sunroom.

  As she scrolled to Barker’s number, she walked past the dining hall and straight through the open doors to the drawing room. She was relieved to see it empty. She pushed the phone against her ear, closed her eyes, and waited. Barker picked up on the last ring.

  “Hello?” he called down the phone. “Julia?”

  “It’s me,” she said, a smile flooding her face. “I just wanted to hear your voice.”

  “What? I can’t hear you? Jessie! Take that turn! Slow down!”

  Julia heard what she thought was the screeching of tyres as somebody slammed on the brakes and turned.

  “Are you driving?” Julia asked.

  “Jessie is,” Barker called back. “If you can call it that. Can I call you back?”

  “Yeah, sure,” she whispered, opening her eyes. “No problem.”

  “Are you okay?” he asked, seeming to pick up on the sadness in her voice. “You sound – Jessie! You have to stop at zebra crossings! Julia, I have to go. I’ll call you back later.”

  Barker hung up, leaving her alone in the drawing room once more. She twirled the phone in-between her fingers, turning her attention to the banquet table, which had already been set for the meal ahead. Two larger, almost throne-like chairs had been brought in and placed at either end of the long table, no doubt for the two siblings to take centre stage. Julia shook her head, unsure why she was still surprised by Charlotte and Rory’s behaviour.

  “Can I help you?”

  Julia spun around, her heart stopping when she saw Charlotte standing in the doorway of the drawing room, her auburn hair flowing freely down her front, concealing the sides of her pale face. Despite the young woman’s impossibly tall heels, Julia hadn’t heard her creep up on her.

  “I was just admiring your table setting,” Julia said quickly, pushing forward a smile. “It’s very beautiful.”

  “The silver has been in our family for three generations,” she replied flatly, returning the fake smile.

  Julia looked to the silver cutlery and goblets, nodding her appreciation of their beauty. When she turned back to Charlotte, it was obvious neither of them cared for the forced small talk.

  “If you need any help with tonight, I’d be more than happy to step in,” Julia offered, already knowing the answer.

  “That’s a very kind offer, but it’s quite alright,” Charlotte said as she walked past Julia towards the two large armchairs facing out towards the window. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a little work to be getting on with.”

  Julia watched as Charlotte settled into the same armchair she had sat in the day before. Julia looked back to the secret door, and she suddenly had the strangest feeling that Charlotte knew exactly what Julia had done and what she had overheard. Her heart fluttered when she realised it was more than likely that DI Fletcher had presented Julia’s madcap theory to her. Not wanting to stay in the woman’s frosty presence any longer, she turned back to the open doors, stopping in her tracks when she saw Andrew watching her in the doorway.

  The overpowering scent of whisky mixed in with the heather uncomfortably turned Julia’s stomach. He stared down at her with puffy glassy eyes, the stubble thicker than ever, and his little wisps of hair practically standing on end. She was unsure if he was even looking at her, or just through her. Not wanting to stick around to find out, she walked around the looming man, only turning back when she was in the safety of the corridor. Andrew walked over to the other armchair, where a full decanter of whisky and a clean crystal tumbler were waiting for him. Julia would have given every penny she owned to listen in on their conversation, but she knew it wasn’t safe, even if she did crawl around on her hands and knees and hide behind furniture again.

  Her gran and sister had left the sunroom, and they were waiting for Julia by the reception desk in the entrance hall. When Julia caught up with them, Rory appeared from the office, a professional yet unsettling smile on his smug face.

  “Remember your check-out is at ten tomorrow morning, ladies,” Rory said through his smile, his eyes trained on Julia. “I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay here.”

  Dot opened her mouth to reply, but Julia looped her arm around her gran’s and pulled her towards the door. They set
off towards their bedrooms to prepare for that evening’s dinner, leaving Rory hanging.

  “He doesn’t even work here,” Sue whispered to Julia as they walked up the steps towards their bedroom. “I thought he was a lawyer?”

  “I think what this castle needs more than ever is a lawyer,” Julia whispered back, careful not to catch Dot’s attention. “I think I might have a theory about what is going on here.”

  “Let me guess, you’re not going to tell me?” Sue asked, suddenly stopping in her tracks.

  “I need proof. But don’t worry, we’re going to get it.”

  “We?” Sue mumbled as she pinched between her brows. “So an afternoon nap is out of the question?”

  “You can nap back in Peridale,” Julia replied as they set off back up the stairs to catch up with their gran. “You’ve slept like a cat on this trip. I didn’t realise relaxing was so exhausting.”

  “Well, it is.”

  With a large yawn, Dot retreated into her bedroom with a promise to meet them in two hours to head down to the drawing room together. When they were alone in their bedroom, Julia explained her theory to Sue, whose jaw dropped further and further with each sentence.

  “You’re insane, Julia,” Sue whispered, shaking her head as she slammed herself down onto her bed. “I really hope you’re right about this.”

  “Me too,” Julia whispered, her chest pounding.

  Sue looked as though she was going to add something else, but her eyes fluttered, and as though she couldn’t control it, she drifted off to sleep and was snoring in seconds. Julia let out a small yawn herself as she walked over to the window looking out over the castle.

  She looked down at the bridge where she had shared Mary’s final moments. Despite her reservations, she owed it to Mary to uncover the truth, whatever the cost. She turned back to her sister as she curled up like a tiny baby on top of her sheets. She looked so peaceful and comfortable. The thought of a nap tempted Julia more than it ever had, but she was scared of her thoughts slipping away from her.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Breathe in!” Sue demanded as she attempted to zip up the dress she had insisted Julia wear. “I can’t believe you didn’t bring any gowns!”

  “I can’t believe you brought six!”

  “You never know when the occasion calls for an outfit change.” She hoisted up a leg and crammed it against the small of Julia’s back as she forced her into the wall.

  The zipper travelled all the way up to Julia’s neck. She attempted to relax, but it appeared she was not going to be breathing for the rest of the night.

  “It’s too tight,” Julia wheezed, resting her hand on her stomach.

  “It’s meant to be,” Sue whispered as she pushed her in front of the floor length mirror. “Stop complaining and be a girl for once.”

  Julia’s reflection caught her off guard. Back home, she usually wore simple and comfortable dresses that stopped at her shoulders and exactly at her knees. While in Scotland, she had been wearing comfortable jeans and jumpers. Neither of those outfits stared back at Julia in the mirror.

  “I look -,”

  “Beautiful,” Sue interrupted as she picked up Julia’s hair and held it up at the back of her head. “I think we should put your hair up.”

  Julia looked down at the scarlet dress, which ran from her wrists, up to her shoulders, and then down to the floor. It cut across her chest in a sweetheart neckline, making her décolletage pop in a way she had never seen before. Under her bust, the dress ran tight against her body, nipping in at the knees before flaring out into a subtle mermaid tail. Gold embroidery ran up her sleeves, along the shoulders, and down the sides of the dress, contouring her body in a way that she had never seen before. Even though her sister was a size smaller than her, and it felt uncomfortable, Julia couldn’t believe how well the dress hugged her body in a way she would have usually hated.

  “Why do I have to wear the tight one?” Julia asked when she looked at Sue’s black chiffon Grecian dress, which floated down her front in a complementary empire line. “Will I even be able to sit down?”

  “Who cares?” Sue mumbled through a mouthful of hair grips as she twisted and pinned strands of Julia’s hair against her scalp. “You look like a movie star. Do you remember when we raided Mum’s wardrobe and played dress up?”

  Julia nodded, the memory a fond one. Julia had been ten, and Sue had been five. They had paraded around their mum’s bedroom, climbing in and out of her dresses while painting their faces in lipstick. When their mum had caught them, instead of being angry, she had joined in and played along. Julia hadn’t known it at the time, but her mum had already been given the cancer diagnosis that would kill her two years later. She had often looked back on that day and wondered if their mum had played along so enthusiastically because she had known her days with her daughters were numbered. It was a memory Sue had asked Julia to recite to her so many times that she wasn’t sure if Sue even remembered the actual day, or just Julia’s account of it.

  “Mum would be proud of you, you know,” Julia said, catching her sister’s smoky eyes in the mirror. “You’ve got a great job at the hospital, you’re married to a lovely man, and you’re going to make a great mother one day.”

  Sue smiled, her eyes filled with an unexpected sadness. Julia knew those few extra years she had had with their mother used to cause friction between them when they were both teenagers, but she knew that resentment hadn’t followed them into adulthood, but in that moment, she was sure she saw a flicker of something that reminded her of those arguments they used to have.

  “Come on,” Sue said as she crammed the final hair grip into Julia’s hair. “You’re done. You said we don’t have long to get this evidence.”

  Julia examined her hair in the mirror, pulling down a couple of strands to make it look less put-together. She looked nothing like herself, but she couldn’t deny that Sue had an eye for fashion. She grabbed Sue’s red lipstick from her makeup bag and quickly applied it to her lips. She puckered them together before turning back to her sister, who was smirking at her with two arched brows.

  “What?” Julia mumbled as she tossed the lipstick back into the makeup bag. “Tonight’s a big night. I might as well look the part.”

  “You look like her,” Sue said as they walked towards the door. “Everybody says so.”

  “And everybody says you look like me, so you do too,” she whispered back, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly.

  Arm in arm, they tiptoed past their gran’s bedroom and back down the stairs. Julia’s heart fluttered in her chest, and it wasn’t from the tightness of the dress. She knew she had one shot to uncover something concrete so she could put an end to things tonight, and if she didn’t, she wasn’t sure everybody would make it past sunrise.

  As the blue sky turned pink and orange, they hurried along the path circling the island. Julia figured out that if she pulled the dress up so that the tightest part was just above her knees, she could almost jog.

  “It really is beautiful,” Sue whispered, squinting as the last of the orange sun reflected off the cool surface of the water. “We’ll have to come back to Scotland and actually enjoy it properly sometime.”

  “What’s not to enjoy about solving a murder?” Julia whispered.

  “I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”

  Julia decided against answering. She hitched her dress up even further as they made their way up the slope and back towards the castle. Even though it was awful that two people had died, she couldn’t ignore the adrenaline she felt pumping through her system whenever she was piecing something together. It was a thrill she never felt when she was putting together a cake recipe or serving a customer in her café.

  They hurried into the courtyard and towards the secret door that led them through to the drawing room. Benjamin popped his head out of his work hut as their heels clicked against the stone cobbles, a screwdriver in his left hand and a piece of circuit board in his right.<
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  “Evening, ladies,” Benjamin said with a tip of his head. “You look very nice.”

  “It’s for the dinner in the drawing room tonight.”

  “Is it Sunday already?” he asked, blinking heavily and shaking his head. “This week has been a strange one. I’m surprised it’s still happening.”

  “I’m glad you’re here, actually,” Julia said as she dabbed at the sweat breaking out on her forehead. “Can you open that secret door again?”

  “Don’t want to chip a nail,” Sue said with a shrug as she showed off her freshly painted black nails.

  Benjamin turned and tossed the screwdriver and the circuit board into the hut. There was a small clatter and the screwdriver rolled straight back out again, but he ignored it and yanked on the door.

  “You know there are easier ways to get to the drawing room,” he said through tight lips as he dragged it open.

  “We’re not going into the drawing room,” Julia said as she stepped in, hitching up her dress once more so that it didn’t brush against the dusty floor. “If everything goes to plan, we’ll be coming back through very soon. You can leave it open.”

  Benjamin saluted, a curious smile tickling his lips. He returned to his hut and left the ladies to their sleuthing. To Julia’s surprise, Sue was right by her side as they hurried along the corridor. She didn’t complain about the dust or the dampness, nor did she try to suggest they do something else. Her sister’s silence was confirmation she felt that same thrill too, and she enjoyed it.

  When they reached the door, Julia crammed her eye against the peephole, and peered into the drawing room. To her surprise, Charlotte had hired a team of servers, who were all running about like headless chickens organising the table setting and cleaning up the room.

  Just as expected, Charlotte hurried in after a couple of minutes of spying. She was wearing a floor-length black dress, with red and blue tartan panels running down the side. Her auburn hair had been styled so perfectly it looked as though it had been professionally done. It swept away from her fresh face and waved down her shoulders, all the way down to her waist.