by Sophie Brent
“Could you use some company, Kate?” Erin whispered as they followed Zoe into the hotel. “I didn’t know Emma either, but I’m happy to do anything I can.”
Kate gave a slow nod and looked at her with such an expression of gratitude that Erin instantly knew that she had made the right decision to offer.
“Thanks, that would be great,” Kate managed a faint smile. “Fiona, Adam and Ethan were the only people that I knew here. I could use someone to talk to.”
“I’m happy to help,” Erin replied and joined Kate in an empty elevator. Kate pressed the button for the first floor.
The elevator drive activated with a jolt as Kate turned to Erin and said in a trembling voice. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, but are we really sure that this was simply a horrible accident? Fiona and Maya had known Emma since university, and they don’t want to even think that someone might want to hurt her.” She licked her lips and her gaze locked onto Erin’s face.
“What if Emma didn’t just slip in that freezer full of dry ice?” Kate said in a low voice which trembled with the intensity of every word. “Someone locked her inside. Someone who’s probably still at this hotel right now. And that scares me so much I can’t breathe.”
Kate blinked away tears as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped out onto the cream and ivory panelled corridor, but the instant they were inside Kate’s room, Kate hurled her bag onto the bed, and sat down next to it with a heavy thump.
She looked up into Erin’s face as though she was searching for some way forward. “I feel so helpless! What can I do, Erin? Do we leave it all to the police to sort out? Is that how it works?”
Erin’s mind flashed back to Constable Harris and their previous meeting only a few weeks earlier. She couldn’t believe that she was involved in yet another murder investigation but here she was and there was no escaping it. Kate didn’t need to know how stretched the local police force was in this part of England.
“We have to leave the police to do their job, Kate. They’re trained investigators. They’ll get to the bottom of this. It was probably just a tragic accident.”
“But they could use some help, couldn’t they?” Kate pleaded. “I don’t want Ethan to wait for months before he hears anything. This is going to break his heart!”
“You really love your brother very much, don’t you?” Erin smiled.
“There are only the three of us. Ethan is the oldest, Adam is three years younger, followed by the baby in the family. Me.” Her voice faltered a little. “Our parents split up six years ago and my mum never really recovered from the divorce. She died of liver cancer last summer. My dad flew over from Canada for the funeral, but he has a new life and a new family over there to think of.” She wiped her eyes and then smiled up at Erin. “The three of us look out for one another if we can. That’s why I was so pleased when Ethan and Fiona decided to get married. They’ve been together since university, through all of the rough times and even started a business together. They deserve a chance of happiness. And now this!”
Kate squeezed her eyes tight shut, then shuffled forward on the bed and dropped her head between her knees. Her breathing was fast and shallow, and her skin was flushed at the neck.
“I’ll be okay in a minute,” she managed to sob.
“Take all the time you need,” Erin replied, and gently rubbed the back of Kate’s shoulders. Her gaze locked onto the fuchsia silk bridesmaid dress hanging up on the wardrobe door on the other side of the room. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter Four
Kingsmede was a fairly small village and the gossip grapevine reached far and wide, but even Erin was amazed at how fast the word got out that there had been a strange death at Abbotsdown Hall.
It was probably all Prisha’s fault, but the deli was well known to be the centre of Kingsmede news and Prisha could hardly be expected to keep it quiet after Erin had rung her to tell her what had happened, and not just about the fire and the wedding cake.
Erin could still hear the screams ringing in her ears. Since then, her phone had barely stopped ringing.
“Prisha Patel. Kingsmede doesn’t need a newspaper when it has you in charge of the gossip. Did you have to tell Carol’s dad? If the fine citizens don’t hear the latest in the deli then they can catch up in the pub!”
“Hey. How could I resist?” Prisha scoffed down the phone. “It isn’t every day that our girl goes to rescue a wedding cake and ends up finding a frozen bridesmaid in the freezer. The whole town was talking about it for at least an hour before it hit the local radio station. Is it my fault that the hotel was unavailable for comment? I simply stated the facts to a charming reporter. That’s all.”
“What do people say about wanting their fifteen minutes of fame? I bet you stretched it out to at least twenty.”
“Twenty-five.” Prisha sniggered. “And I persuaded him to buy lots of delicious goodies so that he could review the excellent local deli on his doorstep. Your lemon polenta cake is now hot news across the county. Are you getting pestered by the media?”
“Ten phone calls in the past hour. I passed the one from that pushy reporter from the local newspaper on to Zoe, but for once she is way too preoccupied with her family to switch into photojournalist mode.”
“Well, that’s serious. How’s she holding out?” Prisha asked softly.
“Running around ragged. Cancelling a wedding is not an easy task, but someone had to do it and the bridesmaids are still in shock. To make it worse, Emma had all of the checklists and contact details, and right now they’re locked in her room and likely to stay there for some time. So, Zoe is having to just muddle through Kate and Maya.”
“Poor Zoe. Poor you! Are you having a rough time of it?”
“I’ve had better days, Prisha. Kate has just shown me a photo of Fiona’s wedding dress. The vintage lace is amazing.” Erin took a calming breath. “Fiona would have looked stunning in that dress. It’s such a shame.”
“What do you mean, a shame?” Prisha asked, picking up the tone of Erin’s voice.
“Zoe is convinced that Fiona will want to bury that dress with the rest of her wedding kit in a large hole in the garden and throw a ton of concrete on top. Call it bad luck or cursed. Either way, that dress and her grandmother’s lace veil are going to be hidden away in the dark for a long time.”
“Well, that’s just wrong. It’s hardly the dress’s fault that her friend died.” Prisha protested and Erin could hear her slapping her hand down hard on one of the wooden tables in the deli.
“I know, but that’s how Fiona feels at the moment. Right now, Fiona’s suitcases are coming home with me. I offered to store them until Zoe can work out the best place for them to go so that Fiona won’t have to see them until she’s ready.”
Erin pushed back her shoulders. “Enough of me, how are things in the real world?”
“Oh, same old, same old. Customers, coffee drinkers, radio-presenters. Hold on. Make that tv-crews. And I haven’t refreshed my make-up in hours. See you later!”
Erin stared at the phone for a second then turned it off and got down to the serious business of moving two bridesmaids from one hotel to another.
It had taken almost two hours to pack up Fiona’s wedding clothes, two bridesmaid’s outfits, several wedding presents, and an enormous amount of assorted wedding paraphernalia into a collection of suitcases and trundle them across the carpark and into the back of Erin’s delivery van. Emma’s room was still sealed, but Constable Harris had promised to let Zoe know when it was released.
After a lot of discussion and tears, it was clear that Kate and Maya didn’t want to have anything more to do with this wedding, so they were relieved and happy that someone else was willing to take them away.
Talking to the girls these past few hours had really helped, but even the mention of Emma’s name took Erin straight back to the hotel kitchen. A cold shiver ran across her shoulders and no amount of hot August sunshine was goi
ng to ease it. Not today, that was for sure.
It was hard to believe that it had only been a few hours since she had arrived that morning. So much had happened in that short time that it was hard to process.
Erin unlocked the back of the van and swung open the double doors before turning to face the hotel reception area.
Zoe was standing next to Kate, Maya and the hotel management team under the stone portico.
As she stood in silence watching the girls, Erin could see other guests queueing up at the reception desk with their suitcases, obviously checking out. The kitchen was closed until further notice and the car park was full of police cars. Sergeant Murphy had called in reinforcements and forensics to process the death. She understood that he had to make sure that this was simply a terrible accident and not something more sinister, but it still gave her chills just thinking about it.
What a disaster for such a lovely hotel!
A sudden thought crossed Erin’s mind.
What if Kate was right and Emma’s death wasn’t an accident? The killer could be a guest at the hotel. This would give them the ideal excuse to check out and leave before the police had a chance to interview them or look more closely at their connection to Emma Wilson.
Erin waited until the girls had finished saying their goodbyes then gestured for Kate to come over to the van. She nodded and tugged her rolling suitcase on wheels across the drive.
“I feel really stupid asking this,” Erin asked as she helped to load Kate’s suitcase onto the back of the van, “but is there anyone else in the hotel that we need to talk to about Emma? I’m sure all of the guests know the whole story, but I don’t want any of Emma’s friends to feel left out. I don’t even know if she’s married, or she has a boyfriend with her.”
Kate frowned, clearly confused. “Friends? Emma only arrived on Thursday evening with Fiona, and she didn’t bring a date. As far as I know, the only other people that she talked to were Maya, Zoe and me. Last night we had a lovely meal with Fiona’s mum and Rebecca – that’s my brother Adam’s girlfriend, but Rebecca’s staying with Adam at the Manor House. Apart from that, we haven't really had time to talk with other guests, so no, I don’t think that she had any other friends here.”
“Didn’t she talk to other people in the hotel?”
“She didn’t make herself very popular with the hotel staff if that’s what you mean, but I guess that they’re used to dealing with demanding wedding organizers,” Kate said, biting her lip. “Emma was trying so hard to create the perfect wedding for Fiona. Maybe a little too hard in some cases.”
Kate glanced over her shoulder towards Maya and instantly stopped talking as soon as she saw Zoe and Maya heading their way.
“Good news for once, ladies,” Zoe sighed as she walked over to Erin and Kate, dragging Maya’s huge suitcase behind her. “I have called in every favour under the sun and the Manor House has managed to find two rooms for Kate and Maya on a Saturday night in August. You can have them for as long as you need.”
“That’s a relief. Thanks, Zoe.” Erin smiled. “My spare bedroom doesn’t have air conditioning at the moment, and it would be a squeeze to fit in two.”
“No problem,” Zoe nodded. “Can you give Kate a lift? I’ll take Maya and meet you there. Are you ready to go? Great. Let’s get out of here.”
Erin opened the passenger door for Kate and as she walked to the driver’s side, she noticed Maya looking back at the hotel. Her face was twisted into a grimace by a look of absolute horror and pain until she caught Erin looking at her and quickly lowered her head and almost ran after Zoe to the car. Desperate to get as far away from Abbotsdown Hall as she could.
Normally on the drive to Manor House, Erin took the time to escape the deli and enjoy the wonderful Hampshire countryside that stretched out all around them. But not today.
Erin was so used to working every Saturday in the deli that she had forgotten how terrible the traffic could be on the weekends. It felt as though every cyclist and tourist in the county had conspired together to travel at the same time.
All her concentration had to go on keeping the van with its precious cargo on the road. Zoe had sped off in her fast family car and Erin struggled to keep up with her in her old delivery van, on the narrow country lanes around the village of Abbotsdown.
It was almost a relief that Kate was too engrossed in tapping on her mobile phone to expect much of a conversation.
Friends and family have been sending messages all morning wishing them a wonderful wedding party. She felt sorry that Kate was the one who had to break the news to so many of Ethan’s relatives that the wedding had been cancelled.
Most of Kate’s close family had stayed overnight at the Manor House and were on their way to Fiona’s family house to give their support to Fiona and Ethan. It was clear that Kate had met up with her relatives the day before and they had a great time.
The family had already decided to go home straight away after seeing Fiona, rather than spend another night in Kingsmede. There was nothing that they could do now to help the young couple except give them time and space.
As she drove through the glorious, hot and sunny landscape, Erin felt as though the little energy she had remaining after all of the hard work on the wedding cake had suddenly popped like the air rushing from a balloon, leaving her feeling deflated and exhausted. The adrenaline rush of the morning had been replaced with a dread sense of loss and failure. The hay fever season was also well underway, and her eyes felt tired, itchy, and irritable.
Luckily, there was space in the hotel car park and Erin was able to reverse the van next to Zoe who was standing waiting for her with Maya.
It only took a moment for Erin to unlock the van doors and tug out Kate’s suitcase.
They had just started to walk towards the hotel entrance when a young man came out to greet them and Kate instantly fell into his arms. Her brother Adam looked very much like a younger version of Ethan, who Erin had seen in photographs, but if anything, Adam was more handsome. Kate immediately introduced Erin to Adam and his lovely girlfriend Rebecca who had strolled out to meet them and help them with the suitcases.
The sun was beating down and bouncing back from the tarmac and by the time they dragged the suitcases into the hotel, Erin could feel a trickle of sweat run down the centre of her back.
It only took a few minutes for Kate and Maya to check-in at the hotel. Adam had already taken care of the details and the hotel was expecting them. From what Erin overheard, Adam and Rebecca had just come back from a couple of very traumatic hours with Fiona, trying to calm her down about Emma and the wedding. Ethan had decided to stay with Fiona at her family’s home so that he could be with her over the next few days. But it was going to be a tough job.
Kate and Adam were clearly very close and immediately went up to Kate’s room with the luggage.
Erin felt sorry for Maya. Without Kate, Maya looked so alone and bereft. But Rebecca stepped in and offered to help Maya find her room. The plan was for them to get together and have tea and sandwiches on the terrace as soon as they were unpacked.
Erin stood next to Zoe and watched Maya step into the elevator with Rebecca. She gave them a small wave and tried to smile as the elevator doors closed, but the smile had not reached her eyes which were red-rimmed and baggy from sobbing.
Erin and Zoe turned and strolled back into the hot sunshine together in silence. Erin waited until she was standing next to Zoe’s car before saying anything. “Do you want to come back to the deli with me, lovely?” Erin asked with a small smile. “I think we could both do with some lunch and a large glass of wine before crashing out, don’t you?”
Zoe reached out and gave Erin a warm hug. “That sounds amazing, but my folks are waiting for me back at the house. They are totally distraught about the wedding and Emma. Right now, I think they need me.”
“Of course, you should be with them,” Erin nodded, desperately trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. “I’m
so sorry Zoe. This has been such a terrible day for everyone, it’s hard to know where to start.”
“You’ve got that right,” Zoe whispered, then looked up into Erin’s face. “What about you? Are you okay?”
“Not really,” she replied, unable to lie to someone who had known her since primary school. “The sooner I get home the better. Take care, Zoe. Love you.”
Zoe gave her one final hug then turned and got into her car. Erin watched her drive away with one final wave as she turned into the main road and out of sight.
Time to go home, she whispered to herself. And the sooner the better.
It was almost an hour later when Erin parked her van under the trees outside the back of her deli.
Instead of leaping out of the van as she normally did, Erin sat back in her driver’s seat and wound the window down. Birds were singing in the beech and oak trees above her head on the village green and children were playing and running around having fun. On the other side of the green, she could see a family having a picnic around a brightly coloured tablecloth laid out on a picnic bench.
In other words, it was a perfect Saturday afternoon in August in Kingsmede. Tranquil, calm and unruffled by the outside world and the trauma that came with it.
Life here had carried on as though nothing had happened only a few miles away in Abbotsdown Hall. How was that possible? Did no one here understand the trauma and loss that she had experienced in a few short hours since she left here this morning?
Erin closed her eyes, rested her forehead on the hot steering wheel and took a couple of deep breaths.
This was her world and she loved it so very much. She couldn’t let Emma’s death take her special sanctuary away from her, but it was so hard to let it go.
“Is everything okay, Erin?” a man’s voice said, and she instantly snapped her eyes open and brought her head upright. Staring in through the passenger window was her temporary next-door neighbour Matt Ridley, who also happened to work as a private investigator. He had such a look of concern on his face Erin could not help but smile back in reply.