by Sophie Brent
“Been better, Matt. Have you heard about the death at Abbotsdown Hall? Was that a nod? This has been quite a day!”
“Do you want to tell me about it over coffee?” Matt smiled. “I hear there’s a local deli that’s worth checking out. I’m willing to give it a try if you are.”
“Really?” Erin grinned as the tension eased from her shoulders. “That does sound good.”
Then she thought about the stack of suitcases in the back of her van containing the precious wedding clothes for a wedding that was not going to take place anytime soon, if ever. It would be terrible if someone broke in and stole the luggage.
“Actually, Matt, I wonder if you could help me to unload the van first? I should warn you, some of the bags are really quite heavy.”
Matt made a display of squeezing his biceps through his short-sleeved shirt with a big grin on his face. “This is why I pay for a personal trainer at the gym. Let me at them!”
The expression on Matt’s face when he saw the huge suitcases that Fiona had brought with her, made Erin laugh for the first time that day.
“Okay,” he said in an exasperated voice. “Where do you want them?”
That was a good question.
“There’s only one place they can be stored safely and that’s in my dad’s old bedroom. It’s the big front bedroom on the first floor over the deli.”
“Lead the way,” Matt grinned with a shake of his head and grabbed two suitcases to show just how impressive those biceps really were.
Erin chose the smallest suitcase with wheels and trundled it across the narrow lane and into the small patio area behind her deli. She quickly unlocked the kitchen back door and gestured to Matt where the entrance to the apartment was.
Matt’s uncle Lucien had the shop next door, and his apartment shared exactly the same layout, so Matt knew precisely where the large main bedroom was, facing the street.
Erin left the suitcase she was carrying at the bottom of the stairs and walked slowly up the steep stairs, holding the handrail to support her tired legs. When she got to the top, it was only a few steps to her late father’s room.
Opening the door, she stood to one side and watched Matt carefully slide the suitcases in front of the long wooden polished wardrobe that still held what was left of her father’s things. It had been almost two years since he passed away, but she still had not raised the courage and motivation to sort through them. One more thing to add to her already long list of things to do.
The air in the large room felt stuffy and hot and Erin instinctively opened the windows to try and catch some of the breeze from the high street and village square.
“That’s brilliant, thank you, Matt.”
“No problem,” he nodded. “Let’s get the rest of the luggage in while we still have use of our arms. There’s only three more to go.”
With that, he jogged down the stairs, grabbed the bag that Erin had left and was back in the room before she had time to reply.
“Nobody likes a show-off, you know,” she snorted.
“I’m planning on earning at least two coffees and several pastries,” he shrugged. “Ready to get the rest?”
In the end, it took three separate trips, because Maya had stuffed the two largest cases with unopened wedding gifts and stationery. Even Matt was wiping his brow when Erin closed the bedroom door and sauntered down the stairs to the deli.
“Do you mind if I exchange that coffee for iced water or lemonade? It’s been a while since I moved home and that was during the winter. I’d forgotten what heavy work this is. Let me get changed and I’ll be right back.”
“No problem, Matt. See you soon,” Erin replied. She peeked into the deli from the kitchen and there were only two customers this late on a Saturday afternoon. Carol had already left to help her parents in the pub, leaving Prisha to hold the fort. The problem was, these two customers were leaning in and chatting to Prisha and looked just the type to stay as long as it took to extract each snippet of juicy gossip.
Normally she loved talking to the customers, but she couldn’t face it today. Just this once, she was going to break a habit of a lifetime and close the deli early.
Lifting her chin and straightening her back, Erin plastered a fixed smile on her face and stepped into the shop area of the deli.
“Good afternoon, ladies,” she smiled. “I am so sorry to hurry you, but we are closing in a few minutes. Can we get you any final purchases?”
The older lady checked her watch. “Closing? You don’t close until seven on Saturdays.”
“Just my way of showing respect for a recent death. I’m sure you understand.”
Erin walked over to the front door of the deli, turned the sign to ‘Closed’ then held the door open for the two ladies, who after much huffing and puffing, made their way out and down the street.
“Lock and bolt the door Prisha. We are done for the day!”
Chapter Five
Erin walked down the length of the deli, peering into the containers in the refrigerated section. Most of them were empty or had only had the dregs of her home-made sauces and Italian recipes remaining. The baskets which had held the muffins, croissants, and pastries she had made that morning were stacked to one side of the counter with only a few flakes and crumbs inside.
She should be pleased that her food had been so popular with the customers, but instead, she felt so drained it was hard to dredge up any enthusiasm.
“Well, the good news is that half of Kingsmede has been through those doors today. You’ve no idea how busy we’ve been. Carol had to raid the fridge twice this afternoon to cope with the demand for goodies. You’re going to need to do some serious baking before the Monday morning rush-hour.”
“I just couldn’t face the barrage of questions and gossip today, Prisha. Not after what I’ve been through these past few hours,” Erin replied and smiled at her best friend. “It’s all been a bit much, to be honest.”
“What’s this? Red eyes, pale face, and limp hair? You look terrible.” Prisha stood back and stared at Erin. “Is this why you closed the deli early on a Saturday afternoon? So, you wouldn’t scare the customers away?”
“You noticed. How kind.” Erin snorted and collapsed down at one of the tables in the deli. “It happens to be rather hot outside. Plus, this has been quite a day. Week. Month. Year.”
“You are most welcome. Girl, you need feeding. You skipped lunch again, didn’t you?”
“Guilty as charged. We were too busy trying to cope to think about food.” Erin raised her head and stared across at her friend. “What a mess, Prisha. Fiona is absolutely distraught. Ethan has moved to the Hanson house to try and calm her down, but it’s not going to be easy. Emma was one of Fiona’s best friends at University so I can imagine how guilty she’s feeling.”
Prisha blinked several times and grabbed hold of the back of a chair. “I hadn’t thought of that. Wow! I see what you mean. I don’t know what I’d do if I invited my friends to celebrate my wedding and one of them had an accident and died. Guilty doesn’t come close. What a nightmare!”
“Oh, it gets worse,” Erin said in a low voice. “Have you ever tried to cancel a wedding at zero notice? Zoe is exhausted and there is so much more to do it’s ridiculous.”
“My family would never let me get away with a small wedding at a nice hotel. Do you member that Hindu wedding your mum was catering for in Orlando when we were there last month? Imagine that ten times bigger and you have some idea of a typical Patel family gathering. Those events get planned a year in advance and cancelling is not an option. You would have to go through with it and then get divorced afterward. I mean it.”
“It was the first thing I checked when Zoe got in touch. Fiona wanted a small family wedding with only a few close friends and relatives to help her celebrate their big day. She has been with Ethan for over ten years now, so they all know him very well.” Erin’s voice faded away. “She’s going to need him now more than ever.”
“
Where were they going on their honeymoon?” Prisha whispered.
“Two weeks in the Seychelles. First class all the way and a five-star hotel. It was a wedding present from Fiona’s parents.”
“Did you say the Seychelles? Oh. That’s so perfect.” Prisha pursed her lips then gave a low soft sigh. “I loved my holiday there.”
“Who’s going to the Seychelles?” Matt asked as he strolled in from the kitchen, wearing a different shirt. “I would recommend the private plane transfers by the way. You see so much more of the other islands that way.”
“Right now, no one is going anywhere except Kingsmede. It was Fiona and Ethan’s honeymoon destination. Cancelled, just like their wedding this afternoon,” Erin replied with a sigh. “It’s a double tragedy.”
“Their honeymoon,” Matt repeated with a nod. “Sorry, I hadn’t realized.”
“I’m the one who should be sorry,” Erin shook her head. “Prisha, I promised this man some late lunch in exchange for carrying wedding luggage for three girls up two flights of stairs. What do we have left?”
Erin’s best friend tapped her finger on her chin twice before answering. “It’s way too late for lunch. Let’s make that an early dinner. I’m thinking home-made gnocchi with wild mushroom sauce, what is left of the roasted red peppers with basil and some toasted Panini on the side. Lemon cake to follow.”
“That sounds amazing,” Matt laughed. “I’ll take double quantities of all of it. Half to eat now and the rest as a takeaway for tomorrow. Or have you started opening on Sundays?
“Not going to happen,” Erin waved her hand from side to side. “Prisha you are a saviour. But not cake. I don’t think I could face cake right now.”
“Blimey. That is serious. I have never, ever, known you to refuse your own baking.” Prisha gasped.
“First time for everything, Prisha. My first professional wedding cake from Kelly’s deli, my first wedding cake crushed and burnt and,” she swallowed, “the first time I have seen someone dead inside a freezer. That poor woman.”
“I couldn’t believe it when you phoned me about the hotel fire,” Prisha replied. “I thought that was bad, but then when you told me about the bridesmaid? I had to go and sit upstairs for ten minutes.” She pointed to her cheek. “Real tears. So sad. For everyone. Did she die of the cold?” Prisha whispered and sat down opposite Erin.
“Not just the cold,” Erin whispered. “The hotel had opened some packs of dry ice to keep the freezer cold after the fire. Basically, it’s frozen carbon dioxide which is designed to melt into gas and escape into the open air. But it’s lethal in enclosed spaces. The dry ice sinks to the floor and cools all of the food on the lower shelves. When she fell, Emma didn’t have a chance. Once she was on the floor, she would be breathing in the carbon dioxide instead of oxygen.”
A cold shiver ran across Erin’s back and she wrapped her arms around her waist to warm up.
Prisha gasped and then pushed her hand forward. “Stay right there and I’ll put the water on to boil. You need hot food, and you need it now. Matt, you’re in charge of the coffee. This girl needs warming up and fast!”
“I’m on it, boss,” Matt replied and winked at Erin. “And I thought you were demanding.”
“I heard that,” Prisha’s voice sounded from the kitchen. “Mine’s an Americano, thank you!”
“Erin Kelly. You know that I love you as my best friend in the whole world, but there is a simple explanation. This really was a tragic accident. Horrible, but an accident.”
Prisha put down her fork and spoon and raised both hands in the air. “How about this? Emma stepped inside the freezer, she slipped on some ice on the floor in her posh silly sandals, breathed in the dry ice fumes, fainted and knocked her head on the metal shelving. That’s still awful, but isn’t that more likely than skulduggery?”
“You’re right,” Erin admitted and took another sip of a really quite good Californian Merlot. “It’s totally possible. In fact, I remember reading about a case in the newspaper where that happened to a local butcher last year.”
“So why am I seeing that look on your face? That look you have right now. The look that says that you think someone else was with Emma when she went to look inside that freezer.”
“I just have this nagging feeling that I owe it to Fiona and the girls to make sure that you’re right and nobody else was involved,” she replied, looking from Prisha over to Matt.
“What makes you think that it could have been deliberate?” Matt asked. There was a slight tone in his voice that than as an interested neighbour.
“All I know is what Kate told me. When the fire alarm went off, everyone went outside to the main lawn. It’s on the other side of the hotel from the kitchen and the fire. Emma was very worried about the food and the ice sculptures and she left the other three girls on the lawn the second they got the all-clear from the hotel manager. The girls headed to bed to catch up with their beauty sleep, but she went to the kitchen. Fiona said that she was so tired that she decided to leave Emma to go on her own. So now she is feeling double the guilt.”
“Fiona was going to get married today, so she wouldn’t want to lose any more sleep. That makes total sense to me.” Prisha shrugged.
“Me too. But it means that Emma went on her own. There are no witnesses to say what happened to her after that.” Erin put down her fork and sighed. “Here’s the real issue. All the chefs are trained to never lock the freezer door. It’s way too dangerous. Some kitchens even take the keys away for safety so you can still get out if the door closes on you when you are inside.”
Matt loaded his plate with more red peppers. “Isn’t there some sort of emergency escape system?”
“That’s one of the first things that they show you when you work in chillers and freezer rooms. Sometimes it’s a latch, but I saw an emergency release button inside the freezer, high up on the wall.”
“But Emma wouldn’t have been able to reach it if she was on the floor.” Matt nodded. “She couldn’t have got out.”
“Human nature.” Prisha replied and waved her fork in the air. “What if one of the kitchen staff locked the doors for some reason and is too scared to come forward and admit it? I would be.”
“I asked the chef while we were waiting for the police to arrive,” Erin whispered. “The last time he checked the cold rooms was around one this morning to make sure that the power was back on. Someone locked the freezer doors after he had checked and not one of the chefs on duty last night say that they did it. There was no need to.”
“Okay, so not the kitchen crew. You said yourself that there were cleaning crews running around everywhere this morning and it must have been mayhem when the fire fighters were working during the night. They still would have noticed a guest going past them.”
Was it only that morning? Erin could hardly believe it was possible.
“That’s true, the fire crews had to make sure that the kitchens were made safe before anyone was allowed inside. Once they left, the hotel guests went back to their rooms and there was a stream of people in and out of the kitchens, assessing the damage, then organizing the clean-up. The dry ice was an emergency measure in case the power cut out again after the fire crew left. It was only Emma nagging them that made the chef get extra dry ice out. They already knew what she looked like.”
“So, someone Emma knew had to follow her and lock her inside?” Matt tilted his head to one side. “That doesn’t sound very likely, does it?”
He took a sip of Merlot before going on. “I think you are missing one important piece of information. If this wasn’t an accident and she was locked inside, who could have done it? What possible reason would there have been for anyone to want to kill a bridesmaid who only came to Kingsmede two days ago for her friend’s wedding? That doesn’t make sense to me.”
“You’re right. The only people that Emma knew at the hotel were Fiona, Ethan and the other two bridesmaids, Kate and Maya. They were all pals, getting ready to celebrate F
iona’s wedding.” Erin agreed. “That’s what makes it so tragic.”
The fleeting memory of the argument she had seen between Emma and Fiona on the previous day flashed through Erin’s mind. Should she even mention it? No, it was nothing. Best to keep quiet.
“I’m sorry, Erin. but unless you have something else to go on, I don’t think Emma was murdered. It was an accident,” Matt said and stabbed another piece of gnocchi. “That’s the only logical explanation.”
He looked up into Erin’s face and smiled. “Can I make a suggestion? You’ve had an exhausting day. Why don’t we change the subject? A little bird told me…” and he flicked his head towards Prisha, who opened her mouth and pretended to be shocked. “That you came up with some brilliant plans for your new bistro when you were in Florida. I can’t wait to see them.”
Erin was just about to suggest visiting the bookshop next door which Matt was clearing for her to create her new bistro, when the deli phone rang out a classic Italian tune. She got up and glanced quickly at the telephone number, then pressed down the answerphone button.
“Another reporter,” she muttered. “I’ve a feeling that I’m going to be very popular with the press for the next few weeks. If anyone has any ideas about how I can escape, just let me know.”
“No worries,” Prisha snorted. “You leave them to me.” Then she rubbed the palms of hands together. “Now,” she grinned. “Who would like some ice cream with their cake?”
Chapter Six
Erin had never been so thankful that she closed the deli on Sundays. Usually, Sunday gave her the chance to catch up with friends and all of the admin and paperwork for the shop.
Today was different. After falling into a few hours of restless sleep, she had woken at four and spent the early hours of the morning cleaning and tidying up the deli in the cooler part of the day. The weather forecast on the radio was predicting another scorching August day and she knew it would be too exhausting to scrub and mop later in the afternoon.