by Sophie Brent
“That’s why it was so annoying,” Zoe cried out, thrusting her arms forward towards Erin and Matt. “Emma Wilson ruined a lovely evening. We were having such a great time until then. It was almost as if she had deliberately planned to ruin Fiona’s wedding. What a selfish thing to do at someone else’s party. Unbelievable.”
“Have you any idea why she was so angry with Fiona and the other bridesmaids? There has to be some reason.” Erin interjected.
“It felt to me as though Emma was jealous that Fiona was getting all of the attention. Which was mad, because this was Fiona’s wedding party. For once in her life, the bride is supposed to get all of the attention. Am I right? Emma couldn’t stand it. She wanted to be the centre of attention. She wanted the praise.”
Zoe shook her head. “I can only put it down to jealousy. But in the end, she was the one who lost. The last time I saw Emma Wilson, she was staggering towards the hotel elevator, alone and drunk, mumbling something about it all being a total waste of time. Nobody went with her. We were all too busy saying goodnight.”
Erin pushed up and walked slowly over to refill the kettle. Her mind was going over everything that Zoe had said but there were so many gaps. Why would Emma be so hard and cruel? Especially to the very people she had once known as her closest friends. It didn’t make any sense.
Her fingers stilled. But it might just explain why someone would be angry enough to want to hurt her for causing them pain.
Erin turned back to face Matt and Zoe who were going over the other documents and filing them into neat piles.
“Zoe, this is a tough question to answer, but from what you saw, do you think anyone at that dinner would have wanted to hurt Emma after what she had said?”
“Actually, it’s a perfectly reasonable question,” Zoe replied with a quick nod. “And I have thought about it, but my answer is no, I don’t.”
“Is there any particular reason?” Matt asked.
“I’m no saint,” Zoe admitted, “but the number of cocktails and glasses of wine that girl drank would have knocked out a small horse. Then there were champagne toasts and liqueurs after dinner. I didn’t touch a drop because I had to drive home afterward, but Emma was totally drunk and out of control by the end of the evening.”
“She was drunk when she left the party?”
“Falling-down drunk. The party broke up about eleven o’clock and I drove Auntie Sarah home. If the fire alarm went off at midnight, then Emma Wilson would still have been plastered! That amount of alcohol doesn’t wear off in an hour. She had probably just gone to bed when the hotel was evacuated.”
“So, Emma was still drunk when she went out onto the lawn,” Erin nodded.
“She must have been. I think Emma was still drunk when she went down to that freezer. She definitely could have tripped and fallen over without knowing what she was doing or even where she was going. That’s what I told Constable Harris. This was a horrible accident, but it was an accident, I’m convinced of it.”
Matt flashed Erin a nod as if to say, I told you so.
Just as Erin was about to admit defeat, Zoe’s phone rang, and she quickly checked the number and excused herself.
Erin watched Zoe scan her phone in silence.
“It’s a reasonable scenario, Erin. If she was drunk and passed out on the freezer floor, Emma wouldn’t have had a chance with that amount of dry ice. The fact that someone locked the doors was just a coincidence.”
“You’re right, Matt.” Erin smiled. “In a way, I’m pleased. There have already been two murders in Kingsmede this summer. We don’t need another.”
“What is it, Zoe,” Erin asked as Zoe stomped back into the kitchen. “Is everything all right?”
“I don’t believe this,” Zoe said as she passed her phone over to Erin. “The press managed to find out that Emma is still married. How did they get that story?”
“Millionaire entrepreneur Harry Wilson flies back from Singapore after wife dies in a tragic accident,” Erin read from the screen, hardly able to believe her eyes. “Emma was married? I had no idea. When I asked Kate, she said that Emma hadn’t brought a date for the wedding.”
“It’s complicated,” Zoe winced. “Fiona told me that Harry was a good friend of Ethan’s at university, and she would have loved him to be at the wedding, but Emma didn’t want him there. Emma had asked Harry for a divorce and the atmosphere would have been very awkward if they had both turned up at the wedding. Plus, here’s something I didn’t know. Apparently, Maya dated Harry for years before he dumped her to marry Emma. So, Harry agreed to stay away and meet Fiona and Ethan privately next month.”
Erin scrolled down the article and peered at an old wedding photo at the bottom of the paragraph. She almost didn’t recognize Emma in the photo. The pretty bride smiling into her husband’s face was much thinner than the Emma she had met and so much happier. It was almost as if she was looking at a different person.
“Wow. Emma might have married a millionaire, but all that money wasn’t enough to bring her much happiness in life. What a shame.” Erin murmured. “It must have been strange meeting up with everyone after ten years.”
Then Erin groaned and slapped her palm to her forehead. “Emma’s marriage was breaking up at exactly the same time as Fiona was planning her perfect wedding to one of her husband’s friends. It must have seemed like the worst possible timing.”
“It doesn’t excuse what she did. Emma was ruthless, Erin, and there is no getting away from that fact. It was one of the most humiliating nights of my life. And Fiona?” Zoe flicked her hands into the air. “Fiona just let it happen. I love my cousin, but she simply sat back and did nothing when Emma started attacking Maya. It was left to Rebecca to step in and fight for her.”
“It sounds to me like Fiona is paying for that now,” Matt whispered. “But this does solve one problem. Now we know what to do with Emma’s luggage.”
Both Zoe and Erin looked at Matt in surprise, waiting for him to explain.
“Ladies, I think it’s time you paid a visit to Emma’s loving husband, Harry Wilson. Personally, I’ll be pleased to get rid of it.”
“Don’t look at me,” Zoe coughed and backed away with both hands in the air. “I have done more than enough today, and my parents expect me for dinner. I’ll grab those receipts and invoices, but the rest is up to you. Best of luck, Erin!”
Chapter Nine
Even on a Sunday afternoon, the car park at the Manor House hotel was super busy and there was no way that Erin could park close to the hotel entrance. In fact, she had to drive all the way to the back of the hotel and the overflow car park usually reserved for conferences and major events.
It was out of sight of the hotel guestrooms and hidden behind a small plantation of trees and shrubbery, making it both discreet and secluded.
The van was just small enough to squeeze in between two large off-road vehicles with barely enough room for her to open the driver’s door. They had agreed to leave the crates of wedding material in the cottage until Zoe and Fiona could work through them – Emma’s estranged husband certainly would not want any of it. But that still left two heavy and over-stuffed suitcases for Erin to hand over to Maya.
She was just about to get out of the van and drop the luggage at the hotel when her mobile phone rang. When Zoe left, she had promised her that they would keep in touch by phone. As it happened, it seemed that even ace reporters took Sunday afternoons off and this is the first call she had received in the last hour.
She almost wished she hadn’t taken the call.
“Mother,” she smiled. “How lovely to hear from you.”
“Erin Kelly,” a stern voice answered down the phone. “When were you planning to tell me that you are on national television and radio again? Why do I have to hear about these things from your cousins in London? You couldn’t ring your own mother to tell her the bad news about another murder?”
“There hasn’t been a murder, mum. One of the bridesmaids at a wedd
ing got trapped in the hotel freezer. You know how dangerous dry ice can be. It was a tragic accident, not a murder.”
“An accident. This is your mother you are talking to. Three deaths in three months and poor Lucien was attacked. Attacked! As far as I am concerned, the sooner you head back to civilization and leave Kingsmede behind you for good, the better.”
Erin squeezed her eyes tight shut and she inhaled sharply as a wave of disappointment swept through her.
Not today mum, not today.
“Mum! We talked about this only a few weeks ago. I love running the deli and you saw the plans for the new bistro. It’s going to be great!”
“Sell the deli and come work for me in Florida. You saw how busy I am here. I need my lovely daughter working with me. We could be a great team again! If only you would give it a chance.”
Erin pressed her phone to her forehead for a moment before replying.
“Please don’t worry about me, mum,” Erin said and tried to sound positive and in control. “I love it here in Kingsmede and I’m having a great time.”
“Are you sure about that?” her mother replied with disapproval in her voice. “I know what it takes to be a chef proprietor. Will you do something for me? Will you think about taking on another baker? I don’t want you burnt out, like your poor father. Promise me that you’ll think about it.”
“I will, mum. I promise. Have a great day. Ciao.”
And then the phone went dead.
Erin sat in complete silence for a few seconds with her eyes closed tight shut. Even though the air inside her delivery van was getting hotter by the second, she needed time to calm down and lower her heart rate.
Mum! Erin knew that her mother never meant to be hurtful. Far from it, but every conversation they had seemed to add more pressure for her to sell the deli.
Tears pricked the corners of Erin’s eyes, but she blinked them away.
Her mother was right about one thing. She should hire another baker. Her father had worked himself into the ground running the deli. Once her mother had left to work for her family there had been no going back. All of the hard work, cooking, and preparation had fallen onto his shoulders, seven days a week. No holidays, no breaks, just work.
He was so passionate about his work and loved talking to the customers and delighting them with his food, just as she did.
That was the legacy that she was trying to continue as best she could, even if it did mean working every hour of the day. And once the new bistro was up and running, the work was going to get even harder.
Everything she had worked and trained for rested on the success of her deli and the new bistro. Everything.
Erin sniffed, lifted her head and peered at her reflection in the reversing mirror. Considering the limited amount of sleep she had enjoyed over the past few days, she looked a lot better than she had expected.
Now all she had to do was deliver Emma Wilson’s luggage to a complete stranger and break the news that she had been there when his wife’s body was found. Any questions?
How did she get herself into these situations?
Then out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a flash of movement in the front seats of the car in the far corner of the car park, closest to the boundary line and facing the open fields.
From where she was parked, Erin could clearly see the couple in the car, and what they were up to.
With a shock, she realized that the woman in the driver’s seat was Maya.
Only she looked different. Her hair was messed up, her eyes and skin glowing, and there was a handsome man with short brown hair kissing Maya’s neck.
He was sliding his hands up into her hair, holding her head and tilting her face toward him. Then he was kissing her, and Maya angled her head to give him more access.
Eyes closed, they sat locked together, his arms taking the weight of her body, enclosing her in his loving, sweet embrace.
Erin smiled, delighted that this lonely and isolated woman had some company at last. She had looked so bereft the last time they had met. Maya needed the support of her boyfriend or husband, and she was certainly getting it now.
Okay, definitely time to move and leave these two in peace! Erin thought and pushed open her door.
Up until this point, Maya had her eyes closed, but just as Erin slipped out of her van, Maya lifted her head and their eyes met.
The horror on Maya’s face said it all.
It was only then that the man lifted away from Maya’s neck and looked over in her direction.
Then it all became clear.
The man kissing Maya in the front seat of her car was the same man she had seen in the photo of Emma Wilson’s wedding.
Harry Wilson glared back at her, as though daring her to do or say anything at all.
Erin paused for only a moment before looking away as though nothing had happened. She walked briskly to the back of her van, opened up the double doors and tugged out two suitcases which had belonged to Emma Wilson.
Maya was going to take these cases and pass them to Harry whether she liked it or not, and from what she just seen, it was probably not.
So much for the grieving widower! For once, Zoe had got it wrong. Maya and Harry Wilson were still very much an item.
Dragging the trolley suitcases behind her, Erin did not care one jot about the amount of noise that she was making on the hard brick pathway leading up to the front reception desk at the Manor House. She had been here so many times before, making deliveries to the hotel kitchen as well as seeing guests, that the reception staff recognized her immediately.
They had no problem taking two extra suitcases up to Maya’s hotel room for her. In fact, they would do it straight away while she was out of the hotel.
Erin watched the suitcases being wheeled away, with a sense of such relief that if felt like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
Well, that was done! Perhaps she could finally go home and sneak past the reporters and get some sleep!
No chance.
Just as she strolling out of reception, Maya walked in, thankfully alone.
She looked at Erin, smiled and said in a faint voice, “I think we need to talk. Can you spare a few minutes?”
Erin leaned across the coffee table in Maya’s hotel room and looked hard into the face of the young woman still trying to blink away the tears that had started the second she had come into the room and saw Emma’s suitcases.
“Maya. Why didn’t you mention that you and Harry had dated before he married Emma?”
“Why does it matter now?” Maya replied, between sips of a glass of water. “That was years ago. We were both so young back then.”
“Things end with Harry and then he marries your friend, Emma. That must have been very hard on you,” Erin suggested.
“It wasn’t like that. I had an amazing chance to study in California and I took it. Harry had just started an exciting new job, so we agreed that we should be free to see other people when I was away. Emma met him by chance, and they became a couple. It was just one of those things.” Maya tried to sound casual and relaxed, but she was a terrible actress and guilt was written all over the face.
“Did you go to their wedding?” Erin asked.
“Emma and Harry’s?” Maya looked up in surprise. “No. I was still in California on an intensive course when they set the date. I couldn’t make it back. I’ve seen them many times since then. There wasn’t any problem.”
“Maya. I want to be honest with you. The way you were kissing Harry in your car just now suggests to me that you still care very deeply about him. Am I right?”
Maya clenched her hands around the glass of water so tightly that Erin was worried that it might crack.
“Harry was my best friend at university before we dated. You don’t get many good friends in life and Harry was one of them. I might have pretended that I was happy for them both, and yes, it was hard at first. I admit it. But I always wanted them to be happy together. Always. Th
ey were both my friends and I cared about them. I only ever wanted the best for them. Harry made his choice when he asked Emma to be his wife, and that was how it was going to be.”
“Did you know that Emma had asked Harry for a divorce?”
Maya replied with a quick nod of her head. “Emma told me at the hen night dinner. It came as a complete shock. Emma was always bragging about how wonderful their relationship was and how kind and generous Harry had been. It was all lies, I know that now.”
“That’s what I don’t understand,” Erin whispered. “Why did she agree to help Fiona arrange her wedding, when her own marriage was in turmoil?”
“Turmoil?” Maya coughed. “There was no turmoil. Emma threw Harry out of the house which had already been transferred into her name and told him that she was bored with him. It’s little wonder that Harry is so bitter about how he has been treated. Why do you think Emma was working as an accounts clerk? She wanted to be sure that she would be awarded a very generous settlement in the divorce hearing. It was always about the money, even from the start.”
“What do you mean,” Erin asked. “I’m sorry but I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you get it? Harry is a self-made millionaire, but his wife had to work a low-wage job to pay the bills. How about that for a sob story? She was always such an expert at playing the innocent victim.”
“So that’s why she did it! I did wonder. How very devious.” Erin whispered.
“That was Emma. Always scheming. Always coming up with clever plans.”
Maya’s voice was so cold and hard-edged that it took Erin by surprise for a moment.
She leaned closer to Maya and focused on her face.
“There is something you should know. I will never get over finding Emma like that. Right now, I am trying to understand what happened on the day she died. Will you help? I found out earlier today that Emma lashed out at you at the girls’ dinner on Friday evening. Why couldn’t you talk about how badly she treated you? Please, I really want to know more.”
Maya looked up once, but her gaze instantly focused back down on her hands, now twisted around a piece of sodden tissue.