Okay, that’s not the point to be worried about.
Why is he looming over me?
Why did I agree to meet Danny?
Noel held the phone out, pointing it at Motts like a weapon. “Danny told me all about your questions. He demanded to know if I’d hurt Rhona. If I’d been jealous. Jealous. What a load of absolute rubbish. Me? Jealous of him. He’s done nothing with his life but work for his family.”
“You run your family’s charity shop.”
“Shut the bloody hell up.” Noel jabbed the phone into her shoulder. “He didn’t deserve her.”
Motts shifted further to the side, trying to keep her footing on the slick steps. It had started to drizzle, which did nothing to stop her shivering from cold and fear. “And you deserved Rhona?”
“I had plans and dreams. Danny only wanted to dig around in the dirt with plants.” Noel sneered. He still held the phone tightly, waving it around while he shouted. “She could’ve had me.”
“Could she?” Motts didn’t know what the right way was to calm the situation. Noel had definitely gone beyond the point of being reasoned with. He seemed content to throw a temper tantrum. “Rhona loved Danny.”
“He didn’t deserve her,” Noel reiterated. He slammed Danny’s phone against the ground. It bounced down the steps, past the railing and down toward the sea. She definitely had no intentions of following its path. “I told her I loved her.”
“And how did Rhona feel about you?” She wanted to draw out the conversation. One, because she wanted answers, but also in the hopes someone would come along and notice them. “Was she in love with you?”
Her questions sent Noel off on another tangent. He ranted about Rhona turning him down. Motts tried to edge away from him, out of reach, while he called the woman he claimed to love vile names.
Cursing her curiosity, Motts watched Noel warily. He hadn’t worn himself out yet. She wondered how everyone had missed his obvious stalker tendencies towards Rhona.
He went on and on about how he’d followed Rhona and Danny on their dates. He even tried to warn Innis and Rose. Motts wondered if the young woman had had any inclination she was being tracked around the small village so closely.
“She wouldn’t listen.” Noel stepped closer to her. “I warned her. I told her Danny would only drag her down.”
Motts cringed away from him. His breath washed across her, and he’d definitely had a few pints before tricking her into meeting. “What happened to Rhona?”
“She loved chocolates.”
Motts tilted her head in confusion. Chocolates? What? “Did she?”
“She did.” Noel’s smile wasn’t anywhere near as friendly as Hughie’s or as unique as Teo’s. His felt menacing and terrifying. “My mum makes chocolate truffles. I added a special ingredient. Crushed up the seeds myself. Saved the petals, had to put them in my little memory box as a memento of our special time together.”
Their special time together.
“Foxglove.” She knew the flowers in the tin had been connected to Rhona’s death. “The dried petals.”
“Picked them straight from the Orchards’s garden.” Noel seemed pleased with his cleverness. “She chose him. Him. Over me. She never appreciated my worth. My intelligence.”
Jealousy did strange things to people. Motts remembered her dad once talking about how envy and possessiveness could poison any relationship. She’d never seen it manifested so violently in person.
Then again, how many true crime podcasts had she listened to where the killer in a case had been driven by jealousy?
“I wanted the cottage to be mine.”
Motts's head snapped around toward Noel in surprise. “What?”
“I could’ve bought the cottage if you hadn’t decided to move in.” Noel clearly didn’t know her family well; River would’ve taken the home if Motts hadn’t. “She wouldn’t be able to tell me to go away then.”
Right.
His angry confession made her wonder, though. Had Noel been the one to try to run her over? Maybe it hadn’t been a warning but an attempt on her life.
“You drove into me,” she accused.
Noel sneered at her. “I missed.”
“Not from my perspective.” Motts mentally berated herself. She didn’t need to antagonise him. It wouldn’t keep her alive. “Was the bracelet yours? Why bury the tin in the garden? Why not keep it with you?”
While Noel proceeded to brag about his own brilliance, Motts glanced around, trying to figure out how to get away from him. She had no intentions of letting him attack, if that was the plan. He stalked back and forth on the step in front of her, creating a physical block in the path.
I will get out of this.
Someone has to take care of Cactus and Moss.
“You’re not listening,” Noel complained. He stomped his foot like a toddler having a temper tantrum over a broken toy. “You’re just like her.”
“Not really.” Motts dodged out of the way when he lunged for her. They slipped on the rain-slicked steps. Her head smacked against the side of the lighthouse, and her vision blurred slightly. “Bugger.”
“Why couldn’t you mind your own business? You had to dig around in the garden.” Noel struggled to get to his feet. He kicked out at her, and Motts rolled out of the way of his foot. “You nosy cow.”
“You left a body in my garden. And I refuse to have another unsolved mystery on my conscience.” Motts scrambled for purchase on the steps. She kept slipping closer to the railing and the edge of the cliff beyond. She caught her foot on a pole and saved herself from going further down. “It didn’t take a genius to figure out who did it.”
Technically, I didn’t figure it out.
He doesn’t need to know.
“I won’t leave a body this time.” Noel managed to get to his feet and started towards her. “You’ll be another tragic case of a tourist getting too close to the edge of a cliff. Happens all the time.”
I am not going over the edge of a cliff.
I’m not.
There was no purchase for her hands in the ground around the lighthouse. Noel loomed over her, trying to shove her with his foot. He bent to push with his hands when that failed.
Motts slipped closer to the edge, her feet dangling off it. She gripped tightly to the safety railing. “Listen, you absolute berk. I am not going off this cliff. It’s not happening.”
Noel kept trying to peel her fingers away from the pole. “Let go.”
“No.” Motts wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the surreal aspect of the moment. Did he genuinely believe she’d just voluntarily slide over the edge? She wanted to scream for help, but who’d hear her? “Will you stop it?”
Noel ignored her. He managed to remove one of her hands from the pole. She slipped further down. “Rhona died so much easier. Why won’t you cooperate?”
“Berk.” She didn’t get a chance to say anything else. Noel suddenly disappeared from her view. “I should’ve stayed in bed.”
Terrifying moments in life, Motts decided, happened both insanely fast and in slow motion. She’d been dangling halfway down an incline toward the edge of a cliff one second, then was yanked up to safety in the next instant. Teo crushed her in his arms, twisting her away from the view of Constable Stone and Inspector Ash, who’d wrestled Noel to the ground.
“You didn’t say freeze. Police always say freeze.” Motts trembled in his arms. She was drenched to the bone, but her shivering had nothing to do with the chill and damp from the rain. “Freezing felons fancy frolicking.”
“We’re not on some show on the telly.” Teo laughed, though it sounded a little strained. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”
“I’m fine.”
“Your head is bleeding.” He carried her quickly up the stairs, around Noel and the police pinning him to the ground. “Let’s get you out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Despite Teo’s urging, Motts had insisted on going to the small local cli
nic. She felt a little sore but nothing worse. The bleeding on her head from hitting the lighthouse had stopped, so to her mind, there was no point in making a dramatic trip to the hospital.
The doctor checked her over, gave her some paracetamol, and sent her home to rest. Teo drove from the clinic to the cottage in silence. His hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly, Motts worried he might break it or hurt his fingers.
Teo parked outside the cottage behind the two cars already there. He twisted around in the seat slightly to face her. “I’ll take your statement later. Why don’t we get you inside? You’ll want to change into dry clothes.”
He sounded so calm. Motts didn’t know how to respond to the suddenly professional police officer sitting beside her. She wondered if he was as shell-shocked as she felt; maybe falling back on his training kept him going.
Motts nodded shakily and got out of the vehicle. Her legs almost went out from under her; she rested her hand against the car to regain her balance. “I just need a minute.”
Teo moved quickly over to her side. He wrapped his arm around her. “Can I help?”
“Maybe we should go to the hospital.” Motts leaned into his support. “We could drive.”
“You can’t avoid the crowd in your cottage forever.” Teo didn’t appear to have any sympathy for her. “When my call disconnected, I immediately reached out to Constable Stone. He assured me that you’d promised to stay in the cottage. He, in turn, called your cousin to see if he’d seen you. We all converged on your cottage as quickly as possible.”
Motts started to struggle to process what he was saying. “Right.”
After the adrenaline had faded away, Motts simply felt exhausted and cold. She knew the doctor had suggested warming up. Teo seemed to sense her flagging energy and carried her the rest of the way to the cottage.
Vina came out of the front door with Nish and River close behind. “Mottsy.”
“I’m fine,” Motts promised.
“You’re not, but you will be.” Teo eased between the trio to get Motts into the cottage. He glanced back at Vina. “Maybe you could help her to her room?”
There was a bit of grumbling between the group gathered in her living room. Motts tuned out all of it. She barely noticed Vina easing her arm around Motts’s shoulders to guide her down toward her bedroom.
“We’ll sort you out, won’t we?” Vina paused to let Cactus into the room. “I swear, he knew something was wrong. As soon as River let us into the cottage, he tried to get us to go outside. We had to lift him up and hold him.”
In the sanctity of her bedroom with Cactus and Vina, Motts collapsed on her bed. Her hands continued to shake, no matter what she did. They clutched as though still clinging to the railing for life; she had blisters on a few of her fingers from the effort as a reminder.
“Nish is so much better at calm and collected. I do the panicky helter-skelter.” Vina knelt in front of her, resting her hands on Motts’s wet jeans. “I’ll run the water for you. A lovely hot bath will do you the world of good. Amma was cooking up a storm when we left. You know she believes her food can cure any number of illnesses.”
“It can,” Motts muttered through chattering teeth. “How can I lounge in the bath with all those people in the living room?”
“All those people love and care about you.” Vina tapped her on the nose gently. “Even Teo. I’m convinced he’s going to be head-over-heels for you. They’ll all wait until you’re warm and in your comfy clothes.”
“Okay.”
“I am the all-knowing Vina. You should listen to me,” she teased. “Right. I’ll check on the bath. I put your favourite sudsy stuff in the water already. You strip down to your pants.”
“Vina.”
She laughed at Motts’s outraged glare. “Fine. You go in and check on the bath. I’ll dig through your wardrobe to find your favourite fox onesie. It’s fluffy and warm. You can even pull the hood over your head if you want to ignore all of us.”
Knowing her family and friends, Motts knew ignoring them wouldn’t be an option. She headed into the bathroom anyway. A nice warm soak did sound brilliant.
“Are you covered?” Vina called through the door ten minutes later.
Motts shifted the suds to cover her body. “I’m fine.”
Vina opened the door and set the onesie on the sink counter. “Prepare yourself. Your auntie and uncle, my parents, Marnie, and Inspector Ash have all arrived. Nish is trying to convince at least some of them to come back later.”
“He’ll be unsuccessful.”
“Probably,” Vina admitted. “Amma brought curry, your auntie brought what appears to be enough dumplings to feed all of Polperro, and Marnie brought Jaffa Cakes.”
Waving Vina out of the bathroom, Motts decided she’d soaked and sulked enough. Nothing was going to change what had almost happened by the lighthouse. She didn’t want to hide in the bathroom.
It made her feel as though she’d done something wrong. She might’ve been foolish to go out by the cliffs, but it hadn’t been her fault. Noel was solely to blame for both Rhona’s murder and attacking her.
Multiple times.
Motts dried off, pulled on her onesie, and dragged her brush through her hair. Cactus hopped up on the counter to observe. “Did I worry you?”
Meow.
“I apologise.” She bent over to rub her nose against his. “How about a catnip biscuit?”
Lifting Cactus into her arms, Motts headed out to face the firing squad. Teo spotted her first; not a surprise when he stood taller than everyone in the room. She got the feeling he’d been watching for her.
“Hello, tiny Pineapple.” Her uncle Tom surged forward to wrap his arms around her. He eased off when Cactus complained with a plaintive meow. “Are you alright, then?”
“I’m getting there, Uncle Tomato.” Motts went from one hug to another. She finally made it into the kitchen and fished through the treat cupboard for one of Cactus’s favourite biscuits. He ran off to hide behind the sofa to eat in peace. “Fine. Abandon me to face the interrogation alone.”
When Motts turned towards everyone, the questions practically smacked her in the face. Everyone spoke over each other at varying volumes. She covered her ears with her hands and closed her eyes.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. If I count to a hundred, will they all disappear?
Motts opened her eyes at the sound of movement to find the majority of those gathered were stepping out into the garden. She found herself alone with Teo, her uncle Tom, and Nish—the calmest of the bunch. “I never realised counting to ten was so powerful.”
Nish winked at her. “They’ll sort themselves out. Why don’t you grab the Jaffa Cakes and a mug of hot chocolate? I heated the kettle for you.”
Hot chocolate and biscuits in hand, Motts ensconced herself on her favourite section of the sofa. She draped a blanket over her legs. Cactus had finished his treat and leapt up to join her.
Her uncle Tom sat beside her while Nish and Teo sat on the armchairs across from the sofa. “Do you want to tell us what happened?”
Not really.
Ignoring her best friend and her uncle, Motts focused on Teo. She didn’t understand why his presence comforted her, but it did. The three men listened while she talked through receiving the text from Danny to confronting Noel by the lighthouse.
They didn’t seem at all comforted by how much she’d struggled to decide whether to go or not. She was grateful they didn’t interrupt her tale. Teo had gotten out his little notebook to jot down notes when she shared what Noel had confessed.
“Is it safe to come in?” Vina poked her head into the cottage. “It’s starting to rain again. I don’t fancy all of us getting a chill.”
“Come on. We can nosh on the mountain of food.” Motts waved them inside. She’d shared all she intended to about her ill-advised adventure. “No more questions.”
“But—”
Teo stood up, causing Vina to pause. “She’s talked enough abo
ut the incident for one day. Leave her alone.”
Motts smiled gratefully at him, and he winked in return. “Are you leaving?”
Teo nodded. He came around the room and bent down to kiss the top of her head. “I’ve a suspect to interrogate. You enjoy your curry and cakes.”
“Teo?” She glanced up to meet his gaze. “Thank you.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Over a month had passed since Motts’s dramatic encounter by the lighthouse. All of her aches and pains had faded away within the first week. Her only lingering reminder was the occasional nightmare.
The bad dreams haunted her sleep at least twice a week. She had initially tried to stay up all night to avoid them. When that didn’t work, she’d taken to calling Teo, who kindly talked through her nightmares with her until she managed to drift off peacefully.
Motts usually hated talking on the phone for any length of time. Teo didn’t cause the same level of anxiety for some reason. She had the brief spike of fear when dialling his number, then it faded away after he answered.
After two weeks, Motts had begun to feel comfortable outside of the cottage once more. She got back into the habit of walking the path to fight her fears. Her daily forays into the village helped.
Over the first few days, it felt like every villager had popped by to check on her. Marnie had explained they’d taken Noel’s behaviour as a personal affront and wanted to ensure Motts received a proper welcome. She didn’t know how to deal with them or the copious amounts of food they brought.
But now, five weeks after the drama on the cliff, Motts had begun to settle down completely. She didn’t jump at shadows. Any anxiety now likely had more to do with an impending visit from her parents, which would definitely involve an argument about her moving back home.
She wouldn’t.
Despite everything, Motts had already fallen in love with life in the village. She’d created a new routine for herself. The garden had begun to flourish in the late spring sun.
Poisoned Primrose Page 16