Gin and Toxic

by Alana Ling

  We waited at the bar for our plan to take effect.

  It didn’t take long.

  Stephen Brown appeared at reception, steam practically coming out of his ears. When Rosalind told him he hadn’t in fact been summoned because he had to swap rooms again, but because someone wanted to speak to him, he looked over at us.’

  I waved at him and waited for him to join our table.

  He rushed into the bar and stood over the empty seat.

  ‘Can I help you, ladies?’

  I gestured for him to sit down and waited for him to oblige.

  ‘You have me worried, girls,’ he said.

  ‘Mr. Brown,’ I started, ‘why didn’t you tell us you were having an affair with Mr. Harris?’

  The colour drained from his face and he grabbed onto the table for dear life. Sam lifted the jug of water and poured him a glass. He took it from her and swigged the contents with a series of audible, agonising gulps.

  ‘How do you know?’ he asked.

  Sam and I looked at each other. ‘We’re not at liberty to—’

  ‘It was him, wasn’t it? That scum, Baker Moore?’

  ‘Why is he scum, Mr. Brown?’ I asked him, leaning in closer across the table and piercing him with my eyes.

  Stephen didn’t respond, focusing instead on the table and its contents.

  I tapped my hand on the wooden surface, waiting for him to spill the beans, and Sam crossed her hands, staring at him. Stephen didn’t cave.

  ‘Your wife knows about you and Colton, doesn’t she?’ I asked and Stephen nodded. ‘Did she find out this weekend?’

  He didn’t respond.

  ‘All of Colton’s clients got letters delivered to reception. That’s when she found out, am I right?’

  ‘They came out of nowhere. I didn’t know who would do such a thing.’

  ‘They?’ I asked.

  Stephen looked up at me and his eyes widened.

  ‘The-the pen letters. What did you call them? Poison pen letters? We each got one and that’s how she found out about Colton and me and how I found out everything was a lie.’

  ‘How did you feel when you found out?’ I asked.

  ‘Oh, I was livid,’ he said and then gave us a chuckle. ‘So I went and talked to him.’

  ‘And what did he say?’ Sam asked.

  Stephen huffed. ‘More lies, of course. He said I shouldn’t believe a faceless letter over him.’

  ‘That was when Henry saw you in the lift,’ I said.

  Stephen nodded.

  ‘He didn’t mention a goldmine to you, did he?’ I asked.

  ‘No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘See, Colton told Baker that—’ Sam started to say, but I cut in, not wanting her to reveal something that could be crucial to the investigation.

  ‘Mr. Brown, how did your wife react to her letter?’

  Stephen looked down at his lap.

  ‘Not very well,’ he admitted. ‘You can imagine.’

  I shook my head when Stephen looked up at me and he hung his head in shame again.

  ‘Anything else, Mr. Brown?’ I matched my question with a raise of the eyebrow.

  He grabbed for his water and took a few sips before putting it back down again.

  ‘She was angry, yes. But when I explained to her how I’d been fooled and it was just a lapse, she calmed down. She loves me a lot, my wife.’

  I cleared my throat and narrowed my eyes. ‘And do you have a lot of these lapses, Mr. Brown?’

  His cheeks turned red and he dropped his eyes back to his lap.

  ‘Uhm, occasionally.’

  ‘Surely, it’s easier to just admit you’re gay,’ Sam said and Stephen’s eyes widened, looking around the table to make sure no one had heard.

  ‘I’m not gay, Miss Tully.’

  ‘Okay. So you like chocolate every once in a while because vanilla can get so boring?’ She giggled.

  ‘I-I don’t see,’ he started, ‘how this is any of your business.’

  I nudged Sam who sat back on the chair and I put my hands on the table.

  ‘You’re right, Mr. Brown. It’s not. However, it has unfortunately become our business, what our lovely dinner guests are up to, considering it has led to two murders,’ I said.

  Stephen nodded in understanding, avoiding our eyes, however.

  ‘If that’s all, I’m rather busy,’ he said, getting his stiff demeanour back and leaving the table.

  Looking behind us, we saw him greet his wife.

  ‘Oh dear! How does a puppet like him end up cheating on his wife?’ Sam asked.

  ‘All the more excuse for him to cheat if he didn’t feel loved.’

  Sam raised her eyebrow and kept it there while she made her point.

  ‘I don’t think his problem is that his wife is controlling him, Jo. I think it’s more to do with the parts she’s missing.’

  ‘He could be bi.’

  Sam laughed. ‘He could be, but I doubt he is.’

  ‘Whatever, we still have two murders to solve and we’re at a dead end. Again.’

  Sam sighed and dropped on the table. ‘Yeah. Maybe some lunch will clear our minds?’

  * * *

  We made our way to Bean Therapy to give Devi’s new sandwiches another try and once again, she delivered.

  When she brought our food over, she sat down with us and leaned on the table, supporting her head with one hand.

  ‘You look exhausted,’ I told her.

  ‘I am.’

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Sam asked.

  Devi leaned back on her chair and sighed.

  ‘Nothing, really. But coming into the café at seven in the morning and then helping out at the pub until late is taking its toll on me. I’m knackered.’

  I massaged her shoulder with one hand and the puppy eyes she gave me were all I needed. I stood up, she pushed her hair to the side and I gave her neck a rub.

  ‘How long are you helping at the Oak for?’ I asked.

  ‘I don’t know. Until Kit gets back on his feet, I guess. I mean, Jamie’s got things under control in the front, but bless him, he doesn’t know much about the back-office stuff, and so I help out with that every night too.’

  I paused and leaned forward to look at my friend.

  ‘But he’s been supervisor at the Oak for seven years.’

  She nodded. ‘Yes, and as lovely as Paul was, he taught Jamie nothing about how to run a business, so you can imagine what a mammoth task Kit had in front of him when he took it over.’

  ‘I had no idea,’ I mumbled.

  ‘He picks things up quickly, though,’ she added.

  ‘How is Kit? Have you seen him at all?’ I asked.

  Sam leaned forward to hear Devi’s response, but her phone bleeped and she got consumed with messaging who I could only assume was Ollie.

  ‘He’s okay. He’s getting there, but he’s still quite shaken. Kit’s so sensitive, bless him, so it’s taking him some time to swallow what happened,’ Devi said.

  ‘He is. And I hate seeing him like that,’ I said. ‘I wish there was something I could do to make him feel himself again.’

  ‘He’ll get there. I think if he finds out who killed his ex, he might get some closure at least.’

  I patted Devi’s back and sat down next to her. ‘I know. I’m working on it.’

  ‘Any progress?’

  ‘None other than the fact that Kit’s ex was sleeping with all his clients,’ Sam mumbled, still absorbed by her phone.

  Devi turned to me, eyes wide and a hint of a smile on her lips. ‘What?’

  ‘Yeah, apparently Colton was a bit of a player. He was even sleeping with a married man.’

  ‘Ooh, cheeky.’

  I collapsed on the table and sighed. ‘I’m tired. And fed up.’

  ‘Come on, princess, let’s get back to work,’ Sam said.

  ‘What’s the point? And princess?’ I asked as I lifted my head to look at her.

  ‘Pri
ncess because I felt like calling you one for giving up so easily, and the point is, the more we probe these people, the more their lies will come crumbling down. So, get up!’ she shouted with half a laugh.

  I got up with a groan and we left Devi to her own devices and made our way back to the hotel.

  A few blocks away from Hotel Margot, I spotted a cloud of pink at the top of the road and I winced.

  ‘You all right?’ Sam asked me.

  I stopped in my tracks, upsetting another pedestrian and Sam halted next to me.

  ‘What happened, Jo?’ she asked.

  I ignored her, choosing instead to focus all my attention on my sight and trying to make out the shapes in the distance.

  Sam followed my stare and gasped.

  ‘Is that—?’ she started.

  ‘Effie Christie? Yes, she is,’ I said and my vision finally managed to make out the shape of my voluptuous mum with her pink perm, matching eyeglasses, and draped on the side of a handsome, young man whose smile was visible even from this distance.

  ‘Oh, Miss Effie, you wild thing.’ Sam laughed.

  ‘Wild. Sure,’ I mumbled and pursed my lips.

  Thankfully for her, Mum continued her route across the street without spotting me, leaving Sam to pick up the pieces and drag me all the way back to the hotel.

  When we arrived, we found Harper in the lobby, on her laptop, typing away, too busy to notice us.

  ‘Mrs. Brown!’ I called out to her and a sour face turned to look at us.

  ‘What is it, Joanna?’ she asked, returning her attention to the screen of her laptop.

  I sat opposite her, piercing her with my eyes and Sam stood next to her.

  ‘Well, we just wanted to check on you,’ I said. ‘We’ve been speaking to your husband about his…lapses, and we wanted to make sure you’re doing okay.’

  ‘Lapses? What lapses?’ she asked, a baffled look on her face.

  ‘Well, we’ve been speaking to Mr. Brown about his affair with Colton,’ I explained.

  Harper rolled her eyes, but didn’t bother to look at me.

  ‘You’re playing detective now? What happened to party planning, darling? So what? You found out my husband was cheating on me. There’s no need to patronise me.’

  I leaned forward. ‘I wasn’t patronising you, Mrs. Brown. I was genuinely—’

  ‘You were genuinely, what?’ she asked, this time she lifted her eyes to look at me. ‘Concerned about my wellbeing?’

  ‘Well, yes,’ I yelled bluntly, without much passion behind my words.

  Harper pouted and stared at me. When I didn’t cave, she put her laptop next to her and crossed her legs.

  ‘I’m fine. Really,’ she said. ‘Stephen and I had a talk about it and he told me the truth and apologised to me. So we’re giving our marriage another try. That’s all there is to it, really.’

  I chewed my lip when I said my next words. ‘Stephen said you went crazy when you found out.’

  I threw Sam a quick glance, who stifled a chuckle and straightened out as soon as Harper looked at her.

  ‘He was quite upset I found out, so he might have misinterpreted my feelings. I didn’t go crazy.’

  ‘Not that anyone would blame you if you did,’ Sam said. ‘I mean, he did cheat on you.’

  Harper looked from Sam to the floor and blinked faster than usual.

  ‘It’s true. But, you see, that’s not who I am, as a person. I don’t get upset easily.’

  I nodded. Our experience was a testament to that lie.

  ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I was doing something,’ she said and made to grab her laptop.

  A quick look at the screen showed a strip of pictures in photo-editing software.

  ‘Mrs. Brown.’ I got her attention again. ‘Did Detective Anderson ever return your pictures of the dinner?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Yes, actually.’

  ‘Would-would you mind if I borrowed the memory card as well? You know, in case we missed something the first time.’

  She smiled and reached into her bag. She passed me a small case and told me to keep it if I wanted to.

  ‘I made a copy on my computer when the detective gave it back to me,’ she explained.

  I thanked her and left her to get back to whatever she was up to.

  ‘Want to go through these with me?’ I asked Sam.

  She looked from her phone to me and she grimaced.

  ‘I promised Ollie I’d meet him for dinner and I wanted to get some rest before I meet him.’

  ‘What happened to not giving up?’

  ‘Well, we’re not, are we? You’re still on it. Please,’ she begged. ‘I’ve been so busy and tired I haven’t seen him in two days.’

  I took a dramatic pose and placed the back of my hand on my forehead, ‘Oh the horror!’

  ‘Please, Jo!’

  I shook my head and looked away from her.

  ‘Fine, you traitor. Go! Be free, my child.’ I fake cried and Sam gave me a kiss on the cheek before departing.

  Fourteen

  Looking around me, I realised there wasn’t much I could do from the hotel, other than keeping silent guard for all the suspects, which wasn’t helpful anyway as I had nothing to hold them with or against them.

  I walked back home.

  By the time I turned the key in my door, it was dark outside and I could see glimpses of Devi in the Oak Tavern, serving pints behind the bar.

  It was such an odd sight, seeing her with anything other than a coffee or a tea, or at worst, a glass of wine in the evenings when she chilled at her café after closing.

  Alfie bounded at me and jumped at my legs, his tail wagging faster than a speedometer. I grabbed his lead and we stalked onto the streets so he could relieve himself.

  After his first pee stop, I decided to go the scenic route and headed to the beach. And I don’t think I was fooling anyone when I tried to convince myself it wasn’t because I was hoping to bump into Kit.

  I walked across the street and took the steps leading to the beach, the splashing of the waves a serenade to the beautiful night it was turning out to be.

  Half of me was hoping Kit wouldn’t be there, because if he wasn’t, it meant he was dealing with his loss and perhaps he was ready to face work and life again.

  The other half of me was hoping he was, not because I liked him suffering, but because if he was, then I could sit with him and be there for him. Something I had failed to do so far.

  My heart did somersaults when I saw him, his back facing me as he was staring out at the dark sea.

  Alfie let out a bark when he saw Kit and I let him off his lead so he could go and greet his friend.

  Alfie jumped on Kit and Kit burst into laughter, play-fighting with my dog.

  ‘Miss him?’ I asked, unsure who my question was directed to.

  Kit looked up at me with a beautiful glow in his blue eyes. ‘A little bit.’ He chuckled.

  ‘How long have you been here?’ I asked.

  ‘Not long. I just sat down. I had a quick chat with Devika and then came down here.’

  ‘Are you feeling any better?’

  He shrugged. ‘I think I’m starting to. It’s been hard, you know. And I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you. You must feel terrible having another dead body on your hands.’

  I shook my head. ‘Don’t even mention it. I should be there for you. And I’m sorry I haven’t been.’

  Kit looked out onto the horizon and closed his eyes.

  ‘It’s okay. I know you’ve been busy trying to find who did it.’

  I sighed and dropped next to him. Alfie lay down and rested his head on Kit’s lap.

  ‘I have,’ I said finally.

  ‘How’s it going?’

  I looked at him, his eyes still closed, taking in the salty scents and the gentle breeze of the autumnal weather.

  How did I tell him who his ex was? Did he know already? Even if he did, what would he think if I revealed all I had f
ound out to him? There was a risk it would send him into a bigger tumble and onto a trip down memory lane.

  It might make him think Colton had been doing the same things while they had been together and even if that was true, there was no way of knowing now and upsetting him even further.

  ‘It’s slow. Not much to go with. But we’re trying,’ I ended up saying.

  He opened his eyes and looked at me, smiling.

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Whatever for?’

  He didn’t reply, but instead gave me a little grin and returned his attention to the sea. It was a lovely, albeit chilly, night tonight and the sky was full of stars, not such an unusual sight in Haven-on-Sea on a clear night, but still an unusual sight for me. Living in all the metropolises around the world had got me used to polluted and heavily clouded skies.

  ‘What are you thinking of?’ Kit whispered.

  I blinked several times, clearing my thoughts enough to be able to share them, and then looked at him.

  ‘I miss the days when my father would take me out fishing with him. I was thinking of the last time we’d had an adventure together.’

  ‘I wish I could have met him.’

  A little flutter escalated in my heart and I looked away from him.

  ‘Me too,’ I said. ‘But there’s still my mum. Whenever you’re ready for her kind of crazy.’

  ‘Just say when.’

  I thought back to earlier that day and seeing her in the arms of a younger man. Not any time soon. That was for sure. First, I needed to give her a good talking-to about the company she kept.

  The crackling sound of sand dragging interrupted my train of thought and both Kit and I turned around to see a couple walking along the beach. One of them was holding their shoes in their hands.

  ‘Mr. Bianchi, Mr. Bulet, how are you this fine evening?’ I asked them as soon as I could make out their faces and was sure it was them.

  The two men unlinked their hands and smiled uncomfortably. Henry looked at Kit and side stepped so he wasn’t as close to Valentino.

  ‘Very well, thank you, Joanna,’ he said.

  ‘Glad to hear it,’ I replied. ‘I’m glad it’s going well between you two.’

  Henry laughed with intensity and kept looking from Valentino to us.