by Sherri Bryan
“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe the Halls are involved in this. I really can’t.” Charlotte’s eyes were wide with disbelief. “D’you think they killed Samuel, too?”
Nathan pulled her to him in a hug. “I don’t know what to think. Look, you go home. Go and get warmed up and I’ll see you later, okay? And I know you will, but please try not to worry.”
She nodded, her imagination already filling her mind with images of cyanide-wielding maniacs, and she quickened her pace towards home.
ººººººº
Nathan pulled up outside the home of Lionel and Heather Hall. He was about to get out of the car when his phone rang, the display telling him that Fiona was calling.
“What can you tell me?”
“Chief, there’s no one at the Slade house. We’ve rung the bell and looked around but there’s no sign of anyone. No lights on and all the doors and windows are locked.”
“Okay. Look, I’m round at Lionel and Heather Hall’s place. I’m pretty sure they’ve got something to do with Richard Slade’s death, possibly Samuel’s too. I hope to God I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. Anyway, I’ll speak to you in a while, okay?”
He sighed heavily as he walked up the path. Why did they do it? He rang the bell and Lionel Hall opened the door almost immediately.
“Evening, Lionel. Can I come in?”
“Of course.” The old man stepped aside. “We knew you’d come, sooner or later.” With a sad smile, he shuffled along the hall to the living room where he joined his wife on the couch. He took her hand and held it between his.
“Hello, Heather.” Nathan sat down in the chair beside them.
Heather was calm, all signs of the stress which been so evident at their previous meeting gone.
“Nathan, I know you won’t understand, but I had to do it. As soon as I heard they were coming out of prison, I knew I was going to do it. I was always going to do it - it was just a matter of when. I’m so sorry I lied to you. And now you have to take me away, don’t you?”
Nathan had never been so disappointed at the prospect of arresting someone for murder. “Yes, Heather, I do. And I have to ask you officially, did you kill Samuel and Richard Slade?”
She looked confused. “No, I’ve already told you I didn’t kill Samuel. Only Richard.”
“You’re sure?” Nathan had to be certain.
“Of course I’m sure! I think I’d remember whether I’ve killed someone or not.” Heather smiled briefly.
“For God’s sake, why did you do it?”
She looked directly at him, a look of resignation on her weary face. “I couldn’t face knowing that Richard Slade was going to be back here, in St. Eves. Walking the same pavements as me, going to the same shops. That man was pure evil. I couldn’t deal with knowing that I could bump into him at any time. Not after what happened.”
“And what did happen?”
Heather put her head in her hands. “Oh Nathan. It’s such a mess. It’s been a mess for years ... and it’s all my fault.” She blew her nose and began her story.
“Years ago, I had an affair with Bill Slade. We hadn’t long been married, me and Lionel, and we’d just started up the hardware store. Bill came to us, demanding protection money but we just didn’t have it back then. The business hadn’t been going long enough to generate enough to pay him every week.
“Anyway, for some reason, he took a shine to me. He told us that if he could see me a couple of nights a week, he’d let us off the payments until we had the money to pay him.
“As you can imagine, Lionel went crazy. I had to hold him back from flying at Bill. He told him to keep his hands off me and that he’d find the money to pay him if it killed him. We ended up borrowing some money from his parents to make sure we had enough to keep Bill off our backs for a couple of months.”
She glanced at Lionel and he squeezed her hand as he encouraged her to continue with her story. “Go on, love.”
“I should never have been so stupid, but I was naive and flattered that a powerful man like Bill was interested in me so I began seeing him secretly. It was all very hush-hush, of course. No one knew anything about it to start with. Not Lionel, not Maureen, not anyone.
“Anyway, when I fell pregnant, I didn’t know if the father was Lionel or Bill. I was petrified but when I told Lionel, he was amazing. He said he’d stand by me regardless and always treat the child as his own.
“Bill, on the other hand, cleared off so quickly, you couldn’t see him for dust. He wanted nothing more to do with me. After that, it was one of his heavies who came to the store to collect the money from us.”
Heather took a sip of water from a glass on the table in front of her.
“I didn’t see Bill again in a social capacity until years later when I was much older - just after the first robbery, in fact. Of course, at that time, we had no idea it was the Slade brothers who were responsible. We were closing up the store one evening when three men in balaclavas burst in.
“One of them hit Lionel over the head so hard, we thought he’d lost his hearing. And then the same man held a gun to my face. He tormented me and told me what he was going to do to me if I didn’t tell him the combination for the safe. He seemed to take pleasure in knowing he was hurting us. He was evil. We found out later that the man was Richard Slade.”
She stopped again and took another sip of water.
“I was a wreck after that. I just retreated into myself and lost all my confidence. It wasn’t until I went to my first Ladies Association meeting that I began to recover. They helped me so much.
“You can imagine my surprise when I found out that Bill Slade had strong connections to the Association. By then, he owned a successful property business and he had the money to donate very generously, which he did.
“I met him again when the Treasurer of the Association couldn’t get to an appointment she’d made at Bill’s home to discuss his donation for the Easter fair. She asked me to go in her place - I never planned for anything to happen, but one thing led to another, and, well ... you know.
“We kept our relationship secret for months. It was easy to get together at his house - I’d always say that I was there on Association business. It was the perfect guise.”
She turned to Lionel and stroked his cheek. “I know I’ve said I’m sorry so many times, but I really am so, so sorry, my darling.”
“It’s okay, my love.” Lionel dabbed at his eyes. “It’s yesterday’s news. Go on, finish the story.”
Heather turned back to Nathan. “One day, the boys came home unexpectedly and caught their father and I in a rather compromising position. As you can imagine, all hell broke loose.
“It wasn’t until Bill threatened to cut them out of his will that they agreed not to tell anyone what they’d seen but they weren’t happy about it. I will never forget the way Richard Slade looked at me. It was as if he wanted to kill me there and then.
“I never saw Bill again after that, but that’s when the problems really started. Those boys of his bore grudges. They bided their time and a year later, they came back and robbed the store again. That time, though, it was personal. They were doing it out of spite - for revenge.
“Just like the first time, they came back just as we were closing up. They all had balaclavas on and they pulled a bag over Lionel’s head, tied his hands and feet to a chair and pushed him over.
“One of them emptied the safe and one of them emptied the till. I was cowering behind the counter, pleading with them not to hurt us and Richard crouched down beside me and threatened me. I didn’t need to see his face to know it was him. As soon as he spoke to me, I knew.
“I can’t repeat what he said he was going to do to me, Nathan, but it put the fear of God into me. Thank God you came in when you did - I don’t know what he would have done if you hadn’t. The stress of that second robbery almost killed me - when I was lying in the hospital, I knew I would never be at peace while Richard Slade was alive.”
The strain of telling the story and resurrecting old emotions finally proved too much. Collapsing in a heap, Heather sobbed in Lionel’s arms.
Lionel rocked his wife to calm her. When her sobs had subsided to faint whimpers, he said, simply. “And that’s why we had to kill him. He came into the shop last week, you know. Just to taunt us. Even after all these years, he couldn’t leave us in peace. Heather was at breaking point. We had to get rid of him for the sake of her sanity.
“Don’t be too hard on her, Nathan. It was my idea to make up the condolence baskets. We sent three to the house - one for each of them - but there was cyanide in Richard’s. We had to do it. You do understand, don’t you?”
Lionel hugged his wife tightly and kissed her forehead.
Nathan sighed heavily.
“I really wish I didn’t have to do this, I really do. Heather Hall, I am arresting you for the murder of Richard Slade. You do not have to say anything ...”
He read Heather and Lionel their rights before calling Ben and Fiona to come to the house and take them down to the police station.
“What about Samuel Slade, Chief? Did they kill him too?” Ben Dillon spoke quietly as he entered the house.
“No. They say they didn’t and I believe them.”
“So we’ve still got a murderer on the loose?”
“Looks that way, I’m afraid. I’ll get the team together first thing in the morning for a briefing but right now, I’m going to look for Maureen and Trevor. I assume they’ll be together - I can’t imagine that Maureen would get too far on her own in weather like this.
“Anyway, I don’t want them finding out about Richard’s death from anyone else. They’re hostile enough as it is - they certainly don’t need anything else fuelling their animosity towards the police at the moment.”
“I thought you were keeping a low profile with Mrs. Slade, Chief?” Fiona raised her eyebrows.
“I was, but I’m not going to pander to her every whim forever. You two have already been on duty for too long today, so she’ll just have to put up with me. You both get yourselves home when you’ve finished with the Halls and I’ll see you in the morning.”
ººººººº
Nathan turned up the heater in his car as he spoke to Charlotte.
“Hi. Look, I’m going to be a while yet. The Slades weren’t at home when Ben and Fiona went round so I’m going to take a drive around town and see if I can find them. I’ll start off at the marina - Will was telling me the other day that the brothers have been in The Bottle of Beer a few times, so that’s where I’ll start.”
“So were Lionel and Heather Hall involved in Richard’s death, do you think?”
“Unfortunately, they were. But not Samuel’s.”
“So there’s still a killer on the loose?” Charlotte’s voice went up an octave.
“Yes, but I won’t rest until we have someone behind bars. You know that, Charlotte.”
“I know, I know. It’s just terrible to know that the killer’s still out there.”
Nathan looked at his watch. “Look, I’d better go and get this over with. I’m not looking forward to breaking the news about Richard to Maureen and Trevor and, as I’m not their favourite person, I’ve no idea how it’s going to go.
“I’ll see you later, okay, but don’t wait up. I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be a late one.”
ººººººº
Brrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrr.
Charlotte woke abruptly and looked at the clock. The digital display flashed 01:07 AM.
She threw her arm out but Nathan’s side of the bed was still empty. Must be him calling.
She reached for the phone and saw Harriett’s smiling face beaming at her from the screen.
She could count the times that Harriett had called her on two fingers and on both occasions, it had been an emergency - once when she’d come home from bingo and realised she’d left her keys inside the house and the other when Ava’s husband had accidentally reversed the car over her foot.
Charlotte had no idea why the ladies always rang her when they found themselves in sticky situations, but she was glad they did and she always dropped everything to help them.
“Hi Harriett. What’s up?” She grinned as she clearly heard Leo’s muffled voice in the background and Harriett’s urgent whisper.
“Sshhh, be quiet or she’ll hear you ... oh, hello Charlotte dear. I was just on my way back from a Ladies Night at the Masonic Lodge with, er, a friend, and I think your café’s being burgled. I didn’t think it would be you in there at this time of night, but I wanted to be sure. Hence the call, which confirms I was correct. Anyway, we didn’t wait around outside for too long, or go in, but I wanted to let you know as soon as possible.”
“Oh my God!” Charlotte’s blood ran cold. “Are you sure? Why do you think there’s someone in there?
“Well, there are no lights on but we heard knocking noises as we passed by and when we listened against the wall, we could hear voices and people moving around. I’m sorry to worry you, dear, but I had to let you know.”
“Oh yes, of course - thanks.” Charlotte’s mind was in a whirl. “Okay, um, I’ll let Nathan know right away. Thanks again, Harriett. Yes, of course I’ll let you know what happens. Right, bye.”
Knocking noises? She dialled Nathan’s number. It rang before switching to answerphone.
She pulled on the clothes she’d taken off two hours before and ran downstairs for her jacket and boots, Nathan’s number on constant redial. Still no answer.
Damn, I’ll have to go down to the marina and try him again when I get there.
She grabbed a pen and paper and wrote him a note in case he came back home before she’d managed to get hold of him.
Hi sweetie,
Harriett called. She thinks someone’s broken into the café - have gone to check it out but don’t worry, I won’t go in! Will keep trying you. xx
She propped up the note on the kitchen table before picking Pippin up and making a fuss of him. She hated leaving him on his own, but she wasn’t about to take him out at this time of night in the snow. “Be a good boy, okay. I’ll be back soon.”
ººººººº
As Charlotte approached the marina on the back road, the café was in darkness.
Pressing her ear up against the wall she could hear the faint knocking that Harriett had spoken of, muffled voices and the sound of people moving about inside.
Sounds like they’re dragging something across the floor. Probably a big bag filled with everything they’re about to steal from my café. She was fuming and fearful all at the same time.
Creeping up the footpath, she saw four tracks of footprints leading all the way to the front door of the awning. Three were partially covered in snow and one was more visible, indicating that they had been made more recently.
Peering through the transparent polythene window, she saw that the thick chain which held the doors secure with a padlock had been cut.
She crept back down the footpath and crouched down underneath the kitchen window. Her heart was pounding as she fumbled for her phone and she wasn’t sure if it was her thick glove or the fact that she was shaking from the adrenalin rush that was making it difficult to dial Nathan’s number.
She held the phone tightly to her ear and with every ring, she willed him to pick up.
It took a while before she realised that she wasn’t only listening to the ring in her ear, she could actually hear it nearby. It stopped ringing as it went to answerphone and she redialled immediately. If he was nearby, Nathan must have gone home and seen her note and was on his way to the café.
The phone rang again.
She heard it clearly this time.
But it wasn’t coming from outside the café.
It was coming from inside the café.
Her stomach churned.
What on earth is Nathan doing in there?
She had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling.
In a blind pa
nic she swiped her phone screen again and called Ben. The phone rang six times before he answered sleepily. “Charlotte? What time is it? What’s up?”
“Ben,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry to call you so late but I think Nathan’s in trouble. Big trouble. Can you get some help down here? What? Oh, I’m at the café.”
She quickly told him what she knew and he immediately jumped into action, promising to get help to her as soon as possible.
“And for God’s sake, Charlotte, stay outside, okay? Don’t for one minute think about going in there. Okay?”
“Okay, I won’t. But please hurry.”
As she hung up, she was caught in the headlights of an approaching car.
She looked away, the high beam temporarily dazzling her. She waited for it to pass, but the car slowed down and came to a stop in front of her.
The driver’s door opened and, as she squinted through the snow that had just started to fall again, she saw that the car’s occupants were Lavender and Marigold Burridge.
“I say, Charlotte. What on earth are you doing out here at this time of night? Is everything alright?” Lavender swung her leg out of the car and pulled up the hood on her jacket.
Charlotte shook her head frantically and put her finger to her lips. “Sshhh! Keep your voice down - someone might hear you! No, it’s not alright. There’s someone in the café and I think they’ve got Nathan in there with them. I called him and I can hear his phone ringing inside but he’s not answering.”
“Oh, good Lord! That doesn’t sound very good, does it?” Marigold whispered as she zipped up her anorak.
“Come on, let’s take a look. Come on Charlotte.” Lavender took Charlotte’s hand and began to lead her up the footpath.
“No!” Charlotte pulled back but Lavender kept walking. “We can’t go in there! We don’t know if they’re armed or dangerous - or both! We have to wait for the ...”
Her feet slipped and she looked down at the snow on the path.
She saw the footprints in front of her. They were from Lavender’s boots.
And the outline of a cheetah was clearly visible.
Chapter 11
Her blood ran cold, every instinct telling her to run. With all her strength, she pulled to get away from Lavender but Marigold’s surprisingly strong grip caught her arms from behind and pushed her forward.
