A Plummet in the Polls

by Alana Ling

  I was just hoping tomorrow would be much better.

  Thirteen

  The next day we dropped by Tatiana’s house and knocked on her door. As expected, she didn’t respond.

  ‘Come on, let’s go,’ I said to Sam. ‘We’ll get her tomorrow.’

  Sam didn’t budge. ‘What if we don’t? What if she’s quit or is trying to run away? I mean, wouldn’t you if you had killed a man?’

  ‘What do you suggest?’

  Sam rubbed her chin and pursed her lips. ‘We wait her out.’

  I chuckled. ‘What? You mean like a stakeout?’ I laughed louder.

  ‘Why not? It’s not like we have any other leads to go with.’

  I bit my cheek and admitted she was right. ‘But you need to get coffee from Devi. And doughnuts. We can’t have a stakeout without doughnuts.’

  Sam did a little jump in the air and squealed. Then she recomposed herself and descended the flight of steps that led to Tatiana’s house.

  Half an hour later, Sam had returned with my car and a truckload of sustenance. Not only did we have a thermos to keep the coffee hot for longer but we also had strawberry and sugar doughnuts, chocolate chip cookies and nuts.

  We sat in my car and watched the house while trying to think of any details we might have missed.

  ‘I wonder if Daniel has any leads. I wish I could ask him—,’ I said.

  ‘But you won’t. Because he’s rude and we’ll prove him wrong.’

  I nodded. ‘Yes. Yes, he is. Do you think he’s on her case as well? I mean, no one’s seen her all day, she hasn’t been home. It tastes all kinds of wrong.’

  Sam swallowed some still water and kept chewing. ‘For all we know, he’s already spoken to her. He could have found her at work and had a chat with her. We need a badge if we’re going to be doing this. It’s got power,’ she said.

  ‘That’s illegal.’ I laughed. ‘And we’re not going to be doing this. We’re doing it for Harold and that’s it.’

  ‘He’s paying us to do it. What if others come to us for help?’ she asked.

  ‘They’re not. Haven-on-Sea is a safe town. We have a very low crime rate.’

  Sam giggled, but didn’t say anything.

  By midnight, Sam was snoring next to me and I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I woke her up and told her to drive us home. Instead, she turned the other side and mumbled to let her sleep.

  ‘Well, we’ve stayed this long,’ I told no one in particular and pushed my seat back and closed my eyes.

  I opened my eyes and felt confused. There was a hand on my stomach and my neck was sore. I blinked and adjusted to the light and saw Sam curled up next to me. I put her hand back on herself and readjusted my car seat. My phone informed me it was almost nine in the morning.

  I left Sam to her snooze and walked to Tatiana’s front door. I rang the bell. The birds in the trees in front of her house chirped. I noticed the car park was still empty. Maybe it was never occupied. Maybe Tatiana didn’t have a car.

  I rang the bell again and I heard footsteps. Then I jumped as a hand reached the small of my back and Sam came into view.

  ‘Jesus, Sam. You scared the lights out of me.’

  ‘Sorry.’ She yawned. ‘Not in, huh?’

  I shook my head. ‘Let’s try her work.’

  A woman answered the phone when I dialled, and introduced herself as Lyla.

  ‘Hello, I was wondering if Tatiana is working today?’

  ‘I’m afraid I can’t give you that information. May I ask who’s calling?’

  Sam whispered in my ear. ‘A friend,’ I answered. ‘I’m trying to find her but she’s not answering her phone. Do you know if she’s changed numbers recently?’

  The woman sounded like a robot. ‘I’m afraid I can’t give you such information about our personnel. I apologise. But good luck. I hope you find her soon.’

  I hung up and threw a swear word to the air for good measure.

  ‘She’s being very elusive. And they’re not being helpful, at all,’ Sam said and stretched out, refreshing me with her cucumber flavours.

  ‘Nope. They’re just doing their job right, but that still doesn’t help us.’

  ‘Hm,’ Sam said, ‘we need a way in. If we could get her at work we could actually talk to her. But how when they can’t tell us when and where she’s working, and we can’t just stakeout for another day in front of her house. It’s obviously not working.’

  ‘A way in,’ I repeated. An idea came to me. ‘I think I know how.’

  It took two phone calls and a little white lie and the next day, we were standing outside a large mansion, looking at the woman of the hour.

  ‘Hi, I’m Tatiana. Nice ter meet ya,’ said the shot of vodka talking to me.

  She was a redheaded girl with green eyes and a few inches shorter than me, but not losing any beauty points because of it. And her flavour was certainly not one of the weak stuff.

  ‘You too,’ I said. ‘I’m Geri.’

  Sam cut in and shook Tatiana’s hand. ‘And I’m Tommi,’ she said with a giggle.

  I rolled my eyes.

  ‘Welcome ter Spotless Inc. Sandra tells me yer don’t have any cleanin’ experience,’ Tatiana said, completely unfazed.

  ‘Unless you count all the cleaning I do in my house.’ Sam laughed.

  I elbowed her.

  ‘Well, actually, that’s pretty much it. There’s no, like, secret science behind it or anythin’. I mean, we do have some tricks and the like for, you know, persistent stains, but once yer know them that’s all yer need. That and diligence,’ she said. ’Shall we start?’

  We both nodded and Tatiana turned around, took a key out of her pocket and opened the door to the mansion. We were in the suburbs, and on our way here we had passed Poppy’s paternal house. Which reminded me to check in on Poppy’s mother, Sarah, and see how she was doing.

  She walked us through the rooms, which she seemed to know better than the alphabet, and despite her name, Tatiana was certainly not foreign. She talked us through the cleaning that needed doing in each room in a perfect northern accent that I was not good enough to place and gave us both our to-do lists.

  I started with the stairs of the three-storey house and Sam got the reception room.

  As I wiped the banisters on the top floor I thought about how much power Harold still had in this town, even when he was on house arrest. He was still mayor, of course, but everyone had pretty much accepted that he had retired and was paying more attention to the next generation of candidates fighting for his prestigious position.

  When we’d told him the plan, he’d immediately called Spotless Incorporated and they’d in turn called me in the span of five minutes to thank us for choosing their company for our charity work and to tell us to meet our mentor, Tatiana, the next morning. Harold had told them we were volunteers who were trying to raise money for an environmental charity.

  Once I’d finished my job I found the kitchen and got myself a glass of water with plenty of ice. I hadn’t seen Sam in a couple of hours and I decided we deserved a quick break, especially if we were going to get the truth out of Tatiana, so I went in search of her. She had been allocated the bathrooms so I checked the ground floor and then moved to the first.

  ‘Oh, tell me about eet. What’s wrong with a good ol’ chippy? Why does it all have to be fancy panko boneless fish and mids. Get outta ’ere,’ I heard someone say from behind a door.

  ‘Swear down been wanting some Malkin pie, Tommi. I feel like I’m in New York with all these bistros, mind,’ Tatiana said.

  Which meant that the other person was Sam. When on earth had she turned northern?

  ‘When was last time ye were home?’ Sam asked.

  ‘A couple years,’ Tatiana replied. ‘You?’

  ‘Seven months,’ Sam said.

  Where was home? What was she talking about? She’d told me she’d lived in London before moving to Haven.

  ‘Oi, I feel for ya, love. I remember th
e homesickness the first few months,’ Tatiana said. ‘Right, I think we sorted here. Let’s go find Geri and finish up.’

  At the mention of my fake name I jolted down the stairs and had only just managed to get to the ground floor when I saw the two girls coming down to meet me. Sam winked at me and we had a quick glass of water before resuming our cleaning.

  A couple of hours later we came out of the house with my knees red and achy and feeling like an eighty-year-old’s. Tatiana had to return the keys to the agency.

  ‘I’m going for a drink after with a few of the lasses. Want to join me?’ she asked us and Sam put her hand around Tatiana’s arm and followed her to her car.

  ‘Meet you at the office, Geri.’ Sam giggled and got into the cleaner’s car.

  I followed them in my car and parked behind Tatiana when we arrived.

  As we climbed the steps to the office, I grabbed Sam’s hand and pulled her down a few steps. ‘What if the guy from the other day is here and recognises us?’ I told her.

  Sam dismissed me. ‘Relax. We’ll say we were eager to get our charity hours done and we’d heard such great things about Tatiana. Besides, he’s not there. He’s on leave.’

  I frowned. ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Tina told me.’

  ‘Who?’ I asked and followed her up the stairs.

  Sam pointed to Tatiana with her eyes. Tatiana was embracing another woman, a middle-aged brunette with curves to die for and who tasted of grapefruit, dressed in sixties get-up, complete with a shirt tied in a knot around her stomach and high-waisted jeans that hugged her hips.

  ‘Miranda, it’s been so long. Al’reet, love?’ Tatiana said.

  The brunette giggled. ‘A couple of months, I guess. How are you, crazy girl? Still breaking hearts?’

  Tatiana pushed Miranda’s shoulder back as she cackled. ‘Oi, stop. What’s yer doing here?’

  ‘They’re sorting me out with some new houses,’ Miranda said.

  ‘I thought yer had a steady house for a big-shot family.’

  ‘Ah, yes, I did. But my boss is moving to New Zealand for a few months. She wants to help this anti-whale-hunting charity or something. Lord knows what, and I can’t blame her after everything that’s happened. I’ve got another week left.’

  I nudged Sam and stepped back from the girlfriends’ reunion.

  ‘Did you find anything out?’ I whispered.

  Sam stared at Tatiana. ‘She didn’t do it.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  Sam shushed me and paid attention to the two cleaners. ‘Are you girls coming with us? We’re going down to Shamrock,’ Miranda said.

  ‘They are. Did I tell yer tha’s where all ov us pick up sugar daddies?’ Tatiana laughed.

  I glanced at Sam and she glanced at me.

  ‘Oh my. Harold!’ Sam said. ‘We promised him we’d meet him after we finished.’

  I frowned. ‘Did we?’

  Sam nodded. ‘Yes. Don’t your remember, Geri?’

  ‘I guess I forgot, Tommi,’ I muttered.

  ‘Next time?’ Sam asked Tatiana.

  Tatiana waved her palm. ‘Shut ya gob, o’ course. See yer tomorrow.’

  Sam dragged me out of the office and into my car.

  ‘What’s wrong with you?’ I squealed. ‘This was our chance to find out more. Why did you get us out of it?’

  ‘Can you start the car please?’ Sam said and fastened her seatbelt. ‘She didn’t do it.’

  I turned the key in the ignition and pulled out into the road.

  ‘How do you know that? She even mentioned sugar daddies. Maybe Arthur was hers?’

  ‘She was only joking,’ Sam said.

  ‘How would you know? Do you know her?’

  ‘Don’t be daft. How would I know her?’

  I pointed at her and readjusted my position on the seat. ‘There. That. What was that all about as well? Are you from up north?’

  Sam rolled her eyes. ‘I was playing my part.’

  ‘Very convincing if you ask me. Almost unreal.’

  Sam glared at me.

  ‘What? It was,’ I said. ‘So, will you tell me why your pal, Tina, didn’t do it?’

  Sam rolled down the window and turned to look outside.

  ‘Because she didn’t.’

  ‘And what makes you think that?’ I insisted.

  ‘Just, trust me on this, okay?’

  I gave up and decided to trust my partner’s instincts even if I didn’t fully trust her at the moment.

  We passed by the town centre where a sign for the Unified Green Party had been put up on the lampposts. Patrick Gardner, the party leader, was plastered across all of them with a big smile against a lime backdrop.

  ‘Oh, my God. I know why she looked familiar,’ I said.

  Sam turned her attention back to me. ‘Who?’ she asked.

  ‘Tatiana. I felt like I’d seen her before but couldn’t put my finger on where. Remember when we saw Patrick Gardner at the Oak the other day?’ I pointed at Patrick’s poster.

  Sam nodded.

  ‘That’s the girl he was with.’

  Sam’s eyes glowed. ‘You’re right.’

  ‘Are we allowed to suspect him, or do you think he didn’t do it either?’

  Sam pouted and looked outside the window again. At least today’s work hadn’t been for nothing.

  Fourteen

  I applied the pink lipstick and pressed my lips a couple of times to smooth it out. The doorbell chimed and Alfie greeted Sam with wagging tails and affectionate licks. Sam threw a bunch of flowers in front of me and gave my dog all the attention he wanted.

  ‘Can you believe this?’ she said.

  I looked at the flowers, Turkish delight infiltrated my palate, and chuckled. ‘They’re nice?’

  ‘I’m running out of space,’ she said.

  ‘Why don’t you throw some away then?’

  Sam picked Alfie up and gave him a hug. ‘No! How could I? They’re so nice.’

  ‘Well then, stop complaining and go out with him already.’ I picked up my purse and Alfie’s lead.

  At the sound and sight of it he escaped from Sam’s arms with a leap and circled around me.

  ‘Stop it, Alfie. You’ll rip my tights,’ I cooed at him as his nails scratched my legs.

  I clipped his collar on and put on my jacket.

  ‘I’m ready,’ I said.

  ‘I will go out with him,’ she said.

  ‘When?’

  Sam’s shoulders dropped and a sniffle escaped her as we exited the house. ‘When we’re not solving murders.’

  ‘Huh, you might be waiting a while.’ I laughed. ‘Honestly, Sam. I don’t know why you’re so terrified of going out on a date. Ollie is a great man. Just give him a chance.’

  I tied Alfie in the backseat and got into the car. Sam was staring outside the car. I followed her gaze and saw Kit unlocking the door of the pub. He waved when he saw me.

  ‘I will if you give Kit a chance,’ she said.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. We were together the other night. He even made me popcorn.’

  She shook her head. ‘Oh dear, that’s so romantic.’ She cackled. ‘That doesn’t count. That’s hanging out as friends. The man is dying to take you out on a date.’

  ‘It does count.’

  ‘Has he seen you in anything other than slippers and pyjamas?’

  I was about to bite back that, as a matter of fact, he had, but I saw what she was getting at.

  ‘If I go out on a date with Kit, will you do the same with Ollie?’

  Sam shook my hand.

  I turned the key in my car, but Sam put her hand on my shoulder. ‘There’s no time like the present.’

  I looked from her to Kit and back to her.

  ‘Fine,’ I said and got out of the car.

  I strutted across the cobbled street and went into the pub. Kit was wiping a table when I entered and his sweet flavour greeted me.

  ‘Good morn
ing, Jo,’ he said.

  ‘Morning.’

  ‘Is everything okay?’ he asked, standing up, cloth and spray at hand, to look at me better.

  ‘Yes. Everything’s peachy. Uhm, I just wanted to ask, uhm, do you want to go out? Tonight? Like, on a date?’

  He grinned. His dark stubble was growing, giving him a scruffy look.

  ‘Sure. Tapas alright for you?’ he asked.

  ‘Tapas is perfect.’

  I pulled over in front of the Gardner house at the allocated parking space. There wasn’t a car parked anywhere else.

  ‘I hope they’re home,’ I said.

  The house itself was an architectural phenomenon you couldn’t find anywhere else in Haven-on-Sea and most likely anywhere else in the country, for that matter. It was a stack of shipping containers painted in lavender graffiti that was neither offensive nor intrusive to the grungy vibe of the Green Party leader’s residence.

  The ground floor was laid out parallel to the street while the second was built perpendicular and supported by big steel columns on the front side. Underneath the first floor’s empty space was a made-up greenhouse with all sides covered in thick plastic. Various flowerbeds and pots were inside, and right outside there were two bikes in the same colours as the graffiti with two picnic baskets in the front, rested against the steel and plastic. Green tea laced my tongue.

  We reached the front door and knocked on it with a wooden gong that had been purposefully roped onto it.

  Alfie started scratching at the door.

  ‘What are you doing, silly dog? Get down,’ I said, and that was when I heard it.

  The erratic bark erupted behind the door and only became louder. Alfie continued scratching at the door. He barked a couple of times, but that only made the dog on the other side louder. Then we heard a scraping noise. The dog was trying to dig his way out of the house.

  ‘Remus, down!’ we heard from the other side of the closed door. A feminine, but gentle, voice caused the dog to stop.

  Then the door opened.

  A honey-coloured woman with dreadlocks, grey eyes and freckled skin appeared behind it. She was wearing a long, knitted jumper and a pair of blue jeans that had dirt spots on the knees and the hem.