“Great, well you have a good day. We’re expected to go to the pub tonight to give you the chance to meet some of the other teachers and their partners and such like. Is that okay? I think it’s going to be quite sociable being part of the school. I can show you off, they’ll be green with envy!”
They paused at the front door letting in the sound of birdsong and enjoying the fresh morning air. He turned and wrapped her in his arms, kissing her slowly. “Bye love, see you tonight, have a good day.”
“Bye Freddy, good luck.”
Marsha pushed the door closed, turned and leaned her back against the old wood. The sun glinted on a crystal bowl standing on the long oak dining table. She moved it, lightning flashes of colour shot into the room as she turned it round and round in the little patch of light. She couldn’t believe that she was living in such a beautiful place.
Although they had brought much of their own furniture from the flat, Bob had been more than happy to let Freddy pick out the stuff already in place that he thought they would like and the old dining set with years of life rubbed into the gleaming surface was gorgeous. The ladder back chairs had been recovered and she dragged the carver out and lowered herself in between the wooden arm rests. She ran her hands over the smooth surface. It was already warming with the sun through the window. It smelt of furniture polish and old wood and history.
She lowered her face and saw her reflection mirrored dimly, deep inside there was the reflection of the curtains and the window. Dark eyes stared back at her, she tipped her head and the shadowy figure followed suit and for just a flash there was another, a distant shade, behind her, it moved and was gone. She jumped and felt her heart judder in her chest. She turned to the window, all was well. How strange. It was an effect of the light, a shadow across the sun. She sighed and pushed away from the table.
She walked through the hallway and kitchen and out into the garden and glanced up at a cloudless sky.
Chapter 5
“Hi, Marsha, I’m home.”
“Hello, did you have a good day?”
“Yeah I did, first days can be a bit iffy, but it was fine. The kids are lovely, better behaved than at the last place I have to admit and the other staff I met were nice and friendly. The senior languages master’s full of himself but no, it was great. Hey, are you okay, you’re a bit pale?”
“Me, am I? No, no I’m fine. I’m pretty knackered to be honest, been out in the garden nearly all day. Did you notice?”
“I did, it looks great. Were you in the shower?” Freddy reached out and grabbed the corner of the bath towel Marsha had wrapped around herself.
“Well, it will when I get to grips with the borders, they are very overgrown and I have to sort that before I can do any planting. I did try to get that old lawn mower going as well but couldn’t fathom it out. Let go of my towel you bugger. I was just getting in the shower. I’m a grub, and take that look off your face.”
“I think Dad has a bloke coming in to cut the grass so I wouldn’t worry too much for now. Did you get your stuff at the garden centre?”
“Yeah, some of it and then I found a little plant nursery as well and they had some lovely stuff and cheaper.”
“Oh, yeah I think that’s where the lawn mowing bloke is from, Mum used to go there a little bit in the early days. Just behind the church?”
“Yeah, a local woman in there. From the village she said, quite old but she was very fit, humping great sacks about and what have you.”
“I wonder if it’s still the same family that it used to be. They’d already been there for years when we used to come for holidays. Mum said that the old bloke that ran it was pretty weird and in the end she stopped going. The new place wasn’t open then and she drove Dad batty insisting on bringing boxes and boxes of plants with us in the car. She just wouldn’t go though and never would really tell us why. Did you have any problems?”
“Well she was really helpful, a bit nosey, wanted all the details about where we were living and what have you. Gave me a funny look when I said we were moving in permanently. Said that this place is more suited to be a holiday home. I have to say I thought that was out of order and didn’t know how to answer. She seemed flustered by the idea. Still perhaps I just imagined it, or maybe she was worried they’d lose the grass cutting contract.”
“Yeah, could be, well I don’t expect it’s the same people as back when I was a kid but maybe they’re just an odd family. Did you notice any extra thumbs?”
“Don’t be mean, that’s not nice. She was strange though.”
“Well, you’ve done a good job anyway. It looks great, you look whacked mind you. Don’t go doing too much.”
“No, no I’m fine really. Looking forward to the pub. Are we going to eat there?”
“Yeah I thought so. The others are coming about eight so if we go in an hour or so we should have time for our dinner first. Now then, what are we going to do for an hour? I think we should save water, come on grubby I fancy a bit of rough!”
Laughing, he pulled the towel towards him leaving Marsha clutching the other end to her as she flapped at him with her free hand, laughing, her eyes shining, driving him mad with passion.
“Come on.” He let go of the fabric and grabbed her hand, pulling her after him towards the stairs. At the open entrance to the dining room he paused, “Oh, you’ve put a cloth on the table.”
“Erm, yeah I found it in the cupboard.”
“Hmm, I thought you liked the shiny wood.”
“Well, I did, I do, but it’s such a pretty cloth and so I thought I’d just give it a try. Don’t you like it?”
“It’s fine, just fine, funny though Mum always used to insist on cloths on that table, I’ll bet there’s a whole collection of them somewhere. It was a nightmare when I was a kid, I was always spilling on them and getting a rollicking.”
“I’ll take it off if you don’t like it.”
“It’s fine, I don’t have any strong feeling either way, although it just seems that it’ll make extra work, the laundry and what have you. I don’t care though, do what you like. What I do mind about is that you’re keeping me waiting and seeing you in that towel is driving me mad, come on woman, upstairs, now.”
Chapter 6
“Well, what did you think?”
“Yeah, they were nice, I see what you say about the language master, what’s his name, Taylor? He’s pompous I suppose but mostly they were nice, friendly. Funny though none of them are local. Does the school not employ locals?”
“Oh well, yeah. It’s a small village of course and mostly farming people. I guess one of the things is that when the young kids go away, university and what have you, they don’t want to come back really. There are some maintenance people and so on though, the groundsman for instance. Actually I think he’s the same family as the ones that have, or used to have, the plant nursery. I don’t think it’s a deliberate policy, it’s just that nobody from here has ever become a teacher and then tried to work at the school. Anyway I’m glad you liked them. I think working here is going to be very different from the comprehensive in Birmingham, we’ll be expected to be more involved; will that be okay?”
“Yes, you already asked me that, I said it’s fine.”
“Yeah, good. It’s just that you seem a bit off in some way, you’re not worried about us moving here are you, there’s nothing wrong, you know, with us?”
“No, no course not, idiot.” As she reached up to give him a quick kiss Marsha pushed aside the strange feeling of disquiet that had dogged her for most of the day.
“Tea or a nightcap?” Freddy was already running water into the kettle as he spoke.
“Hmm, looks as though you’ve already decided.”
He glanced down, “Ha, yeah autopilot I guess. I am rather bushed, do you mind if we just take a mug of tea up to bed?”
“That sounds great, I’m pretty tired myself and we can snuggle and turn the light out and listen to the night.”
“O
h, listen to you getting all poetic.” He grinned as he spoke and reached for the tin of tea bags.
“No, it’s just that as we were walking back I noticed how different it is. Well, of course it is but it is so lovely, just the wind in the trees and the little rustling noises. I think I heard an owl. Do you know I’ve never really heard an owl before, not in the wild.”
“I do understand. When I was a kid I used to sleep in an old tent in the garden sometimes and it is pretty special.”
“Oh, well don’t get any ideas, I’m not sleeping in a tent, no way. Here, give me my mug, come on let’s get upstairs.”
The rising wind stirred the smaller branches, one or two creaked and cracked as they reached and bent. Marsha heard the owl, she held her breath, it was magical, the sound of it out there hunting in the darkness. The dim shadows danced and flickered on the walls as the flimsy curtains shifted at the window. Beside her Freddy breathed deeply, slowly. Apart from the bird and the rustle of swaying trees there was no other sound. Her ears stretched listening in the darkness, for a moment they felt uncomfortable, she wasn’t used to such quiet. Did she like it? Well yes, she did, but deep inside there was again a feeling of unease, that strange flicker of disquiet. How odd.
She turned onto her side and pulled the duvet up around her shoulders, closing her eyes and starting to count backwards from two hundred, her stock method of relaxing. Tonight it didn’t work; she just couldn’t catch sleep, too much wine at the pub? She tossed and turned until in the end she was disturbing Freddy who mumbled quietly beside her.
She slid her legs out and felt around on the carpet until her toes connected with the slippers that were flipped off hours before as they’d climbed into bed. Carefully, holding a hand in front of her she made her way across the still unfamiliar landscape of their bedroom. She drew the door open slowly and stepped onto the landing. A cup of camomile tea was what was needed, something warming and soothing.
She made the tea and sat in the kitchen, there was just the little light over the cooker and the world outside was black. She sniffed; there was an odd smell, just a vague hint of old sweat and staleness. She lit one of the scented candles and watched the dance and flicker of it. This was another new thing, she was just thinking how used to light pollution and the flash of car headlights she’d become in Birmingham, when, as if she had conjured it out of her mind she saw a sweep of light across the garden and then briefly on the wall near the window. She heard the engine as the low rumble grew for a moment and then rolled off into the distance. She glanced at the clock. It was just after two so even in the country people were out and about at all hours, and she pondered the reasons that could have someone driving around in the darkness. A medical emergency perhaps, just a late night with friends or of course there were other, less innocent reasons for people to be out late. She shook her head, she was becoming too fanciful.
She had never lived in the country but she loved it, well, didn’t she? She must do, it was so civilised, a house in a little village with a gastro pub, a stone church with an ancient graveyard and a respected public school. It was all so aspirational, she was very lucky. There was just something, a teeny part of her that would have very much liked, just then in the deeps of the night, a little rebel in her soul that would have been happier in their second floor flat on the outskirts of Birmingham with the almost constant noise of traffic and the sounds of passing people.
No, she was going to love this place. It was what she had always wanted, wasn’t it? She drew in a big breath and turned, this was ridiculous, it was time to get back to bed, spoon her body with Freddy’s and get some sleep. The smell could be investigated tomorrow. It was probably drains and could be sorted by pouring some bleach down the sink.
In the darkened room, her chilled arms were kissed by yet colder air and her body shivered. “God, it’s cold in here.” A tiny creak caused her to spin on her heel. “Well, good grief, were we that drunk?” she mumbled to herself, the door swung slightly on its hinges, the small wind driving it back and forth. They’d gone to bed without locking the back door, never mind not locking it, they hadn’t even closed it. Huh, that was one thing that they could never have done in the flat, leave the door flapping open and the computer and TV would be gone before you could blink. She shook her head, they really must be more careful.
The thud of Freddy’s feet on the stairs turned her around. “Marsh, Marsha, hey Marsha where are you?”
“In here Freddy. Kitchen, it’s okay, really it’s okay. Hey, we left the bloody door open.”
“What are you doing down here?” He had reached her and was rubbing the goosebumps away from her bare arms, “You’re frozen girl, what’s going on?”
“I couldn’t sleep so I came down to make a drink, then there was the smell and we’d left the door open. I was just coming back up though.”
“What smell?”
“Oh I don’t know, something a bit stale. Can’t you smell it? Oh it’s gone. It’s perhaps those bags of compost I left outside, it was that sort of thing. The door swinging in the wind would explain it, I’ll move them in the morning.”
“Do you know I could have sworn I locked it.” Freddy walked across the kitchen and rattled the handle. “Well it’s locked now, I’ll take the key out. Perhaps we should be more careful. Mum used to be a bit paranoid when we were here, she used to go round and round checking the doors. Maybe she was right. Anyway if it didn’t slam, what brought you downstairs?”
“Well, I woke up, you weren’t there and so I came to find you. Do you think you’ll be able to sleep now?”
“Oh I think so.”
“Come on you let’s get back to bed, this is the result of too much wine and those two tequila slammers, I knew they were a bad idea.”
“Yeah you’re probably right, hmm I am cold, come on.”
Chapter 7
Hammering on the door intruded into Marsha’s post-breakfast tidy up. She ran down the hallway.
“Just a minute, hang on, I’m coming. Oh, you! Erm, sorry I mean hello, you’re the lady from the er...”
“Greensticks Nursery, yes thassit.”
“Oh, what was it? Sorry, I mean, did you need something?”
“Needs a word my dear, juss a word thassall.”
“Would you like to come in?”
“No need for that, and my boots is muddy, don’t want to mess up this nice clean floor. No, I shan’t be long.”
“Right, well okay.”
“Are you plannin’ on stayin’?”
“Staying, sorry, how do you mean staying?”
“‘Ere, you plannin’ on stayin’ ‘ereabouts?”
“Yes, of course we are, Freddy’s got a job, he’s in the school, teaching and we’ve moved in here and – look what has it got to do with you anyway?”
“Why d’you want to be stayin’ in this old place? There’re nice new ‘ouses up beyond the school, suit you better than this place. Nice and warm they are and clean.”
“Look I don’t know what you want exactly but I think you should go, it’s none of your business whether we’re staying and where we live. If you’re worried about the grass cutting there’s no need to be. Bob, that’s Freddy’s dad, has asked us to keep on with – oh, well – is it your son? Doesn’t matter whoever it is he won’t lose the job.”
“Not worried ‘bout no job. You need to fit in around ‘ere. You need to settle in and be accepted, village folk don’t always take to outsiders. You need to think on that. You’d be better up on that new estate.”
“Are you threatening me? Look, I don’t know what this is all about but you should go now. Please, I would like you to leave.”
“You doin’ the garden?”
“Yes, you know I am, look take your foot out of the door. I am getting very angry now.”
“Too much for you that garden. We’ll take the end, yonder past that old apple tree, we’ll take that. Rent it, you ask Bob. We’ll rent that and use it, pay you a good rent. Too big for y
ou. Don’t you go out to work? All you young folks out at work, you won’t ‘ave time to keep this big garden. It’ll be a help to you. We can use it for beddin’ and salad stuff for the farm shop. You ask Bob, all that from beyond the apple tree up to the fence. ‘Ope I ‘aven’t upset you none, no offence meant.”
The old woman turned suddenly and stomped down the garden path, her boots slipping up and down the skinny legs with each step. The door of the white van was flung open as she approached, allowing her to clamber inside. It slammed shut and the vehicle drove away leaving Marsha stunned and shaken by the strange visit. For many minutes she simply stood leaning against the door frame, running the peculiar conversation over and over in her mind.
She couldn’t decide whether she had been insulted, threatened or simply offered a business proposition. Whatever it was she felt thoroughly upset, the woman had seemed surly at the garden centre but today on the doorstep she had been downright antagonistic and then flipped for no apparent reason into bargaining for land.
Marsha heaved a sigh, she had taken to sighing a lot in the last few days, Freddy had laughed at her but the reality was that she was beginning to feel as though the dream was unravelling. There was still no work from the agency and although they didn’t have a mortgage to pay she had always been proud of her financial independence. If there was nothing forthcoming soon in her own field of graphic design then she would have to consider trying to find something else. For the life of her she couldn’t think what she could do in this tiny place. She didn’t want to have too long a commute which was why she had been banking on working online. Other people with the agency were doing it very successfully and she was all set up and ready, but no work had been sent as yet.
Seemingly from nowhere tears were flowing down her cheeks and she was overwhelmed with sadness. Meeting Freddy and making the plans to move here had been so exciting, and surely she had seen enough disappointment and sadness in her life, she had paid her dues. Her earlier life had been strewn with problems and upsets. Her father running off with a younger woman had been a blow from which her mother had never recovered and then her sisters had both gone off to Australia leaving her to struggle through university while caring for their ailing mum. Then the woman, heartsick and worn out, had simply given up the battle and died. She didn’t begrudge her sisters their lives and was glad they were doing well, but surely it was her turn now for a little happiness.
YOU'RE DEAD: Three Gripping Murder Mystery Suspense Novels Page 8
