by Agatha Frost
“Have you seen any of these things before?”
“I saw the gun yesterday.”
“And before that?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” She returned the phone and followed Christie into the kitchen. “What does this have to do with anything?”
To Katie’s absolute horror, a bang as loud as the one she’d heard yesterday, coming from the exact same direction, shook the birds from the trees. In the centre of the garden, where Mindy had been, a cardboard cut-out had been sliced in two.
“Don’t worry,” Christie said. “Only rubber bullets. Looks like we’ve found the bullet’s trajectory.”
He pointed to a small team a few metres into the forest.
“Deep enough not to be seen easily,” he said. “Not too deep to miss with the laser, which we found in the forest, twenty metres that way.” He pointed further along. “The gun was five metres away from that, and the tape eight more from there. Looks like James wasn’t giving his aim a chance. Although saying that, he missed on the first one.” He turned Katie to point at the other side of the forest. “Found the first bullet embedded in one of the trees on the edge. Lucky it rained when it did, or it might have hit someone.”
“And James definitely did it?”
“His are the only footprints near the items,” he said. “We’re just trying to figure out why. Affair? Money? It’s always something with those kinds of people. They have it all, and they always want more.”
Katie would have been offended, once upon a time. Though the manor was still in her name, she wasn’t one of ‘those kinds of people’ anymore.
James and Mindy were. She’d smelled it on them the first time they were all in the same room. They were properly wealthy. Katie had always been content buying her designer clothes in the sales. Nobody in Peridale knew the difference between the current Gucci and Versace and the ones from two seasons earlier. Katie still loved fantasy shopping enough to know everything she’d seen on Mindy and James was so fresh it practically hadn’t finished strutting down the catwalk.
“Your ‘daughter-in-law,’” he said, doing the air-quotes, “heard the stylist and Mindy talking. Think there’s a chance they’re having an affair? James’s mum seems to think so.”
“I didn’t know them.”
Christie gave up on the interview and set off towards the origin of the rubber bullet. She hung around to watch another round of the experiment take place, but the sounds set her heart racing even though she knew they weren’t real.
Turning, she looked up at the manor. If James had fired the gun, why had he done it at the party? Why not wait until they’d finalised the sale?
Her salvation had been so close.
The end of their money worries.
The start of their new life.
The start of Katie’s Nail Salon.
They’d already viewed the location on Mulberry Lane – a closed clothes boutique needing little work – several times. They were supposed to be meeting with the sellers next week to negotiate.
Like with Julia on the morning of the party, she’d let herself believe too deeply in the fantasy. She didn’t even have to close her eyes anymore to conjure up the neon pink Katie’s Nail Salon sign she wanted above the door.
Why had she driven to the manor?
Instinct?
A call home?
This didn’t feel like home.
As another shot upset the birds once again, she drove away from the manor and back to the village.
Maybe Dot and Percy would be awake? Before she could get to their cottage, James’s mum waved her down from the garden of the B&B. She looked as though she’d been walking up to the door, but she hurried through the gate to the kerb as Katie pulled up. Katie rolled down the window and mustered the most sympathetic smile she could manage for the woman whose name she’d been told three times and still couldn’t remember.
“Ruth,” she stated, as though reading Katie’s thoughts; the Botox must have worn off because Katie felt her eyes and brows fully squint. She’d got used to the resistance, but if she couldn’t afford designer bags, she certainly couldn’t afford her twice yearly trips to ‘the dentist.’ “Katie, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “How’s Mindy?”
“She’s still alive.” Ruth rubbed between her eyes. “I was at the hospital all night with Richie. Poor lad is upstairs, fast asleep.” She nodded behind her towards the only B&B window with closed curtains. “The doctors won’t say anything, which doesn’t give me much hope, but only time will tell.” She leaned in closer and, in a lower voice, said, “Listen, I know I shouldn’t be asking you about this, but I spoke to James on the phone this morning and I promised. If I saw you, he asked me to request that you not put the manor back on the market just yet.”
“Oh.” Katie hadn’t even considered such thoughts yet, but maybe she should have? It felt like the logical next step. Instead, she said, “Okay.”
Which was enough to send Ruth back into the B&B. The curtains closed in the room next to Richie’s before Katie drove off. Katie sympathised; she’d done enough overnights in the hospital with her father to know how tired they’d be.
Her own sleep hadn’t been particularly good, either. At one point in the early hours, she’d startled awake, expecting to see the chandelier crashing down on her as it had done in so many nightmares before.
She continued onto Dot’s, but lights from the café encouraged her to park in the alley. If Julia had opened after all, Katie would be glad to jump behind the counter, even if it meant fending off endless questions. It was either that or spend the day getting under Brian’s feet as he tried to sell antiques.
Shilpa walked out with an A-board as Katie headed for the door. Katie offered a smile that wasn’t returned. Clearing her throat, Shilpa kicked out the board and returned to the post office.
Wondering if she should get used to such reactions from the villagers, her eyes focused on the A-board. It advertised The Peridale Post’s latest headline. Like seeing the model, it immediately brought her to tears.
6
Mentally, Julia was in India, where it was mid-afternoon and hot enough for heat lines to wiggle the air in front of the grand building at the end of a lengthy lake flanked by well-groomed trees. She’d seen images of the Taj Mahal her whole life but witnessing it in real life was like seeing it for the first time.
Or, rather, Jessie holding her phone so still tricked Julia into feeling like she was there, if only for a brief, glorious moment.
“Breath-taking,” she managed to muster.
“The tour guide told us that a guy built this place as a mausoleum for his wife,” Jessie said, flicking the camera back to herself; the building was still visible in the reflection of her shiny aviator sunglasses. “What’s Barker building for you when you die?”
Physically, Julia was perched on a stool at the stainless-steel island in her café’s kitchen. Not yet ten in the morning, it was already hot enough that she knew it would be another scorching day.
“Oh, he’s already shown me the plans,” she joked. “He’ll be knocking down most of Peridale to build it.”
“I can already see it,” said Alfie, Jessie’s older brother, as he and his matching aviators came into frame. “A giant cake.”
“Exactly.”
“Nice.” Jessie nodded her approval. “Right, my turn. Where is she? It’s suspiciously quiet.”
“She’s with Barker at Dot’s.”
Julia considered telling Jessie about what had happened at the garden party. Their video calls and text messages were frequent enough that Julia always felt connected to her daughter no matter where she was. Jessie caught up on local goings-on via the online Peridale Chat group with such inconsistency that she hadn’t heard about the shooting yet. Unless she didn’t think it was important enough to talk about. In either case, Julia was glad to give the topic a rest after she and Barker had spent the night notetaking.
“I’m beginning to think you’re keeping us apart on purpose.” Jessie peered over her sunglasses. “You’re jealous of how I can make her laugh from all the way over here.”
“That’s exactly it,” Julia replied with a laugh. “As much as I’d love to stay and chat—”
“Yeah, we’re busy too.” Jessie tossed her hair over her shoulder; the sun had given her dark hair a golden hue. “Love you, bye.”
Jessie hung up, and though Julia was in a rush to get across to her gran’s for the meeting, she lingered a bit, savouring the warmth of her conversation with Jessie. Her often ill-timed (but always welcome) videocalls were enough of a bright spot to fend off any mild pining. Recently, she’d become all too aware that they were only halfway through Jessie’s year abroad.
Not that, between raising a baby and Peridale’s Ears meetings, Julia didn’t have enough to keep her busy.
Including making sandwiches for those meetings.
She finished assembling the tuna sandwich she’d been making for Shilpa before Jessie whisked her away. She cut it in half and added it to the plate with the rest. Not wanting to mix the message of the closed sign in the front, she exited through the back.
Having left her car at home, she expected to find the alley clear, but Katie’s soft pink car blocked the way. Julia had heard something pull up, but from what she could see, Katie wasn’t anywhere near the green.
The latest issue of The Peridale Post’s headline was, though.
“Oh, Johnny,” she groaned. “Why didn’t you stick with your original?”
After carrying her two trays expertly across the green, Julia entered her gran’s house through the open front door, straight into the wind tunnel of two fans swivelling around the hallway. As had become the norm, the rest of Peridale’s Ears were huddled around the table in the dining room. Julia popped in with a smile and then followed Percy’s nod when she looked around for her gran to the kitchen.
Behind the slightly ajar door between the narrow galley kitchen and the back garden, Katie cried on Dot’s shoulder.
“I take it you’ve seen the headline?” Julia asked as she cautiously approached. “I only just saw it myself.”
“‘The Curse of Wellington Manor Strikes Again!’” Katie recited, pulling away from Dot, face mottled with runny streaks of mascara. “I should have expected it.”
In the kitchen doorway, Johnny cleared his throat. He glanced at Katie but was barely able to keep his eyes on her.
“I’m sorry, Katie,” he said, scratching at his hair. “I tried to minimise the story, but this one was out of my hands.”
“You’re the editor.” Dot pursed her lips. “If you’re not in charge, who is?”
“The men with the money,” he said, his cheeks darkening. “And, per their last email, I’m not allowed another library-related front page unless the place, ‘is miraculously saved or blown up.’”
“If you’d asked which of those was more likely yesterday, I’d have said the first. Now I’m not as sure.” Dot tore off a sheet of kitchen roll and passed it to Katie. “They’re only words, Katie. I know they hurt, but remember, it’s tomorrow’s fish-and-chips paper.”
Katie rubbed at her cheeks, conceding with a nod.
“As unfortunate as all this is,” Dot said in a lower voice as she glanced down the hall, “what happened as the manor has given us a second chance to save this library. Johnny, tell them.”
“They’ve put the brakes on the sale,” he said. “As long as James is behind bars, it’s not a good look for them. Doesn’t mean they won’t sell to someone else, though.”
“For now, it seems someone is looking down on us,” said Dot. As though catching the echo of her words, she quickly added, “Of course, I hope Mindy pulls through. But one must use an opportunity like this when it falls into one’s lap. Speaking of which, let’s join the others. I left them brainstorming, and you know how quickly things can go off topic without a little supervision.”
“I’ll leave,” Katie said.
“You don’t have to,” Julia assured her, opening the cupboard with the bin when Katie looked around for a place to put the scrunched and mascara-stained kitchen roll. “You can still join us.”
Katie’s eyes drifted past Julia as the front door opened. Shilpa slipped inside. She gave them all a tight smile before joining the rest of the group in the dining room.
“I should go,” repeated Katie.
Before Katie had followed Julia through the rain to the disastrous library meeting, she’d been nervous but enthusiastic. With the manor out of the way, Katie had expected to have more time to focus on other things. Now that the manor was still firmly in the way, Julia wasn’t going to push anything, so she settled for walking Katie to the door and waving as she crossed the green.
“I really couldn’t do anything,” Johnny said defensively, retrieving his bag from the hat stand by the door. “News is news, Julia, and I have to do my job. Speaking of which, I can’t stay for this one.” He pulled the bag over his shoulder. “I have to interview a woman about a missing phone box.”
“The ever-exciting life of a journalist.”
“I have to fill the paper with something,” he said, opening the door. “Don’t suppose you have any idea if there’s truth to James’s claims of being innocent? I heard the police have another twenty-four hours to gather evidence before they must charge or release him. I thought this one would have been simple.”
“I haven’t given it much thought.”
Johnny made a face, obviously seeing through her lie. He left anyway, and, considering what Barker was about to reveal, a part of her was glad Johnny wouldn’t be present. It was inevitable that their group’s intel would find its way into the paper via Johnny when it had to, but for now, the less people knew about what she and Barker were up to, the better.
“We could set up a fundraiser stall at the church fête this weekend?” Amy suggested as Julia joined them at the dining table. “And there’s nothing saying we can’t keep collecting signatures for those letters.”
The distinct sound of chalk scraping a black board whisked Julia back to her school days. Above the sideboard, Barker added to the growing list of ‘FRESH LIBRARY IDEAS’ wonkily written down the centre.
“Marvellous, isn’t it?” Dot whispered to Julia as she took her seat at the head of the table, her back to the bright window overlooking the garden. “The school was throwing it out and didn’t want anything for it.”
“I would have thought they’d thrown them all out twenty years ago,” Julia said, accepting Olivia as she was passed from person to person around the table. “I’m sure we had white boards even before I left.”
“They’re all giant computer things now,” Dot said with a disapproving shudder. “Nothing wrong with a bit of chalk, I say. It’s been collecting dust in their basement for donkey’s years. Too good an opportunity to pass up, and much less wasteful than using all that paper. And you haven’t even seen the best bit yet.” She patted the table excitedly. “Percy, do the honours.”
“Right you are, my Dorothy.”
Percy rose from his chair at the other side of the table and wriggled Barker out of the way. He pulled a white string hanging from one side, and a pole Julia hadn’t noticed sent red curtains swooping in from either side of the wide board.
“For when non-Ears guests are here, so as not to draw attention to potentially sensitive material.” Dot tapped the side of her nose. “Open them back up, Percy. What did that top one say?”
Calling on his previous profession as a magician, Percy tugged on the string with a flourish, revealing the blackboard again.
“Celebrities,” Evelyn said. “Shilpa’s idea to help draw attention to our cause.”
“I know a woman who was in Take A Break,” Amy offered. “Her husband left her for a ghost. Paid her £250 just to tell her story.”
“Oh, I know a man who went on The Chase!” Evelyn exclaimed. “Didn’t win, but he came c
lose.”
“So, no, then?” Dot reached for her sandwich. “Back to the drawing board, or should I say, chalkboard?”
Barker continued to write down ideas for the next half an hour, impressing Julia with his restraint. She’d been sure he’d reveal his decision the moment everyone was seated with their sandwiches.
“Before you all rush off,” Barker called, putting down the chalk as chair legs started slowly easing away from the table once the ideas and sandwiches ran out, “there’s something I want to ask you.”
He ran the back of his hand over his forehead, and Julia wondered if everyone else could feel how nervous he was. Dot looked to Julia as though for a hint, but she merely nodded at Barker.
“As you all know, James asked to speak with me after his arrest.” Barker’s old Detective Inspector authority masked the slightest of wobbles in his voice. “I won’t keep you in suspense. If a charge is brought against him, he wants me to help prove his innocence, and—”
“You said yes, didn’t you?” Shilpa interrupted, shaking her head with a disbelieving laugh. “What is the deal with your family and that man?”
“Steady on,” Percy said with a chuckle. “We’re not in cahoots with the man, are we, Dorothy?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Unless you’re getting some money out of it.” Shilpa stood up and slung her handbag over her shoulder. “I think I should—”
“I’m not taking his money,” Barker revealed. This was news to Julia. “He offered me money. A huge amount, in fact. I turned it down. I haven’t taken this case for myself. But I have taken it for my family.”
“So Katie can sell the manor, you mean?” Shilpa stiffened but didn’t sit. “And what about Neil and the library?”
“We are trying to save the library.” Dot cast a hand at the board. “And let’s not pretend Neil can’t find another job. The library might be all he knows, but he’ll land on his feet. It’s not like he’ll end up on the streets.”
