by Agatha Frost
Julia caught movement at the bottom of the alley. Alfie beckoned for them to follow.
“Stay here,” Brian ordered Katie. “I don’t want you having to deal with these men again.”
“Please, babe, I—”
“You’re staying here, Katie,” Brian insisted. “You too, Julia. You’re not going out there in your condition.”
“I’m sorry, Dad.” Julia opened the door and jumped out, feeling like a superhero in her motorbike leathers. “I want to look the man who pointed a gun at me in the eye.”
Julia’s decision seemed to give Katie the energy she needed to climb out of the car as well. She landed on the ground with a heavy thud, as though it hurt to be upright. Julia wrapped her arm around Katie’s waist, and they met up with Alfie.
“The van’s still there,” Alfie said, looking up and down the alley. “But I can’t see them anywhere.”
Julia stepped out of the shadows. The van hadn’t moved from its illuminated spot under the streetlamp, but the door to the unit was closed.
“I should never have given Leon the keys to my van!” Brian cried as he caught up with them. “I can’t believe he’s betrayed me like this.”
“Leon?” Katie called over her shoulder. “Your new antiques guy?”
“He’s the accomplice,” Julia explained. “He’s Dale’s nephew.”
Katie looked so stunned at the revelation, she looked as though she had stuck her finger in a plug socket. Julia suspected Katie had no idea the depth and seriousness of what she had gotten herself into. Hopefully, when everything came to light, Katie’s involvement wouldn’t implicate her in Samantha’s hit and run case.
“The van’s locked up,” Alfie announced after walking around and trying all the doors. “It looks like they’ve gone.”
“But they drove the van here,” Julia said as she watched her dad attempt to raise the storage unit’s locked door. “They can’t have gone far on foot.”
“Maybe there’s a third person working with them?” Katie suggested. “They could have been picked up.”
“Perhaps,” Julia said, not wanting to state the obvious that Katie was the third person.
Julia stepped away from the van and watched as Alfie and Brian continued their hopeless assault against the storage door. The scent of fish and chips made her stomach grumble. She followed her nose to the top of the alley and emerged into the brightness spilling from the chippy’s large window. She allowed herself a smug moment when she saw Leon and Dale stood in the full chippy.
Leaning against a lamppost, Julia observed them. Leon said something and slapped Dale’s arm, which made Dale laugh. He turned, still laughing, and looked out into the night as he ran his hands over his greying stubble. Even though she had been inches from him in the manor on the night of the robbery, this was the first time she had seen his face.
Julia wasn’t sure what she had expected, but he didn’t look scary in the slightest. He looked like any other fifty-something man. He was an average height, bald with a slight potbelly, and his features were still reasonably handsome. She could see the family resemblance with Leon. Neither looked like men who could coldly knock down a young woman and go on to rob a house and threaten someone with a gun. That such normal-seeming people were clearly capable of chilling things sent a shiver down her spine.
When Julia returned her attention to the chippy, Dale and Leon were already pushing their way through the thick crowd. Dale held a white plastic bag in his hands.
Julia froze to the lamppost. If she tried to run back down the alley, she would catch their attention and raise the alarm. So far, neither of them knew she was onto them. She didn’t intend for that to change.
She pulled her hair forward, over her face, stuffed her hands in her pockets, and focused on the street underneath her shoes. She didn’t dare look up until she heard them walking down the alley. They didn’t turn back to look at her; thankfully, the leathers had given her a secret identity for the evening.
Staying light on her feet, Julia followed behind. Not being able to warn the others kept her on the back foot. Although, it did cross her mind that at least one of their exits were blocked if they tried to run – not that she could do much to stop them both at once.
The penny dropped before she could think up a plan. Brian saw Dale, and Dale saw Brian. There was a fleeting moment where time felt suspended, and both men froze where they stood. Brian was the first to move, and from the look on his face, things weren’t going to end well. With regret, Julia realised they should have spent the drive over making a solid plan.
Brian was at least half a foot taller than Dale, so when they collided, Brian’s weight easily forced Dale into the stone wall of the alley. The plastic bag fell from Dale’s hands, the cartons fell out, and freshly fried fish and salt-covered chips spilt out onto the cobbled road. Leon bounced back. He doubled around as though to run, but stopped in his tracks when he spotted Julia. By the time he turned back, Alfie was already blocking off the other alley. Katie lingered by the van like a spare part.
Like a trapped animal, Leon thrashed from side to side, obviously trying to calculate his odds of getting away. After a moment, he calmed down and stood still.
“I’ll deal with you later!” Brian called at Leon before turning back to Dale, now pinned up against the wall by his throat. “How could you manipulate my wife like that when you knew how desperate our financial situation was? You’re a monster!”
“You’re the one choking me,” Dale managed to force out as his face turned bright purple.
“Dad, he’s right,” Julia called. “Let him go.”
“I ought to kill him for what he’s put us all through!” Brian growled, giving the man’s throat one last push. “You’d better have a good explanation for all this. You worked for the Wellington family for fifteen years. How could you turn on them like that?”
“How could I turn on them?” Dale cried as he rubbed his red neck. “You’re the iceberg that sank them. Vincent Wellington never missed a month’s pay in all those years, and then you turn up, and I’m out of a job.”
“The money was already almost gone when I turned up,” Brian insisted, glancing over at Katie.
“I think your little wife has been lying to you,” Dale snarled, baring his teeth. “She told us to rob you. She’s planning on selling everything and running off with the profits.”
“Liar!” Katie exclaimed.
“Don’t worry,” Julia said, holding her hand up to Katie. “I have the full conversation from earlier recorded. We have proof of the truth for the police.”
“There will be no police,” Brian said firmly.
In the heavy moment of silence that followed, everyone looked around at each other, dumbfounded. Julia saw distraught, innocent Samantha running out into that storm all over again.
“Dad, you—”
“No,” Brian raised his hand. “Listen to me, Julia. I’ve made up my mind. No one is taking anything to the police.” He faced Katie, whose hands were clasped at her mouth. “Baby, I know you were only trying to help, but you broke the law. If we tell the police what happened, they’re going to charge you with something, and I can’t risk that.”
“Dad, you need to—”
Brian shook his head firmly, silencing Julia. “This is over. With or without these antiques, we’ve lost the manor. The irony is, Katie’s plan might have worked if we’d had the insurance, but not without it. Don’t you think I’ve valued everything five times over to see if selling the lot would save us? We’re months behind with every bill, we’ve a funeral to pay for, and as long we’re living at that manor, we’re haemorrhaging funds.” He paused and inhaled. “But, none of that is important, is it? As long as we stick together as a family, we can make things work. We don’t need antiques or a manor to be happy, but we do need to be in this together.”
“So, what are you saying?” Dale asked, folding his arms and cocking his head back. “You looking to come to some sort of deal?”
“Your word is as good as useless,” Brian said. “You can keep the stuff, as long as you don’t bring up Katie’s names to anyone, and you move away from the village.”
Dale held out his hand. “My new house is far, far away from here. We have a deal.”
Julia had to swallow down the urge to throw up as Brian shook Dale’s hand. She staggered forward, her thoughts swimming.
“There is no deal!” she shouted. “I’m sorry, Dad, I’m sorry, Katie, but this needs to go to the police. This is so much bigger than them robbing the manor. Tell them, Dale.”
Dale glanced at Julia, and she saw a flicker of recognition on his face, although she wasn’t sure if he realised where he recognised her from.
“I’ve been nicking stuff from the manor and selling them on for years,” Dale admitted. “I’m honestly surprised no one ever noticed.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Julia replied, a little perplexed. “I’m talking about Samantha Wicks.”
Dale looked from Leon to Julia. The lack of comprehension on the men’s faces echoed Julia’s own.
“Who?” Leon asked, turning to her.
“Samantha Wicks,” Julia repeated, her voice faltering. “A young woman from Fern Moore whose life was taken from her before it even began. She was out in the storm, on her way home from the manor, when you hit her with the van and left her there to die.”
Dale’s puzzlement grew. “What are you talking about? We didn’t kill anyone. That’s not our style.”
“You pointed a gun at me,” Julia reminded him. “You threatened to kill me. I’m pregnant, for goodness sakes.”
Dale laughed as though Julia had just told him a hilarious knock-knock joke.
“You really are a dense family, aren’t you?” Dale looked around, still chuckling. “That gun was never loaded, and even if it were, it wouldn’t have fired a thing. It was an old piece of scrap my dad used to shoot the rabbits on his farm when I was a kid.”
“Why take it with you then?” Julia demanded, her confidence fading.
“Because the threat of a gun is enough to make people do what you want,” Dale said, rolling his eyes. “I wouldn’t know how to fire one if my life depended on it.”
“You still killed Samantha,” Julia said, finding her inner strength again. “And I’m not going to let you get away with it.”
“Actually, love,” Brian said, catching Julia’s eye. “Christie mentioned something earlier. He told me to ignore any rumours that the hit and run was anything to do with the robbery.”
“But the storm,” Julia said, hearing the desperation in her voice. “It was the same road! Samantha ran out into the night before midnight, and you hit her on your way to the manor. It’s too coincidental not to be connected!”
“We didn’t even get there until 4am,” Leon said, his brows heavy over his eyes. “I never signed up for this. I’m not going down for murder. I just wanted to make a few quid.”
“I knew I should have asked your brother,” Dale cried, rolling his eyes at Leon. “He’s less of a pansy.”
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Julia said, scrunching up her eyes. “I was sure this was connected.”
Her heart stopped when she pulled her phone from her pocket and saw ten missed calls from Barker. She would call him back the second they were finished here – but first, she had to call DI Christie.
“John?” she called down the phone. “That girl I asked you about, Samantha, how did she die?”
“Hello to you too, Julia,” Christie mumbled through what sounded like a mouthful of food. “What can be so important that you’re interrupting my pizza and Top Gear night?”
“Just answer the question, please,” Julia urged. “What killed Samantha during that storm?”
“Hit and run,” he mumbled again, followed by a slurp. “I already told you. What storm are you on about?”
“The storm that knocked out the electricity,” Julia said, hearing the frustration in her voice. “The night Samantha ran out and was hit by the van.”
“Whoa, I never said any of that,” Christie said. “You asked me to get you a name, so I did. Samantha wasn’t killed during the storm. Her time of death was estimated as much later in the day – early evening on the Saturday – and she wasn’t hit by a van. She was hit by a – one minute, I wrote it down—” Julia heard rustling. “She was hit by a white, 2014 Ford Fiesta. It was a stolen car. Probably some kids joyriding. They found the car burnt out in the fields over Riverswick way about an hour ago, but they haven’t found the driver yet. It’s harder when the vehicle is stolen.”
Julia hung up and clutched her phone tightly in her hand.
“Well?” Dale asked. “Who was that?”
“DI Christie.”
“You said no police!” Dale pointed at Brian. “We shook on it.”
“It was a stolen car,” Julia said, still unable to accept the words. “It wasn’t related to the robbery. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologise to them, Julia,” Alfie called, holding his stance at the mouth of the other alley. “They still pointed a gun at you, broken or not.”
“But we didn’t kill anyone!” Dale’s sharp reply echoed around the alley. “Yeah, I’ve been thieving my whole life and getting away with it because of morons like Katie, but I’ve never hurt a hair on anyone’s head. I don’t even eat meat!”
“He doesn’t,” Leon confirmed.
Alfie gave the pair a disgusted look before asking Julia, “So, the girl’s death is totally unrelated?”
“Yes,” Julia said with some reluctance.
“Then do we still have a deal?” Dale asked, checking the watch on his wrist. “Because I wasn’t planning on sticking around here much longer.”
“Just go,” Brian said, sighing as he stepped away. “I don’t even want to look at you anymore.”
“The feeling’s mutual.” Dale slapped Brian on the arm as he passed. “C’mon, Leon. Let’s get out of here.”
“No thanks, Uncle Dale,” Leon said, stepping away from the van. “I’m done playing your games. Ask my brother next time. Or another of your nephews. How many of them are in prison because they’re covering for you?”
“Oh, whatever,” Dale drawled, waving his hand dismissively as he walked away. “You weren’t getting a penny, anyway.”
Dale didn’t linger. He unlocked the van, climbed behind the steering wheel, and reversed out of the alley within seconds. Katie, Leon, and Julia jumped out of the way, leaving Dale to speed into the main street and out of sight.
“That’s my van,” Brian said, shaking his head as though he had just remembered. “You know what, let it go. It’s not important. I have everything I need.”
Brian pulled Katie into a tight hug. Though too exhausted to cry, they were too in love not to use the last of their strength to hold each other tight.
“I never meant for it to get like this,” Leon explained as he rubbed the back of his head. “My uncle is a persuasive man.”
“I…” Julia thought about her response for a moment. “I don’t care.”
“So, I suppose a lift back to the village is out of the question?”
Julia walked past him without responding. His overly flirty persona had been contrived to deflect that he was the other person at the manor when she lay cowering on the floor, fearing for her life.
She hugged her father and Katie before returning to Alfie, who hadn’t moved from his spot at the alley’s entrance.
“I can’t help but feel like they got away with it,” Alfie whispered to Julia as they watched Leon saunter aimlessly back toward the chippy.
“Karma will catch up with them soon,” Julia insisted. “Dale will continue thieving as long as he gets away with it, but even cats run out of lives eventually.”
“But they’ve been left with nothing,” Alfie said, looking at Katie and Brian.
“They have everything they need,” Julia corrected him. “They’ll figure out the rest. If you think
about it, Katie gave Dale permission to take everything from the manor, and you just heard my dad. He told Dale to take everything.”
“So … nothing was really stolen?”
Julia considered this for a moment. “I suppose not.”
Brian and Katie finally stopped holding each other and joined them, both wearing shamefaced expressions.
“What a day it’s been,” Julia said as lightly as she could muster. “I think I should get you two home and to bed.”
“My home is wherever my husband and my baby are.” Katie looked up at Brian with her tired eyes. “But if you mean the manor, yes. Let’s go and spend one last night before the rest of our lives starts tomorrow.”
16
Julia fetched Vinnie from Sue’s house on the way to the manor, and even though Sue was desperate to know what was going on, Julia had to leave with a promise she would tell her tomorrow in the café.
Once at the manor, they remained in the silent car. It felt like no one wanted to be the first to leave its warmth and safety. Finally, a suspicious smell emanating from Vinnie forced them all out in a tumble.
As they walked into the manor, it became obvious the night had yet to end. Hilary stood stiffly in the middle of the grand entrance hall, dressed to the nines and clutching her cane. She had two suitcases at her feet.
“Ah, you’re back,” Hilary said. “I hoped I’d be able to slip away without the need for goodbyes.”
“Goodbye?” Katie replied as she steadied Vinnie on her hip. “Where are you going?”
“Away,” Hilary said, the cane shaking under her tight grip. “I only ever intended to stay as long as Vincent Wellington was alive.”
“He only died this morning, Hilary.”
“Which makes this a perfect time to leave.” Hilary looked as though she might cry, but she maintained her stiff upper lip with aplomb. “I’ve booked myself into a B&B on the coast, and my taxi is already on its way.”
“But you can’t go,” Katie said, glancing around for support. “It’s all too sudden. Just take the night to think about it, and—”
