by Morgana Best
“Do you want to risk it?”
“No, but I can’t see we have an option. We have to go back to Lighthouse Bay sooner or later. We can’t stay here forever. If only Lucas was in town,” I lamented. “I could call him and he’d come and get us.”
Linda clutched my arm. “Here’s another car.”
An old, battered ute pulled up next to us. There were several kelpies in the back, and a red kelpie in the front seat with two men. The men both jumped out of the car. “Car trouble, girls?” the first one said.
I wound down my window. “To tell you the truth, someone just ran us off the road,” I told them. “We were too scared to drive back to Lighthouse Bay, because we thought he might be waiting ahead for us.”
“Who was it?” the second one said.
“No idea,” I said. “There was mud all over his numberplates. He’d been tailgating us for a long time.”
“And when Pepper slowed down, he blew the horn at us,” Linda said. “It wasn’t just a matter of being tailgated.”
“I can see you girls are shaken up,” the first one said. “We’ll give you an escort back to town.” He went back to his ute and pulled out a rifle. “If this bloke turns up again, he’ll have to answer to this.” He moved the rifle up and down by way of emphasis.
“Thank you, thank you so much,” I said.
Linda echoed my heartfelt thanks.
“We don’t want to see you girls in trouble because of some blighter,” the first man said. “You go ahead of us and we’ll sit behind you. What did the car look like?”
“It was a white Four Wheel Drive,” I said. “I don’t know the type. It was dirty, though.”
Both men clearly thought that was awfully funny. “All cars that come out on this road get dirty,” the first one said. “Now don’t you worry, girls. If we see a bloke in a white Four Wheel Drive and he gets too close to your car, we’ll fix the blighter’s lead deficiency.”
We thanked them again and drove off. “Good Samaritans come in all shapes and sizes,” Linda said with a nervous laugh. “And what did he mean by a lead deficiency?”
I shrugged and looked in the rear vision mirror, relieved to see the men close behind us. “I think he meant a bullet.”
Linda nodded. “I see.” After a few moments, she added, “You know, that driver might have just been trying to scare us. Otherwise, he would have rammed us for sure.”
“Why would someone try to scare us, though?” I asked her.
“Maybe he was warning us off. Perhaps he didn’t want us to get too close to Frank Finnegan. Either Frank or Francine might be the murderer, or maybe they’re in it together, but the driver might have been warning us off because we visited Frank.”
I digested that for a few moments. “Perhaps the driver was warning us off simply because we’re investigating the murder. It mightn’t have anything to do with the Finnegans. It might be just a coincidence that he did it after we visited Frank. After all, the Finnegans’ property is way out of town.”
“That makes sense,” Linda said. “You know, I’m surprised we haven’t seen that white car again. I was sure he’d be waiting up the road a little way.”
“I almost wish he would have another go at us,” I said, “so those guys behind can scare the driver.”
Linda chuckled. “I don’t know what we would have done if those guys hadn’t come along.”
I was relieved when we reached the outskirts of town. I pulled over, and Linda and I got out of the car. The ute pulled in behind us. “Thanks so much for your help,” I said through the ute window.
“Can’t have you ladies in distress,” the first guy said, as both guys tipped their hats. “It’s a pity you couldn’t see his numberplate, because we would be interested to meet up with this blighter.”
Linda and I thanked them again, and then got back in the car.
“I’m quite shaken up by that,” I told her. “Do you want to come back to the manor with me, or will I drop you off at home?”
“I’m okay,” Linda said. “Take me home, because I’ve got a lot of unpacking to do.”
“You’ll be okay by yourself?” I asked her.
She nodded. “I’m a Shifter wolf, remember? I’m fine on solid ground. It’s just in a car or something like that I feel vulnerable.”
“Okay, but call me if you if you want to.”
After I dropped off Linda, I headed back to Mugwort Manor. Every time a white car went past, my heart leapt, but there was no sign of the perpetrator. I was a little concerned pulling off the main road and taking the road back to the manor, as that road was quiet, ending at the manor, but there was no sign of the driver. I was just about to get out of the car when Lucas rang again. I pulled the phone out of my pocket. “Lucas!”
“Is Linda still with you?” he asked.
“No, I’m alone.”
“Good. Pepper, there’s something I have to tell you, about your p…” The line went dead.
Chapter 14
My what?” I asked the phone. “My parents? What else starts with P? Phone? Place? Predicament?” I stared at the phone for ages and tried to think of other words starting with P, but Lucas did not call back.
My day did not improve when I reached Mugwort Manor. The aunts nodded as I retold the events. “It does sound like he was trying to scare you,” Aunt Agnes said. “Never mind, Valkyrie, this just means we have to step up our efforts to find the killer. The sooner he’s behind bars, the safer we’ll all be.”
Dorothy and Maude agreed. “Agnes has come up with a marvellous plan,” Dorothy said. “You and Maude are going to visit Geoff Currey and procure his personal concerns.”
I clutched my throat. “Me? I’ve just come from getting hair from Frank Finnegan. Can’t I have the afternoon off, or something?”
Aunt Agnes shook her head in disapproval. “Valkyrie, only moments ago you agreed that we had to step up our efforts to find the killer.”
“You’re only accompanying me so there will be safety in numbers,” Aunt Maude said with a smile. “I’ll be the one procuring his personal concerns.”
I was somewhat relieved. “Well, that’s good, I think. Do you want me to keep him talking while you go to the bathroom and get hair from his brush?”
The aunts tittered and looked at each other. That didn’t give me a good feeling. “What exactly do you plan to do?” I asked them as I broke out in a cold sweat. “How do you intend to get his hair?”
“We don’t intend to get his hair,” Aunt Maude said cheerily. “We’re going to get his toenail clippings.”
I pulled a face and shuddered. “Toenail clippings? I’m going to distract him while you go to his bathroom and look for toenail clippings? What if he doesn’t have any?”
At this point, Hecate walked into the room and curled up at Aunt Agnes’s feet. “Have you fed her today?” Aunt Agnes asked me.
I nodded. “I feed her several times a day. Anyway, are you going to answer my question?”
“Everyone has toenails,” Aunt Dorothy said in surprise. “Surely you know that, Valkyrie, at your age.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I was about to ask again, when Aunt Maude answered. “I’m going to pose as a manicurist, and tell him I’m a community volunteer going door to door, giving pedicures.”
“Why not a manicure?” I asked her, and then pondered that my response was a rather strange one to the whole situation. “Wouldn’t fingernail clippings be just as good as toenail clippings?”
All three aunts nodded. “But he won’t notice toenail clippings being safely put into a plastic bag, and he might notice that with fingernail clippings,” Aunt Agnes said.
I was silent for a moment while I tried to ponder their logic. “Oh.” It was the only response I could manage. After a few moments of silence, I added, “And what is my part in this, again?” I trembled as I said it.
“You’re my assistant,” Aunt Maude said. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to touch the man’s dirty toenails.”
> “Dirty?” I echoed.
“He’s a farmer,” Maude said. “He’s out in the dirt all day long.”
I thought it best not to point out that the man likely wore shoes and socks while he was about his daily business in the sheep paddocks, but I didn’t want to prolong this conversation any further than necessary. Aloud I said, “When do we leave?”
“Right after lunch, of course. And we mixed Maude a potion of sugar along with the compelling herbs liquorice root and calamus root, so that when she shakes hands with him, he’ll be amenable to what she wants.”
I shot Agnes a long look. The aunts were all upbeat about this, but I was growing rather weary of collecting hair samples, and now we were moving onto toenail clippings. It was all too much.
My mood hadn’t improved by the time Aunt Maude brought the car to a stop outside Geoff Currey’s house, which was not too far past Beckett’s house. Once again, we had passed Alec Aldon’s house, although this time, he was nowhere to be seen. I was about to open the car door when an assortment of dogs ran at us, barking. “They won’t bite,” Aunt Maude said, and hopped out of the car before I could stop her.
When I saw she wasn’t torn apart limb to limb, I got out of the car as well. The dogs soon lost interest in us and wandered off. “Where do we start looking?” I asked Aunt Maude. “He might be out in the paddock somewhere and not in his house.”
“He’s close by, because all these dogs are loose,” Aunt Maude said. She was obviously more used to the ways of country folk than I was.
I followed Aunt Maude as she walked around to the back door of the house. She had her hand lifted to knock when a man opened the door. “Hi there. I’m Maude Jasper, and this is my niece, Valkyrie.” She offered her hand, and he shook it. I knew she had sugar, liquorice, and calamus all over her hand, so now he would be compelled to do what she wanted. “We’re community volunteers, and this week we’re showing our appreciation for everything that farmers do, by going door-to-door and giving pedicures.”
The man looked shocked. “Pedicures?” he repeated. I wondered if he had ever heard the term before.
“It’s free and you’ll like it,” Aunt Maude said firmly. She pulled a box of chocolates from her large bag. “And you can eat these while I do it.”
His eyes lit up at the sight of the chocolates, but his expression remained doubtful. “Does it hurt?”
I realised he didn’t know what a pedicure was, so I added, “You eat chocolates, while Aunt Maude massages your feet. It’s called a pedicure. Everyone in town is doing it.”
His face brightened considerably. “Come in! Can you do it now, or I do have to make an appointment?”
“Right now,” Maude said, shooting me a triumphant look.
“Would you like a cup of tea?” he asked us.
We both accepted. Even I knew it was rude to decline an invitation for food or drink in the country. Geoff introduced himself and then ushered us in. We sat at the kitchen table while he made a cup of tea. This was unlike any other country house I had been in. It was brand, spanking new.
“This is a nice house,” I said. “I haven’t seen such a lovely, new house on a farm before.”
Geoff’s face lit up. He turned to me, a teabag dangling from his hand. “It was finished only last month,” he said. “The only drawback is the road here.”
“What do you mean?” I prompted him. I already knew something of the situation about the right of way through Beckett’s land.
His face fell. “I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, and my next-door neighbour passed away.”
Aunt Maude and I made murmurs of sympathy.
Geoff nodded slowly. “Yes, it was so sudden. It’s still a shock. I haven’t quite come to terms with it yet.” He turned his back to us and poured hot water into the big ceramic mugs. “It was quite sad really, because we’ve been friends for years, but we had a falling out over the access to my land. It was about access to my new house, specifically. I wanted to put a road through the far end of his land straight to my new house, and he agreed to that, but I also asked him if I could extend through to the road on the other side.”
He turned around to us and gestured to the east. “There’s another road not far from here that runs to the north-west, and it would have saved me a lot of time if I could go straight through, but Beckett didn’t want that.”
“Did he say why?” I asked him.
He nodded. “He said he didn’t mind people going to my place, but he didn’t want people to continue through to the other road. He thought it would make more traffic, and he wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to explain that it wouldn’t.” He sighed, and then brought us over our cups of tea.
“Do you mind if I fill my bowl with hot water from your kitchen tap?” Aunt Maude asked him. “I have some lovely scented bubble bath and you can soak your feet in it while we drink our tea.”
He looked somewhat alarmed, so I added, “That’s the normal first part of a pedicure.”
Geoff beamed. “How exciting. Sure, get as much hot water as you like. Don’t burn me, mind you. I’m not partial to being burnt.”
Aunt Maude assured him that she would get the temperature right. Geoff and I sipped our tea while Maude busied herself preparing the foot bath. She placed it on the floor under the table. “Now take off your shoes and socks.”
“My shoes are at the back door,” he said. “I’ll take off my socks. I’m sorry if my socks are a bit smelly, ladies.”
We both hurried to reassure him that we didn’t mind. Truth be told, I hoped his feet weren’t too smelly. I stuck my nose close to my tea and inhaled deeply.
Soon Geoff was soaking his feet and smiling. “I could get used to this,” he said. “What do you call it again?”
“It’s a pedicure,” Maude said. “After you soak your feet for a while, I massage your feet with some of this nice lotion.”
Geoff looked doubtful, but nodded. Maude pushed the box of chocolates across to him. “Now you eat your chocolates while I get to work on your feet.”
“It won’t hurt, will it?” he asked, alarmed.
Maude shot him a winning smile. “Absolutely not. Pedicures are a wonderful experience. The Community Centre knows how hard farmers work and you’re on your feet all day, so that’s why we’re doing them in this area.”
“Very kind of you,” he said while reading the list of chocolate assortments. He popped two in his mouth at once. Aunt Maude ducked under the table with her nail clippers.
I watched Geoff’s face carefully for any sign of reaction to his toenails being clipped, because I could hear the clippers going clickety clack, but he seemed engrossed in the chocolates, much to my relief.
Finally, Maude emerged from under the table. “I’ll throw the foot bath water out the back door, if that’s all right?”
He beamed at her. “That was wonderful, Maude. Come back any time. By the way, are you married?”
Aunt Maude looked horrified, while I tried to suppress a grin. “Um, no,” she said.
“Are you seeing anyone?” he asked her.
She shot out the back door by way of response. “Your aunt is a very nice woman,” Geoff told me.
I nodded.
“She reminds me of a prize cow I used to own,” he continued. “Her name was Buttercup. I loved that cow.”
Aunt Maude returned, and snatched up her large bag. “Well, we’re under time pressure,” she said. “Onto the next farm. I do hope you enjoyed your pedicure, Mr Currey.”
He winked at her. “Please call me Geoff.”
Aunt Maude grabbed my arm and all but dragged me to the car. I looked back to see Geoff waving enthusiastically at us. Aunt Maude floored it, while I clutched the seat. She did not slow down until we had reached the road just past Beckett’s place.
“Don’t say a word,” Maude said, shaking her finger at me. “No teasing whatsoever.”
I chuckled. “If you say so. Did you get his toenail clippings?”
She
shuddered. “I have a whole bag of them. They had to be the longest toenails on record, ever. Have a look.”
I gingerly reached into her handbag and felt around for the plastic bag. I finally found it and lifted it out, holding it up to the light. “Oh gosh,” I said, looking at the bent, yellow, hard pieces of toenail. “It must’ve taken superhuman strength to cut those.”
“It did,” Maude said. She shuddered again, and then screamed.
Chapter 15
Someone stepped out in front of the car, and I recognised him at once as Alec Aldon.
“That’s the creepy neighbour,” I told her.
Aunt Maude muttered several rude words under her breath, and then rolled down her window as Alec Aldon approached slowly. He said something in a low tone. He didn’t even bend over to the car window.
Aunt Maude stuck her head out. “What did you say?” she yelled.
Alec remained in the same place and repeated his words. Aunt Maude leant across to me. “He’s a suspect. We need his personal concerns. Follow my lead.”
I groaned, but I had no choice. I jumped out of the car and turned around, only to see Aunt Maude vigorously shaking the man’s hand. “I’m hard of hearing,” she yelled. “What did you say?”
“I asked you where you had been.” His voice was still a whisper. He reminded me of the Grim Reaper.
I expected Aunt Maude to reprimand him for asking such a personal and nosy question, but she did not. “My, what lovely roses you have,” she said. “What is your secret?”
I did not expect her ruse to work, but it did. Something akin to a slight smile broke out on his otherwise impassive face. He muttered something and walked back to his roses, so we followed. He pointed to the roses and spoke, and Aunt Maude nodded at intervals. I wondered if she heard a single thing that he said.
After a while, he turned his attention to me. “Where have you been?” he asked again.
I pointed the way we had come. “From that direction,” I said, hoping it wouldn’t prompt more questions.
Aunt Maude tapped his arm. “My niece, Valkyrie here, was upset about poor Beckett’s death, so she wanted to speak with his neighbours. It’s therapy for her, you see.”
