THE WINDMILL CAFE_PART ONE_Summer Breeze

by Poppy Blake

  ‘Is that a long bow?’

  ‘No. This is a recurve bow – see how the riser is moulded to the shape of your left hand? You balance the bow on the arch between your left thumb and index finger like this. The arrow is then placed on this rest and the nock at the end is clicked into the string like this. Make sure you’re wearing your finger guard when you draw the string back, with the arrow between your first two fingers and your elbow and forearm horizontal to your cheek. Unbreakable rule number one – never draw the string unless you are aiming for a target. Ready to give it a go?’

  ‘Erm…’

  Rosie fumbled as she tried to take the bow from Matt’s hand. If it wasn’t for Matt’s swift reactions the whole thing would have tumbled to the ground.

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Here, let me demonstrate.’

  To Rosie’s surprise, Matt moved behind her and pulled her spine into his abdomen so that she made contact with the rock-hard muscles of his torso. He then slid his left arm under hers, cupped her hand holding up the bow, draped his right arm over her shoulder and guided her fingers into the right position on the string. She could feel his breath tickling her right cheek and she was relieved that he couldn’t see her face when he placed his chin on her shoulder and whispered. ‘Pull the string back only as far as the corner of your lips before releasing the arrow.’

  When Matt stepped back to allow her to aim at the first target – fastened to a tree trunk less than twenty metres away – she thought her whole body would crumple to the ground like a puppet clipped of its strings. However, she managed to stay upright and released the arrow, watching in dismay as it flew straight past the target and imbedded in a branch to her left. Rosie’s heart leapt into her mouth as a bird gave flight with a loud shriek of objection to having his dinner interrupted.

  ‘Great first attempt.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes. Now stand next to me and watch my stance. Your left arm should be stretched out at right angles to your body when balancing the bow, your right elbow should be raised and parallel, your head turned ninety degrees to your left. Look through the sight, line it up to the centre of the target and aim for the gold.’

  Matt drew the string of his bow to his chin, lowered the arrow to the target and released the string. The arrow flew straight into the centre of the straw boss and he allowed the bow to see-saw forward on his thumb. Rosie was deeply impressed by the grace and elegance of the whole movement, not to mention the accuracy of the shot.

  ‘Okay. Let’s move on.’

  Rosie almost cantered to the next target in the woodland in anticipation of another demonstration from Matt. He had been right – this was the perfect way to relax after the earlier trauma at the café.

  ‘Why don’t you take up your stance while I watch?’

  Rosie tried to remember how Matt had held his bow. ‘Like this?’

  ‘Looks great. But try looking straight ahead first to get your posture right, then turning your head to the left, raising your bow in a smooth, uninterrupted movement, positioning the sight on the target…’

  ‘But where’s the target?’

  Matt smiled. ‘Right there.’

  ‘But that’s a… oh, I get it.’

  As Rosie squinted through the shadowy light she could just about make out the silhouette of an over-large grey squirrel. On closer scrutiny, she realized it was made from straw and had a target attached to its tail. She took a steadying breath, followed Matt’s instructions to the letter, and fired off her next arrow.

  ‘Yay!’ cried Rosie, as a surge of exhilaration whipped around her body.

  ‘Congratulations, you made your first hit. I think you might be a natural.’

  ‘That felt amazing! I really didn’t think I would be able to do anything like this. It’s obviously all down to my fabulous instructor! I bet everyone loves shooting in the woods with you.’

  Again, Rosie’s cheeks glowed as she realized she had made yet another risqué comment to Matt, but she had seen his eyes suddenly cloud over. The ragged, tormented look she had seen on his face as he’d argued with Mia outside the vicarage had returned.

  ‘Well, not everyone.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  Rosie desperately wanted Matt to open up about his past, to confide in her about what had happened at St Andrew’s church to cause such sadness, such heartache. She spotted an upturned tree trunk and sat down, making it clear she was offering a listening ear just as he had done when she had told him about Harry.

  Matt hesitated for a moment before joining her, clasping his hands between his thighs and lowering his head.

  ‘I know you must have thought my reaction that night at the vicarage was strange. I also know that Mia won’t have told you what was behind it because she and Freddie are such loyal friends. The truth is that I can’t face even being in the vicinity of St Andrew’s church, so it’s easier to simply avoid the place altogether. Carole and Roger were so kind, so sympathetic, helpful and practical, and I’m grateful for everything they did to ease the hurt, but I never want to set foot in Carole’s cosy kitchen again.’

  Matt was silent for so long, lost in the labyrinth of painful memories, that Rosie thought he’d forgotten she was there. She wanted to ask him to explain, but she knew she had to let him find the right words in his own time. If she had thought this was going to be a straightforward archery shoot, a chance to simply deflect the anxiety over what was happening at the café, then she had got much more than she had bargained for. And yet she was glad they had this chance to spend time together. Sitting there, beneath the rippling canopy of leaves, she felt closer to Matt, as though he was more than just a friend intent on exposing her ineptitude for outdoor activities and she wanted to offer whatever solace she could to remedy to his sorrow.

  ‘What happened, Matt?’

  ‘My fiancée, Victoria, walked out on me.’

  ‘And she told you whilst you were at the vicarage?’

  ‘No, she didn’t have the courage to do anything so forthright. She just didn’t show up.’

  ‘Show up?’

  ‘At the church. She left me standing at the altar in St Andrew’s. Sent her father to deliver the bombshell. Carole and the Rev were awesome. It was as though they’d been through similar situations hundreds of times. I know I was in shock. They put the vicarage at our disposal and my whole family rallied around to smooth over the after-effects, but the worst thing was that I had no idea why Victoria had done it. Not an inkling that anything was wrong.’

  ‘Matt, I’m so sorry…’

  Rosie’s heart performed a summersault of anguish on Matt’s behalf as she pictured him standing next to his best man waiting for his bride to walk down the aisle, but instead seeing her father approach. She couldn’t conceive of how devastating that must have been and Matt’s experience certainly put what had happened with Harry into perspective. She had loved Harry, but they hadn’t been engaged, nor, now she came to think about it, had they even discussed marriage despite being in the wedding industry. Only now did that strike her as odd, but there would be time later to consider this new realization.

  She held Matt’s gaze as he fought the returning memories of that painful episode in his life before offering her a rueful smile. Unsurprisingly his response was as pragmatic as she had expected.

  ‘Actually, I’ve come to terms with what happened, view it as a positive really. We were clearly not right for each other, but I just wish Victoria had had the balls to tell me before everyone had invested their hard-earned cash in their wedding outfits and taken their seats in the pews! My aunt Florence saved up for months to buy her hat, and my cousin used her precious few days’ annual leave to come down from Scotland for our wedding. However, I’m pleased to report that she’s happy. She’s engaged to a Spanish guy called Raphael who has a yacht in the Mediterranean. It was over a year ago, but I still can’t face going back to the vicarage.’

  ‘Matt, I’m…’

  ‘Righ
t, enough of the emotional interlude. Want to continue with the shoot? I promise to steer clear of the Ultimate Adventures personalized therapy service from now on!’ Matt joked a little unconvincingly. ‘It’s good to talk, and where better than surrounded by members of the woodland community who won’t judge you for your frailties or repeat your words in gossip?’

  Rosie took the hint, but something had shifted in their relationship, something intangible that caused a warm, fuzzy feeling at the base of her stomach to glow like an ember of hope, hope that when the current ordeal was over, perhaps there would be something much more pleasurable they could apply their investigation skills to.

  ‘Agreed. Okay, Legolas, brace yourself. I think archery could just be my new favourite pastime. Where’s the next target?’

  Rosie followed Matt around the archery field course and by the time they had finished she was getting the hang of how to hold the bow and had scored two hits out of the six. Matt had regaled her with several anecdotes about previous groups who had booked the course, one of whom had insisted on having photographs of their board of directors pinned to the targets.

  Chapter 14

  When they arrived back at Ultimate Adventures’ reception area, Matt guided her to one of the leather armchairs and promised her a coffee to thaw her frozen fingers. She tried not to think about the jumble of washing up in the sink she had seen earlier, nor the cleanliness of the mug he offered to her with a smile. She took a sip and sighed. Coffee really did solve a great deal of life’s problems.

  ‘So, now that the fun bit of the day is over, we need to apply all our efforts to finding out who could have put aconitine in Suki’s throat spray. It has to be someone who knows all about the toxicity of wild flowers and their effects, because if it were me and I wanted to poison someone, my first weapon of choice would be rat poison.’

  ‘Surely you don’t think Freddie…’

  ‘No, absolutely not! I believe what he told us in the Drunken Duck about what happened at the lodge. But don’t you think it was curious the way Suki lured Freddie there, sobered up, and evicted him almost immediately. If she just wanted to make Felix jealous it was a despicable thing to do.’

  ‘And anyway, Felix wasn’t even at the party.’

  Rosie bit into one of the chocolate biscuits Matt had put on a plate, holding her hand under her chin to catch the crumbs, then licking them from her palm with the tip of her tongue.

  ‘Little Miss Clean and Tidy strikes again!’ Matt smirked before his features settled into a more serious expression. ‘Felix was bound to find out about Freddie from one of their friends, though – Nadia probably. She’s got envy scrawled across her forehead in capital letters.’

  ‘But why send Freddie away so quickly? Surely she could have let him down gently. Shared a glass of champagne with him as compensation for humiliating him. No wonder he slunk out the back way and decided to hide out here at Ultimate Adventures. My guess is she snagged that bottle of champagne because she was expecting someone. Who though? Do you think it could just have been that Felix called or texted to let her know he was on his way?’

  ‘Possibly.’

  ‘What? You think it could be someone else? Who?’

  ‘Not sure.’

  ‘There’s only William, her best friend’s boyfriend, or Lucas, her sister’s. You’re not seriously suggesting she was having an affair with one of them, are you?’

  ‘I’m not suggesting anything.’

  ‘Well, who else is there?’ Rosie raked her brain until her eyes widened. ‘Not the Rev!’

  Matt spluttered into his coffee, sending a shower of droplets into the air.

  ‘Oh my God! Did you just say that? I suggest you stop right there with your deductions, Rosie, before you give me a heart attack! Anyway, all this is pure speculation.’

  But Rosie couldn’t get the incident out of her mind. The conundrum continued to spin around her brain on an eternal loop until she thought she would go crazy.

  ‘Who would want to hurt Suki? I don’t know her very well, I admit, but she seems lovely. She really looks after her sister, who’s definitely a cupcake short of a topping, if you ask me. Heavens, Suki even paid for everyone to stay in the lodges. It’s not cheap so she’s generous as well. She paid for all the champagne and prosecco for the party and she made a decent contribution to the Windmill Café’s garden party charities.’

  ‘Her parents were quite wealthy, though,’ added Matt, stroking his chin in thought.

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘A quick search of the internet threw up all the information. They died in a helicopter crash ten years ago. Their money was put into trust for their two daughters until they reached the age of twenty-five. Suki’s twenty-six so she’s already got control of her half, and she’s one of the trustees for Jess’s share which she can use for her sister’s maintenance, education and welfare. I bet it was also Suki’s money that was paying for their villa rental in Ibiza, but their uncle and aunt are rich, too. Apparently, the cash is from a family business set up by the two Richards brothers – Bill and Ken. Ken Richards has been running things, with his wife Martha as company secretary, since his brother’s and sister-in-law’s deaths. That information I gleaned from Companies House.’

  ‘Oh my God! Step aside Sherlock Holmes, there’s a new kid on the block!’

  Rosie saw Matt flash her a brief look of vacillation as he struggled with whether to utter his next sentence. From his expression, she wondered if he was going to talk about his ex-fiancée again, but was shocked when he inhaled a deep breath and revealed something even more personal.

  ‘Actually, you’ve hit the nail on the head. It was my childhood dream to become a police detective, but unfortunately life had other plans. I used to love solving all kinds of brainteasers and was an avid watcher of all the TV detective series. When I was eleven, my dad let me help him design the obstacle course at Ultimate Adventures. We argued because I wanted it to be not only a physical challenge, but also a test of the participant’s mental agility by using complicated puzzles to unlock each hurdle; it’s still one of our most popular activities.’

  ‘So why didn’t you join the police force?’

  Matt swallowed down the dregs of his coffee and paused, fiddling with the handle of his empty mug, his eyes glazed as his memories scooted back to the reasons for his change of career direction. Their frank conversation during the archery shoot had introduced a carousel of emotions Rosie hadn’t been expecting. Coupled with what was going on with Suki, she thought her head would explode from sensation overload. Eventually, Matt banged his mug back to the table, clearly regretting his sudden openness, and forced a wide smile onto his lips.

  ‘Now it looks like there’s a real-life whodunnit for us to crack right here in Willerby! There’s no need to worry about the arrival of the environmental health inspectors tomorrow, because between us we’ll have the mystery of Suki Richards’s poisoning solved before they’ve had time to fill out their documents in triplicate.’

  ‘Back to the amateur sleuthing, eh?’ grinned Rosie, relieved to see the return of Matt’s inherent upbeat enthusiasm. ‘So, my question is, Detective Inspector Wilson, if someone did poison Suki, why? Was it for her money?’

  ‘It usually is. Money or love.’

  ‘Well, I’m going to plump for the love angle.’

  ‘Okay, so what’s your theory?’ Matt smiled, enjoying her attempt at mystery solving.

  ‘Well, I really don’t want to think it’s one of Suki’s friends – that’s just too awful to contemplate. So, could it be someone from Suki’s past, someone who’s been stalking her for years, following the ups and downs of her music career, convinced that the lyrics of her songs are directed at him and his unswerving love for her? Maybe he’d recently made his affections public and he’s been waiting for his chance to punish her for rejecting his advances. She’s been living in Ibiza over the summer so he’s been biding his time until she came back to the UK and when he found out
she’d be in Norfolk opening a summer garden party, he took matters into his own hands and…’

  ‘Are you saying you publicized the Windmill Café’s party to the whole country?’

  ‘I, well, I… maybe he lives in Norfolk!’ Rosie tried not to be offended that her over-inflated theory had been punctured by Matt’s injection of common sense and then smiled. ‘Okay, who’s top of your list of suspects?’

  Rosie had been so focused on her conversation with Matt that she hadn’t noticed that Mia and Freddie had appeared on the threshold and were listening to their discussion.

  ‘If you want my opinion, I’d start with that William guy,’ declared Freddie, his face filled with animation at being able to make his contribution to their speculations. ‘I might not be the most perceptive of people, but something’s obviously going on between him and Suki. Even if he had nothing to do with the poisoning – even if it turns out it was some sort of an accident – as Suki’s manager he should be taste-testing everything, and I mean everything, that she eats or drinks! If he’s not guilty of anything else, he’s guilty of negligence at the very least!’

  ‘And he did leave the party early to take a shower!’ added Mia, plonking herself down on the sofa next to Rosie.

  ‘So, what are we waiting for?’ Freddie strode towards the door, eager to seek his revenge, his eyes blazing with indignation. ‘Let’s nail the scumbag! That guy set me up and I’m not letting him get away with it. I could have been arrested, spent the night in the cells, or worse, I could have been charged with attempted murder!’

  ‘I don’t blame you for being angry, Fred, but it’s probably best if you stay away from the café for the time being.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Let’s just say, Felix Dawson is not overjoyed about the fact you went back to Suki’s lodge with her.’