Christmas Trees

by Poppy Blake

  “And we thought Theo was the competitive one!” mumbled Dylan.

  “What did you decide on?” asked Rosie, collecting their coffee mugs and plates together and sliding them into a sink full of soap suds.

  She had initially cursed Graham when he’d refused to invest in a dishwasher, citing lack of space, which was true. However, she had to admit that she thoroughly enjoyed the sensation of plunging her hands into a sink of hot soapy water so she could ensure that every single item of crockery and cutlery sparkled before it was stored away.

  “Well, as I can do with all the publicity I can get for Biarritz Bags, my fledgling handbag business, I thought I’d use that as my inspiration for my Christmas tree. When it’s finished I plan to take lots of photographs to use in next year’s advertising campaign. Oh, I can’t wait to show you what I’ve created, Rosie. I’ve been working on the decorations in between takes of the new crime drama I’m filming in Oxford. A couple of the other actors helped too, so it’s only taken me six weeks to make everything—”

  “With a little help from Yours Truly, too!” interjected Dylan.

  “You’ve been amazing, darling,” laughed Abbi, leaning over to give him a peck on his bristly cheek. “I adore every single one of the miniature leather handbags, purses and wallets we’ve made. They’ve all been stitched by hand, in a rainbow of colours with matching ribbons so we can hang them on the branches. You should see the garlands I’ve made from the gold and silver leather tassels as an alternative to tinsel! But the pièce de resistance is the wonderful angel, also made from tooled leather, for the top of the tree!”

  “Sounds fabulous,” smiled Rosie, grateful that everyone was taking the Christmas tree decorating competition so seriously. “What about you, Zara? What theme have you gone with?”

  “Gosh, nothing as glamorous as Abbi’s! Sounds like it wouldn’t look out of place in the windows of Harrods! But I have to admit that I had such a lot of fun making our decorations. Mum and Dad have demanded lots of photographs, as well as a live video stream of the actually judging and prize-giving ceremony by the Rev.”

  “Actually, Rosie, Zara’s had the whole family beavering away like workers on an assembly line; or should that be a Chinese sweat shop? She even roped in her brother Jack and his kids!” chuckled Sam, giving his wife a look of such adoration, Rosie felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

  “So,” interrupted Zara, grabbing the explanation baton from Sam in her eagerness to tell Rosie about her entry. “As we’re staying in the grounds of a real-life windmill, we decided to use that as our inspiration. We’ve made dozens of tiny wooden windmills, quite a few pairs of mini wooden clogs and bunches of carved tulips – all of which we’ve decorated in Christmas colours of red, white and green. Barnie and Oscar have added their own individual touches too; glitter, sequins, little pom-poms. I even managed to source some packets of edible rice paper in the shape of snowflakes to sprinkle on the branches. It’s going to look fabulous!”

  “Zara, that sounds awesome!” squealed Abbi, clapping her hands together in excitement. “Oh, God, come on – let’s get started. We’re going to have our work cut out to get finished by Saturday morning. I need mine to be photoshoot-perfect. Do you think Penny would mind if I asked her to do the honours with the camera? She’s an amazing artist so I reckon she’ll know exactly how to get the best angle.”

  “Talking of Penny, didn’t you say she was planning to come over for breakfast?” asked Rosie, drying her hands on a tea towel and returning her trusty bottle of bleach to the cupboard underneath the sink. She still had the tables to wipe, but already her stress levels were diminishing as her beloved café returned to its sparkling best.

  “She must have changed her mind,” said Sam, striding over to look out of the French windows. “Oh, actually I’m wrong. Looks like she’s got a visitor.”

  Everyone joined Sam at the window and peered over his shoulder. As soon as Rosie saw who Penny’s visitor was, her stomach performed a flip-flop of delight. With as much politeness as she could muster, she shooed everyone from the café and wished them luck with their Christmas trees. And then, for the first time in months, she discarded her bottle of anti-bacterial spray, grabbed her coat, and rushed out of the café to join Matt who was chatting with Penny on the veranda of her lodge.

  Chapter 7

  “Hi Penny, I thought I’d bring you a couple of breakfast muffins over.”

  “Oh, thanks, Rosie. Mmm, they smell delicious, and they’re still warm, which is more than I can say for the weather today. Why don’t we adjourn inside the lodge?”

  Rosie had to stifle a laugh when she saw the look of delight on Matt’s face as they followed Penny into the luxury lodge she shared with Theo. Weak rays of early morning sunshine swept through the floor-to-ceiling windows, highlighting the copper tones in Penny’s immaculate bob and picking out the gems in her numerous rings and necklaces that caused multicoloured reflections to dance around the walls. A faint aroma of patchouli mingled with linseed oil lingered in the air.

  Rosie took the opportunity to study the yoga enthusiast whilst she set the kettle to boil. Penny still sported her Lycra vest and yoga pants from her early morning workout; both black, a colour that did nothing to detract from her super-pale complexion. Despite her rotund frame, her limbs were muscular and lithe from her chosen hobby, but that morning her face was devoid of the heavy kohl-based makeup she loved which conversely served to emphasise the depth of her blue-grey eyes.

  Penny handed each of them a mug of tea, so thick it could have supported a teaspoon, and indicated for them to take a seat on one of the sofas. Rosie sunk back into the sumptuous silk scatter cushions that Graham had sourced on one of his numerous trips to India, and her eyes landed on an artist’s pad on the coffee table in front of her.

  “Wow, Penny, this is amazing!”

  She drew the sketch pad towards her for a closer look. It was an animated version of the Windmill Café, except instead of being peopled by hungry tourists and locals, the tables were occupied by a coterie of woodland animals; hedgehogs, squirrels, badgers, rabbits, dormice, all in the process of partaking a sumptuous afternoon tea. The attention to detail was stunning.

  “Thanks. It still needs some fine-tuning, but I’m thinking of setting my next children’s story in a windmill café, that’s if you don’t mind?”

  “Not at all!”

  Penny gave Rosie a weak smile, her eyes wide with anxiety as she fiddled nervously with the handle of her mug. From the way she kept glancing at the door, it was clear she was regretting inviting them in and contemplating the merits of making a run for it. Rosie offered her a return smile of reassurance. Unfortunately, Matt wasn’t as interested in the social niceties.

  “Penny, I know you’ve already spoken to the police at the hospital yesterday, but would you mind sharing what you know about Theo’s accident with us?”

  Rosie saw the look of panic stalk across Penny’s face and decided to intervene before she had chance to refuse. She explained as briefly as possible about Grace threatening to cancel her wedding and that they wanted to get to the bottom of what happened to avoid the incident ruining their special day.

  “But we can only do that if everyone is prepared to talk to us.”

  “I told the police everything I know, which isn’t much really. I didn’t see Theo fall off his bike, and I have no idea who could have set up that tripwire, or why anyone would do such an awful thing.”

  Rosie scrambled around for the right questions to ask to get Penny to talk to them, but she discovered her mind was blank. As an uncomfortable silence stretched through the room, a vision of her father floated in front of her. He was holding a copy of his favourite detective story – Murder on the Orient Express – and her thoughts scooted back to the long, hot summer when she was eleven and they’d had a competition to be the first to guess the identity of the murderer. Of course, whoever they chose, they were both right and it was still one of her favourite books. The
memory of her beloved father and their shared love of solving mysteries galvanised her into action.

  “You must be upset about what happened to Theo. Did the hospital tell you when he might be discharged?”

  “If it’s got anything to do with Theo, he’ll be out this afternoon. Would you believe that all he could go on about while lying in his hospital bed was his Christmas tree design, how long it had taken him to source his decorations, and how he was going to get it completed in time for the judging? There’s a crazy person on the loose and all he can think about is winning his next trophy! You know, everyone’s entering the contest as a couple, Abbi and Dylan, Zara and Sam, Grace and Josh, but not Theo. He doesn’t want to share the glory! His words, not mine.”

  “How long have you and Theo been together?”

  “Only a couple of months. We met in September at a wedding. Theo had supplied the wedding cars and I was hired as a roving sketch artist to capture the guests in pencil, crayon, or pastels as they celebrated the bride and groom’s special day. I also painted a watercolour of the church they were married in – it pays the bills.” Penny shrugged, unable to meet Rosie’s eyes. “The bride’s father invited us to stay for the evening celebrations and, well—we ended up dancing together until the early hours. I was actually quite surprised when Theo asked if he could see me again.”

  “Why?”

  “He told me he had recently come out of a long-term relationship and wasn’t ready to embark on anything new. I suspected he was still in love with his ex, to be honest. When he spoke about her he had this weird look in his eyes, sort of regret but tinged with something I couldn’t put my finger on. It was only later that I realised what it was.”

  “What?” prompted Matt, shuffling forward onto the edge of the settee, his eyes fixed on the crown of Penny’s head while she contemplated the dregs of her tea as though they contained the answers to life’s traumas.

  “Anger,” she whispered.

  “Anger?” blurted Rosie - that had been the last thing she had expected Penny to say.

  “Yes.”

  At last, Penny raised her head to stare out of the window at the picturesque scene that had inspired her sketches. Theo and Penny’s lodge had an uninterrupted view of the billowing marquee, now draped in myriad twisted garlands of holly and mistletoe and huge elaborate wreaths that Rosie recognised as the work of Carole and her friends from the WI. She could just about make out the bushy fir trees within, only four of which were awaiting a competitor to adorn them with Christmas decorations and her heart gave a twist of pleasure when she saw Mia busy unpacking one of her precious boxes.

  Despite the buzz of activity surrounding the tent, Penny seemed to look straight through it, her eyes fixed on an indeterminate point in the distance where the silver-grey of the sea met the transparent blue of the horizon. When she finally spoke, it was as though she was reciting a soliloquy from a play, even the tone of her voice had changed as her emotions tightened her vocal chords and she struggled to get the words out.

  “Because we’d got on so well at Mark and Andrea’s wedding, I agreed to meet Theo for a curry at a restaurant in Edgbaston the following Saturday. At first, everything was fine – we both love Indian food. Theo told me more than I needed to know about extreme cycling, and the game of golf, before moving on to talk about his vintage car business. After the meal we arranged another date so I could take a few photographs for his website. We decided on a local stately home as a suitable backdrop and we travelled there in style in a vintage Rolls Royce he’d just added to his collection. Theo brought a fabulous picnic in one of those old-fashioned baskets, complete with a chequered tablecloth. I giggled when he produced a silver salt-and-pepper set and a matching candelabra and candles!”

  Penny paused and shot a glance at Rosie from beneath her eyelashes.

  “You’ve probably noticed how obsessive Theo is about everything. Even the tyres on his precious cars are as glossy as liquid tar and the picnic could have come from Fortnum & Mason’s it was so perfect. Well, I made a joke about his fastidiousness and realised immediately that I had made a mistake.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “As soon as the words had left my lips his mood changed so swiftly it took my breath away. He packed everything back up before we’d even cracked open the cellophane on the Waldorf salad and marched back to the car like a retreating soldier. He didn’t say a word to me during the drive back to my flat. When I asked him what was wrong he said nothing and just drove off. I didn’t expect to see him again. I wish I hadn’t,” she added softly, fiddling with the silver chains draped around her neck, twisting them backwards and forwards around her index finger.

  “But clearly you did resume your friendship?” pursued Matt, keen to coax Penny onwards with her revelations.

  “Yes. He rang the next day, full of apologies, and asked me to go to the cinema with him the following weekend. I was about to decline when he told me he might have another wedding assignment for me if I was interested. I’m just starting out on the wedding circuit so I agreed. You know, the whole time we were together Theo never showed the slightest bit of interest in my family or where I’d studied or about any of my past relationships, and he didn’t ask one question about my passion for art. I tried to talk to him about my hopes and dreams, but he always changed the subject to whatever he wanted to talk about.”

  Penny set her mug down on the table and leaned back into her seat and at last seemed to reconnect with the present.

  “I had actually told him that I didn’t want to continue our relationship when he asked me to be his Plus One at Grace and Josh’s wedding, so we came here as friends. You know, when we arrived at the lodges, for the first time I noticed that whilst he has an easy camaraderie with the guys of the group, he was different around the women. I realised straight away that there was something not quite right between him and Zara. She clearly dislikes him and Grace seems to avoid him like a bad smell. I was beginning to understand why. He’s what my mum would call a man’s man.”

  “But despite this, you still agreed to come to Norfolk with him?”

  “I adore weddings – always have. And I’ve always wanted to explore Norfolk, too. I thought it would provide lots of inspiration for my illustrations, and it has. I just didn’t expect Theo to be targeted by a madman and to have to spend hours sitting at his hospital bedside whilst he goes on and on about how he’s planning to trounce all the other contestants with his Christmas tree design. The guy’s a competition fanatic! When I suggested it was just a bit of fun, he actually ordered me to out of the ward, would you believe! In front of the other patients! I was mortified! Then, on my way out I was ambushed by the detective in charge of the investigation, which completed my day from Hell. I didn’t get back here until after midnight and as soon as the police tell me I can leave I’m going to hare it back to Coventry.”

  “You mentioned that you thought Theo was still hung up on his ex-girlfriend. Did he tell you anything about her?”

  “No, nothing. But I often caught him checking his mobile for messages and disappearing to make or take calls, always whispering and arguing. I once overheard him begging the person on the other end to give him another chance and promising to change. Definitely his ex – a woman just knows these things.”

  Rosie saw Matt roll his eyes with impatience before he asked “Speaking of overhearing conversations, you were heard arguing with Theo on Tuesday night. Can you tell us what that was about?”

  “I’m not sure I – Oh, yes, I remember. Me, Zara and Abbi had been to this cute little deli in Willerby that afternoon while the guys were away training for their epic cycle ride. It’s such a pretty village that I decided to take a few photographs of the pub, the cottages and that gorgeous kissing gate at St Andrew’s church. Later that night, I decided to show some of the shots to Theo. I thought he’d be interested. He humoured me for a few seconds then grabbed my wrist and ordered me to stop. I was really shocked. His grip hurt. Look!”
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  Penny held out her wrist to show Rosie and Matt her injury. Sure enough, there was a perfect set of dark purple fingerprints across its width.

  “He asked to see the last few images again and started to cross-examine me on exactly where I had been when I’d taken them. I was flustered and upset at his weird behaviour, and I have to admit I was a little scared too. I couldn’t remember where I’d taken them and he told me I wasn’t going anywhere until I’d told him!”

  “Can you show us which photograph he was referring to?” asked Matt, indicating the phone that was protruding from Penny’s pocket.

  “Yes, of course. Although, as I said, I’m not sure exactly which one it was because thankfully Sam and Zara arrived to ask us to join them for dinner in their lodge.” Penny spent a few moments scrolling through a plethora of images before handing her phone over to Matt. “That’s what puzzled me the most. Not only has Theo never shown the slightest bit of interest in my work before – apart from when he wanted me to do those shots for his website – he was especially dismissive of the photographs I took.”

  Rosie scooted behind Matt and squinted over his shoulder.

  “Ah, look that’s Alfie! Isn’t he cute!” she cried, a smile tugging at her lips as she saw Carole’s white-haired Lhasa Apso chasing a ball across the village green. Grace was in hot pursuit, her blonde corkscrew curls flying into the air like a wild Medusa.

  “Are you sure it was this picture?”

  “It could have been any one on either side, I suppose. But he definitely paused at one photograph in particular and growled ‘Where did you take this? Tell me!’. I was so surprised at the venom in his voice that I couldn’t reply and that’s when he grabbed me. I actually wanted to leave the lodge straightaway, but when Sam and Zara arrived, well, I didn’t want to cause any embarrassment or spoil the wedding. I decided that as soon as the meal was over I would tell Theo that our friendship was over. But he was charm itself during the meal, really attentive. It was like I’d imagined the whole thing. I can’t understand why a photograph of Grace’s dog would have upset him so much.”