by Agatha Frost
"Girls!" Harriet cried, tossing the paper to the floor. "As we planned!"
In the blink of an eye, Harriet ripped open the gate and sprinted towards the digger, followed by Dot and another of the protestors who produced chains and padlocks from their bags. Harriet climbed into the mouth of the digger with the nimbleness of a woman half her age. Dot and the other protestor attempted to chain her up, but they were batted away by the tall, bald builder. As though she weighed no more than a bag of cement powder, the builder scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder.
"Might I remind you all, this is private property," Candy called out, her tone stern over Harriet’s screams of outrage. "I will not call the police on this occasion but let this be a warning to any other daring protestors - I will not tolerate trespassers!"
The builder put Harriet on the ground, her grey hair breaking free of the two pencils that held it up in a bun behind her head. He held her arms behind her back as she thrashed and cried out.
"What do you want me to do with her, boss?" the builder asked, his accent gruff and Northern. "I think you should have her booked."
Candy considered his suggestion for a moment, but she shook her head and lifted a hand.
"A warning is enough for now, Shane," Candy said with a firm nod. "Do you understand, lady?"
Harriet brushed her silver hair from her face as she looked up at the actress, who seemed to have grown an extra foot over the course of the interaction. Harriet nodded feebly, her yelling already a distant memory.
Candy walked forward and shook Harriet's hand, and as she did, Harold appeared out of nowhere with a camera in his hands. Candy pulled Harriet in, whispered something to her, prompting Harriet to look at the camera with a shaky smile. Candy beamed like in the advertisement again, the camera flashed, and she let go. Shane escorted Harriet off the land, leaving Candy to turn her back on her adoring public. Julia wondered if she was supposed to see the actress squirting hand sanitiser into her palms immediately after.
"Am I late?" a high-pitched male voice cried, forcing all heads to turn down the lane. "I don't want to miss this."
"You're right on time, Mikey," Candy called out, opening the gate for the impossibly slender and smartly dressed man with bleached blond buzz-cut hair. "We're going to build the house just as you designed it. The planning came through as expected this morning. Shane? Get on with it."
Mikey, who Julia assumed was the architect behind the glass and steel house design, linked arms with Candy and they both stepped back and watched as Shane clicked his fingers at the tattooed biker who Julia had also already met. The biker climbed up into the digger, and less than a minute later, they were watching him bring down the head of the digger on the rest of the cottage. Like a hot knife slicing through butter, the bricks crumbled under the weight, sending up a cloud of dust.
"Well, that's that," Barker exclaimed, his fingers clasping around Julia's. "What an eventful morning."
Much of the crowd made their way into the village when they tired of watching the digger scoop rubble into the skip. Luckily for Julia, a large number of those people found their way into her café. After what she was sure had been the busiest day of the year so far, she was happy when closing time neared and the café finally quietened down.
Julia let Jessie finish early, so she could spend some time with her boyfriend, Billy, leaving her alone in the café to bake a cake for the builders at Evelyn's B&B. She settled on a giant version of Barker's favourite double chocolate fudge cake, which she knew went down a treat with all who tried it.
With the cake boxed up and a tray of leftover lemon drizzle cupcakes from a cancelled order, Julia made her way through the village as the sun started to set. The days had slowly been growing longer, but she was sure today was the first day there had been light in the sky when she locked the café.
Evelyn's B&B sat on the corner next to The Plough pub, down the street from Julia's café. Its garden wrapped around the side of the house and was wildly overgrown, but it suited the look of the tall, stone building. For the first time in months, all of the guest room lights were on, and it warmed Julia to know that Evelyn had a full house again, something she knew she enjoyed. After pulling on the musical chain doorbell, Julia stepped back and waited.
Instead of Evelyn answering the door, her grandson, Mark, answered. Mark had only been in Evelyn's life since the storm that destroyed Barker's cottage had also uncovered a secret basement under Julia's café. The basement had turned out to be concealing the body of Evelyn's daughter, Astrid, who had been missing for two decades. In the event of uncovering the truth behind Astrid’s death, Julia had discovered that Astrid had had a son in secret who had been raised by someone else entirely. Knowing she had played a part in reuniting Evelyn with a twenty-year-old grandson she had never known about was one of Julia's proudest moments.
"Oh, hello, Julia," Mark said as he brushed his straightened black hair out of his eyes, which were circled in dark eyeliner. "Is that the cake Nan ordered? She's deep in meditation at the moment. Come in."
After wiping her feet on the doormat, Julia followed Mark into the dimly lit B&B. The scent of burning incense hung thickly in the air, and it was somehow strangely comforting. She enjoyed visiting the B&B. Evelyn was a well-travelled woman who frequently spent the winter months trotting around the globe gathering trinkets for her museum-style décor, but this year she had chosen to stay in Peridale to bond with Mark.
Mark showed Julia into the sitting room, where Evelyn was sitting crossed-legged on the large coffee table in a circle of tea light candles. A low humming came from her throat as she swayed back and forth, but she seemed on an entirely different planet.
"I find it's best to leave her when she's like this," he whispered. "I think she's communicating with my mum."
Julia nodded her understanding as she followed Mark through to the kitchen. She was not sure she believed in the things Evelyn did, but she knew that Evelyn believed, and that was enough for her. They walked into the kitchen, and Mark flicked on the blinding fluorescent lights. Julia placed the cake boxes on the counter where Evelyn had already started to chop vegetables for the evening meal.
"Do you want a cup of tea?" Mark asked, already reaching for a teacup. "Nan ordered some off the internet, and she swears you can see the colours of people's auras if you drink it while the sun is setting."
"None for me," Julia said, holding up her hand, knowing all too well from personal experience what kinds of tea Evelyn liked to collect. "Maybe next time."
"Do you need to be paid for the cake?" Mark asked. "There's some petty cash somewhere."
"First one is on the house," Julia said with a shake of her head. "We have a little deal. How are you enjoying living here?"
"I love it," he said with a shy smile as he flicked his black hair away from his eyes. "I'm staying in Mum's old room at the top of the house. I haven't changed much about it. It makes me feel connected to her."
A booming voice echoed down the staircase, startling them both. Without a word, they ran through the living room, and past Evelyn, whose rocking had intensified.
Julia reached the foot of the narrow staircase, and she was surprised to see the bald builder, Shane, pinning the tattooed biker up against the wall by his throat. What was even more surprising was that Shane was completely naked from head to toe, his body well-defined and chiselled from years of manual labour, despite looking to be in his forties. The biker, on the other hand, was wearing a white t-shirt and black jeans. Both arms were covered in dark tattoos, and from what Julia could see, it did not look like there was a patch of fresh skin left.
"You tell anyone," Shane cried, his voice booming as he pushed his arm further into the biker's throat, "and I'll kill you! You understand me?"
The biker stared at Shane for a moment, his eyes bulging as his face turned bright red. Julia would have run up the stairs to pull the man off him, but his nudity threw her; she did not know where to look. When the biker groaned and n
odded, Shane backed away before half-throwing the biker down the stairs. He caught his balance on the bannister before hurrying past them and out of the front door. Shane, who did not seem bothered about his naked state, looked down the stairs, his eyes filled with rage.
"What are you looking at?" Shane cried, his attention focussed on Mark. "Are you queer, or something?"
With that, Shane turned on his heels and marched into the nearest room. He slammed the door so forcefully that Julia felt the floor shake under her feet.
"What was that about?" Julia whispered. "And why was he naked?"
"I - I don't know," Mark mumbled, clearly embarrassed. "He doesn't seem very nice."
"You're right," Julia said, giving his arm a reassuring squeeze. "He doesn't. Ignore him."
At that moment, Evelyn appeared in the doorway, a dreamy and sleepy smile on her face. She blinked slowly at Julia, reminding her of a sloth.
"Julia!" Evelyn said airily. "What a lovely surprise. Can I interest you in some of my new tea?"
After declining a second invitation for tea, Julia left the B&B with a promise to return in a couple of days with another cake. When she saw the tattooed biker sitting on the kerb edge visibly shivering, she sat next to him.
"You should have a coat," she remarked. "I'm Julia, by the way. You came into my café yesterday."
"Alfie," he replied through chattering teeth. "You're right. It's freezing."
They shared a laugh for a moment while Julia resisted the urge to reach out and warm his arm with her hand. Being this close to him only intensified the feeling that she was sure she had met the young man before. She glanced over his tattoos, none of which made much sense to her, but she liked them regardless. She was not sure many would suit being so covered but coupled with the nose ring and his dark features, he pulled them off.
"What was that about, Alfie?" Julia asked. "You don't have to tell me, but it looked pretty serious."
"Nothing," he said, forcing himself up off the ground. "You're right. It's too cold to be out here. I'm going back inside."
"Is Shane your boss?"
Alfie looked down at her, and he seemed as though he was going to speak for a moment.
"It doesn't matter," he replied with a distant gaze. "He's a jackass. Wrong place, wrong time."
Without saying another word, Alfie ran back to the B&B door. Julia stood up, the cold starting to seep through her coat. She looked at the front door again, wondering what could have enraged Shane so much that he would put his nudity aside to berate one of his employees.
As though he had just heard his name, Shane burst through the front door, this time fully dressed in faded jeans, a shirt, and a black denim jacket. He hurried past Julia as though she was not there, and made his way towards the pub. He lingered outside for a moment before a taxi pulled up and a hooded figure wearing dark sunglasses climbed out. Instead of going into the pub, they snuck down the alley alongside the building.
Unable to stop herself, Julia hurried down the street so that she could see into the shadowy alley. In the amber glow of the nearby streetlamp, she watched Shane push the stranger up against the wall. Unlike when he had pushed Alfie, his grip was now tender. The stranger who had climbed out of the taxi pulled back their hood to reveal bright red hair. The second they pulled off their sunglasses, passion erupted between them, forcing Julia to hurry down the street.
"Candy Bennett and the builder?" Julia mumbled to herself as she made her way to her car parked next to her café. "Stay out of it, Julia. It's none of your business."
3
Julia woke up to the scent of bacon tickling her nostrils. She rolled over in bed, her grey Maine Coon, Mowgli, jumping onto the floor. Forcing her eyes open, she saw that she was alone in bed.
"What time is it?" she groaned to Mowgli as he looked up at her from the side of the bed. "Did I sleep through my alarm?"
A quick glance at her blinding phone screen let her know she still had ten minutes left to sleep before she had to get up to start baking for the café. She rolled back over, and almost pulled the covers over her head to enjoy those final minutes of peace, but the bacon smell was too enticing.
In her pink dressing gown and sheepskin slippers, Julia shuffled into the kitchen where Barker, wearing her frilly apron, was hovering over the stove. She watched him for a moment as he wiggled his hips to the song on the radio, unaware of her presence.
"You're up early," Julia muttered, hugging Barker from behind as he flipped the crispy bacon. "I thought you were going to sleep in now that you're not at work?"
"Old habits die hard," he replied. "I wanted to surprise you with breakfast in bed, but you're up now, so sit down and don't lift a finger."
Julia climbed onto the end stool at the breakfast bar, her eyes still half-closed. The sun was struggling to lift its head through the murky clouds outside, letting her know what kind of day it was going to be.
"Extra crispy with plenty of ketchup," Barker said as he placed the bacon sandwich in front of her. "Just how you like it."
"I don't think the slimming club would approve," Julia said as she stared down at the sandwich, her stomach rumbling. "I hear white bread is the devil these days."
"What's life without a little sinning?" Barker shot over his shoulder as he filled the kettle. "I hope you don't still think you need to lose weight for the wedding. I told you, you're perfect as you are, and I won't hear otherwise."
Julia bit into the sandwich, the sweetness of the ketchup mixing perfectly with the saltiness of the bacon and the creaminess of the butter. For now, it tasted too good to give up for the sake of a dress.
"S'good," Julia mumbled through a mouthful as she slopped a tiny blob of ketchup down her dressing gown. "We haven't even set a date yet. There's still time."
"We could always run down to the register office and do it this afternoon?" Barker joked as he glanced at the cat clock above the fridge. "We can take Mowgli as the witness."
"As easy as that sounds, I think my family would kill us."
"Well, since you don't want to do that, and I don't want to get on the bad side of Dot, I might spend the day writing," Barker said, nodding to the dining room where his typewriter lived. "I've had a couple of ideas for the new book. My publisher wants to see a draft of the first chapter before we launch the first book."
Barker had spent most of the previous year writing his first mystery novel, The Girl in the Basement, which he had loosely based on Julia finding Evelyn's daughter underneath her café after the storm. Julia, who had not been allowed to read the book until recently, had thought it would be a passion project for Barker to occupy his time when he was not solving real crimes around the village. She had not expected Barker to find an agent, who in turn had secured a lucrative three-book deal with a major national publisher. Neither Julia nor Barker knew what to expect from the book's release, which was only a couple of months away, but the publisher seemed excited about its chances.
"If it's as brilliant as the first one, you'll do just fine," Julia mumbled through another mouthful of bacon and bread. "I'm excited to read about the continued adventures of Julie North and Robert Greene."
Barker had written Julie North, the plucky café-owning amateur sleuth as an almost identical copy of Julia, but Robert Greene, the new detective inspector in the village of Perington, was younger and taller than Barker and was described as having 'model-like' features. Barker claimed his publisher had encouraged him to tweak the character to make him more 'appealing' to readers, but Julia was sure Barker's vanity had played a role in the alterations.
"While we're on the topic of the book," Barker started as he placed a cup of tea in front of Julia. "They want to have a meeting with me this weekend. I know I said I'd take us away somewhere, but I thought we could kill two birds with one stone. Their offices are in London anyway. The meeting shouldn't take too long, and it would be a good chance for you to meet them in person. They're a really cool bunch."
"I haven't agreed to
go away yet," Julia said as she wiped ketchup from her chin with a piece of kitchen roll. "With the builders in town, the café is going to be busy. I don't want to leave that on Jessie."
"I've already asked her, and she's fine with it," Barker said with an excited smile as he pulled his laptop from his briefcase. "I've found this gorgeous hotel. They have rooms available for tonight, and they're discounted because of the time of year. We could even get a suite if we're feeling fancy. We'll get the train down after you've finished work, go for a nice meal, have some drinks, and see the sights. I have the meeting tomorrow morning, and then we're free to do whatever we want. I found an app where you can buy last-minute musical tickets. We could see any show you wanted, all on me. I need to spend my book advance on something."
Julia looked at the pictures of the hotel on the laptop. She could immediately tell that it was a five-star from the luxury on display. She thought about her café, and her arrangement with Evelyn to bake cakes, but then she thought about how nice it would be to get away for the weekend and think about nothing other than where to eat and drink in between taking in shows.
"It's tempting," Julia said as she blew on the surface of her tea. "Alright, you've twisted my -"
Before Julia could finish her sentence, a key jangled in the lock of the front door. They exchanged a curious glance before making their way into the hallway. Jessie's alarm clock buzzed in her bedroom, her groan letting them know she was not the one trying to open the door.
"I wonder who that could be?" Barker asked sarcastically. "Shall I make her a cup of tea?"
Dot, the only other person to have a key to the cottage, burst inside in a flurry of icy wind. Her roller-set hair pointed in every direction, and the pleats in her usually pristine skirt bent every which way.
"Morning, Gran," Julia said as she pulled her dressing gown together. "Is the doorbell not working?"
