by Agatha Frost
"There's no time for that!" Dot cried, leaping forward and grabbing Julia's pink pea coat from the hat stand. "Put this on. You need to come with me immediately!"
"I'm in my pyjamas," Julia said with a laugh as she looked down at her slippers. "What can be so important that I can't get dressed first?"
"I've just found a body!" Dot exclaimed, an eager glint in her eyes. "At the building site! The police haven't even arrived yet."
Julia looked back at the rest of her unfinished bacon sandwich, and then at Barker as he scrolled through the hotel website while the kettle boiled for another cup of tea. Without a second thought, Julia pulled on her coat and followed her gran outside, her curiosity in Dot’s wild claims too strong to ignore.
"Why are you up so early?" Julia asked as she struggled to keep up with her nimble gran, who had never let her eighty-four-year-old age slow her down. "The sun is barely up."
"Harriet arranged another protest meeting at the building site before the builders arrived," Dot said quickly as they hurried down the winding lane towards the destroyed cottage. "She wanted to cause some trouble to the equipment as a last-ditch attempt to stop the renovation. Betty arrived just before I did, and we saw the poor fella at the same time. He's lying face down on the rubble, blood all over his scalp. Betty thought he might be a drunk having a nap, but I knew better. The moment we called the police, I ran to get you."
Julia did not need to ask why her gran had thought of her immediately after discovering a body. Julia had earned a reputation for being somewhat of a sleuth in the village over the past year. Whenever there was a mystery to be solved, she somehow found herself mixed up in the middle of it.
The shadow of the tall digger came into view against the backdrop of the milky clouds as they hurried around the bend. Betty Hunter, the sweet owner of the local charity shop, waved to them as they approached. She was wearing her 'Preserve Peridale's History' t-shirt under her heavy coat and scarf.
"They're still not here yet?" Dot cried as a gust of wind attacked the bottom of Julia's dressing gown. "Cut-back Britain at work!" Dot hurried to the wall and pointed dramatically into the building site. "There he is. Poor guy probably didn't know what was coming his way. That's a murder if ever I saw it."
Julia approached the gate, but she did not reach out to open it. She squinted at the pile of rubble her gran was pointing at. Her stomach flipped when the blood-covered scalp Dot had spoken of jumped out at her. From the black denim jacket and faded jeans, Julia knew exactly who the man was.
"Go and have a look," Dot cried, pushing Julia forward. "Do your thing. Figure it out before the police arrive to really stick it to them!"
"I can't just go wandering around a crime scene," Julia whispered, stepping back from the gate with her hands up. "How do we even know he's dead? Did either of you check on him?"
Betty and Dot exchanged a guilty glance before shaking their heads. Julia sighed, and looked back at the man, wondering if it would be worth checking to see if he had a pulse. The gash in his head seemed pretty deep, and from the amount of blood covering the dusty stone underneath him, it did not look likely that he could have survived whatever had caused the trauma. As though to solidify her thoughts, a black crow flew in from a nearby tree, landing on the body's shoulder. It hopped around for a moment before pecking at the body’s ear. Julia clapped her hands to scare the bird away.
"Look at that!" Betty cried, pointing at a slab of stone lying in the unattended grass metres away from the body. "It's covered in blood. I'd bet my pension that's the murder weapon!"
"Go on, Julia," Dot whispered, nudging her in the side. "You know you're better at this than any police officer."
Julia was flattered by her gran's praise, but as she stared at the body and then at the lump of stone, she could not bring herself to take another step forward. She dealt with people and facts, not crime scenes and bodies.
"Gran, I -" Julia started, only to be cut off by the blaring sirens of multiple police cars. "Looks like the professionals are here. Maybe we should take a step back."
Dot huffed before reluctantly walking away from the wall. Betty, who could not take her eyes away from the body, joined Dot as two police cars and an ambulance curved around the tight lane. The first police car screeched to a halt in front of the women, and two uniformed officers jumped out. The second police car parked up behind them, blocking off the lane altogether. Julia's heart sank to the bottom of her stomach when a man she had crossed multiple times climbed out of the car.
"Why am I not surprised to see you here?" cried Detective Sergeant John Christie, his eyes zooming in on Julia. "Peridale's very own snoop!"
"Good morning to you too, John," Julia replied with a tight smile. "It was actually my gran who discovered the body. I just happen to live up the lane."
DS Christie narrowed his eyes at Julia, a smirk on his lips. He was a forty-something-year-old colleague and friend of Barker's, but in recent months he had taken exception to Julia's involvement in many high-profile cases, mainly when she solved them before the police had a chance. She was sure the DS was a kind man when he was at home with his wife, but Julia had yet to see a side of him she did not dislike.
"Let's get this over with," DS Christie called to the uniformed officers as he nodded to the gate. "One of you cordon off the scene and the other start looking to see what's gone on here. I don't care which, just get on with it. I want you gloved-up and on high-alert."
The younger of the two officers began wrapping blue and white police tape around the garden wall while the other ventured into the scene. A paramedic ducked under the tape before slowly approaching the body. Under the instruction of DS Christie, they put on a pair of gloves and checked for a pulse. They did not say anything, but the shake of their head and the cold look in their eyes told Julia what she needed to know.
"I'll check his pockets," DS Christie called out as he snapped on a pair of latex gloves himself. "If we can get the John Doe identified before forensics get here, we might get a head start on this one."
"I know who he is," Julia called out, walking up to the tape but not daring to go any further. "His name is Shane. I don't know his surname, but I do know that he's a builder who was working on this site yesterday and that he was staying at Evelyn's B&B."
"And how do you know that?" DS Christie asked with a heavy sigh. "Feminine intuition?"
"Because I have a memory," Julia said, pursing her lips and crossing her arms tightly over her open coat. "I saw him around quarter to six leaving the B&B last night wearing those exact clothes, which tells me he was probably killed sometime before he had a chance to return. I don't care if you don't believe me, but I am right."
DS Christie looked as though he was going to argue, but instead, he crept towards the body. With a touch as light as a feather, he patted down the pockets until he found a wallet in the top pocket of the thick denim jacket. He scanned a plastic card inside before his eyes darted to Julia; she knew she had been right from the irritated look on his face.
"The victim is a Mister Shane Parsons," DS Christie called to one of the young officers who had been making notes in a small pad. "Forty-six years old, and a resident of Burnley, so he's a hundred and something miles away from home. There's also a trade supplier's card for a building company in here, so I'd take a stab in the dark and say he's here with the team of builders staying at the B&B. Bag this up. It could be evidence."
"I told you she was good," Dot whispered to Betty. "She gets her brains from her grandmother. Oh, looks like the cavalry has arrived!"
Julia looked down the lane as the nine other builders walked around the vehicles blocking the road. They were all dressed for a day of work on a cold building site, some of them already wearing their yellow hardhats. Julia spotted Alfie, whose eyes were planted on the ground. He walked separately from the other builders, and he was the only one who was silent.
"Blooming heck!" one of the builders cried in a deep voice. "That's the boss!"
> Julia watched as the shock of the scene in front of them washed over the group of burly men. She felt like she was witnessing something that should have been private.
"We should go," Julia whispered to Dot. "This doesn't feel right."
"But it's just starting to get good!" Dot cried, her eyes firmly on the builders as they crowded around the tape. "Start interviewing them. I bet one of them did it! Probably wanted a pay rise. You know what men are like. Think with their fists, not their brains."
"Let's go," Julia repeated out of the corner of her mouth. "This isn't the time or the place."
Dot sighed, and with a pout of her lips looped her arm through Betty's before they made their way slowly past the builders.
Julia lingered for a moment and watched as the builders talked amongst themselves while the police officers combed the area behind the tape. It did not take her long to notice that Alfie was no longer with them. She craned her neck around the ambulance just in time to see him vanish around the bend.
Deciding to take her own advice, Julia returned to the cottage where Jessie was finishing what was left of her bacon sandwich. She planted herself on the stool next to her foster daughter and dropped her face into her palms.
"I hope you didn't book that hotel," Julia said to Barker with an apologetic smile as she reached out for her lukewarm tea. "It seems there’s been another murder in our fine village."
4
Rain usually meant Julia's café would be empty until the sun finally came out, but when something big happened in Peridale, a morning of rain would not stop the gossips leaving their houses. Word of Shane's murder spread around the village within an hour. By the time Julia had finished baking a quick batch of chocolate orange cupcakes to have something to sell when she opened up, she already had a line of people waiting at the door.
Julia's café was usually the gossip hub when even mundane things happened in the village. Whenever news of an affair or a divorce whipped around, the gossips came out to voice their opinions in the café. This morning, however, most of her customers seemed more interested in hearing Julia's take on the events since she had been there when the police had arrived. Aside from giving the builder's name and age, Julia bit her tongue and kept the other information to herself. She had, however, scribbled down in her ingredients notepad her recollection of what she had witnessed when visiting Evelyn's B&B, and more importantly, what she had seen in the dark alley next to the pub.
Despite not having any work to do for the day, some of the builders visited the café for their lunch while the others spent it in The Plough. Unlike the residents of Peridale, they were less interested in talking about the gossip and more interested in sampling Julia's new lunch menu. Without needing to pry too hard, it became apparent to Julia that despite their shock surrounding the murder, none of them would be losing sleep over the death of their boss.
"I've worked with him on a couple of jobs before," one of them said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "Nasty piece of work."
"Bit too handy with his fists as well," another added. "Once smacked me around the head for accidentally stepping on his shoe."
Julia had a head full of questions she wanted to ask about Shane, but she knew better than to start spouting them in a café full of people. It was better to keep an ear to the ground, and that had already painted a picture of a man she was struggling to find any redeemable qualities in.
After lunch, the builders cleared out of the café, allowing Julia and Jessie to have a quiet couple of minutes to clean the tables before the next wave of customers arrived.
Julia had not expected that next customer to be Candy Bennett, who was followed closely by the short, bespectacled man, who Julia remembered was called Harold. The flamboyant architect, who she also remembered was called Mikey, followed them in. Without asking for permission, Mikey pushed together three of the tables in the middle of the café and began pulling out large blueprint plans and stacks of paperwork.
"We're going to need coffee," Mikey announced to Julia as Candy and Harold took their seats at the table. "We need to iron out a plan before the day is over."
Mikey collapsed into a seat and dramatically fanned himself with one of the pieces of paper. He had tanned skin and thick, bleached blond hair that had been buzzed to within a couple of millimetres of his scalp. His face was beautiful and chiselled in an androgynous way, with crystal blue eyes and plump red lips. Julia could not tell if he was wearing makeup, or if his sockets and cheekbones were so sharp that they cast their own shadows. Like Candy, his looks were model-perfect, which only made Harold stand out even more. It was not that Harold was unattractive, he actually had a pleasant and kind face that humanised him, but with his thinned hair, glasses, and short stature, he certainly stood out between the two beauties. From the way Julia had witnessed Candy speaking to Harold, she assumed he had some sort of assistant title.
As Julia served the tray of coffees in the middle of the table, she realised she had yet to hear the man say a word.
"This is highly inconvenient," Candy cried as she picked up a cup of black coffee while ignoring the milk and sugar. "We're one day in, and we're already behind."
"Not to mention the group is without a leader," Mikey added as he continued to fan himself as though he was in a tropical climate and not an English village on a drizzly day. "Shane might not have been the best with people, but he was the best at what he did. I've worked with him on countless building projects, and he's never once missed a deadline."
"The police are saying it was murder!" Candy exclaimed. "Who knows how long this is going to slow us down?"
She paused to sip her black coffee, her eyes flickering slightly as her attention drifted away from the table. Julia wondered if she was thinking about her passionate alley meeting with Shane.
"I spoke to the DS in charge," Mikey said after adding four cubes of sugar to his coffee, his hands shaking. "He wasn't the nicest of men, although he was quite good looking. He thinks we should regain access to the site within the next forty-eight hours."
"Good," Candy said firmly as she placed her cup on the table. "I want this house finished on time. I knew I should have just bought something pre-built."
"But then you wouldn't have had me to design you the house of your dreams," Mikey said with a wink. "So, every cloud has a silver lining."
The pair let out shrill, fake-sounding laughs that sent chills running down Julia's spine. Harold shifted in his seat, half joining in with the laughter, but looking as uncomfortable as Julia felt. She cast a glance at Jessie, who was staring at the table with wide-eyed bewilderment.
At that moment, Jessie's boyfriend, Billy, returned on the 'Jessie's Cupcakes on Wheels' bike after having agreed to help out so Jessie could stay at the café during the unexpected morning rush.
"All sent out, Miss S," Billy said with a salute as he walked into the café, barely looking at the trio in the middle of the room. "Any more orders?"
"A couple came in while you were out," Jessie said, already walking through the beads into the kitchen. "I'll get them boxed up."
Billy nodded and lingered by the counter next to Julia. He smiled awkwardly at her while they waited for Jessie to return with the boxes. Billy had once put a brick through Julia's café window, among many of his other petty crimes, but since he had been dating Jessie, he had straightened out his ways. Julia liked the boy, and she often let him put in shifts at the café when she needed an extra pair of hands, for which he was grateful owing to his unsuccessful job hunting.
"If we push everything back by two days, we might be able to claw some extra time if we make them work a couple of Sundays," Mikey announced as he looked over a large spreadsheet. "We'll have to get around some labour laws, but I think a little cash in hand will sweeten the deal."
"Forget the law!" Candy cried. "I want my house finished. You promised me."
"And you'll get it, my dear," Mikey replied with a playful smile. "Something like this isn't going to slow us
down. We're still a person down though. I can promote from within to find a new leader, but it means reshuffling everyone. We're going to end up a man short no matter what we do."
"What about the agencies?" Candy asked. "We can get someone, can't we?"
"It will be expensive at this short notice," Mikey said as he flipped through another stack of papers. "We've already wildly overspent in many areas. You wanted the Calacatta marble imported from Italy, and the furniture you've selected won't come cheap. We could always cut corners there and make some swaps?"
"Compromise is always good," Harold said, finally speaking, his voice deeper and harsher than Julia had expected for such a kind face. "I've been saying that since the beginning."
"I'm not compromising, Harold!" Candy cried, slamming her hand on the counter. "Just find someone, Mikey. If the agency is too expensive, there must be someone in this damn village with some building experience who will work for peanuts. Tell them Candy Bennett will give them a shout-out on bloody Twitter! Do whatever it takes, just don't spend more money."
At that moment, a lightbulb fired above Julia's head. Without taking a second to think about it, she grabbed Billy's shoulders and pushed him forward.
"Billy will do it," Julia exclaimed. "Won't you Billy? You've got building experience, haven't you?"
Billy looked up at Julia with another puzzled look. Julia could sense he was about to protest, so she gently nipped under his arm, causing the expression to vanish.
"Yeah," Billy said, still looking at Julia with a frown. "Plenty of experience."
"How old are you?" Candy asked with an amused look. "Twelve?"
"Just turned eighteen," he said with tension in his jaw. "Do you need the help, or not?"
The beads clattered as Jessie walked back into the café with the labelled boxes. Julia shook her head quickly, letting her know to stay back and not get involved.
"Cash in hand?" Mikey asked quietly, as though he was offering to let Billy into a secret society. "Under the table?"
