by Agatha Frost
There was also a young, beautiful woman with sandy hair, eyes like a doe’s, and full lips. Julia would have put the English rose beauty in her late twenties. She stood so close to Alfie that their arms were touching.
“Who’s she?” Julia asked, nodding at the girl. “I don’t recognise her.”
“That’s Skye,” Dot said after spinning around to look. “Don’t know her surname, but I think Alfie has a thing for her. Poor fella gets tongue-tied whenever she enters a room.”
“Did she sing at the wedding?”
Dot’s nose scrunched up as she thought about it. Julia cast her mind back to the fateful day, but she didn’t remember noticing the young woman, and she was sure she would have remembered such a beauty if she had been there.
“I rushed in late, so I can’t be sure,” Dot said, her finger tapping on her chin, “but now that you mention it, I don’t remember seeing her.”
“What’s she like?”
“She may be young, but she’s feisty. Nobody stood up to Gloria like she did! They had a huge argument during our last rehearsal.”
“What did they argue about?”
“Oh, the usual humdrum.” Dot waved her hand. “Skye wanted a solo, Gloria wouldn’t give her one. Skye wanted to take it to a vote, but Gloria’s style was hardly diplomatic. Dictator comes to mind, actually. Kim Jong Un would have struggled getting a word in with Gloria Gray!”
“Who do you think would have won the vote?”
“Skye, for sure!” Dot announced. “No doubt about it! Her voice is something else. Gloria might have had the experience, but Skye has the raw talent. I see a lot of myself in her, as it happens.” Dot wriggled her brooch with a soft smile. “She could go professional. Did I mention that I won—”
“Miss Singing Peridale 1953?” Julia jumped in. “Only every day since you joined the choir.”
“It’s a shame they don’t hold the competition anymore.” Dot sighed wistfully, her eyes drifting off. “I fought off my competition like a true champion.”
“How many people were you up against?”
“Oh, I can’t remember that, dear.” Dot pursed her lips and waved her hand. “I’ve lived many lives since then.”
“What did you sing?”
“How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?" Dot replied instantly. “I was note-perfect!”
“Selective memory, I see,” Julia teased.
At that moment, the church doors burst open, and a sunglasses-adorned, redheaded woman stormed in. She wore a black turtleneck that snaked up to her jawline, with a pearl necklace over the fabric. A floor-length, fur-lined, red-tartan cardigan billowed behind her, so long it would have dragged across the floor if not for the black heels on her feet. If Julia had to guess, she would have put the woman between forty-five and fifty. Julia recognised her from the wedding, but she hadn’t paid her much attention.
“This way, Harmonics!” the woman demanded as she walked past them all, only ripping her glasses off and putting them into her short, blow-dried hair when her back was to them. “Hurry! I don’t have all day!”
The rest of the choir lingered for a moment, looking like they didn’t know if they wanted to follow or leave.
“Rita Bishop, I presume?” Julia asked Dot as they followed the unsure flock.
“Who else?”
Rita took her position at the front of the church, standing exactly where Father David had been during the ill-fated ceremony. Rita glanced at the spot where Gloria had fallen and died, but her eyes didn’t linger for more than a second.
“Don’t be shy!” Rita cried, a cold laugh leaving her red-tinted lips. “We have a lot to discuss, and, to perform here again, we’ll need to get over what happened. We only have six days until Sunday’s service, so chop-chop!”
Rita clapped her hands together as though summoning a pack of trained dogs. Julia held back and sat on the back pew with her gingerbread fireworks, not wanting to intrude any more than she already had.
The choir shuffled to the front of the church, taking seats on the front pews. Rita clasped her hands together and smiled down at them from her elevated position, looking ready to deliver a sermon.
“Firstly, I want to thank you all for coming,” Rita started, her smile broadening as she looked at each of the members. Her eyes drifted up to Julia but didn’t linger. “I wasn’t sure you’d all be here considering the short notice, but it seems you’re all as dedicated to saving this choir as I am.”
Rita paused for breath. The other members shuffled in their seats, but none of them said anything.
“It’s with great sadness that we meet here today.” Rita again glanced at the spot where Gloria had died. “Gloria Gray served this choir for many decades and, for that, I think we’re all grateful. A round of applause for Gloria!”
Rita clapped, but the other members joined in less enthusiastically. Julia squirmed in her seat, wondering if she was watching the world’s most ill-timed performance art piece.
“That said, we cannot, and will not, linger in sadness!” Rita continued. “We are leaderless, and that can’t be. Father David rightfully cancelled yesterday’s service out of respect, but that just means we have six days to get ourselves together for this coming Sunday! So, going forward, I propose I take over Gloria’s duties as choirmaster.”
“It’s only been two days!” Flora cried, jumping up from her seat. “You can’t expect us to move on like that.”
“It’s what Gloria would have wanted.” Rita snapped back with the frozen smile of a circus clown. “She loved this choir more than anything, and, despite our differences over the years, I’m not willing to let it go to rack and ruin, which is why I selflessly volunteer to take over the mammoth task of getting us performance-ready. If you think you’d make a better leader, Flora, by all means, stand up and take charge!”
Flora immediately sat down, her head bowing. Rita didn’t try to hide her pleasure at silencing the woman.
“We are on a sinking ship.” Rita began to pace the stage. “You can all run like the rats or sit still and go down with the ship, but I intend to do neither! I propose we change things around here. No one person should perform all the solos. We should each have a chance to shine, and if you decide to elect me as your new choirmaster, I will make sure that we do that—not just in this church, but all over the country! Gloria always thought so small! There’s a bigger audience out there for us. Choir is cool! There are competitions in every county, and, with a lot of work, we could be competing on a national scale.”
“Gloria always said competitions weren’t for real choirs,” Flora piped up again. “Gloria said that we should—”
“Gloria is dead!” Rita cried, stopping in front of Flora. “If we stay in the past, we’ll each die out one by one, and this choir will go with us! Members have been dropping like flies for years. Look at us! We’re a pale imitation of what we once were. We need to evolve and grow if we want to survive in this modern age. I can help us do that. I have the passion it requires. If none of you wants me to take charge, I’ll walk out that door and never return, but I think you crave the growth just as much as I do. We’ve all sat in these meetings, angry and upset at Gloria’s narrow and selfish vision. She made herself a star while we all sang harmonies in the background. No more! We’re all the stars of this choir, and I vow to show the world.” Rita paused and inhaled deeply, regaining her spot in the centre, her hands clasped back together. “Raise your hand if you don’t want me to be choirmaster.”
No hands immediately floated up, which brought a grin to Rita’s face. After almost a minute of silence, Flora’s hand drifted shakily above her head.
“Only one?” Rita scanned the faces of the other members, daring them to object. “Just Flora? Then it’s decided. I shall lead this choir into a new golden age. Flora, you can leave.”
“L-Leave?”
“A group is only as strong as its weakest link.” Rita planted her hands on her hips. “If you don’t trust me, I can’t tr
ust you. Now, if you want to take back your vote, you’re more than welcome, but if not, you know where the door is.”
Rita swept her hand to the door as she smiled down at Flora. Flora stood up, clutching her baggy scarf. She looked around, wearing the same pitiful expression she’d had at Julia’s cottage on the night of Gloria’s death. Julia almost stood up and said something, but Skye beat her to the punch.
“This is ridiculous!” Skye cried, followed by a shaky laugh. “This is supposed to be fun. We’re trading one dictator for another!”
“But we’ve wanted to do the competitions for years,” Shilpa said. “If Rita can get us there, then—”
“We don’t need Rita to get there.” Skye tossed out her arms. “We can do it ourselves.”
Rita marched off the step to draw level with Skye. Even though the young beauty was taller than Rita, the redhead’s presence filled every corner of the room.
“Who here has an honours degree from the Royal Academy of Music?” Rita asked, raising her hand slowly above her head. “Only me?” She looked around and waited for another hand to raise, but none did. “I thought so. Do I need to say more?”
To Julia’s surprise, Skye sat down. Nobody else sprang to Flora’s defence. She wondered if being out of Gloria’s shadow had left Flora without a place in the choir in the eyes of the other members. Flora stepped out of the pews and set off up the aisle, her eyes firmly on the floor. She passed Julia without looking up, and the door banged behind her when she left.
“You’re free to follow, Skye.” Rita motioned to the door. “But I know you want the limelight more than anyone. You crave recognition for your voice, and you deserve it. You have natural talent, and you need training that I can give you. Gloria was content having you on the back row, but I won’t be.”
“But do we have to be so cruel about how we do things?”
“There’s a difference between being disciplined and cruel,” Rita said, her smile spreading again. “Stars are forged in the heart of an explosion, not in comfortable, quiet corners! Now, does anyone else have anything to say? I have to get to my Pilates class.”
There was a general shaking of heads before Rita pulled her sunglasses from her hair and stormed down the aisle, her cardigan billowing behind her. The door slammed and seemed to send an icy shiver through the ancient building.
Julia watched as the other members continued to sit in silence. She couldn’t believe they had all let Rita speak to them in such a way. She had never given the Peridale Harmonics Choir much thought. They popped up at small village events every now and then, but she had never considered how much they all craved something bigger. This desire had blinded them and allowed them to watch as Rita exiled Flora from the group. She looked down at her biscuits; the urge to share them had vanished.
With Rita gone, the rest of the members disbanded fairly quickly. Amy, Shilpa, and Evelyn were the first to leave, followed by Skye, with Alfie not far behind. Julia waited for Dot to get up, but she sensed she was lingering back to talk to Percy. Not wanting to intrude, Julia grabbed her box and headed to the vestibule.
While she waited, Father David walked in. She smiled at him and meant to ask if the wedding rings had turned up, but he walked into the church without acknowledging her.
“Odd.”
The minutes ticked by as she waited for Dot to finish talking to Percy. She instinctively reached for her phone to check her messages, but she remembered she had left it at home. It felt nice to have lived without the distraction for a few days, but she wasn’t sure she had the patience to be parted from it forever. When her foot started to tap, she decided to check in on her gran.
As she pulled the church door open, she nearly dropped her box of biscuits when she saw Dot holding hands with Percy. Percy leaned in and kissed Dot on the cheek, and she giggled like a lovesick teenager. Julia stepped back, a smile spreading across her face. Less than a minute later, the door opened, and Percy hurried out, nodding and smiling to Julia as he went. Dot followed seconds later, adjusting her brooch.
“Wasn’t that wild?” Dot cried, linking arms with Julia. “It took all my energy to keep my mouth shut, but for the sake of being undercover, I let the woman rant on and on!”
Julia considered busting her gran’s secret as they walked across the village green to Dot’s cottage, but she bit her tongue.
“Wild,” Julia replied, concealing her smile. “Very wild indeed.”
6
Wedding Woe!’” Julia read the headline of The Peridale Post’s latest front cover aloud. “Really Johnny? You put my botched wedding on the front page?”
“It’s newsworthy!” Johnny blushed as he fiddled with his glasses. “And now that I’m the editor in chief of the paper, I need to make sure every issue grabs our readers’ attention! They’ve promoted me because of my vision. I promised I would get readership up, and if I don’t, goodbye paper. I can’t be the guy who drops the ball after 132 years of circulation.”
“But Julia’s wedding?” Roxy clipped Johnny over the back of the head. “Our best friend, Julia? Couldn’t you have gone with the singing cat on page six? I would have picked that up.”
“Me too,” Leah added, kissing Johnny on the cheek as she ruffled his hair. “You’re outnumbered, Johnny. Bad move.”
Even though Julia would rather her misfortune hadn’t been spread across the front page, she knew Johnny was only doing his job, and news of the event would have spread to every corner of the village already. She couldn’t be mad at him for using the situation to sell papers, especially after last week’s less than tantalising ‘Bus Shelter Vandalised! Whodunnit?’ headline.
She tossed the paper onto the table and picked up her glass of wine. After sitting in on that morning’s choir meeting, Julia had needed the company of her closest and oldest friends to throw their unfiltered opinions into the ring. She had always been able to count on Roxy and Johnny for their support, and after Leah’s recent rocky return to the village, she’d regained her place in the group.
“I had no idea they took the choir so seriously,” Leah said as she scanned The Plough’s lunch menu. “I still keep forgetting how the most trivial things can become huge elephants in this village.”
“They take it very seriously,” Roxy said as she checked her teeth in the back of a spoon. “My mum was a member a couple of years ago. She joined to get out of the house and make some friends after my dad died, but she couldn’t handle the pressure. She said the in-fighting and politics were worse than high school.”
“Impossible,” Johnny muttered under his breath. “Nothing is worse than high school.”
“Well, according to my mother, that choir was.” Roxy looked over Leah’s shoulder at the menu. “I think I’m in the mood for a Christmas dinner. Is it too early?”
“It’s never too early for Christmas.” Leah passed the menu to Julia. “You’ve just made my mind up. I haven’t had a Peridale Christmas dinner in years.”
“I’ll have the same,” Johnny added as he flicked through the newspaper.
“Me too,” Julia said.
“And that’s why we’re all the best of friends.” Roxy slapped the table as she stood up. “I’ll order. This one’s on me. You two lovebirds bought last week’s lunch, and Julia, no offence, but you just wasted thousands on a wedding that didn’t result in a marriage so you can keep your hand out of your pocket for a while.”
Julia chuckled, grateful for Roxy’s sense of humour in the bleak situation. She had worried her friends would offer their sympathy, but they hadn’t treated her any differently, opting to make light of the tragedy, instead. She couldn’t say the same for the other lunchtime diners, who were all burning holes in the back of her head. She was glad she had decided to sit facing the wall.
“This is the most exciting thing that’s happened since I was kidnapped and chained up in that basement for a week,” Leah said as she peered around the pub. “They’ve been ravenous for a new topic, and I think you might have j
ust outdone my situation. Cheers for that.”
“I’m glad to be of service.” Julia lifted her glass and clinked it with Leah’s. “Although, Roxy is right. I hadn’t even thought about how much money we’ve wasted. The dress alone cost nearly a thousand.”
“On a dress?” Johnny choked on his pint. “Are you mad?”
“No, she was a bride!” Leah pouted at Johnny. “I’ve had clients spend tens of thousands on dresses. Some even buy more than one! I had a client two years ago who bought four dresses because she couldn’t decide. She kept changing during the reception, and then she threw a tantrum when nobody noticed. That was a long night.”
“Who can be bothered?” Johnny rolled his eyes as he folded up the newspaper. “It seems like a lot of effort for a party.”
“It’s not a party!” Leah shook her head as she forced out a laugh. “Men! It’s one of the most important days of your life. Why do you think people put so much effort in? If they didn’t, I’d be out of a job.”
“I think Johnny might be onto something.” Julia glanced at her engagement ring. “I was so sure I wanted to emulate my mother’s wedding, and then none it went the way I wanted. I thought I’d gone simple and small, but there were so many moving parts. I could have been stood there in a potato sack, and I still would have wanted to marry Barker. When we didn’t, none of the other stuff mattered. It felt so trivial.”
Roxy returned to the table and sat down. “What are we talking about?”
“Weddings,” Julia said, circling her glass with a fingertip. “Do you think they’re worth it?”
“I couldn’t be bothered.” Roxy shrugged. “All that fuss for one day? No, thanks.”
“Thank you!” Johnny exclaimed, slapping his hand on the table. “Roxy gets it!”
“But what about Violet?” Leah urged. “Don’t you love her?”
