Cupcakes and Casualties (Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery Book 11)

by Agatha Frost

  "Why don't we go away this weekend?" Barker suggested. "We could get the train down to London and soak up the sights. We could even catch a show."

  "What about the café?"

  "I'm sure Jessie can handle it," Barker said, grabbing her hands across the table. "She's been whizzing around on that bike like the Wicked Witch of the West for weeks. She might enjoy standing behind the counter again. Just say yes. It will be fun!"

  Before Julia could agree to anything, Evelyn Wood, the eccentric owner of the local B&B, floated into the café in a bright yellow kaftan.

  "Spring is coming!" she announced airily. "I asked the spirits for good weather, and they have delivered as usual."

  "Why didn't you ask for good weather when it was snowing last week?" Barker asked with a tight smile. "I'll leave you ladies to it. I won't take no for an answer, Julia, so get Jessie on board."

  Barker kissed Julia on the cheek, nodded to Evelyn, and grabbed his tie before heading out of the café.

  "Sounds ominous," Evelyn whispered as she adjusted her matching yellow turban. "Are things okay at home? If the energy is off, I can come and sage it for you."

  "Barker wants to take me on a weekend trip to London," Julia said as she cleared away the plate. "But I appreciate the offer."

  "Oh, how wonderful!" Evelyn exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I foresaw good news for a close friend in the cards this morning. You must go! It's been so long since I've been able to get to London, so you will have to tell me all about it. Alas, it looks like I will be kept busy for the coming months, what with my B&B being fully booked for the first time since the summer."

  "What spell did you cast to make that happen?" Julia asked as she looked around her café, which was noticeably lacking the usual tourists from the warm months. "It's been like a ghost town in here."

  "Then I come with good tidings!" Evelyn exclaimed, clapping her hands together again. "The builders developing Barker's old cottage are all staying at my B&B for at least the next eight weeks, but it could be longer if the snow returns. However, I shall think of their time and not my own greed, and I will pray for constant sunshine."

  "How many builders?" Julia asked, the cogs in her mind already ticking.

  "Ten!" Evelyn announced brightly. "Ten strapping men, all of whom will have large appetites after a day of building."

  "And during," Julia said, pulling her supplier book from under the counter. "If I put on a lunch menu, do you think they'll come?"

  "Of course!" Evelyn cried. "I'm providing breakfast and an evening meal, so lunch is all yours! Give me some business cards, and I'll pass them on."

  "I could get a chalkboard sign for outside," Julia said, her eyes glazing over as she handed a small stack of cards to Evelyn. "This is perfect. Ten, you say? How many slices of bacon do you think that will be a week?"

  Evelyn counted on her hands for a moment but gave up almost instantly. She chuckled and shrugged, instead choosing to clutch the crystal hanging around her neck.

  "I'm a vegetarian," she said, almost apologetically. "Never eaten the stuff."

  "I'll just order a lot," Julia said. "You said you came here on business?"

  "Ah, yes!" Evelyn exclaimed. "With the men staying for such a long time, I wanted to give them some home comforts. I thought about baking some cakes myself, but I realised I could never match your ability. You are the best baker in Peridale, after all. I thought you could drop a cake by a couple of times a week. Something big enough to feed ten men, but I'll leave the flavours up to you. I'll pay you, of course."

  "I'd be more than happy to," Julia said, scribbling down what Evelyn had said. "I'll give you a discount for ordering so many. And, if you get them all in here for lunch tomorrow, the first cake is on me."

  "Then it's a deal!" Evelyn cried as she pocketed the business cards somewhere in her kaftan. "And say ‘yes’ to Barker! You'll have a wonderful time in London." Evelyn paused and looked Julia up and down, her finger tapping on her chin. "I must say, Julia, you look especially beautiful today. I'd kill for a figure like yours."

  Julia looked down at herself. She could feel her cheeks blushing for being silly enough to take Sue's slimming club comments to heart.

  Evelyn turned to leave just as a motorbike pulled up outside. A leather-clad figure stepped off before pulling back a black helmet to reveal a handsome man in his late twenties. He had messy dark hair tucked behind his ears and a black nose-ring in his left nostril. Julia even spotted a tattoo of a red rose creeping above the collar of his jacket and onto his neck. He looked up at the café sign before pushing on the door.

  "Hello," he said, a kind smile stretching his mouth widely as he looked around the café. "Cute place. I think I'm a little lost. This is Peridale, right?"

  The stranger pulled off his gloves to reveal that the tattoos crept down his hands and all the way to his knuckles.

  "It certainly is," Julia said as she assessed the stranger who looked oddly familiar. "Can I get you a drink?"

  "I'm actually looking for the B&B," he said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder to the motorbike. "I'm here for a building job."

  "Say no more!" Evelyn exclaimed, immediately rushing to the handsome stranger's side, her arm looping around his. "We might have spoken on the phone. I'm Evelyn, and -"

  Evelyn's voice trailed off as she dragged the stranger out of the café, leaving his motorbike still parked outside. Julia found herself staring at it for what felt like a lifetime, sure she had seen the man somewhere before but unable to pinpoint where exactly.

  Turning her mind to Evelyn's compliment of her figure, Julia fished the magazines out of the drawer and placed them on the counter. She flicked through one of them again, slightly more optimistic than she had been when looking through them with Sue. When she landed on a simple white dress with lace sleeves and a neat train, she managed to visualise herself in it, and she liked what she saw. Closing the magazine, she tossed it onto the counter, but it bounced onto the floor, landing face down. She picked it up, the advertisement for the film that had caught her eye earlier shining up at her. It looked like a cheesy romantic comedy; something Julia would probably enjoy but not openly admit to liking. The familiar-looking redheaded actress in the middle of the advertisement was perhaps a similar age to Julia, but more beautiful than any of the models inside the magazine. She had a natural smile that was warm and inviting, and a jawline so tight it could cut stone.

  "I bet you've never worried about your figure," Julia whispered to the paper woman.

  She placed the magazine on the counter just as a man and a woman walked in. She thought she had at last been sent some customers, but when her eyes landed on the woman's face, Julia blinked hard, sure she was seeing double. She looked down at the magazine advertisement, and then up at the woman, her soft face and vibrant hair the exact same. The woman was on the phone, chatting away at a hundred miles an hour, while the short and slightly plump bespectacled man stayed in her shadow, two large bags on each shoulder.

  "Did you see a digger go past here?" asked the woman sharply, barely looking at Julia as she kept her phone to her ear. "I can't get my bearings. I'm looking for Thorn Cottage - well - what's left of it."

  Julia looked down at the magazine, and then up at the woman again; they were the same person.

  "Are you -"

  "Candy Bennett?" the woman replied, a smile pricking the corners of her lips. "Would you like me to sign your magazine?"

  Without waiting for Julia to respond, she passed the phone to the man and then clicked her fingers repeatedly until he produced a marker pen from one of the bags. Barely looking at the magazine, she scribbled her signature under the image of herself.

  "Thorn Cottage?" she asked again, this time making brief eye contact with Julia, her lips lacking the easy, warm smile in the glossy image below. "We're in a hurry."

  "Just up there," Julia said, pointing to the opening of the lane as she blinked away her confusion. "I can show you if you like? I live up the
re too."

  "No need," Candy replied, passing the pen back to the man and then snapping her fingers until he replaced it with the phone. "I guess that makes us neighbours."

  With that, she turned on her high heels and strutted back to the door. The short man struggled with the bags before adjusting his glasses and flashing Julia an apologetic smile. She waited for the door to close behind them before grabbing her phone.

  "Sue?" she whispered down the handset as she looked at the signature on the glossy advert. "You're never going to believe who just came into my café."

  2

  Wrapped up in her thickest coat, Julia looked on as the team of builders chatted in a circle next to the giant digger. A thermos of tea made its way around the group as the tall bald man she suspected to be in charge ran through the itinerary for the day.

  Despite the early morning chill and the grey clouds circling above, a small crowd had formed on the road outside the half-destroyed cottage. The residents of Peridale were nosier than most, but Julia knew even they would not be that interested in watching a demolition. As it happened, she was not the only resident to have come into contact with Candy Bennett. Word of the actress' arrival had whipped around the village in record time, with at least eight people telephoning Julia to check that she had heard 'the news'.

  "An actress in our village!" exclaimed Shilpa Patil, the owner of the post office, her breath steaming the air as her lips chattered. "I've never heard of her, but my Jayesh says she is a big deal."

  "She was in one of the soaps for years," Evelyn said, a heavy wool blanket wrapped around her white kaftan. "She was killed off rather unceremoniously in an off-screen car accident."

  "I heard she left to focus on films," added Amy Clark, the church organist. "I think I saw her in something at the cinema once."

  Julia wondered if it was the same film she had seen her in. After a little online research, she had managed to pin down where she had seen Candy's face. It had been in a romantic comedy she had seen on a rare trip to the cinema five years ago. She remembered enjoying the film, and according to the facts she had read online, it was a role that had earned Candy a handful of awards. As of late, Candy had been taking more theatre work, but in a recent interview, she insisted that she was being 'selective' about the roles she agreed to because she wanted to 'enjoy' acting again.

  "Did I miss it?" Sue cried as she hurried up the lane with the pram. "Is she here yet?"

  It was rare that Sue wasn't dolled up, but she looked extraordinarily glamorous for half past seven in the morning.

  "That's a lot of perfume," Jessie coughed as she wafted her hand in front of her face. "Did you fall in a flowerbed on your way here?"

  "It's Chanel," Sue said, holding her wrist out for Julia to sniff, even though she could smell it before Sue had even reached them. "It's expensive."

  "Trying to impress someone?" Barker asked as he bent over to say hello to the twins, who were both awake and looking up at the sky with their crystal blue eyes. "Which one is which?"

  "Pearl has a freckle under her left eye," Sue said as she gave her wrists a cautionary sniff. "If it weren't for that freckle, I'd still have no idea myself. They're like clones. Is she here yet?"

  "Who?" Jessie asked, barely looking up from her phone as her thumbs typed rapidly. "The Queen?"

  "Candy!" Sue cried as she straightened up her blouse. "She'll appreciate my taste in perfume. I usually save it for special occasions."

  "I didn't realise you were so enthusiastic about demolitions," Barker said as he rubbed his fingers across Pearl's red cheeks.

  "I'm not," Sue said with a wave of her hand. "But I intend on making Candy my best friend. If there's a famous actress in the village, I want first dibs."

  "She's not that famous," Jessie mumbled with a roll of her eyes. "I've never heard of her."

  The conversation died down as the cold set in. The sun had barely risen, but it did not stop people arriving from every direction. After ten minutes passed, Julia was sure she saw every recognisable face in the village standing on the tiny lane outside Barker's old cottage.

  "Here comes trouble," Barker whispered to Julia as he nodded down the lane. "I'm just glad I'm not on duty today."

  Julia craned her neck to see her gran, Dot, along with half a dozen other residents in t-shirts with 'Preserve Peridale's History' emblazoned proudly across their chests. Harriet Barnes, their leader, and the woman who had started the petition group from her florist shop on Mulberry Lane, was marching at the front of the group with a placard exclaiming that they should 'STOP GENTRIFICATION'.

  "People of Peridale!" Harriet called out, her voice travelling without the aid of a microphone. "We beg you to join us to stop this illegal demolition of a listed building! This piece of history should not be destroyed to make way for a holiday home for an actress who does not care about our village or its people."

  Julia saw some people nodding their heads in agreement, but most looked disinterested and resumed looking out for the arrival of Candy. Dot waved to Julia, an excited grin on her face. She had already admitted to Julia that she did not care much for the cause she was protesting, but she enjoyed shouting in a group, especially if they had their own printed t-shirts.

  "People of Peridale!" Harriet exclaimed again. "I implore you to halt this demolition. If we surround their equipment peacefully, they cannot carry out their illegal work. This building should be restored, not destroyed."

  "There's not much of a building left to restore," Shilpa whispered in Julia's ear. "Is she seeing what we're seeing?"

  Julia shrugged as she looked at the half-shell of Barker's cottage. The storm had caused a massive telegraph pole to crash into the sitting room of the cottage, taking out most of the dining room with it too. The bedroom and bathroom were untouched, but a large portion of the exposed cottage had been weathered by the elements. If the remainder of the building was to be saved, there would not be much left to rebuild from.

  "This building dates back to the 1700s!" Harriet cried. "Much like most of Peridale, our style and values have not changed since then. Why are we allowing them to build a hideous glass and steel structure in our fine and traditional village?"

  Another wave of chatter echoed through the group, but no one rushed forward to surround the equipment as Harriet had instructed. The builders, who had been watching in amusement, began to laugh, their bald leader laughing the loudest as though mocking the group.

  "People of Peri -"

  But Harriet's cry was cut off by the roar of a car engine as a black Range Rover made its way down the lane, slowing to a halt on the other side of the crowd. The chatter grew, with many of the younger residents pulling out their phones to capture the arrival of the car.

  "That's her!" Sue cried as she readjusted her hair. "It has to be!"

  The driver's door opened and the short, bespectacled man who had been in Julia's café yesterday jumped down. A groan of disappointment shuddered through the crowd. The man ran to the passenger side and opened the door. He held out a hand, and like an angel floating down from the clouds, Candy Bennett slid out of the car. She was even more beautiful than Julia remembered. In a cream trench coat nipped in at the waist with a belt and skin-tight black jeans coupled with high heels, she looked every inch the famous actress. The small man smoothed out her red hair before applying a yellow hardhat, which looked more like a prop from a film set than a piece of actual safety equipment.

  As though the crowd had not watched her getting ready, Candy turned around and applied the same smile from the advertisement on the back of the bridal magazine. She waved at the crowd, and she was immediately met with rapturous applause and flashing of camera lights on dozens of phones.

  "Do not worship this false idol!" Harriet exclaimed over the crowd. "She is here to deceive and betray us! She is not one of us!"

  Candy glided over to the gate, the crowd parting around her like the Red Sea around Moses. The man scurried behind, opening the gate for her. She mainta
ined the same smile until her back was to the crowd, but Julia spotted the corners of her mouth drop immediately.

  "She's so beautiful," Sue whispered, her teeth biting her lip. "How do I get close to her?"

  "This is illegal!" Harriet screeched, running towards the gate with her placard, the rest of her protest group hurrying behind her. "You do not have the permits to do this! This is a listed building!"

  Harriet reached out for the gate, but Candy held up her hand. As though she had just been hypnotised, Harriet let go of the gate and stepped back. Candy smiled again, clasping her hands together as she looked out at the crowd.

  "I can assure you, we have the necessary permits to proceed with this build," she said, a sweetness to her voice that had been absent when Julia had first met her. "Harold, show this nice lady the papers."

  Candy snapped her fingers at the man, who fumbled with his bag to pull out a piece of paper. He hurried forward and handed it to Harriet, who snatched it from him.

  "But this is -"

  "Impossible?" Candy jumped in. "I can assure you, it isn't. The council agreed with me that this building was beyond repair and it would be better for all to build something new and worthy on the land. Listed or not, some things cannot be fixed. Every detail of our plan has been checked, double-checked, and approved. Nothing illegal is going on here."

  "Then you bribed them!" Harriet cried, turning back to the crowd. "Don't believe this woman! She's an actress! She's a paid liar! She's come to Peridale to use our village as her holiday spot in the country."

  "I can assure you, I am one of you now," Candy called out, her soft voice floating effortlessly above the noise. "This protest is nothing more than a hysterical cry to cling onto the past, when the truth is, any one of these protestors could have bought this cottage to restore it, but did they?"