by Agatha Frost
"Cash in hand?" Mikey asked quietly, as though he was offering to let Billy into a secret society. "Under the table?"
"Depends how much you're offering," Billy said, stepping forward from Julia, a smug look on his face as he looked down at the paperwork. "My discretion comes at a price, mate."
Mikey and Candy looked at each other before Mikey flicked through the paperwork again. He counted some numbers on his fingers before scribbling something down on a piece of paper and passing it to Candy. She took the pen from him, crossed out whatever he'd written, wrote something else, and gave it back. Mikey nodded and then cleared his throat.
"Forty quid a day," Mikey said, leaning back in his chair to fan himself with the small piece of paper again. "Take it, or leave it, kid."
"Sixty," Billy replied. "I'm not a mug."
Julia stepped forward, but Billy held his hand up. Mikey stared at Billy with a smirk for what felt like an age before turning to Candy; they seemed able to communicate without saying a word to each other.
"Fifty," Mikey countered. "Final offer. Six days a week, for a minimum of eight weeks. If you can figure that out, it's -"
"Two thousand, four hundred quid," Billy announced before Mikey had a chance to finish. "I'd call that a deal."
Billy reached across the table and extended his hand to Mikey who accepted it cautiously. Billy shook it heartily before turning back to Julia with a pleased grin.
"I'm glad Dad was watching that boring business documentary last night," Billy whispered as he winked at Jessie over the counter. "First rule of business is you never take the first offer, or so they kept saying."
"You're full of surprises, Billy Matthews," Julia said as Mikey gathered up his paperwork. "Well done."
"Why d'ya wanna work on a building site?" Jessie asked as she pushed the boxes across the counter. "I thought you were going to help me with this?"
"It's two grand, baby," Billy said, an excited quiver in his voice. "Where else am I going to earn money like that? I'll take us on holiday somewhere really classy. Flights to Benidorm are well cheap this time of year."
Billy accepted the boxes of cupcakes, saluted, and made his way back to his bike outside. Candy clicked at Harold until he passed her phone across the table. When they were all packed up, Candy tapped some buttons on the screen before putting the phone to her ear.
"Katie?" Candy called down the phone as she walked to the door. "It's me, doll. We're coming back to the manor early. Something happened at the site. I'll tell you when I get there. Shopping trip? Sounds perfect."
With that, the trio left, their coffees barely touched, and the tables left where they had arranged them. As Julia put the café back to normal, she realised they had not even paid.
"I know what you're up to," Jessie announced as she cleaned the table next to Julia. "I bet you pushed Billy forward for that job to be your little mole."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Julia replied with a playful smile as she put the chairs back where they belonged. "But now that I know where the famous Candy Bennett is staying, it seems I'm going to have ears in more than one place."
5
Saturday passed by uneventfully considering the murder the day before. Since no one actually knew Shane, interest in the crime fizzled out faster than usual.
For Julia, it was all she could think about. Barker left the village for his meeting early Saturday morning, and now that it was no longer a trip for pleasure, he planned to stay until Tuesday evening to cram in as many meetings about the book launch as he could while he was away from the station. Jessie spent her Saturday evening with Billy, leaving Julia alone in her cottage with nothing more than Mowgli, her thoughts, her laptop, and a pen and paper.
Early Sunday morning, the sun finally came out, and the crime scene tape came down, with work on the project resuming on Monday morning according to Billy. It was almost as though nothing had happened.
Later that morning, Julia found herself walking up to Peridale Manor with Sue, Pearl, and Dottie, and a head full of questions.
"I can't believe you organised a playdate without asking me first," Sue grumbled as she forced the large pram over the gravel driveway towards the grand entrance of the manor. "Spending Sunday morning with Katie is not my idea of fun."
"She's our step-mother," Julia said, the words amusing both of them considering Julia and Katie were the same age. "And her baby with our father is our brother, and you know you love Vinnie as much as I do."
"Of course," Sue said as she looked down at Pearl and Dottie, who had somehow slept through the bumpy journey up to the manor. "He's adorable. His mother, on the other hand, that's a different story."
Their relationship with Katie Wellington-South had been as bumpy as the gravel under their feet. It had been six years since their father had married the young and wealthy ex-model, and for most of those six years, their relationship had been frosty. Over the past year, however, Julia had been working hard to repair their relationship with their father, especially since finding out they were going to have a new baby brother. Along the way, she had discovered that their father and Katie's love was real, that Katie was not so bad under the peroxide hair and revealing outfits, and that they could be a happy family despite their dysfunctional nature.
Sue, on the other hand, had been a little more resistant to the changes. The addition of three new babies to the family had helped heal a lot of the old wounds, but Julia was beginning to think Sue and Katie's personalities were not suited to being friends.
"Why are you so interested in tagging along, anyway?" Sue asked as Julia knocked on the giant oak door. "At this age, they can't even sit up on their own. It'll be like watching giant slugs."
Julia glanced at the black Range Rover parked next to Katie's pink one. She had neglected to mention that Candy Bennett was staying at the manor, although now that she was thinking about it, she was sure an afternoon with the famous actress might have been a more appealing proposition than a playdate.
Hilary, the elderly housekeeper, answered the door. Her white hair was scraped back into a tight bun, her bulging eyes lined with black kohl liner, and she was wearing one of her usual grey cardigans and skirts. The only difference to her look was the cane she now used to walk after having been pushed down the grand staircase on the night of Barker's surprise birthday party that Julia had organised at the manor.
"Oh, hello," she said, her spiky edges softened a little since the fall. "You're early."
Without saying another word, Hilary swung open the door and hobbled to the side to let them in. Since having to learn to walk again, she was slow and cumbersome, but she had worked at the manor for decades and had insisted on staying despite having been offered a healthy retirement package. Her role was now ceremonious rather than practical, with most of the housekeeping duties being passed onto the younger and less experienced staff members who did not seem to stay more than a couple of weeks. Julia wondered if that had something to do with Hilary scaring them away, purposefully or accidentally.
With Julia's help, Sue managed to get the bulky pram over the threshold without waking the twins. Hilary closed the door behind them before leading them towards the sitting room, but Sue stopped in her tracks when she noticed Candy Bennett gliding down the staircase in a white silk dressing gown with a fur collar, cuffs, and trim. Sue opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water, but she was too star-struck to say a word. Candy reached the bottom of the staircase, barely glancing at the new arrivals. When her gaze flickered over Julia, there was a glimmer of recognition, but she did not say anything before sashaying into the kitchen.
"C-Candy Bennett is staying here?" Sue whispered, the words almost choking her. "Did you know?"
"News to me," Julia lied, her cheeks darkening. "She's just a normal woman, Sue."
"There's nothing normal about her," Sue whispered, her eyes wide as she drifted towards the sitting room. "She's a star!"
"She's a diva," Hilary interjected bitter
ly. "She makes Katie look like a little angel."
When they walked into the sitting room, Katie bounced up off the antique couch, a grin spreading across her gloss-covered lips. Despite only having given birth three months previously, she was back in her low-cut tops, her peroxide hair was curled wildly away from her head, and her skin was covered in an inch of dense makeup. Her appearance might have reverted back to normal, but she was now a kinder and warmer woman beneath it.
Katie had pushed the furniture out of the way and had laid out three baby mats with mobiles above them, which she had surrounded with overflowing baskets of toys. Baby Vinnie lay in the middle of the mess, blinking up at the ceiling as he squirmed in a designer outfit.
"You're here!" Katie squealed, her voice as high-pitched as ever. "This was such a lovely idea, Julia! I've been dying to have someone for Vinnie to play with."
"How do you know Candy Bennett?" Sue blurted out, her eyes trained on Katie. "Are you friends?"
"Oh, we go way back," Katie giggled with a wave of her hand. "We both started glamour modelling for the same magazine. She went off into acting. I tried, but I could never remember my lines. I haven't seen her in years, so it's been great catching up."
"You need to tell me everything," Sue said as she hurried towards Katie before pulling her back onto the couch. "I want to know every gritty detail."
As Julia unclipped Pearl and Dottie from their pram, she wondered if what Katie and Sue's relationship had needed all this time was a famous actress between them. After gently waking the twins with cuddles and kisses, Julia laid them on the play mats next to Vinnie. The babies did not look all that interested in each other, but it was nice seeing her brother with her nieces, even if Vinnie was technically the twins’ uncle. She snapped half a dozen pictures on her phone while they kicked and squirmed as the mobiles twisted and jingled above them. Leaving them with Sue and Katie, who were gossiping like the best of friends, Julia ventured into the kitchen in search of the elusive actress.
Instead of finding Candy in her fur-trimmed dressing gown, Julia found Harold sitting at the kitchen island with a laptop. He glanced up at Julia and smiled meekly before returning to his screen. Even though she had not meant to talk with the quiet assistant, Julia ventured into the kitchen anyway. She wandered over to the double-doored refrigerator, which was covered in pictures from her father and Katie's recent holiday to the seaside. She grabbed a glass bottle of water from the fully stocked shelf before going in search of a bottle opener. She walked past Harold as he typed what looked like nonsense on his laptop screen. She rummaged through the drawers next to the sink until she found a tin opener with a bottle opener on the end. After cracking off the lid, she leaned against the sink sipping her water. She smiled in Harold's direction, and he smiled back, but his fingers did not stop typing.
"Has she got you working hard?" Julia asked, nodding at the laptop.
"I'm sorry?" Harold replied, his deep voice surprising her again. "Has who got me working hard?"
"Candy," Julia said. "You work for her, don't you?"
"No," he replied, his fingers suddenly stopping entirely as he narrowed his eyes on Julia. "I'm her husband."
Julia unintentionally choked on her water, her eyes darting away from Harold and down to the floor. Not only were Harold and Candy visually mismatched for husband and wife, but they had not given off any vibes that they were even friends, let alone spouses. The meeting she had witnessed in the dark alley the night of Shane's murder flashed through her mind, making her choke again.
"I'm sorry," Julia said, injecting as much lightness into her voice as she could muster. "I - I just - it's none of my business."
"You assumed because of the way she talks to me?" Harold replied flatly as he began slowly typing again. "You wouldn't be the first, and I doubt you'll be the last."
Julia watched him type, unsure of what to say. She thought back to the way Candy had clicked her fingers at him and how he had silently obeyed her. She was not one to judge other people's relationships, but she could not imagine treating Barker in such a way, nor could she imagine him bowing to her like a servant.
"I really am sorry," Julia offered. "Nobody wins when you jump to conclusions."
Harold stood up and walked over to the fridge. He looked as though he was going to grab a bottle of water, but his hand diverted to the beer. He walked across the kitchen and grabbed the bottle opener Julia had used before returning to his laptop.
"Between you and me, I feel more and more like the staff as the days go on," he said as he fiddled with his glasses after taking a deep glug of the beer. "Especially since she decided she wanted to ship us out to the country to build this house. It's the last thing we needed right now, but when Candy gets an idea, nothing stops her."
Julia decided not to ask why it was the 'last thing' they needed, despite wanting to know. She thought back to the conversation she had heard in the café yesterday and how Harold had urged Candy to compromise when it came to the finances. She should have known then it would have been out of turn for an assistant to make such a suggestion.
"Have you been married long?" Julia asked as she took the stool around the corner from Harold. "Must be strange to be married to someone that everyone knows."
"Let's just say when we married, she was still 'Candice' and not 'Candy'," Harold said with a forced laugh. "We met in college. I was studying scriptwriting, and she was studying acting. Our paths crossed long enough for us to fall in love. That was twenty years ago, though. How times have changed."
Julia noticed the sadness and anger in his voice. She had been in her own unhappy marriage for twelve years before moving back to Peridale and meeting Barker, so she knew how to spot the signs.
"So, you're a scriptwriter?" Julia prompted, nodding at the laptop. "I suppose that works out quite well with your wife being an actress. I bet you have a black book full of contacts between you."
Harold laughed coldly again before shaking his head. He took another deep glug of beer before spinning his laptop around.
"I write code," he said, tapping on the screen of nonsense. "Dull, but it's where the money is these days. The only time Candy's professional life crossed with mine is when I coded her website." Harold spun the laptop back around and sighed at the screen. "I tried to break into scriptwriting, but there are too many wannabe writers and not enough jobs for us all. I didn't make the cut. I had to come up with a backup plan, so I retrained after reading an article about how coding would be the 'next big industry'. I got in before it became oversaturated, so I was one of the lucky ones. Now everyone and his grandmother can code, and don't even get me started about the outsourcing to India and Russia."
"Still, I bet websites are fun to make," Julia offered. "You get to be creative."
"Someone else designs them," he said. "I just write the code to bring them to life. I mainly work on corporate stuff. I got to work on a game app last year, but that's the most fun I've had. I wouldn't be lying if I said it was soul-destroying work, but it keeps us afloat. The money is too good to pass up."
Julia picked up on how he had said, 'keeps us afloat' instead of 'keeps me afloat'. She thought back to the article she had read where Candy had insisted she was waiting for the right script to land in her lap, and then about the bridal magazine advertising a movie she had never heard of. It did not take a genius to add the pieces together.
"I do love her," Harold said suddenly, his kind eyes trained on Julia. "I really do. Under it all, she's still my Candice."
Julia smiled and nodded, wanting to believe Harold even though she did not trust that he believed his own words. She thought once again of the passionate exchange she had witnessed between Shane and Candy and immediately became uncomfortable in Harold's presence.
At that moment, Candy floated into the kitchen, her nose in the air, her eyes anywhere but on her husband. Harold sent a smile in her direction, but she headed straight for a cupboard where she grabbed a packet of kale crisps. On her way back
to the door, she stopped in her tracks and turned to them, her eyes landing on Julia instead of Harold.
"You're the café lady?" Candy said with an extended slender finger. "I remember you."
Julia nodded, expecting Candy to offer to pay for the coffee she had abandoned on Friday. Instead, she merely shrugged, apparently pleased with herself for remembering the face of one of the 'little people'. She glided out of the room and back upstairs, her appearance leaving behind an icy feeling in the air.
"I should get back to work," Harold said, his fingers already typing on the keyboard. "It was nice to talk to you -"
"Julia," she said quickly. "Julia South. It was nice to meet you properly, Harold."
Feeling upset on Harold's behalf, Julia hurried out of the room and back to the sitting room. She was about to tell Sue that she was leaving, but her sister was still deep in conversation with Katie, and the two seemed to be getting along. Her father, Brian, was playing with his son and granddaughters on the floor, so distracted that he did not notice Julia watching. It was an almost perfect scene, so Julia headed for the front door alone and made her way back to the village.
As Julia walked home, she realised her decision to walk to the manor and soak up the good weather had been a bad one. By the time she reached the bottom of the lane leading up to her cottage, dark clouds had drifted in from the horizon, bringing light drizzle. Without an umbrella, Julia quickened her step and buried her hands deep in her coat pockets.
As she reached the building site, the clouds had fully opened, soaking her to the bone. She would have run all the way home if she had not seen a hooded figure standing in front of the gate. She slowed down, wondering who could be braving the rain to stare at the piles of rubble.
"Nasty weather," Julia called out as she approached the stranger.
When she spotted the tattooed hands pulling back the hood to reveal Alfie's face, she felt at ease. Something about the biker made her feel like she was around someone she knew well, even though she only knew his name.
