by Agatha Frost
"This place," Alfie called out into the rain as it lashed down around them. "This whole village feels wrong."
"Wrong?" Julia called back as she attempted to shield her eyes from the rain. "How?"
Alfie turned to her fully, his dark eyes filled with sadness. He thrust his hands into his pockets and looked up at the sky as though he was looking for an answer to give to her.
"I don't know," Alfie replied, the rain sticking his dark hair to his face. "Ever since I arrived, I've felt a bad vibe. I keep seeing someone."
"Who?"
"It doesn't matter," Alfie replied, his brows furrowed deep over his eyes. "I - I -"
"Who is it?" Julia cried. "Someone you know?"
"I - I don't know," Alfie replied. "It's ancient history now. I - I know it's not her - it can't be. It's just bringing everything back up."
"Bringing what back up?"
Alfie looked as though he was going to tell Julia everything that was on his mind, but a car sped up the lane, the bright headlights dazzling them both. As though the spell had been broken, Alfie blinked down at Julia, his frown deepening.
"I should go," Alfie cried. "I'm sorry."
Before Julia could ask anything else, the mysterious man hurried past her and back the way she had just walked. Standing in the rain outside Barker's old cottage, she watched the stranger disappear. She desperately wanted to chase after him to force his story out of him, but she knew it was not her place.
"Who are you, Alfie?" Julia whispered into the rain as it dribbled down her face. "Where have I met you before?"
Julia looked at the scene of the crime again, the pile of rubble calling to her. In the wind and the rain, she spotted something rustling exactly where Shane’s body had been. She squinted into the rain, but her ageing eyesight failed her. She looked up and down the lane before slipping through the open gate, consoled by the fact the police had already released the land back to Candy to continue building.
Brushing her soaked hair out of her eyes, Julia crept towards the plastic object, its rustling beckoning her. In her mind's eye, she could see Shane lying face down in the stones. Pushing that away, she bent down and was surprised to see a sodden bouquet of a dozen roses beneath the crackling plastic. Julia spotted a soggy piece of card tucked between the flowers, a Pretty Petals logo jumping out at her. The handwritten note had leaked and bled, but Julia could still see the words clearly.
"'I'm sorry'," she read aloud. "'I love you'. Who left these?"
Julia put the card back in the flowers and looked back at the lane where Alfie had been standing moments ago. She straightened up, not liking where her mind was taking her. She almost wanted to take the roses back to her cottage to examine them carefully, but she had more respect than that. Someone had intentionally laid the bouquet where Shane had been, she just did not know who. Instead, she pulled her phone from her pocket and hastily snapped a blurry picture before the rain soaked her device.
After slipping through the open gate, Julia bolted up the lane, not stopping until she was leaning safely against the door in the warmth of her cottage. She stood there for a moment, catching her breath as the cold from her wet clothes set in. She kicked off her shoes, shrugged off her coat, and hobbled towards the bathroom where a hot bath was calling her.
"Julia!" Jessie cried from the sitting room, making her jump. "I've been trying to call you."
Julia looked into the sitting room where Jessie and Billy were sitting together on the couch, with Jessie's peculiar social worker, Kim Drinkwater, taking up the armchair near the roaring fire. Kim was too busy making her way through a box of chocolates to look up at Julia.
"You have?" Julia replied, checking her damp phone. "Oh, I put it on silent because the twins were asleep. Kim! What a pleasant surprise. I didn't realise we had a meeting today?"
Kim waved a hand as she stuffed another handful of chocolates into her mouth. Julia squinted at the box, recognising it as one of the boxes still left over from Christmas.
Kim, who had been Jessie's social worker since she had been a little girl, was a character if Julia had ever met one. Her eccentric and colourful choice in clothing and makeup coupled with her craving for sugar and clumsy nature meant it was always a strange experience when they held their meetings. Today, Kim was wearing a bright blue denim skirt, a pink wool jumper with a yellow cardigan over it, and bright blue clips keeping her hair out of her eyes. She had gold shadow all over her lids, and shiny pink gloss smeared across her lips and chin.
"Don't worry yourself," Kim exclaimed through a mouthful of chocolate. "It's not an official meeting. I was just in the area, so I thought I'd drop by. To tell you the truth, I had a date, but I don't think it'll work out. I tripped and spilt coffee all over his shirt. I don't think he was bothered about the stains, but the burns looked quite bad. Shame, really. He was quite handsome. Not as handsome as your Barker, but close enough."
Jessie cleared her throat and shot Julia a look that screamed 'get rid of her'.
"Well, it's nice to see you," Julia said as she tucked her wet hair behind her ears. "Sorry about my state. I got caught in the rain."
"It's raining?" Kim asked casually as she selected her next chocolate. "These are really delicious. They look expensive. Hope you don't mind me eating them. Found them while Jessika was in the bathroom."
Julia bit her tongue, deciding it was probably best not to mention that they had been expensive; there were only three left.
"Finish them," Julia said, widening her smile. "It's my pleasure."
"Oh, you are too kind," Kim said as she plucked the final three from the box to throw them into her mouth in one go. She chewed them around for a moment, but that did not stop her from talking. "I have some news about the adoption."
"Oh?" Julia called out, hurrying to the back of the couch. "Good news?"
Jessie looked up at Julia, grabbing her hand. She squeezed it as they watched Kim swallow the giant ball of chocolate. She licked her lips, checked that she had shovelled in every last piece, and glanced at her watch before standing up.
"I should get going," she said absently as she stared out of the window. "Oh, you're right. It is raining. I have another date in an hour. You can never be too proud to double book, not that you have that problem. I heard about Barker putting that lovely engagement ring on your finger. If you weren't so lovely, I'd hate you for it."
Kim let out a girlish cackle as she scooped up her heavy bag. Her purse, keys, and phone fell out. She quickly darted down to pick them up despite the tight nature of her skirt, which was entirely inappropriate for the weather.
"The adoption?" Julia pushed. "You have news?"
"Oh, yes," Kim said, tapping her chipped red nail-polished finger on her chin as though she had forgotten all about the reason she had even come to the cottage. "Everything should go through within the next couple of months. We've done all the checks and interviews, it's just a case of getting the paperwork sorted out."
"So, it's happening?" Jessie asked, an uncertain look on her face as she stared at Kim.
"Yes, Jessika," Kim chuckled as she roughly ruffled Jessie's hair as though she was a puppy. "I told you that you had nothing to worry about. You've come a long way, and you're settled. The adoption will be official before your eighteenth birthday."
Julia's heart swelled up in her chest. She was at a loss for words and suddenly wanted to offer Kim the other three boxes of chocolates she had left over from Christmas.
"That's excellent news," Julia said, her grin spreading from ear to ear as she stared down at Jessie, who had a similar look on her face. "The best."
"You'll make quite the family," Kim said, stubbing her foot on the coffee table as she passed it. "Where is Barker anyway? Do you want me to tell him the news myself?"
"He's in London," Julia said, almost relieved by the fact. "But I'll make sure to pass it on."
"Shame," Kim said with a sigh as she looked up and down the hallway. "I can smell his aftershave. It lingers."
With that, Kim headed to the door. As usual, she tripped over the threshold before hurrying down the path in the rain to her bright yellow Fiat Cinquecento parked on the lane behind Julia's car. Julia closed the door behind her, the grin still plastered across her face. Jessie appeared in the hallway, her eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights of a monster truck.
Without needing to say a word, they ran to each other, crashing together like long lost family meeting at the airport for the first time. Despite being wet, Jessie clung to Julia as though her life depended on it.
"It's happening," Jessie whispered into Julia's shoulder. "It's real."
Holding the back of Jessie's head, Julia looked over at Billy, who was standing awkwardly in the sitting room like a spare part. Julia's elevated mood quickly dropped when she noticed that Billy's t-shirt was on inside out as though he had put it on in a hurry.
"So, you were both here when Kim turned up?" Julia asked, trying to keep her voice light as she pulled away from Jessie. "Alone?"
"Yeah," Jessie said with a shrug. "What's for lunch?"
Jessie turned on her heels and walked into the kitchen, but Billy stayed glued to the spot in the sitting room, his cheeks bright red. Julia looked at his t-shirt again, and he suddenly seemed to realise what she had noticed.
"I should go," Billy said. "First day of work tomorrow. Don't want to be too tired."
Without saying goodbye to Jessie, Billy headed for the door. Julia walked into the kitchen, wondering if she should talk to Jessie about her suspicions of what they had been doing when Kim had turned up, but she decided it could wait. For now, they had good news to celebrate.
6
Teenage pregnancy'?" Sue called over Julia's shoulder as she helped herself to a cake from the display cabinet. "Why are you searching for that on the internet? I hate to break it to you, sis, but you’re a little past that." Sue cut herself a large slice of Victoria sponge cake before her eyes bulged. "Wait - you're not - oh my - are you?"
"Pregnant?" Julia cried with a shake of her head. "If I were, you'd be the first to know about it. I think I caught Billy and Jessie up to something yesterday."
Leaning against the counter, Julia read through the article about how the rates of teenage pregnancy were at an all-time low since records began in the 1960s. Pictures of young mothers with prams littered the page, causing her fingers to shake as she scrolled through.
"You mean, you caught them - you know - doing that," Sue asked, suddenly abandoning her cake for the more interesting topic. "She must have been so embarrassed! Poor kid. I remember when Gran walked in on me kissing Martin Hapton when we were sixteen, and I thought I'd never live it down. I still see the disappointment in her eyes to this day."
"I didn't walk in on anything," Julia said. "Well, I think the social worker might have walked in on something, but by the time I got there, the only piece of evidence was that Billy's t-shirt was on inside out."
"Oh," Sue said, her teeth gritting and her mouth stretching out at the sides. "That sounds like they were -"
"Don't!" Julia cried, holding up her hand. "I've only just come to terms with Jessie being my daughter, and now I've got to wrap my head around all of this teenager stuff. It's like I'm raising a child in fast-forward."
"She's a smart girl," Sue offered as she took her cake to the table nearest the counter. "I don't think you're going to be a grandmother just yet."
"Accidents do happen," Julia said with a sigh as she scrolled to a picture of a girl who looked suspiciously like Jessie holding a pregnancy test. "Do I talk to her about it? I feel like I should, but I wouldn't know where to start."
"As the mother of two daughters, I have no idea," Sue mumbled through her first mouthful of cake. "Oh, Julia. You have a gift!" Sue swallowed and dabbed a napkin at her lips. "But we didn't have that. We didn't have a mum when we were that age, we had Gran telling us not to trust boys, and not to talk to strangers. I suppose it worked. Neither of us got into any sticky situations. Well, you married that awful man, but we pretend that didn't happen."
Julia thought back to being Jessie's age. She had been at college studying to be a baker and was working in a café not unlike her own on the weekends. Her only boyfriend up until that point had been a boy in high school, and the most they had done was hold hands. She had been too busy at seventeen to entertain the idea of dating, not that she would have known where to start. Jessie, however, seemed a lot more mature than Julia had been, and she had to give her credit for that.
"If they want to do it, they're going to do it," Sue said, stamping her finger down on the table. "They're young adults of legal age, so there's not much we can do to stop them. The best we can do is educate them, and make sure they're safe."
"Should I buy her some - I can't even say the word."
"Condoms?" Sue said, a grin tickling her lips. "If you want her to die of humiliation, then yes."
At that moment, Jessie's bike screeched to a halt outside, prompting Julia to slap the laptop shut. She wrapped her hands around the edge of it and pushed forward a smile she knew was too broad to look natural. Jessie walked into the café, her eyes instantly narrowing on Julia as though she could see through the plastic shell of the laptop to the article she had been reading.
"How were the deliveries?" Julia asked, beaming from ear to ear. "The weather held up."
"You're weird," Jessie said with an arched brow. "Why are you so weird?"
Sue smirked at Julia from behind her cake before taking another bite. Julia widened her smile, unsure of what to say. A part of her wanted to blurt out the question and ask why Billy's shirt had been on inside out, but another part of her did not want to know.
"It's the murder," Julia said quickly, her cogs working overtime. "It's all I can think about at the moment."
Thankfully for Julia, the answer pacified Jessie, who merely shrugged and walked into the kitchen to collect her next lot of orders.
"I went to see Billy at the building site," Jessie called from the kitchen. "They're working him like a dog, but he seems to be enjoying it. I think he's just happy to be working."
"That's good," Julia said, her mind still on the article. "Did he say anything?"
"You mean, has he been spying for you?" Jessie asked as she pushed through the beads with another stack of boxes. "Everyone turned up for work, including that actress and her camp friend. Billy's been asking around about Shane, but nobody has anything nice to say about him. Homophobic, racist, generally mean. He sounds like a total -"
"Roses!" Julia cried, cutting Jessie off. "Did you see any roses at the building site?"
"Roses?" Jessie echoed, looking down her nose at Julia. "Are you feeling alright? It's not the menopause, is it? I heard a woman talking about it on the bus, and she looked about your age."
From the sweat that was breaking out across Julia's forehead, she wondered if Jessie might have had a point. She quickly wiped it away with a napkin before laughing off the suggestion.
"Julia's still got at least a handful of good eggs in her," Sue announced. "My mother senses can smell them. They’re bouncing around in there like pinball!"
"You're weird," Jessie said, staring at Julia before turning on Sue. "Both of you. Super weird."
Jessie shook her head and headed for the door. She stacked the boxes up in the basket before riding off, but not without giving Julia one final sceptical look.
"Really well played, big sis," Sue said with a wink. "I don't think she suspected a thing."
Flustered and embarrassed, Julia ran around the café wiping the already clean tables until she felt her cheeks cool down. Even though Jessie was a good kid, Julia was beginning to wish parenting teenagers came with a manual. As each day passed, Julia felt the landmines gathering around her; one misstep and it would all explode.
As Sue helped herself to a second large slice of cake, Dot hurried into the café wearing her 'Preserve Peridale's History' t-shirt over the top of her stiff blouse, her silver brooch
poking over the collar. She planted herself in Sue's seat before huffing dramatically. When neither Sue nor Julia asked what was wrong, she huffed again and slapped her handbag on the table.
"Well?" she cried. "Is nobody going to ask what's wrong?"
"What's wrong, Gran?" Julia and Sue chorused.
"Harriet's called the whole thing off!" Dot announced with a flourish of her hands. "She doesn't want to protest anymore. I was trying to rouse the girls for another go, but Harriet doesn't want to do it."
"A man has died, Gran," Julia reminded her as she got to work making Dot a pot of tea. "It's probably best to stay away for a while."
"Well, that's not the reason she gave me," Dot said with a heavy sigh as she pushed up her stiff curls at the back. "Said she was too busy with the flower shop. She wasn't too busy when she was running around the village recruiting people to join her little army."
"Do you even care about the development?" Sue asked as she sat across from her gran after checking on the twins in their pram.
"Not in the slightest," Dot announced with a roll of her eyes. "But that's not the point, dear. I'm invested now, and I want to see it through, or at least cause a little trouble first. Nothing too outside of the law, but some hijinks never hurt anyone. But no! Harriet has slammed the brakes on, not that she seemed very committed after Candy embarrassed her at the demolition. It's probably why she didn't turn up to the meeting on the morning we found the body."
Something clicked in Julia's mind, making her head bolt up. She splashed hot water on her hand, making her wince.
"She never turned up at all?" Julia asked, her mind working overtime. "Did you ask why?"
"It never crossed my mind," Dot said with disinterest as she stared at Sue as she wrapped her lips around her cake. "I'll have a slice of whatever Sue is having, dear, and be quick with that tea. My mouth is so dry I could drink coffee, and you know how I feel about that."
Julia finished making the pot of tea and quickly plated up the final slice of the Victoria sponge cake with which she had not made a penny of profit thanks to her family's rumbling stomachs.
