by Agatha Frost
“Shannon told her,” Kylie said after a long period of silence. “She knew before it was happening, didn’t she?”
“How do you know that?” Sandra asked after taking another gulp of whatever was in her cup. “Where did you hear that, Kylie?”
“I didn’t,” Kylie said quickly, her eyes dropping to her food as she picked up her knife and fork. “But I always suspected it. Those two were always whispering in corners. Shannon wasn’t even slightly surprised when we found that note.”
Sandra appeared to be considering Kylie’s words as Keith took his seat at the head of the table. The uncomfortable silence grew until Julia could not stand it anymore. She picked up her fork and scooped up the beef and rice mixture.
“This is really delicious,” Julia said to Keith after swallowing.
“Thank you,” he replied with a tight smile as he moved his fork around on his plate. “What was that you said about Shannon knowing my mother’s plan all along?”
“Well, I didn’t,” Julia said quickly. “Kylie assumed that’s what I meant.”
“But that is what you meant,” Kylie retorted. “Shannon knew, and she just let it happen. My gran found some Spanish guy on the internet and ran off to live with him, and Shannon knew and didn’t do a thing to stop it.”
“I should never have bought her that laptop,” Keith said as he continued to move his fork around his food without eating. “She was so resistant to technology, but the council wanted to modernise the library by putting in a computer suite. She was so against it because she thought it took up valuable book space, but I knew she would have to go along with it, so I bought her a laptop. It was only a cheap thing I found at a car boot sale, but it worked enough for her to get to grips with the basics. I didn’t think she’d figure out how to online date at her age.”
“She should have just retired,” Sandra added, slight bitterness in her voice. “Your mother was a stubborn old mule.”
“There was a young lad working at the library with her at the time,” Keith said, his eyes creasing as he cast his mind back. “He was called Neil, or Nigel, or something like that. The fella with the glasses. I think he still works there now, even though my mother fired him.”
“Neil,” Julia said, not mentioning he was her brother-in-law. “Why did Mabel fire him?”
“When the council confirmed their plans to put in the computer suite, my mother wanted to get rid of most of the children’s section, but I remember Neil being quite upset about it. He started a protest, so she fired him. My mother didn’t see the value in children’s books and thought kids should get a real education and read the classics. That must have only been a couple of weeks before she disappeared. The council offered Neil her job, putting him in charge. I think he got rid of one of the foreign book aisles. I built the suite for him, but that was before my hands went to pot.”
Keith had just described the perfect motive for murder. Julia stared at her food in silence, unable to believe that Sue’s sweet husband could do anything of the sort.
“Grandma loved that library,” Kylie offered as she too stared at her food. “She made me read all the classics when I was a kid, and I was better off for it. I know I only work at the nursing home now, but I got my English Literature degree, and I don’t think I would have done that if she hadn’t pushed me.”
“She tried to push us all,” Keith said as his twisted fingers fiddled with his glasses. “I never showed an interest in books, and I think she resented me for it. I was always that kid getting into fights and falling out of trees. Donna wasn’t much better either. I don’t think she’s read a book in her life. Shannon and Kylie were different though, so I think that’s why my mother took to them.”
“It was like they were the children she’d always wanted,” Sandra said as she moved her food around on her plate without eating it. “She was always so cold to everyone, but she loved her granddaughters. After my accident, I couldn’t have children, and she never looked at me the same again.”
Sandra looked to where her right arm would have been. Julia was curious as to what had happened, but she decided it would not be polite to ask if Sandra did not volunteer the information.
“She was more like a school teacher than a mother,” Keith said. “She looked down on me for joining the army, and she looked down on me for becoming a builder. She said my life would amount to nothing, and maybe she was right, but you’re supposed to support your children no matter what, aren’t you?”
The sadness was clear in his voice. He pushed his fork around a little more before tossing it onto the plate. He grunted, his nose and moustache dancing above his top lip. Without another word, Keith left the dinner table and vanished out of sight.
“It’s not been easy on him,” Sandra explained quietly as she looked up at the ceiling. “It’s bringing it all back. He never stopped wanting his mother to love him, but now he doesn’t even have that option.”
“Gran made her choice,” Kylie muttered as she tossed her fork onto the table. “If she’d wanted her family, she wouldn’t have left us here. She tore us apart the second she got on that plane.”
With that, Kylie also left the dining room table, leaving behind a frosty silence. Alfie looked as though he was going to chase after her, but Sandra simply shook her head.
“You have to understand what we’re going through,” Sandra said, her voice barely above a whisper. “An old wound has been ripped open. Keith always felt rejected by his mother long before she left Peridale, but that’s when Kylie’s rejection started. She was only seventeen at the time. Her grandmother left, and then less than a month later, her mother and sister left. We had to pick up the pieces, but it wasn’t easy. Kylie resented being part of this family for so long. She always felt like the odd one out. She was the little girl who loved her grandparents and loved reading books, and then she was forced to grow up overnight. It took its toll on her. She made some stupid mistakes trying to run away from her demons.”
“What kind of mistakes?” Julia asked.
Sandra stood up and walked over to a cluttered shelf on the other side of the dining room. She picked up a framed picture and blew off the dust before bringing it back to the table.
“That’s Kylie and Shannon, and their parents,” Sandra explained as she turned the frame around with her one hand. “She’s not the same girl anymore.”
Julia looked down at the picture of the two little girls, and they were the little girls that she remembered. They both had wiry, straw-coloured hair like their mother, and toothy grins with two prominent front teeth. Donna also looked different without her usual leopard print. She was covered head to toe and looked more like a lady who worked in a bank rather than the chain-smoking, foul-mouthed woman Julia knew her to be. The bald man standing next to her was also dressed conservatively, and he looked like the last man a woman like Donna would marry.
“I would never have guessed that was Kylie,” Alfie said as he took the picture from Julia. “She looks so different.”
“That’s because she is,” Sandra said with a heavy sigh. “After everything that happened with her gran and her mother, she ran off to Turkey and came back a different girl. I didn’t recognise her. If it wasn’t for her voice, I might have thought someone had stolen her identity. She had her nose shaved down, new teeth, breast implants, and it was all paid for with loans and credit cards. It’s cheaper to get work done abroad, but it still cost her a fortune. She dyed her hair and started wearing makeup, and she’s never stopped. She ironed out her ‘Crump’ creases, and she’s still paying for it a decade later. I still can’t believe a bank would give someone so young so much money, but it was before the recession. They used to hand out loans to anyone back then. Me and Keith did the same to pay for his business, and we’ve only just finished paying off the interest. Army pensions don’t pay like people think. He put in twenty-five years of his life. He fought for his country in the Falklands and Gulf War, and he spent the rest of his time in Ireland during T
he Troubles, and we can just about afford to live. If we didn’t own this place, we wouldn’t even have a roof over our heads. We’re all just about getting by with our government benefits, but it’s a struggle. There aren’t many people who would employ two people nearing retirement age with our problems. With my one arm and Keith’s arthritis, we’re ready for the scrapheap.”
Footsteps creaked the floorboards above, but neither Kylie nor Keith ventured back downstairs.
“Kylie wanted to become a journalist,” Sandra continued. “She went to university and took out even more loans to fund it, but she ended up spending most of that on her other loan and credit card bills. We had people banging on our door once a week for years, but look around you. We have nothing to take other than the clothes off our backs. After university, Kylie came back to Peridale hoping to become a journalist, but there were no jobs like that here. She couldn’t afford to stand on her own two feet in a big city, so she got a job at the nursing home. She got her qualifications while on the job, but her heart isn't in it. She got to spend time with her grandad, which I know she loves, but as things are right now, I don’t even think she’ll have that soon. She always wanted to write, but she just never got there. Maybe she should have written a book. I heard about the fella in the village who wrote a book.”
“That’s Julia’s fiancé,” Alfie said. “He wrote it about her.”
“How romantic!” Sandra said, her hand resting on her chest. “I’d say I’d read it, but I’d be lying. I was never very good at school, and it was different back then. I can just about read and write my own name, but I leave the rest of it to Keith. Not that I’d be very good at writing anymore anyway. I was right-handed.”
Sandra chuckled at her own dark joke. Julia looked up at the ceiling as the footsteps above continued to creak as though someone was pacing back and forth.
“Keith does that when he’s upset,” Sandra explained quietly as she looked up at the ceiling. “After that many years in the army, he learned to hold back his tears, so he paces and bottles it all up.”
Julia looked up at the ceiling, and then down at her food. She wished she had kept her mouth shut and not brought up Mabel. She had known it must be hard for the family, but she had not expected them to be so damaged.
“I’m sorry,” Julia said. “I didn’t mean to upset them.”
“You didn’t,” Sandra insisted after sipping her drink again. “We’ve always got a lot going on, but we’re Crumps. We carry on! Mabel was many things, but she was resilient and strong. That’s the one thing I always admired about her. If she really did run off to Spain, then that took guts. Who else would do that in their seventies? Sometimes, I think running away from all this would be the wise option, but I love them both too much to be that silly. That’s the difference. I know Mabel adored her grandchildren, but I don’t know if that woman was capable of love. She was cold and cruel. I saw through her. She married Peter because she thought that was what people did. In another life, she left him at the altar and travelled the world with nothing more than a change of clothes and a passport. I could always sense Mabel’s itchy feet, but she didn’t know any better. Her parents pushed her into marrying the ‘safe’ man, and she did the same to Donna. I think I was the only person who wasn’t surprised when Donna packed her bags and hopped it to Wales. Listen to me rattling on. I’m sorry to cut the evening so short, but I think it’s best if we draw the line here and try again another time.”
“It really was delicious,” Julia said as Sandra took away her almost full plate. “You’ll have to give me the recipe.”
Sandra smiled her appreciation as she stacked the plates clumsily with one hand. Julia almost offered to help, but Sandra seemed to have figured out how to cope with only one arm. She hugged the pile of plates against her body and carried them over to the overflowing kitchen sink. She left them on the side before reaching into the fridge with shaky hands. She pulled out a can of premium strength lager and cracked it open before slurping the foam out of the opening. Julia could almost understand why she needed a drink to get through the day.
“Tell Kylie I’ll call her later,” Alfie said as they headed for the hallway. “Thanks for inviting me, Mrs Crump.”
“You seem like a nice lad, Alfie,” Sandra said with a smile as she put the can behind her back as though she was used to hiding it from people. “I’ll see you again soon.”
Alfie and Julia left the cottage and walked to the motorbike parked in the lane. The sun had almost set fully, but Julia’s mind was awake as though the day had not already passed. She looked back at the cottage as she slipped the helmet over her head. She was sure she could see a shadow watching them through the dirty net curtains in the front bedroom.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” Alfie said when they were on the bike. “There’s a pizza place just outside the village if you’re up for it.”
“Pizza sounds great,” Julia said, her mind working so fast that it dulled the rumbling in her stomach.
9
The days passed sluggishly following dinner at Sandra and Keith’s cottage. Barker returned to Peridale, his interview on Chatty Women was all the people in the village could talk about. Julia was glad to have her fiancé back, but she was less happy to hear that Izzy had checked into Evelyn’s B&B to co-ordinate the rest of Barker’s press interviews and events.
By Sunday, Julia found a reason to speak to Neil without it seeming as though she was seeking him out for an interview. Since Keith’s revelation that Mabel had fired Neil weeks before vanishing, she had been able to think of little else.
With her latest batch of blueberry muffins, she walked into the library. She noticed Alfie, who was standing on top of a stepladder as he measured the size of the hole in the ceiling tiles. He relayed the measurements down to Billy, who took notes on his phone. She approached the circular desk in the centre of the library, careful to walk around the debris and dust that remained from the day of the book launch. The spot where Mabel had slept on her bed of insulation had been marked out with tape on the floor and seemed to be the only spot absent of dust. Neil popped up from behind the desk, a stack of books in his hands.
“Julia!” he cried before fiddling with his glasses. “If you’re here for a book, I’m afraid I haven’t got head nor tail of the place yet. The police only released the library yesterday, and I feel like it’s going to take weeks to get it straight. Are those the famous muffins I’ve heard so much about?”
“I hope so,” Julia said as she unclipped the lid to offer him one. “I’ve been working on the recipe.”
As she had suspected, the shop bought muffins were filled with a long list of artificial ingredients Julia would never feel comfortable putting into her baking. She had attempted to extract as much information from the list of ingredients on the pack as possible, and had adjusted her own recipe accordingly. She had yet to even taste the shop bought muffins, if only out on principle, but she hoped she had got close to whatever made them so good. Neil took a bite, but he looked less than impressed.
“Sorry, Julia,” he said with a sigh as he put the muffin on the counter after only a single bite. “I’m not really hungry. My stomach hasn’t been right all week. I’ve been worrying myself sick about the books, and it’s worse than I feared. I’ve already had to throw away a whole stack this morning that got trampled in the confusion. I think I’m in book mourning.”
Julia had always liked Neil. He was good to Sue, and he adored his children, which was more than she could say about a lot of other men. He was sensitive, and the only love that came close to the love he had for his family was the love he had for books. Julia could not wrap her head around the thought that Neil could murder Mabel, but something compelled her to dig deeper.
“I must admit, I didn’t just drop by to bring you muffins,” Julia said as she followed Neil across the library. “We have a good relationship, don’t we, Neil?”
“I like to think so,” he said as he picked up a
brush to begin sweeping up the mess. “You’re a great sister to Sue, and you’re the best sister-in-law I have. Well, you’re the only sister-in-law I have, but if there were more, I’m sure you’d still be my favourite.”
Neil bent down to pick up a dust-covered copy of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He blew off the debris before putting it back on the shelf from which it had fallen, even though the shelf was also covered in dust.
“If I asked you a question, you’d be honest with me, wouldn’t you, Neil?” Julia asked cautiously as she continued to follow Neil’s sweeping.
“What’s this about?” Neil replied, standing still and leaning on the broom. “Has something happened? Is it about Sue?”
“It’s nothing like that,” Julia said, not liking the worry she had caused to cross Neil’s face. “It’s about Mabel Crump.”
Neil’s eyes suddenly dropped, and the worry turned into something that made Julia feel uneasy. He continued to sweep, his brush strokes erratic.
“What about her?”
“Did you get on with her?” Julia asked, deciding to start softly. “She was your boss, after all. You must have spent a lot of time with her.”
“I did, although we didn’t talk much unless we disagreed on something. She was a dictator. She should have retired years before I got here, but she clung on because I don’t think she could stomach the thought of someone else taking over. I think she was scared I’d do a better job than her.”
“Is that why she fired you?” Julia asked, gauging Neil’s reaction closely. “Because she was threatened by you?”
Neil stopped sweeping momentarily, his eyes meeting Julia’s for a split second before he continued.
“How did you hear about that?” Neil asked, looking around the library to check that they weren’t being listened in on. “I never told anyone.”
“Not even Sue?”
“I was embarrassed,” he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. “I kicked up a fuss about Mabel wanting to get rid of the children’s section for some stupid computers. She wouldn’t listen, so I decided to start a petition. I got over fifty signatures from concerned parents! We had more kids come here than adults, but she didn’t care. She’d rather them read Charles Dickens than Jacqueline Wilson. She thought she was above it all. When I presented her with the petition, she fired me on the spot. I’d expected her to be angry, but I didn’t expect that. Even though we locked swords, she knew I loved books as much as she did, and I thought she at least respected me for the fact. As it turned out, she fled not long after and the council offered me her job. I would have told Sue eventually, but by the time I felt ready to admit that I’d lost my dream job, I had it back with a promotion and a pay rise.”
