by Agatha Frost
“Yeah, sure,” she whispered, opening her eyes. “No problem.”
“Are you okay?” he asked, seeming to pick up on the sadness in her voice. “You sound – Jessie! You have to stop at zebra crossings! Julia, I have to go. I’ll call you back later.”
Barker hung up, leaving her alone in the drawing room once more. She twirled the phone in-between her fingers, turning her attention to the banquet table, which had already been set for the meal ahead. Two larger, almost throne-like chairs had been brought in and placed at either end of the long table, no doubt for the two siblings to take centre stage. Julia shook her head, unsure why she was still surprised by Charlotte and Rory’s behaviour.
“Can I help you?”
Julia spun around, her heart stopping when she saw Charlotte standing in the doorway of the drawing room, her auburn hair flowing freely down her front, concealing the sides of her pale face. Despite the young woman’s impossibly tall heels, Julia hadn’t heard her creep up on her.
“I was just admiring your table setting,” Julia said quickly, pushing forward a smile. “It’s very beautiful.”
“The silver has been in our family for three generations,” she replied flatly, returning the fake smile.
Julia looked to the silver cutlery and goblets, nodding her appreciation of their beauty. When she turned back to Charlotte, it was obvious neither of them cared for the forced small talk.
“If you need any help with tonight, I’d be more than happy to step in,” Julia offered, already knowing the answer.
“That’s a very kind offer, but it’s quite alright,” Charlotte said as she walked past Julia towards the two large armchairs facing out towards the window. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a little work to be getting on with.”
Julia watched as Charlotte settled into the same armchair she had sat in the day before. Julia looked back to the secret door, and she suddenly had the strangest feeling that Charlotte knew exactly what Julia had done and what she had overheard. Her heart fluttered when she realised it was more than likely that DI Fletcher had presented Julia’s madcap theory to her. Not wanting to stay in the woman’s frosty presence any longer, she turned back to the open doors, stopping in her tracks when she saw Andrew watching her in the doorway.
The overpowering scent of whisky mixed in with the heather uncomfortably turned Julia’s stomach. He stared down at her with puffy glassy eyes, the stubble thicker than ever, and his little wisps of hair practically standing on end. She was unsure if he was even looking at her, or just through her. Not wanting to stick around to find out, she walked around the looming man, only turning back when she was in the safety of the corridor. Andrew walked over to the other armchair, where a full decanter of whisky and a clean crystal tumbler were waiting for him. Julia would have given every penny she owned to listen in on their conversation, but she knew it wasn’t safe, even if she did crawl around on her hands and knees and hide behind furniture again.
Her gran and sister had left the sunroom, and they were waiting for Julia by the reception desk in the entrance hall. When Julia caught up with them, Rory appeared from the office, a professional yet unsettling smile on his smug face.
“Remember your check-out is at ten tomorrow morning, ladies,” Rory said through his smile, his eyes trained on Julia. “I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay here.”
Dot opened her mouth to reply, but Julia looped her arm around her gran’s and pulled her towards the door. They set off towards their bedrooms to prepare for that evening’s dinner, leaving Rory hanging.
“He doesn’t even work here,” Sue whispered to Julia as they walked up the steps towards their bedroom. “I thought he was a lawyer?”
“I think what this castle needs more than ever is a lawyer,” Julia whispered back, careful not to catch Dot’s attention. “I think I might have a theory about what is going on here.”
“Let me guess, you’re not going to tell me?” Sue asked, suddenly stopping in her tracks.
“I need proof. But don’t worry, we’re going to get it.”
“We?” Sue mumbled as she pinched between her brows. “So an afternoon nap is out of the question?”
“You can nap back in Peridale,” Julia replied as they set off back up the stairs to catch up with their gran. “You’ve slept like a cat on this trip. I didn’t realise relaxing was so exhausting.”
“Well, it is.”
With a large yawn, Dot retreated into her bedroom with a promise to meet them in two hours to head down to the drawing room together. When they were alone in their bedroom, Julia explained her theory to Sue, whose jaw dropped further and further with each sentence.
“You’re insane, Julia,” Sue whispered, shaking her head as she slammed herself down onto her bed. “I really hope you’re right about this.”
“Me too,” Julia whispered, her chest pounding.
Sue looked as though she was going to add something else, but her eyes fluttered, and as though she couldn’t control it, she drifted off to sleep and was snoring in seconds. Julia let out a small yawn herself as she walked over to the window looking out over the castle.
She looked down at the bridge where she had shared Mary’s final moments. Despite her reservations, she owed it to Mary to uncover the truth, whatever the cost. She turned back to her sister as she curled up like a tiny baby on top of her sheets. She looked so peaceful and comfortable. The thought of a nap tempted Julia more than it ever had, but she was scared of her thoughts slipping away from her.
12
“Breathe in!” Sue demanded as she attempted to zip up the dress she had insisted Julia wear. “I can’t believe you didn’t bring any gowns!”
“I can’t believe you brought six!”
“You never know when the occasion calls for an outfit change.” She hoisted up a leg and crammed it against the small of Julia’s back as she forced her into the wall.
The zipper travelled all the way up to Julia’s neck. She attempted to relax, but it appeared she was not going to be breathing for the rest of the night.
“It’s too tight,” Julia wheezed, resting her hand on her stomach.
“It’s meant to be,” Sue whispered as she pushed her in front of the floor length mirror. “Stop complaining and be a girl for once.”
Julia’s reflection caught her off guard. Back home, she usually wore simple and comfortable dresses that stopped at her shoulders and exactly at her knees. While in Scotland, she had been wearing comfortable jeans and jumpers. Neither of those outfits stared back at Julia in the mirror.
“I look -,”
“Beautiful,” Sue interrupted as she picked up Julia’s hair and held it up at the back of her head. “I think we should put your hair up.”
Julia looked down at the scarlet dress, which ran from her wrists, up to her shoulders, and then down to the floor. It cut across her chest in a sweetheart neckline, making her décolletage pop in a way she had never seen before. Under her bust, the dress ran tight against her body, nipping in at the knees before flaring out into a subtle mermaid tail. Gold embroidery ran up her sleeves, along the shoulders, and down the sides of the dress, contouring her body in a way that she had never seen before. Even though her sister was a size smaller than her, and it felt uncomfortable, Julia couldn’t believe how well the dress hugged her body in a way she would have usually hated.
“Why do I have to wear the tight one?” Julia asked when she looked at Sue’s black chiffon Grecian dress, which floated down her front in a complementary empire line. “Will I even be able to sit down?”
“Who cares?” Sue mumbled through a mouthful of bobby pins as she twisted and pinned strands of Julia’s hair against her scalp. “You look like a movie star. Do you remember when we raided Mum’s wardrobe and played dress up?”
Julia nodded, the memory a fond one. Julia had been ten, and Sue had been five. They had paraded around their mum’s bedroom, climbing in and out of her dresses while painting their faces in lipstick. When their mum
had caught them, instead of being angry, she had joined in and played along. Julia hadn’t known it at the time, but her mum had already been given the cancer diagnosis that would kill her two years later. She had often looked back on that day and wondered if their mum had played along so enthusiastically because she had known her days with her daughters were numbered. It was a memory Sue had asked Julia to recite to her so many times that she wasn’t sure if Sue even remembered the actual day, or just Julia’s account of it.
“Mum would be proud of you, you know,” Julia said, catching her sister’s smoky eyes in the mirror. “You’ve got a great job at the hospital, you’re married to a lovely man, and you’re going to make a great mother one day.”
Sue smiled, her eyes filled with an unexpected sadness. Julia knew those few extra years she had had with their mother used to cause friction between them when they were both teenagers, but she knew that resentment hadn’t followed them into adulthood, but in that moment, she was sure she saw a flicker of something that reminded her of those arguments they used to have.
“Come on,” Sue said as she crammed the final bobby pin into Julia’s hair. “You’re done. You said we don’t have long to get this evidence.”
Julia examined her hair in the mirror, pulling down a couple of strands to make it look less put-together. She looked nothing like herself, but she couldn’t deny that Sue had an eye for fashion. She grabbed Sue’s red lipstick from her makeup bag and quickly applied it to her lips. She puckered them together before turning back to her sister, who was smirking at her with two arched brows.
“What?” Julia mumbled as she tossed the lipstick back into the makeup bag. “Tonight’s a big night. I might as well look the part.”
“You look like her,” Sue said as they walked towards the door. “Everybody says so.”
“And everybody says you look like me, so you do too,” she whispered back, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly.
Arm in arm, they tiptoed past their gran’s bedroom and back down the stairs. Julia’s heart fluttered in her chest, and it wasn’t from the tightness of the dress. She knew she had one shot to uncover something concrete so she could put an end to things tonight, and if she didn’t, she wasn’t sure everybody would make it past sunrise.
As the blue sky turned pink and orange, they hurried along the path circling the island. Julia figured out that if she pulled the dress up so that the tightest part was just above her knees, she could almost jog.
“It really is beautiful,” Sue whispered, squinting as the last of the orange sun reflected off the cool surface of the water. “We’ll have to come back to Scotland and actually enjoy it properly sometime.”
“What’s not to enjoy about solving a murder?” Julia whispered.
“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”
Julia decided against answering. She hitched her dress up even further as they made their way up the slope and back towards the castle. Even though it was awful that two people had died, she couldn’t ignore the adrenaline she felt pumping through her system whenever she was piecing something together. It was a thrill she never felt when she was putting together a cake recipe or serving a customer in her café.
They hurried into the courtyard and towards the secret door that led them through to the drawing room. Benjamin popped his head out of his work hut as their heels clicked against the stone cobbles, a screwdriver in his left hand and a piece of circuit board in his right.
“Evening, ladies,” Benjamin said with a tip of his head. “You look very nice.”
“It’s for the dinner in the drawing room tonight.”
“Is it Sunday already?” he asked, blinking heavily and shaking his head. “This week has been a strange one. I’m surprised it’s still happening.”
“I’m glad you’re here, actually,” Julia said as she dabbed at the sweat breaking out on her forehead. “Can you open that secret door again?”
“Don’t want to chip a nail,” Sue said with a shrug as she showed off her freshly painted black nails.
Benjamin turned and tossed the screwdriver and the circuit board into the hut. There was a small clatter and the screwdriver rolled straight back out again, but he ignored it and yanked on the door.
“You know there are easier ways to get to the drawing room,” he said through tight lips as he dragged it open.
“We’re not going into the drawing room,” Julia said as she stepped in, hitching up her dress once more so that it didn’t brush against the dusty floor. “If everything goes to plan, we’ll be coming back through very soon. You can leave it open.”
Benjamin saluted, a curious smile tickling his lips. He returned to his hut and left the ladies to their sleuthing. To Julia’s surprise, Sue was right by her side as they hurried along the corridor. She didn’t complain about the dust or the dampness, nor did she try to suggest they do something else. Her sister’s silence was confirmation she felt that same thrill too, and she enjoyed it.
When they reached the door, Julia crammed her eye against the peephole, and peered into the drawing room. To her surprise, Charlotte had hired a team of servers, who were all running about like headless chickens organising the table setting and cleaning up the room.
Just as expected, Charlotte hurried in after a couple of minutes of spying. She was wearing a floor-length black dress, with red and blue tartan panels running down the side. Her auburn hair had been styled so perfectly it looked as though it had been professionally done. It swept away from her fresh face and waved down her shoulders, all the way down to her waist.
“Let’s go,” Julia whispered. “She’s there.”
Not wanting to waste a second, they both turned around and hurried back down the corridor. They walked through the open door, just as the sun drifted over the horizon in the far distance.
“Can you make sure you’re in the drawing room after the main course?” Julia asked Benjamin when he popped his head out once more. “I’d appreciate it if you found Andrew and brought him along too. I suspect he’s lurking around the castle somewhere.”
“I guess so,” he said with a small shrug as he tinkered with the circuit board. “What if he won’t come? He’s been avoiding me since he was rehired yesterday.”
“Oh, he’ll come,” Julia called over her shoulder as she hurried out of the courtyard. “He won’t want to miss this.”
They hurried back along the path, and by the time they reached the entrance hall, darkness had completely consumed the castle.
“How did you know she’d already be there?” Sue asked.
“She wants to present herself as the gracious host,” Julia whispered as she yanked on the heavy entrance door. “She’s like a robot who adjusts herself perfectly to every situation. She cries when she needs to look like she’s grieving, she’s sweet when she’s dealing with customers, and she’s prompt and organised when she’s hosting a dinner party for her guests.”
They both slipped through the door, instantly stopping in their tracks when they saw Rory standing in the entrance to the office behind the desk. He was wearing a kilt that matched the red and blue tartan running down Charlotte’s dress, and he was so consumed with the piece of paper he was looking over, he didn’t notice that he was no longer alone. Julia glanced to the grand sweeping staircase, each second painfully slipping away. Her window of opportunity wasn’t going to be open for much longer, but she couldn’t risk attracting Rory’s attention.
“I need a distraction,” Julia whispered to Sue as Rory turned his back to them and walked back to the office.
“What kind of distraction?” Sue asked, looking confused at Julia.
“I don’t know,” Julia said with a shrug as she pushed Sue forward. “You’ll think of something.”
Sue stumbled forward, glancing awkwardly over her shoulder at Julia. She looked around the entrance hall as she tiptoed closer to Rory. Julia crept up the first couple of steps, keeping close to the wall. When she looked back over, Sue was reaching u
p to the top of the giant mantelpiece, the bottom of her chiffon dress fluttering dangerously close to the amber flames of the roaring fire. With the edge of her fingertips, she picked up a white and blue china vase and lifted it above her head. With the same force of Benjamin chopping wood with his one hand, she sent the vase flying into the ground near the reception desk. It shattered into a million pieces with a clatter, and Rory instantly appeared in the doorway.
“What was that?” he cried.
“That vase just flew off the mantelpiece!” Sue cried dramatically, waving her arms above her head. “It could have hit me!”
“What vase? Oh, God. That’s a priceless family heirloom! What have you done, you stupid woman?”
“It was like a poltergeist or something,” Sue cried desperately before glancing to Julia and giving her a fleeting unsure grin. “I’m going to sue you! Sue will sue!”
Rory walked around the reception desk and stared down at the vase with his hands in his red hair. Julia took her moment and crept silently up the stairs, sticking to the wall so as not to disrupt the ancient wood. When she reached the landing, she let out a giant sigh of relief.
Julia gave Sue a thumbs up over the broken section of the bannister before slipping completely out of view. She walked straight to Charlotte’s bedroom door at the end of the wood-lined hall. She paused and stared at the family portrait once more, looking into the dull and lifeless eyes of the redheaded little girl staring back at her. She dreaded to think what the photographs that didn’t make their way into frames and onto the walls looked like.
Without bothering to knock, Julia opened the door. She knew it was very possible that Charlotte had retreated to her bedroom in the time it had taken them to make their way around the castle, but she hoped for the best and stepped inside. The bedroom was empty.
Unsure of what she was specifically looking for, Julia looked around the enormous bedroom, hoping something obvious would jump out at her. The only light in the room was coming from a lamp on the antique desk on the far side of the room. Julia decided it was as good a place to start as any, so she hurried across the bedroom, stepping over Charlotte’s clothes from earlier, which were strewn across the wooden floor.
