Raspberries and Retaliation

by Katherine Hayton

  “What makes you say that?” Matthewson’s voice was sharp. Some men gathered around Jessica’s dad turned to stare.

  Clarence looked bewildered. “She said—” he pointed to Lucy “—that they’d found a body and she tried to get into my camper earlier. Is it Jessica?”

  His eyes were already red from drinking, but now they also welled with tears. Clarence’s head was shaking as Matthewson gruffly confirmed that, yes, the body belonged to Jessica.

  “I can’t believe it,” Clarence whispered. “She was fine last night. What happened?”

  “We’ll know more when the pathologist has had a chance to examine her body, but at the moment, it appears she fell down the side of the hill.”

  “She fell?”

  Matthewson shifted his weight from foot to foot. “It appears that she’d been drinking.”

  “Why did Mr. Chilvers shout about murder?” Lucy asked. “Did somebody kill her?”

  Matthewson shook his head. “We can’t say for sure at the moment. I told him that we’d have to look into the possibility, and I think he took it the wrong way. Can you tell me more about last night, Mr. Wood?”

  The young man rubbed the side of his face, his skin rasping against the stubble. “We had an argument, and she stormed off. I don’t remember when she came back.”

  “What time was this?”

  Clarence pursed his mouth and shook his head. “I don’t remember.”

  “They were arguing in the late-afternoon,” Lucy said. When Clarence stared at her with raised eyebrows, she blushed and looked down at the ground. “They were quite loud. Around about five o’clock, I’d say.”

  “And she definitely came back after the argument?”

  Clarence nodded then stared into space, finally shaking his head instead. “I don’t know. I assumed so, but I just don’t know. I’m a heavy sleeper when I’ve had a few.”

  Holly took a step backward, feeling nervous about how much information he was sharing. “Perhaps this interview would be better down at the station.”

  Sergeant Matthewson turned such a fierce gaze upon her, that Holly was surprised she didn’t burst into flames.

  “How about you let me handle the investigation? If you want to head home, then you’re welcome to leave. I know where to come to get more information if I need to.”

  Holly nodded and said goodbye to Lucy. She walked around the back of Matthewson to reach Aidan, but when he stood up to go as well, the sergeant held out a hand.

  “Not you, Mr. Heddle. I’d like you to come down to the station with us when we’ve finished here.”

  “What? Why?” Holly looked at Matthewson’s stony face, then turned to Aidan who was staring at the ground, avoiding her gaze. “Aidan?”

  “Just head on home,” he said, still not looking up. “I’ll call you this evening with any news.”

  Holly cupped her elbows, her chest tightening with distress. “Then, I’ll stay too.”

  “No,” Aidan said, shaking his head. “I’d prefer it if you went and told Tilly that I might be home late. Can you do that?”

  He still wouldn’t meet her eyes. After a moment of hesitation, Holly nodded. “Okay. I’ll let her know.”

  She walked away from the park, casting a worried look back over her shoulder when she reached the road.

  What on earth is happening?

  Tilly took a few minutes to answer the door, but called out loudly, “I’m coming,” so Holly knew to wait.

  Although parts of the house had been modified, the brick construction made it difficult to retrofit. When her disease was flaring up, Tilly needed to use a wheelchair just to get around her house. The narrow door frames made that an extra struggle.

  “Come on in,” Tilly said when she finally opened the door. “I keep telling Aidan I should just leave it unlocked so people can walk in, but then he insists that’s not safe.”

  Holly bit her lip. She and Crystal regularly left their house unlocked, figuring if someone wanted to deprive them of their sixties television or the collection of thimbles mounted in a wood frame, they could do it without the added benefit of breaking a window to get in. Although Holly had been horrified at first, arriving in Hanmer from a much larger city, she’d grown used to it. To hear that other citizens were worried made her wonder about it again.

  “Elvira’s due home any minute,” Tilly said, leading Holly into the front room, which got most of the sunlight. It was beautifully warm. “She and her friends have been up at the graveyard by the manor house again.”

  “Is she taking after Aidan?” One of his hobbies was doing gravestone rubbings, the charcoal revealing more of the work on the stone than the eye could see.

  “I have no idea what they get up to down there,” Tilly admitted with a shrug. “But I trust her. She’s got a good head on her shoulders, most of the time. Lucky for me.”

  “She certainly does,” Holly agreed. “And if I don’t see her today, be sure to let her know she’s welcome to come in and work during the holidays again.”

  The last term break, Elvira had lent a hand and proved herself a steady worker with more of a knack for decorating cupcakes than Holly had ever managed.

  “Where are my manners?” Tilly said suddenly. “I haven’t even asked why you’re here. Weren’t you and Aidan meeting up for a date? Did that rascal not show up?”

  Holly shook her head, turning solemn. “I’m afraid we ran into a bit of trouble on the walking tracks,” she began, then floundered to find the right words.

  “He’s not hurt?” Tilly grabbed Holly’s forearm, then relaxed as Holly shook her head.

  “No, he’s fine. We did find someone on the track who wasn’t though. It looks like a woman staying in the camping ground took a tumble down the hillside last night. By the time we found her, she was dead.”

  “Oh, Lord.” Tilly crossed herself. “That poor thing. Is Aidan helping out down there?”

  “The police have asked him back to the station to help them with their inquiries.” Even though it wasn’t quite what Matthewson had said, the words uttered in a thousand cop shows on television flowed out of Holly’s mouth. “He said to let you know, he’ll be home as soon as they finish questioning him.”

  Tilly looked taken aback, staring at Holly with complete confusion. “But why would they question Aidan?”

  “Well…” Holly hesitated, wanting to know more about that herself. “He found the body.”

  At that, Tilly’s frown deepened. “But weren’t you with him at the time? Shouldn’t the police be questioning you too?”

  “Matthewson did warn me that he’ll probably call me in at some stage.”

  Tilly sat back in her chair, looking slightly mollified. “If she fell down the hillside, I don’t understand why the police are involved at all.”

  “We had to call them. We found a dead body, so the police have to investigate until they work out if it’s a crime or not.”

  “Is there any suggestion that it isn’t?”

  Holly shrugged. “I really don’t know. I’m just passing on what I’ve been told.”

  “Sorry, I don’t mean to snap at you. I’m just shocked is all.” Tilly looked thoughtful for a moment, then her face brightened into a smile. “Not half as shocked as you must have been, coming across that on your morning walk. Do you want a cup of tea or coffee? Steady your nerves?”

  “I’ll get it,” Holly said, nodding. “I need to do something. After all the surprises today, my body is full of useless energy.”

  The brief respite in the kitchen left her wondering again about the situation. Matthewson had acted so oddly today that it could just be some weird act to rile her and Aidan up. On the other hand, Aidan hadn’t objected at all. If Matthewson had asked her in the same way he did Aidan, Holly would have told him where to stick it.

  “Who was it?” Tilly said as Holly walked back in with a tray. She poured out the tea and handed a cup across before sitting down and pouring her own.

  “The la
dy was called Jessica Chilvers. Apparently—”

  Holly had been going to say that Jessica was staring at the campsite, but Tilly’s mouth had fallen open, her eyes widening in recognition.

  “What?” Holly cried. “What is it?”

  Tilly started to cough, the cup of tea tipping dangerously above the carpet. Holly leaped forward, grabbing the cup before it could spill. By the time she got it on the table, Tilly was recovering.

  “Sorry about that,” she said, smiling. “My mouthful must have gone down the wrong way.”

  “Who is Jessica Chilvers?” Tilly started to shake her head, but Holly held up a hand. “I know you know who she is. I saw your face when I said her name.”

  After a second, Tilly sighed. “You’ll find out soon enough, I guess. I’m more surprised to discover that you don’t know who she is than to hear the state you found her in. That girl always dragged trouble around behind her.”

  Tilly paused again, this time for so long that Holly wanted to lean forward and shake the information out of her. The look of impatience must have reached her face, because Tilly leaned forward, touching the back of Holly’s hand. “Jessica Chilvers lived in town for a year or two. She left after Aidan broke off their engagement.”

  Holly’s body froze in shock as she processed the information. Engagement?

  “I don’t know why my cousin hasn’t told you this already. They had a big wedding planned and everything, then a week before the event, he broke it off, and she left town.” Tilly sighed deeply. “I hope that it really was an accident,” she said softly. “If it was foul play, then my cousin will have a lot of explaining to do.”

  Chapter Five

  Holly walked into the police station a few hours later with a dose of growing anger on top of her worry. Although Tilly had been tight-lipped on the details, just from the scant outline, Holly now knew that Aidan had been keeping secrets from her.

  When she went home to think things over, the merriment of Crystal and Alec had driven her back outside.

  It was terrible to feel such jealousy toward her sister, but with the news today, Holly couldn’t find a way out of it. Everything about her sister’s relationship came so easy to her and Alec, while Holly’s was a struggle up a steep cliff face in comparison.

  The police station seemed a welcome respite from her thoughts. When Holly entered, she found one of the waiting room chairs already occupied by Clarence Wood.

  He looked a tiny bit more together than he had earlier in the day. Although his eyes were now a lot redder, he also seemed sober rather than still drunk from the night before. At some point, he’d also found a shower to freshen up.

  “You’re the lady who found her, right?” he whispered as Holly took a seat one over from him. She hadn’t wanted to intrude, but now he’d spoken, she blushed to think that it might appear rude.

  “That’s right.” Holly hesitated for a moment, then moved into the chair right next to him. “My boyfriend and I found her this morning. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  “I still don’t really believe it,” Clarence muttered, shaking his head. “I know we fought a lot, but I really cared for her. I can’t stand thinking that I could have done something to stop it if I’d just known.”

  “It was an accident,” Holly said firmly. “There’s no way you could have anticipated it happening. Having a drink and going for a walk doesn’t usually end in disaster—it was just pure bad luck.”

  “That’s just it,” Clarence said, tears thickening his throat. “She shouldn’t have been drinking. Jessica hadn’t touched a drop for the past six months. That’s the only reason why I’ve been hitting the bottle the past couple of days. I was angry that she made me come here for my holiday when we could have gone to Fiji or something, so I drank just to upset her.”

  He put his head into his hands, his entire body shaking with the force of his sobs.

  “I must look like the worst boyfriend on the planet.” Clarence shook his head. “But Jessica was always so strong-willed—I never thought she’d touch another drop.”

  The position of worst boyfriend on the planet had a rival, but Holly wasn’t about to share that tidbit, not even with a stranger.

  “You don’t control other people’s actions,” she whispered. “Only your own. Sure, you might have acted up, but that doesn’t mean you own what other people do.”

  “I just wish she was here so I could apologize.” Clarence shook his head. “I’d do anything to take back the last week. Who even cares about a holiday in Fiji? I would have had a good time here if I hadn’t been sulking so hard.”

  Holly sat back in her chair. It was such a pity that learning something of value always came with a considerable lesson cost. “I’m sure if Jessica were here, she wouldn’t want you to spend time beating yourself up either.”

  “Probably not.” Clarence grabbed a few tissues from the front counter, blowing his nose as he walked back to the chair. “I just don’t understand what she was doing up the hillside either. It wasn’t as though she loved nature.”

  “Maybe she just wanted to go somewhere quiet and be by herself.” The suggestion came easily to Holly because it was exactly what she wanted to do. “People don’t always behave the way you’d expect.”

  They waited for a few minutes in silence, then Holly asked, “Did the police ask you to come in here? Do they want to question you?”

  Clarence shook his head. “Nah. I just didn’t want to be back at the campsite, not when this is going on. I thought if I came in here, then the police might give me some answers.” He lowered his voice and leaned closer. “But that dude on the front desk just told me he can’t tell me anything since I’m not next of kin.”

  Holly gave him a wry grin. That was something she’d heard many times before. “Why don’t you ask Jessica’s father if he knows anything more?”

  At that, Clarence snorted so hard he needed to grab another tissue. “Mr. Chilvers hates my guts.” He brushed his hair back from his forehead, exposing a small scar. “I got that from him the month after I started dating Jessica. He yelled at me on the front lawn of her house, saying that I’d never amount to anything, then threw a bottle at me.” Clarence let his long fringe fall back down, covering up the scar. “After that, we’ve had a tense relationship.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “Another reason why I was sulking that she insisted we come here, rather than anywhere else. Making nice with her father isn’t my idea of a good time.”

  The door behind them opened, letting a shard of light inside. Meggie tapped on Holly’s shoulder. “I thought I’d find you here.”

  At her friend’s expression, Holly laughed. “Where else would I be? I suppose you’ve heard the news, then?”

  Meggie pulled a chair over so the three of them sat in a tight bunch. She nodded to Clarence, who introduced himself.

  “Which news am I meant to have heard? That you found a body in the woods or that Aidan’s been arrested for murder?”

  Holly and Clarence both gasped, and as the PC at the front desk turned around, Meggie gestured at them to be quiet.

  “I very much doubt that’s true, but it’s certainly the rumor that’s gone around town.”

  “Clarence is Jessica’s boyfriend,” Holly said. “And I don’t know why they want to question Aidan, but they’ve had him in there for a very long time.”

  Meggie offered her a tight smile. “Well, according to my blue-hair brigade, the reason they want to question him is to do with an argument they had in the street. Something about an illicit child and money.”

  While Holly stared in horror, it was Clarence’s turn to scoff. “Unless your boyfriend is the one with the child, Jessica’s not been arguing with anybody about a baby. I’ve never met anybody as anti having kids like her.”

  “Oh, I don’t believe for a moment that any of it is true,” Meggie said, staring at Holly a little too closely for her liking. “You did know that she and Aidan dated, though?”

&nbs
p; Holly closed her eyes. Of course. Meggie had been in town for long enough to know Aidan’s history better than she did.

  “I know about it now,” Holly said through tight lips. “Today has been full of surprises.”

  “Aidan Heddle?” Clarence sat forward. “Is that your boyfriend? What the hell has he been doing talking with Jessica? She hates his guts.”

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” Holly said, feeling like the dunce in the corner. Had everyone in town known about this relationship except her?

  The answer to that was an obvious yes. Small towns. Big secrets. To be fair, everyone probably thought that Holly had known as well. Only a fool would try to keep their past secret in a township as small as this one.

  And only a fool would let him.

  Holly winced and stood up, her legs full of restless energy. “Do you think he really had something to do with this?”

  Meggie gave her a look of utter exasperation. “No, I don’t. Neither do you. Now, do you want to sit here and stew all day, or do you want to get out of here and grab some lunch?”

  I want to go back to Christchurch and pretend that I never heard of Hanmer Springs, Holly thought.

  “You’re welcome to come, too, young man. It won’t be a barrel of laughs, but it’ll be better than waiting around in this mausoleum. A police station is no place to be spending your time. If the sergeant has any news, he’ll bring that to you, not the other way around.”

  Clarence nodded. “Or, he won’t tell me anything at all,” he added. “I’d love to join you, if you don’t mind. My head’s spinning so much that I just want to give it something else to fixate on.”

  “Good deal.” Meggie pulled on Holly’s arm until she reluctantly followed her friend out into the sunlight. “We’ll try to find you something great to eat that’s worthy of fixation.”

  Chapter Six

  Holly lay on her bed, the calming rays of afternoon light warming her legs. She had closed her eyes a half-hour earlier, trying for a nap but it hadn’t taken. Instead, she’d lain there, thinking through the events of the day and grateful she was alone.