by D. S. Butler
“That would be lovely. Shall I give you a hand?”
“There’s no need. Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable. I won’t be long.”
She turned away from me and left the room, following a practised path. I wondered just how bad her eyesight was now. Her hearing didn’t seem too bad, but she wore hearing aids in both ears.
I sat down on the floral print sofa, which was surprisingly soft and comfortable, and waited. I needed to ask my questions sensitively. The last thing I wanted was to accuse Mrs Taverne of being involved in some kind of plot. But I was intrigued by her relationship with Dawn. Marjorie Parsons had said her daughter came here because she was kind and goodhearted, but that didn’t tally with the Dawn I knew.
My mobile beeped, and I pulled it out of my pocket. I had a message from Mum.
The police have found out Daniel sent Dawn money. I think it is hush money. DI Sharp is going to call me back in twenty minutes and explain.
My breath caught in my throat. Why had Daniel sent Dawn money? Was it payment for something? Blackmail? Payment to make sure she kept her mouth shut when the police asked her questions?
I’d never suspected Daniel had anything to do with Dawn? I wasn’t aware he’d ever said more than a couple of words to her. Did Dawn know what had happened to Jenna and Daniel paid her to keep quiet? But that didn’t make any sense. If Jenna was still alive, why would Daniel want to keep that quiet?
Maybe it had nothing to do with Jenna. Maybe Dawn had some dirt on Daniel. His relationship with Pippa was out in the open now, but what if it had started earlier… What if it started before Kate died, or even before Jenna went missing? I thought back to the day of the fête and the tension between my sister and Daniel. Was that the reason Daniel had given money to Dawn?
How must he feel now that he’d realised he’d given money to silence somebody who knew what had happened to Jenna? Was the blackmail the reason Dawn had chosen to send me the photograph of Jenna and not Daniel?
I put the phone down on the seat cushion beside me and rested my head in my hands. Every new discovery resulted in fresh questions. I felt like we were never going to get to the bottom of it. So many secrets. So many lies.
Daniel would never talk to me about this, and I couldn’t talk to Dawn as she was still in police custody. I wondered if Pippa knew about Daniel’s payment to Dawn? Had it been a one-off thing or were the payments still ongoing?
One thing that supported my theory that Pippa and Daniel’s relationship started earlier than I’d originally thought was the fact that Pippa’s husband, Mark, had left Woodstock suddenly. Maybe he would know when their affair started.
I picked up my phone again, and this time, opened the Facebook app. I was friends with Mark Clarkson, although I hadn’t seen a post from him in some time. I scrolled through my friend list until I found Mark’s name and then clicked onto his profile page.
I frowned when I saw he hadn’t updated Facebook recently. His last post had been two years ago this month. I ran a hand through my hair as I stared at my mobile screen. It didn’t mean anything. Maybe he just got bored of Facebook, or he wanted a fresh start after his split from Pippa.
I typed out a pm asking him outright if he knew when Daniel and Pippa began their relationship. It was direct, but there wasn’t any point agonising over word choice. Whichever way I asked the question, it wouldn’t avoid hurt feelings.
The only things on Mark’s wall were posts from other people wishing him happy birthday last November, and he hadn’t responded to any of them. Not even to his sister.
I clicked on his sister’s profile. I didn’t know her well, but she’d visited Woodstock from time to time and often drank at the Woodstock Arms. Her profile page was full of cat memes, and at the top, was a GIF of a dancing baby.
I sent her a pm, too, asking after Mark.
The rattle of a tea tray made me get to my feet. I took the tray from Mrs Taverne and carried it into the sitting room.
“This looks lovely,” I said, feeling guilty over the trouble she’d gone to.
She’d arranged three types of biscuits on a gold-rimmed, pretty plate. Ginger nuts, bourbons and custard creams.
“I’m afraid it’s all I had in. I don’t get many visitors these days, so I just keep a selection of my favourites.”
I felt another twinge of guilt. “I love bourbons.”
After we poured the tea and sat opposite one another, Mrs Taverne on a high-backed chair and me on the sofa, I started asking questions.
“I’ve just spoken to Dawn, did you hear what’s happened to her?”
Mrs Taverne’s teacup rattled against her saucer. “Dawn? No. Is she all right?”
This was going to be harder than I’d thought. “Dawn is being questioned by the police. They think she knows something about Jenna’s disappearance.”
I paused to let my words sink in and watch Mrs Taverne’s reaction.
“Jenna? The little girl who went missing?”
“Yes, my niece. Kate’s daughter. We never found out what happened to her after she went missing.”
“And the police think Dawn knows something about it?” Mrs Taverne shook her head and stared down at her teacup.
She was either a tremendous actress, or she knew nothing about Jenna’s disappearance. “Yes, in fact, they are very confident Dawn knows what happened that day.”
“I can’t believe it. She is such a kind girl. She offered to help me with my cleaning, and she often gets my shopping.”
On the spur of the moment, I decided to tell her about the photograph. I needed her to believe that Dawn had kept secrets so she would confide in me and tell me anything she knew.
“I received a photograph of Jenna. She looked older than she did when she disappeared. So we believe it’s a recent photograph. I didn’t know who sent it, but the police found the photograph on Dawn’s phone.”
“Oh, my goodness. Have they found the child? Do they know what happened?”
I shook my head. “No, and that’s why I am here.”
Mrs Taverne looked even more confused. She leant forward, and with a shaky hand, put her tea cup on the coffee table. “Why?”
“Because when I asked Dawn about it this morning at the police station, she told me to come here and speak to you.”
“She did? I don’t understand.”
Disappointment surged through me. It had been stupid to get my hopes up. Dawn hadn’t wanted to help. She’d told me to see Mrs Taverne to get me out of her hair.
“Dawn has been difficult,” I said. “I’m not sure why she told me to come here. She might just be wasting my time, but can you think of any reason she would send me here?”
Mrs Taverne shook her head.
“Did Dawn ever bring anybody here to meet you? Or did she mention a friend, anyone I might be able to talk to?”
“No, Dawn came across as a very lonely girl. I appreciated her coming here, and she’s been a great help to me over the last two years, but I’ve told her plenty of times she should be mixing with people her own age.”
“What sort of things did Dawn help you with?”
“Dusting. I can’t see the cobwebs and dust with my poor eyesight. She goes shopping for me once a week, and she does some ironing, too. She always does it in the third-floor box room. I told her she should do it downstairs where there is more room, but she says the light’s better up there.”
I nodded slowly. “Do you think I could take a look at the box room?”
Mrs Taverne nodded. “Of course, there’s not much up there. The room is so small the ironing board only just fits inside.”
I put my tea on the coffee table and stood up. “Thank you. I won’t be a minute.”
“Take as long as you need. It’s the first room on the left. You won’t mind if I don’t escort you up there, will you? Living in a three-storey house at my age isn’t ideal. I do find the stairs difficult.”
I left Mrs Taverne in the sitting room and made my way
to the staircase. I looked up the dark stairs and shivered. The stairs creaked as I put my foot on the first step.
What could be in the tiny room at the top of the stairs? Could the small room hold the truth behind Jenna’s disappearance? Did Dawn have some kind of evidence hidden up there? Or were there more photographs?
There was only one way to find out. I gripped the bannister and continued to climb.
Chapter Forty-One
Upstairs, it was darker still. I paused on the landing and looked around. There were four doors, all dark wood and unpainted, and they were all shut. I walked towards the door on my left as Mrs Taverne had instructed.
The handles were old-fashioned, brass knobs and felt cold to the touch. The door opened smoothly, and I was surprised when I looked into a bright, tidy room. I’d been expecting something dim, and dark up here. But the large sash window let in plenty of light. The room was wallpapered with a cream coloured paper printed with tiny pink roses. There was a small patterned rug in the centre of the room, but otherwise the floorboards were bare and unpolished.
A large, antique wardrobe stood in the corner of the room. It was huge, far too big for a room this size.
I looked around and saw an ironing board propped up against the wall behind me. There was nothing here to indicate why Dawn had asked me to come and see Mrs Taverne.
I sighed. What had I expected? A shoebox full of secret correspondence or some hidden evidence underneath a loose floorboard? What a gullible idiot. There was nothing here.
Crossing the room in two steps, I took a closer look at the large wardrobe. I pulled one of the doors, and it creaked open stiffly. Inside, old blankets and patchwork quilts were neatly arranged on the shelves. On the other side, three heavy, full-length woollen coats in drab colours hung from the rail. Glancing down, I saw two pairs of old-fashioned sandals and a scuffed pair of winter boots.
Frustrated, I closed the doors with a shove. Dawn gave me the creeps, but I had never thought she could be this vindictive. It was bad enough she wouldn’t tell me what she knew about Jenna’s disappearance, but to waste my time like this was cruel.
I turned to the window and looked down at the small garden. Metal garden furniture was arranged on the patio. The garden itself had been paved, presumably to save on the physical work of mowing a lawn. There were two raised flower beds on either side, and both of them were overgrown with weeds.
Next door, Pippa’s garden was startling contrast. Her garden was bigger, as she had the house at the end of the terrace. The grass was green, and there was no sign of dandelions or daisies. Of course, that was probably because she’d had it re-turfed after the building work and the new patio had been laid.
I was about to turn away when for the first time I noticed the hedge at the back of Pippa’s garden looked remarkably similar to the hedge behind Jenna in the photograph. I gripped the side of the windowsill and leant forward to get a better look.
I was so close to the window, my breath steamed up the glass. It was just Ivy. One of the most common plants in England. So what if Pippa had some Ivy in her hedge? Did I really think Jenna had been playing in that garden without anyone noticing?
But someone did notice, a little voice in my head whispered. Dawn noticed.
I folded my arms over my chest and shook my head. That idea was ridiculous even for me. Why would Pippa hide Jenna? And if she’d been here for two years, why hadn’t anyone but Dawn noticed? Pippa welcomed visitors. She’d never tried to dissuade me from coming to her house. And she was in a relationship with Daniel. He stayed over. Were Daniel and Pippa in on it together?
“Is everything all right up there?” Mrs Taverne’s reedy voice carried upstairs.
“Yes, thank you. I won’t be much longer.”
I turned back to the window. None of this made any sense. Neither Daniel nor Pippa had any reason to take Jenna. Besides, where would they have kept her for two years without arousing suspicion?
My gaze fixed on the cedar lodge in Pippa’s garden. It had been installed as a studio when Pippa started her candle-making business. She’d worked there with Kate. Why didn’t she work out there anymore? She worked at the kitchen table now. Wasn’t that odd?
There were large windows in the lodge, but the curtains were closed. I swallowed hard. Was that to keep out the sun, or to hide what was inside?
I pushed away from the windowsill and turned my back on the window. This was another crazy idea. I couldn’t trust my instincts. I put my hand in my pocket, and my fingers tightened around my mobile. Luke had asked me to speak to him before I acted on any more crazy ideas.
I left the room, shutting the door behind me and walking down the dark staircase.
Plastering a smile on my face, I said, “Thank you very much, Mrs Taverne.”
“Did you find anything useful?”
I shook my head. “I’m afraid not. I think Dawn just wanted me to go away and stop bothering her.”
Mrs Taverne’s face fell. “Oh, I am sorry.”
“Let me help you. I’ll wash up our cups,” I said, walking over to pick up the tray.
“There’s really no need. I can do that. It’s the one thing I can still do,” she said firmly as she took the tray from me.
I followed her to the kitchen. “I’m not sure when Dawn will be able to come and help you again, so I’ll leave you my number in case you need any help.”
“That is very kind of you. But I’m sure I’ll manage.”
I left Mrs Taverne’s house and fought against the urge to go next door to Pippa’s. I crossed to the other side of the road but hesitated on the pavement. The sensible thing to do now was go home and talk it over with Mum. She’d probably tell me I was ridiculous, and with some distance and time to think it through, I’d probably agree with her.
But I didn’t do the sensible thing. My feet felt rooted to the pavement. I could just take a quick look. What harm could it do? I could come up with some excuse to visit Pippa and go out into the garden...
I turned around and marched across the road before I could change my mind. When I drew level with the front door, I paused and looked at the side gate, which was painted a pretty duck-egg blue. If that was open, I could sneak around into the garden and look into the lodge without needing to come up with an excuse.
I glanced at the windows. I couldn’t see anyone inside, so I decided to take a chance and quickly walked to the side gate. To my surprise, it wasn’t locked.
I smiled. See, I knew it. If Pippa had something to hide, she would keep this gate locked at all times. I would just take a quick look to put my mind at rest.
I closed the gate quietly behind me and walked softly along the narrow strip of land between the house and the fence, squeezing past the rubbish bin. Emerging in the garden, I paused and listened. If Pippa had the French doors open, she might hear me. But if I kept to the outside of the garden, she wouldn’t be able to see me from the downstairs windows.
I paused behind a blooming fuchsia, considering what would happen if Pippa found me here now. How would I be able to explain why I was creeping around her garden?
I pushed those thoughts aside and made my way slowly to the large cedar lodge.
When I was almost there, I glanced up at the house next door, looking at the window in the small box room in Mrs Taverne’s house and wondering how many times Dawn had stood up there looking down at Pippa’s garden.
Could I imagine Jenna playing here with Dawn watching over her? I shuddered.
Taking a quick look back over my shoulder at Pippa’s house to make sure she wasn’t watching me, I snuck around the side of the lodge, ready to peer into the windows. But it was no good. The blue curtains were thick and heavy, and I couldn’t see anything.
Did the lodge used to have curtains when Kate worked here? I couldn’t remember.
What a waste of time. I moved to the next window, but it was just the same. Finally, as a last resort, I tried the handle on the door of the lodge, and to my surprise,
it opened.
Holding my breath, I pushed the door open slowly.
The lodge was empty.
It looked almost the same as the last time I’d seen it. The air smelled a little musty, and the floor was covered with a layer of dust. Pippa had installed the lodge, sparing no expense. There was a small sink on the far side, and she had a custom-made heating stove to melt the wax.
Cupboards, which used to contain all the essential oils and fragrances for the candles, lined one of the walls. The large table in the centre of the lodge that Pippa and Kate had worked at side-by-side was empty apart from a few glass jars and scattered wrappings and ribbons. The only thing different in the lodge was a large chest freezer in the corner. I didn’t remember that being there before.
The silence was eerie.
A movement inside made me jump, but then I realised it was just the breeze moving the curtains.
A hysterical bubble of laughter threatened to overwhelm me. I was losing it. What would Daniel do if he found out I was creeping around out here? He’d never let me live it down.
I took one last look at the scattered items on the table and then left the lodge and shut the door. If I could just get out of there without anyone noticing, I could pretend it never happened.
My cheeks were flushed as I made my way across the lawn and then sneaked down the side of the house, through the side gate and out onto the street. I’d been lucky no one spotted me. Luke was right. I needed to stop acting on these crazy suspicions when I had no evidence.
I walked away from Pippa’s house and pulled out my mobile, dialling Luke’s number. At that point, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to confess what I’d just done, or whether I wanted to hear his voice to make me feel better. But he didn’t answer straight away, and my phone beeped to tell me I had a call waiting.
It was Mum. I immediately ended the call to Luke and answered Mum.
“Beth? Any luck?” She sounded a little breathless.
“No, it was a waste of time. Are you okay?”
“I think you should probably come home now. I heard back from DI Sharp. They have an arrest warrant for Daniel. They’ve been to his flat in Oxford, but he’s not there.”
