The Peridale Cafe Cozy Box Set 4

by Agatha Frost

  “I don’t think I want to see them.” Julia held the memory stick out. “I want to forget that day ever happened.”

  “You don’t have to look at them right now,” he said as he stood up, “but you might change your mind one day, and if you do, they’re there for you. I flipped through a couple of the pictures and despite how things turned out, you really did make a beautiful bride.”

  Julia stood up and hugged Alec before walking him to the door. He slung his bag over his shoulder and headed out, turning down her offer of a lift to the train station in favour of getting some fresh air. When she closed the door behind him, Barker reappeared in the hallway.

  “What did he want?” he asked, his arms folded.

  “He just wanted to see the person who found his mother.” Julia hid the memory stick in her fist. “For closure, maybe, although I don’t think I gave him any. From the way he described Rita, she was hardly going to win any mothering awards.”

  “Poor guy.” Barker sucked the air through his teeth as he glanced at the clock on the wall. “I’m supposed to be having a video call with my publisher at ten. I think they’re going to give me the first feedback for the book. I can email and cancel if you want?”

  “No.” Julia pushed forward a smile. “It’s important. You’ve been waiting for this. I’ll be fine.”

  “It shouldn’t take more than an hour. As soon as it’s done, we’ll crack down on trying to connect the dots between these murders.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Barker made a coffee and shut himself in the dining room, leaving Julia to stare at the device in her palm. She hadn’t even considered the possibility of hard evidence that she had almost got married, and yet, here it was. She wanted to throw it outside or flush it down the toilet—not that getting rid of it would make a difference. Simply knowing the pictures existed was enough to taunt her.

  She held the stick up to her face. She saw two clear options. The first was to put the stick in a drawer and hope she forgot about it until a day she was ready to look. The other was to bite the bullet, swallow the bitter pill, and get it out of the way.

  As she made a cup of salted caramel hot chocolate with the recently boiled kettle and some milk from the new fridge that had been delivered yesterday, she concluded there was only one thing to do. She squirted cream and sprinkled marshmallows on top of her concoction, no longer caring that she had a dress to fit into. With her treat, she ventured into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

  She sat in the middle of her perfectly-made bed, the Peridale countryside sprawling out from her bedroom window as the radiator warmed the room. She sandwiched her hot chocolate between her crossed legs and pulled her laptop from her bedside drawer. The screen lit up on the last thing she had been looking at, which happened to be potential honeymoon destinations. They had decided they were going to get away together once Christmas was out of the way to enjoy some winter sun as a married couple. The concept felt so far out of reach, like it belonged to a whole different lifetime.

  After a sip of her creamy drink, she plugged the stick into her laptop. A window popped up, covering the holiday website. There were two folders, named ‘Pictures’ and ‘Videos’. She clicked the pictures folder first and watched as over a hundred files loaded in a long list. Unsure where to start, or if they were even in chronological order, she double clicked the one at the top of the list. A picture of the outside of Evelyn’s B&B popped up.

  Using the arrow keys, she flicked through the pictures. There were more shots of the outside of the B&B, each with different light levels. She assumed these were the test shots to make sure the white balance fitted the weather. When Barker’s face popped up, it made her smile. He was in one of the B&B’s bedrooms, in a white shirt and underwear as he ironed his jacket. She flicked through again, and he was checking his phone with the iron still on the jacket. The next shot showed smoke rising, and then Alec’s hand blurring across the screen. The next had Barker looking at the camera through a crispy hole in his jacket. She couldn’t help but chuckle.

  While she had been whipping up a new cake and worrying about all the other things that had gone wrong, Barker had endured his own tests. There were pictures of him with Casper and Alfie as they got ready, and then a picture of Evelyn holding up the blue pinstriped jacket he ended up wearing. The next picture was him hugging Evelyn.

  Julia was glad she had told the photographer not to come to the cottage. She had wanted a blissful morning living in the moment with her daughter, sister, and best friend. If Alec had been there, he might have captured some lovely shots, but he would have immortalised the chaos forever in images.

  Around thirty of the images were of Barker at the B&B before the scenery suddenly switched to the outside of St. Peter’s Church. One particular image of the church set against the dark clouds stirred something within her. It looked like a shot from a horror film. After a handful of pictures outside the church, Alec positioned himself in the vestibule and captured the guests as they ran in from the rain. Despite the weather, they all had smiles on their faces; there was no way for them to know what was coming.

  She was surprised to see pictures of her and Jessie’s cars. She assumed Alec must have ventured into the church when they got out of the car. There were shots of Barker looking nervous, and one of the choir. Dot had yet to arrive at this point, but they were all smiling, except for Gloria, who wore her usual icy scowl, as if she were too serious for such trivial things.

  The pictures eventually caught up to what Julia had experienced. There were a dozen pictures of the bridesmaids walking down the aisle. They all looked so beautiful in their cream dresses, and the red roses didn’t look nearly as out of place as Julia had feared they would. When she saw the first picture of her dress come up on screen, her heart skipped a definite beat. She froze, her finger unable to skip to the next image. She had the urge to throw the laptop across the room, but she couldn’t look away.

  “Oh, Julia,” she whispered at the picture, “you really did look beautiful.”

  She skimmed through the pictures and watched as she walked down the aisle with her father. He beamed with pride as he nodded at the guests. Julia was glad she had the veil over her face because she was sure she looked more terrified than was showing.

  When she reached the bottom of the aisle, Barker lifted her veil, and the first picture of them facing each other on their wedding morning melted Julia. She almost forgot she was viewing pictures from her life. The couple on screen looked so in love and full of hope as they gazed into each other’s eyes. That hope turned to confusion and then horror as Gloria’s coughing started. The last two pictures were the hardest to look at.

  The penultimate image was a slanted shot of the choir as Gloria struggled to walk away from them. Julia used the magnifying glass tool and zoomed in on each of the choir members’ faces. Everyone looked alarmed except for Rita, who seemed to be enjoying her rival’s downfall. If she had seen this image when Rita was still alive, it would have cemented her as the prime suspect in Julia’s mind.

  The final image was blurry, as though Alec was dropping his camera, but Julia could make out Gloria on the floor with Flora by her side. Difficult as it had been to view first-hand, knowing everything that had followed unsettled Julia even further.

  She flicked back to the previous image and focused in on Percy’s face. He was gasping, eyes wide and mouth agape. If Julia hadn’t known the context, she would have thought he was pulling faces in the mirror. Could that face have been responsible for Gloria’s death? She wasn’t so sure.

  The one face she would have paid good money to see was missing from the line-up. Skye, as she had claimed, had been stuck outside of Peridale thanks to the flooding.

  Deciding she was finished with reliving the awful day, Julia closed the image preview window. She almost shut the laptop entirely, but she remembered the second folder. She clicked on ‘Videos’, and only four files popped up. The first was called ‘right-angle.m
p4’, the second ‘left-angle.mp4’, the third ‘bride-groom-closeups.mp4’, and the fourth ‘time-lapse-shot.mp4’.

  Julia was immediately drawn to the fourth clip. One of the things that had convinced Julia to go with Alec was his video producing skill. He had shown her a handful of wedding videos, which had all been shot using high-quality cameras dotted around the church and reception venue. Instead of having a cameraman in the guests’ faces, the cameras had been hidden to capture natural reactions, almost like one of the reality television shows Jessie loved watching. One of the things Julia had most enjoyed was the portion of the wedding DVD that had a time lapse of the ceremony, condensing the entire day into a couple of minutes.

  She clicked on the file, but to her surprise, the clip wasn’t two minutes long, but two hours and thirty minutes long. The camera appeared to be hung somewhere at the front of the church, its frame focused on the doors. She supposed this was to capture all the guests arriving and filling the church. Alec appeared in the middle of the aisle. He gave his thumbs up to the camera before checking something on his phone. When he seemed satisfied, he exited the church, his photography camera around his neck.

  The church remained still for nearly a full minute until Father David appeared. He walked into the shot, presumably from his vestry, and he appeared to be reading a letter. He wandered halfway up the aisle before sitting down on one of the pews. He continued to read over the letter, and when he was finished, he pulled off his glasses, wiped them on his robe, sighed, and began to pray. His lips moved in silent prayer as he rocked gently in his seat. She watched him do this for a couple of minutes until she felt uncomfortable. She hovered over the time bar, and a preview of the clip popped up. She dragged it along until something changed.

  Fifteen minutes later, Gloria burst through the doors. Father David jumped up and faced the now-deceased choirmaster. He hid the letter behind his back. They talked for a brief moment, but the camera didn’t pick up more than a muffled echo. Father David disappeared from the frame, leaving Gloria to walk down the aisle. She also vanished. Julia was about to scrub to the next event, but she heard Gloria singing. She seemed to be practising her solo for the service. Her voice radiated through the laptop’s speakers. There was no denying her voice had power.

  Julia was so captivated listening to Gloria’s off-screen singing, it took her a moment to realise the doors had opened once again.

  “You’re far too early, Skye,” Gloria called. “I’m rehearsing.”

  “I want to talk to you alone,” Skye replied as she marched down the aisle. “I want this solo.”

  “Tough.”

  “I mean it, Gloria!” Skye snapped as she walked out of the view of the camera. “You know I’m the better singer.”

  “I know that, do I?”

  “Everyone knows it.”

  “I don’t really care what you think you know, little girl. I sing the solos. That’s how it’s always been, and that’s how it will stay.”

  “Why are you so selfish?” Skye cried. “You know Rita is trying to rally a rebellion against you? She wants your position, and she’s promised to be fair with it.”

  “Ha! Rita doesn’t have a fair bone in her body. Do you really think the other members will agree to that? I’m their leader. You’ve only been here for five minutes. If you don’t like it, you can leave.”

  “Rita held a meeting.” Skye’s voice wobbled. “Everyone was there except you and my aunt. They didn’t agree to help Rita, but I could feel they wanted change. It wouldn’t take much prodding to convince them. If not Rita, then someone else, but everyone is sick and tired of you bossing us around!”

  A sharp crack pierced through the speakers, and it was a sound that could only be linked to a hand swiftly striking a cheek. Seconds later, Skye sprinted down the aisle, clutching her face. The doors banged behind her and silence followed.

  As though she had witnessed it first-hand, Julia sat in shock and stared at the screen until something else happened. A little while later, Gloria walked down the aisle, leaving the church empty once again.

  “Skye lied to me,” Julia whispered before sipping more hot chocolate, which was now anything but hot.

  There was a bang off-screen, followed by the sound of metal clinking against metal. Julia strained her ears, unsure what she was hearing. The doors at the top of the screen opened again, and Rita marched in, sunglasses over her eyes and a black cardigan billowing around her.

  “Oh, it’s just you,” Rita said as she pulled her glasses off. “Where’s everyone else? Don’t tell me I got the wrong time. Wait, what are you doing?”

  There was another second of silence as Rita squinted and walked off-screen.

  “Are you stealing all this stuff?” Rita cried, laughter in her voice. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Are you that desperate for money that you’re stealing church trinkets? Give me that bag!”

  A noise indicated a small scuffle, and then a crash of metal. A golden chalice rolled onto the bottom of the screen. Rita walked over and picked it up. She held it up to the light.

  “Solid gold?” she asked the person off-camera. “I think this tat would sell for a pretty penny.” She tossed the chalice off-camera. “Cat got your tongue? I should call the police on you, but I think there’s a way this can work for both of us, don’t you?”

  Rita hurried off-camera. Another soft bang hinted at another door at the back of the church closing. Seconds later, Gloria walked in, this time with a brown paper bag clutched in her hand. Julia watched as she sat in the pews and ate a burger and fries while looking at something on her phone.

  Julia scrubbed across the video, bypassing twenty minutes of Gloria sitting in silence on her phone. She resumed watching when the doors opened, and in walked Rita, followed by Shilpa, Evelyn, Percy, Dot, Alfie, and Flora.

  “Too good to meet us at the pub?” Rita called, waving a bottle of water in her hand. “Smells like grease in here.”

  “Give it a rest for once, Rita,” Dot said. “You’re always harping on about something.”

  Gloria heaved herself up off the bench and walked over to Rita. Julia thought she was going to slap her like she did to Skye, but instead, she snatched the bottle of water.

  “I need this for my voice.” Gloria unscrewed the cap and began drinking. She turned around and walked off with a smirk. “Thanks, Rita.”

  Flora hurried after Gloria, leaving the other members to snicker behind Rita’s back. The choir rehearsed off-camera, and a familiar coughing sound echoed around the church. It wasn’t as bad as it had been during the ceremony, but it was there. Julia scrubbed along the video. It wasn’t long before Dot and Percy snuck off, and then the guests started to arrive. She closed the video before her appearance; she didn’t want to live through it for the third time.

  Julia drank the last of her hot chocolate as she mulled over everything the video had revealed. After draining the mug, she swirled the sunken marshmallows and the undissolved gritty mixture in the bottom of the cup.

  “The water bottle,” Julia said, her eyes widening. “The arsenic was in the water bottle!”

  She put the cup on the bedside table and scrambled off the bed. Without giving it a second thought, Julia burst into the dining room.

  “Barker, the arsenic was in the water bottle!” Julia cried, her heart pounding a thousand miles a minute. “Remember? Gloria was drinking from a bottle when she started coughing, and it only got worse. A water bottle that Gloria stole from Rita to be spiteful. Someone isn’t killing off members of the choir, they’re just cleaning up their mess. Gloria was never the original target. Rita was!”

  Chapter Eleven

  Later that afternoon, Julia and Barker wrapped up warm and walked down to the village to peruse the Christmas market that travelled across the Cotswolds during the festive period, spending a week in each location. This year, Peridale was hosting the grand opening of the market, and it appeared most of the village had flocked to the green to see what was on offer. N
ow that Halloween and Bonfire Night had passed, gears had naturally shifted, and the Christmas spirit was well and truly in the air.

  “Explain it to me again,” Barker said as they walked down the first row of wooden cabin stalls. “I need to get my head around this before we take it to DI Christie.”

  Julia inhaled, the scent of mulled wine from one of the stalls making her wish things were normal so she could enjoy the market. She looked towards her café, down at the end of the row. It saddened her to know she wasn’t part of the event this year, and even though she would love to reopen, she knew it was wise to wait until Monday as originally planned.

  “Rita caught someone in the act of stealing valuables from the church,” Julia explained again, taking her time to slow down. “She alluded to the person needing money, and then insinuated that they could both benefit from the theft.”

  “So, whoever she caught red-handed is the person who poisoned Gloria?” Barker scratched at his head through his hat. “But they never meant to poison Gloria, they really wanted to poison Rita?”

  “If my theory is correct, whoever dropped that arsenic into Rita’s water did it at The Plough.” They paused at a stall selling carved Christmas tree decorations. “I thought the poisoner was either trying to send a message or just in a rush. What if it was both? They wanted to show Rita they couldn’t be blackmailed, and they didn’t have long to do it.”

  “She could have given them an ultimatum?” Barker suggested as he picked up a carved angel. “But don’t you think that seems drastic? Killing Rita over some stolen church stuff? If they’d just put the things back, they would have got a slap on the wrist. Why resort to murder?”

  “Desperation? Maybe they weren’t thinking straight. It all happened so fast, after all. They’d had to have left the church, sourced the arsenic, and then slipped it into Rita’s bottle at the pub without her noticing.”