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I shut the diary and crept to the door to listen closely. I pressed my ear to the wood and heard them both pass me by. They had gone into the kitchen. Eddie sounded less panicked, probably because Brenda hadn’t noticed that the bathroom was no longer occupied, and this was my cue to get out. I slowly opened the door. The kitchen was large enough that I could leave the office without her directly spotting me.
I slipped out and shut the door quietly while I heard Eddie still chatting away. I glanced back but they were both out of my line of sight. It meant that I wasn’t in theirs either.
When I returned to the reception room, Geoff and Miles were laughing about something. I sat back down next to Miles and waited to see if I had caught them in the middle of a conversation. I hadn’t.
“What did you do again, Geoff? Apart from running The Dramateers,” I said.
“I’m an accountant,” he said. “Boring, I know. But I like it well enough.”
“Do you have an office then or do you work from home?”
“I have several clients. I usually meet them.”
“Ah, I see. That must be annoying. Or do you get to meet up at fancy hotels where they pay for your lunch?” I chuckled.
“Nothing fancy, no. I meet them at their place of business or at home. Say,” he said as he leaned forward at the same time that Eddie and Brenda returned with a fresh pot of tea. Eddie looked relieved at the sight of me. “I read an article about you helping out with a murder in Castlefield.”
It meant he had been checking me out. It wasn’t a recent article.
“Yes, that’s right,” I said. “But the papers were definitely exaggerating.”
“Still, it’s impressive. Do you think you’ll help the police with Valerie’s death?” I couldn’t tell if he would want me to say yes or no. I glanced at Brenda whose expression was unreadable. There was tension in her shoulders, yes, but it had been there the entire time. Even out in the hallway when it was just the two of us.
“I am sure the police will solve her murder quickly,” I said, not really answering.
I think they both realised that.
“Well,” Miles said. “We should be going.” He handed Geoff an envelope.
“You really don’t have to do this, but I appreciate it. You’re a man of honour.”
Eddie coughed, probably stifling a laugh.
“Thank you,” Miles said politely.
“Before you go, Maggie, why don’t you follow me and I’ll give you a leaflet for the next performance.” Brenda didn’t wait for my reply and left the room. I exchanged glances with Miles and Eddie and hurried after her.
She went into the study where she handed me a piece of paper with the title Worse for Wear and a black and white picture of Brenda tearing off her own dress—not that it revealed anything inappropriate. It was a very artful image. And as I scanned the other names, Valerie’s wasn’t on there.
“Damn,” Detective Black said. “They didn’t wait long to print a new flyer for the play.”
“Valerie isn’t as nice and innocent as Geoff makes her sound,” Brenda said quietly. “She was having it on with David. She even said—well, she told me she was pregnant and didn’t know if it was David’s or Johnny’s.”
My mouth opened. What? No, wait. That wasn’t possible.
“Alistair would have mentioned it,” Detective Black said. “They’ve already done the autopsy.”
“I see,” I said. It meant that either Brenda was lying or Valerie had.
––––––––
ALISTAIR HAD ARRIVED at the Rose before we did. He was dressed in a nice shirt and dark trousers. His blazer was placed over the back of the chair.
I smiled when our eyes met and he winked at me.
“Solved the murder already?” he asked with a grin.
He seemed awfully relaxed about my investigative outing, but I figured that had to do with the fact that Eddie and Miles had been with me today.
I sat down opposite Alistair while Miles sat next to me and Eddie plopped down across from him.
“We may not have solved the murder, but we do come bearing clues,” I said.
We ordered tea and lunch. I had a sandwich with goat’s cheese and walnuts.
“Valerie wasn’t pregnant, was she?” I asked Alistair.
All three men looked at me in surprise.
“No. She wasn’t pregnant,” Alistair said. “Why do you ask?”
“Because Brenda said that Valerie had told her she was. And that she wasn’t sure if it belonged to her husband or to...David.”
I was hoping for a dramatic gasp or two, but Miles simply raised an eyebrow, Eddie was consuming his turkey sandwich with vigour, and Alistair’s lips twitched ever so slightly.
“Maybe she only thought she was pregnant,” Alistair said. “But she could have been having an affair. There was no evidence of that on her phone, but it wouldn’t hurt to talk to David.”
While I was chewing, Miles took it upon himself to fill him in on the rest. “Maggie also found Geoff’s diary and a few times in the space of a couple of weeks, he had an appointment at a hotel called The Golden Goose. Since he says he doesn’t meet clients in hotels, it might mean he’s having an affair. At least, that’s what Maggie thinks. I’m not sure he would write such visits down in his diary, but people have done worse ill-advised things.”
“You can say that again,” Alistair said. “Okay, anything else?”
“Brenda was clearly jealous of Valerie and the fact that she was a leading lady all the time. She now has the main role in the next play. They’ve already printed a new leaflet. It included a professional picture of Brenda. How she had that made so quickly...” I said.
Alistair sat back. “Wow. That is very odd. She’s either very callous or she knew Valerie wouldn’t be in the play.”
“I think that might be something you want to ask Brenda about when you speak with her. I mean, you are going to speak with her, right?” I asked.
“I will first look into Geoff and who he was meeting at the hotel. If he was having an affair with Valerie, then I’ll have more ammo when I go talk to them. If I can’t find anything, I can just pay them a visit and ask them a few more basic questions about what kind of person Valerie was and then mention the leaflet.”
“They also seem to have a lot of money. I don’t know how much being an accountant and librarian earns, of course, but still.”
“Could be an inheritance,” Miles said as he picked out a piece of cucumber and moved it to the side of his plate.
“They don’t have any kids,” I said. “So that probably helped them save money. I forgot to ask him, though, how he finances the plays and everything. I mean—he’s created The Dramateers and I think he rents the theatre where they perform each month. That must still cost a pretty penny, right? Not to mention that piano he bought on a whim.”
“Also something I can ask and look into,” Alistair said.
“Good. So the...Super Sleuthers did well?” I asked.
Despite the fact that Eddie had his face buried deep within the core of his sandwich, he looked up with a glint in his eyes.
“You’re really sticking with that name, then?” Alistair asked with a frown.
He was totally judging the name. I couldn’t blame him.
Eddie frowned at Alistair. “Yes. What’s wrong with it? It has alli—alligatoration.” He glanced at me.
“Alliteration. Yes. And it sums up what we are perfectly.”
“I can’t believe you’re defending that name,” Miles said with a chuckle.
“Regardless of any kind of name, you did well.” Alistair nodded at me.
I felt surprisingly good at the sound of him complimenting me.
“Don’t beam too much,” Detective Black said, “or you’ll blind everyone in this room.”
But I was disappointed that I couldn’t be there when Alistair questioned them. I wanted to contribute and I wanted to see things through. Instead, DC Daniels had that honour.
Then again, it was probably safer this way. I was definitely eager to help and slightly addicted to solving mysteries, but I myself didn’t want any repeat of what happened last time. Or the time before that.
The thing about murderers, I realised, was that they were entirely too murdery.
“Well said,” Detective Black said dryly.
––––––––
AFTER LUNCH, WE ALL walked back around to the village square where we would all scatter back to wherever we were supposed to be. We passed Put A Ring On It, our local jewellery shop. Carry, paler than when I last saw her, was looking up at the shop and occasionally snapped a picture with her smartphone. The front window was broken.
“Carry, how are you?” Alistair asked. “I heard about the robbery.”
“What? There was a robbery?” I said with an open mouth. There was plenty of crime in Castlefield, but most of it involved runaway sheep or teens trying to buy alcohol, and save for the occasional murder, nothing much happened. Of course, we did have our very own crime boss: Pandora. Quite literally from the underworld.
Our morning outing meant that the three of us had missed that particular piece of gossip.
“Was anyone hurt?” Eddie asked. We didn’t know Carry that well, but well enough.
“No, no.” She waved a dismissive hand. “It happened last night. I’m insured, so I suppose it’s not too bad. It’s just that, well, I don’t like the thought of something like that being able to happen here. This is my home and I’ve always felt safe. Now I suddenly feel quite paranoid.” She glanced over her shoulder as if to prove her point.
“I’m so sorry, Carry. I assure you the police are doing their best to look into it,” Alistair said in a soothing voice. He was quite good at that; even I felt reassured.
She smiled a toothy smile. “Thanks, officer. I feel much better knowing you’re around.”
Alistair nodded politely and we continued on our way. We stopped near The Wicked Bookworm and said our goodbyes. Miles decided to take a stroll through the village with Eddie—they really were becoming good friends—and Alistair went on home.
I went straight to Nancy’s shop where Emblyn was working. She was at the counter and her eyes widened when she spotted me.
“Hello, Emblyn,” I said in a cheery tone.
“Maggie, hi. I’m so excited for tonight. I’ve already got snacks.” The excitement she described didn’t match her tone.
“What’s wrong? You don’t sound happy.”
She smiled weakly. “Of course I am.”
“Does it have to do with Elijah?” I narrowed my eyes at her, hoping she wouldn’t lie to me. I would be able to tell.
She frowned. “Of course not. Why are you asking me about that? Not everybody has issues, you know? And not everything is a mystery.”
“Defensiveness,” I said slowly, “is a sign of lying.”
She scrunched up her nose and looked away.
“Everything is fine,” she said.
“Then why aren’t you smiling? You always smile and make jokes and you ask me about the ‘hot detective’ and you would want to know more about the murder. You’re upset and you can tell me what it is. I won’t judge you.” I would judge Elijah, though, if he did indeed have something to do with this. Actually, I’d more than judge him.
She looked down at her hands again. “It’s fine. He’s just—I saw him talking with another girl. Maybe he likes her better.”
“Talking or flirting?”
She shrugged.
In my mind I was already going through the potential weapons I could use on him. A ladle? A chair? An ironing board? What if I tied him to a tree and summoned Pandora? But I decided to take the mature approach.
“It could have meant nothing. Just because it was a girl he was talking with, doesn’t mean he likes her that way. If you feel really insecure about it, you can always ask him.”
Her eyes widened. “No way. Then he’ll think I’m psycho jealous.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure he won’t. Communication is very important in any kind of relationship. However, if you don’t want to outright ask him, you can always just casually ask him about that girl and see how he reacts.”
She pursed her lips.
“It appears she likes the sneaky approach,” Detective Black said with a hint of judgy-ness.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s fine. If he really likes you, you’ll know.” I smiled at her.
She managed a smile back.
I couldn’t help but be very thankful that my angst-ridden teenage years were behind me.
“Yes. Now you just have angst-ridden adult years,” Detective Black said with a smirk.