| |
That Thursday morning Eddie and Christina were at work at the Wicked Bookworm downstairs while I returned to my flat after Nancy had made me a delectable breakfast with pancakes and fruit. I had slept in, so the events from yesterday had affected me more than I had liked to think. It meant I couldn’t meet the book club women downstairs and make plans with them, but they would understand. At least I felt a lot better now that Nancy and I had had a good old-fashioned bonding session. I guess we were never too old for any of that.
I also knew I had to inform Alistair and went over that conversation in my head while I was making tea in the kitchen. The doorbell rang twice and once more when I was halfway down the stairs.
“What’s wrong?” I asked when I opened the door, expecting some sort of emergency. Perhaps another murder?
Alistair’s jaw was tensed. “May I come up?”
“Of course.” I had the feeling he either found out about my little brush with death last night or someone else had been murdered.
Upstairs I made him a cup of tea as well and we sat down in the kitchen.
He took out his notebook and flipped it open.
I frowned.
Detective Black popped up next to me. “He only does that when he’s questioning someone. You haven’t murdered anyone while I wasn’t looking, have you?”
I glared at him and turned my attention back to Alistair.
He clicked his pen and gazed at me.
“Did you see the car that nearly ran you over yesterday?” he asked in a level voice. He could have just as easily asked me if I had milk.
I swallowed. Someone clearly had told him. Maybe Nancy and Eleanor when they left us last night. I knew someone had to tell him, preferably me, but yesterday—after that conversation about how he was worried something would happen to me—I just couldn’t do that to him. And now he’d found out from someone else.
“No. It happened too fast and it was gone before I could register any more facts other than that it was a car.” I cleared my throat. His jaw was still tense, and him not showing any emotions was also an indicator that he was certainly upset.
“And can you describe in your own words what happened?” He said it so formally I almost expected him to add ‘Miss Matthews’ to the sentence.
“I was walking home and heard a car speed up and instinctively dove out of the way. I fell on the pavement and by the time I was up, the car was already too far away. Harold showed up because he had seen it happen and he took me to the vicarage.”
He scribbled something in his notebook. I think it was just for show. Was he trying to prove a point?
“Okay, thank you.” He flipped his notebook again and put it in his breast pocket before taking a sip of the ginger tea I had poured us.
“Are you going to talk to Harold next?”
“I already have,” he said curtly.
Aha. So that meant he had probably spoken to every member of the book club as well. Why had he saved me for last? Wait, I had only just come home. Did that mean he had spent the entire night interviewing the others? I studied his face. He did have dark circles under his eyes, though they weren’t so dark as to be immediately noticeable. I had to look closely.
I felt even worse now. I also felt the desperate need to explain to him that I would have told him. Though ideally when I was eighty and we could both laugh about it.
But he got to his feet without warning, thanked me for my time and left the kitchen. I was frozen in my seat in surprise for a moment, then got up and rushed after him. He was already at the top of the stairs. He abruptly stopped there, causing me to bump into him.
Then he turned around, frowned at me and placed his hands on my face. His thumb stroked my cheekbone as his soft lips pressed against mine.
I automatically closed my eyes and didn’t open them when he pulled away, or was on the stairs. Only when the door slammed shut did I come back to reality. My eyelids fluttered open and Detective Black was grinning at me.
––––––––
SOON AFTER, MOST OF the book club women showed up. I had scribbled out a patrolling schedule and handed it to Ava. It would keep the women occupied and make them feel like they were contributing without putting them at risk. Though if any of them encountered the robbers, the robbers would be the ones at risk.
The women also left me plenty of baked goods, so that was my weight loss plan over.
Detective Black scoffed. “It was hardly a plan.”
I spent the rest of the day on the sofa with Snowball hopping around. I alternated between daydreaming and knitting my scarf while the TV was on in the background. I wasn’t sure what to think or feel, so I simply enjoyed the flutter of butterflies that had been present ever since Alistair had kissed me—while being sober and awake.
I had lunch alone in the flat and then did some cleaning. I was interrupted twice by Christina and Eddie taking turns to come up and question me about my brush with death. Undoubtedly they had heard about it from Nancy, for which I was grateful, since I didn’t want to repeat it. They gave me hugs and I assured them I was fine.
Around dinner time I got dressed in dark jeans and a bright red jumper and headed downstairs. I figured I’d ask Miles to have dinner in the pub again and then planned on following around The Dramateers. I was going to stake-out every single member, which would take days, but I had to do it. If someone really was trying to kill me, I had to solve this before they tried again.
As I opened the door, Miles stood there with his fist raised as if he was about to knock. He grinned and ran a hand through his hair. As he opened his mouth to say something, Pandora’s battle cry rang through the air.
Miles’s eyes widened and he jumped inside, shutting the door behind him. “That sounded way too close,” he said.
I chuckled. “She really did a number on you, didn’t she?”
“The only birds I want chasing me are women.”
“Even if they’re as violent as Pandora?”
“No. If a woman starts pecking at my ankles, it’s all over.” He said this in such a serious tone that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Really? I thought men appreciated a good lethal attack every now and then.”
“Yes. Most men love that but not me. I guess I’m weird.” He cracked a smile.
“So, reporting for bodyguard duty?”
He put his hands in his pockets. Somehow he made that look elegant. “Are you alright?”
I shrugged. “I’m alive, so I guess I am. I think Alistair’s upset with me.”
Miles patted my arm. “He’s not, he’s just terribly worried. I also think he was hoping you’d confide in him.”
“I know. It’s not because I don’t care about him. In fact, it’s because I do that I didn’t want to tell him.”
Miles sighed. “Of course you meant well, and it’s not like you were thinking straight, but if the roles had been reversed, wouldn’t you have wanted to do anything you could to help?”
I nodded.
“Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure he’s already forgiven you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s you, after all.” He smiled.
I felt very sure at that moment that I loved Alistair.
“Finally,” Detective Black muttered in the background.
And I had to tell him soon. Fear was stupid and I was done letting it make decisions for me.
“Anyway, I’m hungry. Let’s have dinner at the pub and then I’ll tell you about my new plan.”
“Lead the way, boss,” Miles said with a grin.
––––––––
MILES AND I STARTED off with drinks and chatted until Eddie and Christina showed up. I had texted them and invited them to join us. I was also hoping to bring Eddie along for the first stake-out session as well.
Callum showed up to take our food orders and also to show off part of a dance routine since he was asked to be in a music video that one of his friends was producing. It was for YouTube and not to be broadcast on TV, but apparently his friend had a lot of followers on his channel and it could be big for Callum.
I had to admit, Callum had moves I could only dream of. Granted, I could literally trip over my own feet, but he had wonderful coordination skills. It was as if he was actually in control of his own body. I wondered what that was like.
After Callum had suitably impressed us, he left us to it. We didn’t have to wait long for our food. Eddie was the first to finish his plate and provided entertainment by telling us about what had happened at The Wicked Bookworm today.
Phoebe and Jessica showed up and wanted to buy the same book, but there was only one copy and they ended up fighting. They weren’t very good at it and just slapped each other’s hands, but Eddie still had to break them up. Instead of selling them that book, he sold them each a different book of which there were plenty of copies and they left without bickering. Well, minor bickering.
Lily had also showed up in the late afternoon to buy a book on how to charm people. Something she really needed. And Ava had stopped by for gossip. Luckily she hadn’t mentioned the car thing, but she did mention Pandora attacking a couple of nuns that were passing through the village.
See. Demonic.
“There was also a woman who stopped by and asked about you,” Eddie said. “She seemed a bit...shady.”
Miles and I perked up. “What do you mean, shady?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Something was a bit off about her. She asked after you, but I just couldn’t imagine you knowing her. I guess that’s a bit mean, but I just got a feeling.”
“Can you describe her?” Miles asked before I could.
“Short blond hair. Dark eyes. Pale skin. She didn’t look too good. I told her you weren’t here but didn’t feel comfortable telling her you lived above the bookshop and said she should try again tomorrow.”
“Good call. I think.” I couldn’t imagine who it could be and what she would want.
“Do you think it’s related to you nearly being run over?” Christina asked.
“I don’t see how, but I don’t even understand why anyone would want to run me over, so...”
“Maybe you should stop investigating,” Christina said.
“We don’t even know if it’s related to that,” I replied. But nearly being run over had taken the wind out of my sails somewhat.
“Are you kidding?” Eddie said, to my surprise. “If it is then I want to stop this bastard. We can’t let anyone get away with treating our Maggie like this. I say we put the pressure on all of The Dramateers members.”
“I was thinking of staking them all out,” I said softly, slightly intimidated by Eddie’s passionate response.
“Yes.” He slammed the table with his fist. “That is exactly what we should do. We are going to show them that nobody messes with The Super Sleuthers.” He had become even more animated.
Callum showed up at our table. “Dessert?”
Eddie flipped a switch and calmly smiled at him. “Yes, please.”
I was about to comment on it, when a thought occurred to me. “Hey, Call, do you know anything about the acting club The Dramateers?” I asked him. With his passion for acting, there was a small chance he had heard of them.
He put his hand in his side as he thought about it. “I’m not sure. I’m terrible with names,” he said.
I pulled out my phone and went to their Facebook page. I showed a couple of pictures.
“Actually, yeah. But not from acting; I know them from here. They visited the pub about a week ago.”
I checked the picture while Callum pointed out Valerie and David.
“What were they talking about?”
“They were fighting. I’m pretty sure he was breaking up with her. I get the feeling it was an affair.” He raised his eyebrows at me.
“That would imply that David was telling the truth,” I muttered to Miles and Eddie. “Thanks, Callum.”
“Happy to help.”
We all ordered dessert and switched to a different topic until it was time to go. Christina didn’t join us, so it was just us Super Sleuthers, on a new mission.
––––––––
THE FIRST PERSON I wanted to stake-out for the evening was Brenda. She was currently my number-one suspect.
I borrowed Nancy’s Land Rover again and drove us to Brenda and Geoff’s home. I figured not much exciting stuff would happen because most people stayed home in the evenings, but it was worth a shot.
We parked opposite their home, Miles in the passenger seat and Eddie in the back.
“Do you have any snacks?” Eddie asked.
“You’re hungry already?” Miles turned in his seat.
“Not already. Still. I’m always hungry. It’s in my DNA.”
“Mine too,” I said and handed him my handbag; it was filled with various salty snacks.
Eddie made noises of content while Miles chuckled.
An hour later Eddie was snoring lightly in the back and all the while nothing had changed at Geoff and Brenda’s. The light was still on, the curtains drawn. We could vaguely make out shapes every now and then. I wondered what Geoff and Brenda were watching on TV—assuming they were watching TV together.
“What do we expect to happen exactly?” Miles asked. “I mean, what’s the point of this?”
“The point is that they won’t expect being watched, and I’m hoping to gather more information about all of them.”
“I checked out Geoff’s website,” Miles said. “Then I pretended I wanted to hire him and talked to two of his clients.”
My eyes nearly rolled out of my head. “You did? Look at you, sleuthing.”
A smug smile appeared on his face. “I am a super sleuther, after all. Anyway, his clients were happy with his work, but it seems he’s dropped a few clients in favour of wealthier ones.”
“I see. Maybe h—” I started, but out of the corner of my eye I caught movement and spotted Geoff leaving his home. He wore a black hat and a striped scarf.
It wasn’t too late, but I still couldn’t help but wonder where he was off to at this time.
“Something innocent or nefarious?” I asked.
“Only one way to find out,” Detective Black said.