Chapter Twenty-Five

The weather in North Wales in November is unpredictable. Some days are crisp and clear, filled with sunshine and blue skies, perfect for a brisk walk; others are overcast and gloomy, ideal for a leisurely hour curled up in front of the fire with tea and a scone, and a book or magazine. And still others offer up anything ranging from a fine mist to an outright storm, with high, blustery winds that whip up leaves from the pavement, and lashing rain. And often, the day can bring changeable weather with a mix of just about everything. Saturday was one of those days. It started out fine, as Penny walked to work, but over the course of the morning the day began to darken.

And unusually, Eirlys, who never missed a day and always arrived on time, was late. Penny completed the first client’s manicure, then walked down the corridor to speak to Rhian at the reception desk.

“Eirlys isn’t in yet, and she didn’t ring to let me know she’s not coming in. Have you heard from her? This isn’t like her. I’m a bit worried, to be honest. I hope she’s all right.”

Rhian looked up from her desk, where she was checking off the contents of a box of products destined for the hair salon against their packing list. She crossed off an item, then gave Penny her full attention. “No, I haven’t heard from her, and I agree, it isn’t like her. She’s always so reliable.”

The door opened, and Penny’s ten A.M. appointment entered. “Please call her,” Penny said to Rhian as she prepared to escort her client to the nail salon, “and let me know what happens.”

A few minutes later Rhian appeared in the doorway, and Penny excused herself from her client and stepped out into the hall. “She’s terribly sorry,” said Rhian. “She was out last night, things ran late, and she overslept. She said she’d be in as soon as she could.”

Penny breathed a sigh of relief. “No, it’s all right. Look, would you mind ringing her back? Tell her to take the morning off, have a shower, eat her breakfast. Tell her to take her time, do everything she needs to, and we’ll see her when she gets here. I can manage, so there’s no need for her to get all stressed about it. Goodness knows, she’s covered for me so many times.”

“She’ll appreciate that. Being late for work is such a bad feeling when you’re as conscientious as Eirlys is.”

“True. I’m just glad she’s okay.” She met Rhian’s eyes, as brown and dark and warm as coffee beans. “Well, I guess I don’t need to tell you why.”

We have the best staff, thought Penny, making a mental note to mention this to Victoria so they could do something special for the team for Christmas. Which wasn’t that far off. Crikey!

By late morning, just as the weather was beginning to take a turn for the worse, Eirlys entered the nail salon to find Penny alone, making notes on one of the little cards they used to record what service a client received and what colour nail varnish she’d chosen. It saved a lot of bother the next time the customer came in and asked for the same colour she had last time. “I can’t remember the name of it, but it was pink.”

“I’m so sorry to be late, Penny,” Eirlys said. “And it looks as if I made it just in time. The rain’s really starting to set in now. I hope you weren’t too busy this morning.”

“Oh, we managed to fit everybody in,” Penny smiled. “Anyway, it’s not as if you’re late very often. Everybody oversleeps from time to time. Good night out, was it?”

“Not bad,” Eirlys said. “I really don’t like a late night out when I have work the next day, but it was a mate’s birthday party. Something interesting happened, though, that I thought you’d want to know about.”

“Oh, tell me.”

“Remember you were asking about those lads Rhodri Phillips was hanging out with? The ones I thought seemed rough and didn’t like too much?”

“Yes, I do remember,” said Penny.

“Well, I bumped into one of them last night and learned a little more about him. And not only that,” she said, sliding her phone toward Penny, “I managed to get a couple of photos of him. You can’t really make out his features because the light was so poor, but I did the best I could.”

Penny picked up the phone and gave Eirlys an asking-for-permission look. When she nodded, Penny clicked on the camera icon and then opened the last photo in the roll. She walked over to the window and tilted the phone to get a better look. “So this is one of the young men who hung out with Rhodri?”

Eirlys nodded. “But I don’t know his name.”

“Well,” said Penny, “Let’s show this to Rhian and see if she knows him.”

Rhian shook her head. “I don’t know who he is, but my sister might.”

Penny asked Eirlys to send the image to Rhian and copy her. “The police need to see this. I’ll forward it to Bethan.”

*   *   *

“It’s Saturday night,” said Penny as she and Victoria closed up the Spa for the day. “Bethan’s had a long, hard week. I wonder if she’d like to join us for some comfort food.”

“Good idea,” said Victoria. “Let’s ask her.”

And so the two stopped off at the Co-op to pick up some good things for dinner. “Of course we don’t have time to make anything from scratch,” said Victoria, “like a chili con carne or a beef stew, but maybe we can find something that would do just as well.”

“Or be almost as good,” said Penny. She scanned the shelf of ready meals and then picked out a container and showed it to Victoria. “What about this? Boeuf bourguignon. And we could get a loaf of crusty French bread to go with it. My friends and I used to have that back in Canada after a day of skiing, and it really hits the spot on a cold winter’s night. And maybe a crème caramel for dessert? Or a crumble?”

“Perfect,” said Victoria. And so, laden with provisions for a hearty dinner, and more groceries besides for Penny to have on hand, they drove through heavy rain and a fierce wind to Penny’s cottage, unpacked their shopping, set the table, and popped the entrée into the oven to warm through. When Bethan arrived, the three women took their places at the table, and Penny poured two glasses of wine.

“It feels so good to be off duty,” said Bethan, “although with you two, I’m never really off duty because you always ask so many questions. So let’s get that out of the way, and then we can enjoy our meal. We’ve spoken to Mrs. Lloyd and we’re taking a closer look at Jennifer Sayles. And thank you for the photo you sent today of the lad that was the known associate of Rhodri Phillips. We’ve circulated it, and officers are on the lookout for him. They’ll be dropping into the clubs tonight, just in case. It’s all in hand, and that’s all I want to say about that.”

Victoria served up the main course, and just as she sat down, a loud knocking on the door startled them.

“Oh, who can that be?” said Penny. “Who’d be out on a night like this?”

The knocking came again, louder this time, demanding that the door be opened.