Alice went back into her office and called Katy Ellison, but there was no answer. Keen to persevere, she tried several times over the next hour, until she finally got through.
‘Hello?’ a woman’s voice said. She sounded sleepy.
‘Katy? Katy Ellison?’
‘Who wants to know?’ The girl sounded guarded, but Alice was so relieved to be speaking to her.
‘This is Alice Beeton of The Good Household Management Agency.’
There was a small pause.
‘Yes?’ Katy sounded wary.
‘I understand that you used to work for Camille Messent?’
There was a long pause. ‘Yes … but I left.’
‘I know, but you see, I was wondering if you wanted your old job back,’ Alice said, trying to sound friendly. ‘With the Messents.’
‘But they’ve already employed somebody else. Enya …’
‘I know. I placed her there myself.’
‘So why would they want me back?’
It was a good point. Alice felt a blush rising in her cheeks. Somehow, she’d assumed that Katy must know about Enya, but she clearly didn’t. ‘I’m not sure if you’ve seen it on the news …’
‘Seen what? I only came back from abroad late last night.’
Oh, so that was why Elite hadn’t been able to get hold of her for Madame Messent. ‘Oh, well I’m very sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Enya is … well, you see, Enya is no longer with us.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘She’s um, well … I’m afraid she’s dead.’
‘What?’ Katy’s voice was tremulous. ‘Are you joking?’
‘I’m afraid I’m not.’
‘That’s terrible. What happened?’
‘It’s not something I want to discuss on the phone. Could we possibly meet?’
There was a pause and Alice was fully expecting Katy to give her instructions to do just that. Instead, she heard a sharp intake of breath. ‘No. No, I don’t think so.’
‘But—’
‘I really don’t want anything to do with this, or them.’
‘But—’ Alice tried again, flabbergasted.
‘Please don’t call me again.’
The phone abruptly cut off.
Alice was still staring at it in disbelief, when Jacques marched back in the office with four cardboard soup pots, and shouted, ‘Lunch!’
‘I’m not eating lunch this month,’ Jinx said, huffily folding her arms.
Jacques winked at Alice as she came through to join them in the kitchen. ‘But it’s my Chankonabe,’ Jacques said.
‘Your what?’ Alice asked.
‘Japanese sumo wrestlers’ soup,’ he explained.
Jinx let out a high-pitched ‘pah’. ‘As if I’m not big enough already,’ she complained.
‘Nonsense. These wrestlers, they eat this with tonnes of potatoes and noodles, which is what leaves them on the large side, but this version is carb-free and possibly the most healthy soup there is. Come on, try it.’
He lifted the lid off a carton, smelt it and passed it to Jinx.
‘Please, Jinx,’ Jacques goaded. ‘Just for me. I’ll be so unhappy if I have to throw it away.’
Jinx snuck another peek – and her nostrils quivered and flared.
‘And besides, Jinxy—’ Jacques smiled, already seeing he’d got her hooked ‘—it’s too sad a time to be depriving oneself of comforts. If we’ve all learnt anything, then surely it’s that life’s too short not to enjoy the good things, non?’
Soon, they were all tucking in happily and Alice recounted the phone call with Katy.
‘Don’t you think that’s a bit of a strange reaction? Especially when you find out someone is dead?’ Alice asked Helly and Jinx.
‘I suppose. Maybe it’s a shock thing. Fight or flight,’ Helly said.
‘Now I think about it … how did she know that the Messents had employed Enya?’ Alice asked. ‘I didn’t give her that information. And if she knew about Enya, or even knew her personally, why wouldn’t she want to know what happened to her? She just shut me down.’
‘People are weird about death,’ Jinx said, slurping her soup noisily. ‘God, this is so good.’
‘But …’ Alice pondered. ‘It’s just so strange. To be offered her job back. And not just any job. It’s a well-paid job. She said she didn’t want anything to do with “this” or “them”. Washed her hands of the whole business.’
‘That’s her choice,’ Helly said.
‘But what’s she got against the Messents?’
‘Who knows. They probably had a row when she left. Madame Messent was rather desperate that day, wasn’t she?’ Jinx said.
But Alice had a hunch there was more to this than Katy had let on. She listened to Jacques tell Helly how he’d made the soup, but she could hardly concentrate. When she’d finished her pot, she jumped up and put her spoon in the sink with a clatter.
‘I’m going to go and pay her a little visit,’ Alice said, looking at the piece of paper with Katy’s address on it.
‘Who?’ Jacques asked.
‘Katy Ellison.’
‘You can’t just turn up on her doorstep,’ Jinx said, her spoon paused halfway to her mouth.
‘Why not?’ Alice asked, grabbing her coat. ‘Enya was killed. I feel it’s my duty to find out whatever I can. And that girl … I’m telling you … she was just … weird.’
Agatha barked in approval and Jinx rolled her eyes.
‘It looks like Agatha agrees,’ Jacques said, and they all laughed as she trotted to the corner and picked up her lead in her mouth.