Shilpa’s head was a little sore, but it was worth it. She had called Robin yesterday hoping he was free for an evening drink, but he had suggested meeting that afternoon. She hadn’t been afternoon drinking since her London days and had felt guilty agreeing to it. There was no need to though. The last of her cakes for her new orders at the Mermaid Point cafés were in the oven, and with Brijesh and Tanvi making life plans without her, she didn’t have any other responsibilities to worry about.
She had showered and changed into jeans and a black jumper with an embellished neckline, a change from her usual chinos and striped tee-shirt uniform. She had stuck with the pumps though. Heels would have looked like she was trying too hard. They were much too much for Otter’s Reach.
One afternoon drink had turned into several. ‘It’s the first time I’ve been on a date with someone who can be free in the afternoon like this,’ Robin had said in his Scottish accent.
She learned that he had grown up there but that his family had moved to England at around the same time he started university and that he had rarely been back.
Shilpa explained her situation, her overbearing mother and her inheritance of a house overlooking the estuary which had pretty much changed her life.
‘You must miss the big city,’ Robin had said and Shilpa considered it. She did in some ways, but life in Devon, even though it was quiet, suited her better. There was no mad commute every morning to do a job she wasn’t interested in; and there was no pressure to deliver on targets set by bosses who always remembered the fails but never the wins. Here she was on her own. Daunting at times when her order book was only half full and she had bills to pay, but exhilarating for the rest of the year. She was lucky there was never a time that people didn’t want to eat cake.
‘And you?’ she had asked. ‘Are you staying in Devon for long?’
Robin had explained that he was in the area for a particular assignment. ‘But given my line of work, I could work just about anywhere,’ he said with a wink that made her insides turn to jelly.
Shilpa reckoned it was from that point that the Chardonnay hit her and the drinks kept flowing. She rubbed her temples now as she downed her second coffee and cringed at the memory of disclosing her thoughts on Roy Arden’s death.
‘So you think it’s murder too then?’ Robin had asked, and of course she had divulged everything she knew. She had momentarily thought about the consequences but believed there were none. She wasn’t officially investigating what had happened that day. It was all just assumption. She wasn’t getting paid for her endeavours, so surely she was free to blab to anyone she wanted to.
This morning she felt differently. Robin had listened intently as she told him about Caroline’s henpecked husband and Roy’s young widow. She expected him to say something profound when she was done, but he didn’t.
Her money was on Annabel, she had said, because of all she stood to gain from Roy’s death. ‘She’s the only one that benefitted financially,’ Shilpa had said. ‘The rest have to contest the will if they are to get anything substantial from his estate.’
‘Maybe the rest didn’t know about the new will,’ Robin had said and Shilpa had to admit that she hadn’t got that far in her thinking. Caroline could have told her that she knew about the change in the will as a ruse to get her away from the truth of the matter. But then why get her involved in the first place?
‘His brother could have believed Roy’s will remained unchanged and so killed him so that his daughter could inherit the thirty per cent stake she was promised. It would be an easy way to get rich quick. Do you know their financial situation?’ Robin had said.
Shilpa shook her head. ‘I suppose it could be Martin,’ she argued. ‘Why else would Caroline have an argument with him not long before she told me that she had found evidence proving that her father was murdered?’
‘And Caroline,’ Robin had said. ‘If she didn’t know that her father had changed his will, then she could have easily believed that her boys would inherit the estate. You said yourself that Caroline is attached to the place. Her father was old; maybe she thought it was the best outcome to ensure Arden Copse stayed within the family. Her family.’
‘You don’t like Annabel as a suspect?’ Shilpa had asked.
Robin had shrugged. ‘She’s got to be on your list, but if you ask me, she’s too obvious.’
‘You’re not related to her, are you?’ Shilpa had asked. It wouldn’t be the first time that she found herself romantically involved with the relative of a murder suspect. Just her luck for it to happen to her again.
Robin had laughed and shook his head. ‘Of course not,’ he said, a little too quickly for Shilpa’s liking. He must have seen her discomfort because he quickly withdrew his phone from his pocket and showed her pictures of his family. ‘My sister got married last month. Look,’ he said, pointing to a picture of at least ten adults and four children. ‘Here we all are. The lot of us.’
Shilpa studied the picture as well as she could given she was on her third large glass of white wine. It looked like a regular family wedding photo. She could see the resemblance Robin had to a few of the family elders. She had struck off the idea that he had been adopted or anything else like that which would have given him a possible connection to the Arden death.
Shilpa checked the time. In an hour it would be more than twelve hours since her last drink. She reckoned she was safe to drive. Tanvi and Brijesh still hadn’t surfaced. Her phone buzzed. It was Robin. He said in his message that he was just checking in, which instantly brought a smile to Shilpa’s face, dissipated any worry about having disclosed too much about the Ardens to her new friend.
Suddenly her hangover didn’t feel so bad anymore. She swallowed a paracetamol just in case it resurfaced and collected the cakes from her pantry.
Shilpa loaded up her car and started the engine. It was raining, which wasn’t ideal for cake delivery. Parking in Mermaid Point was terrible, and she would have to double-park and dash in with the boxes to save them from getting wet and disintegrating into her cakes.
An hour and a half later, Shilpa had made her last delivery of two banana loaves, one rose-and-pistachio cake and a mango mousse cake. She found that she had finished her deliveries earlier than expected and decided to pop in on Caroline.
If Caroline was involved, Shilpa was curious to know. Caroline had certainly been cagey about where she was when the lights had tripped, and if she was lying about that, then what else was she lying about? Shilpa pulled out her phone and sent a message to Caroline knowing full well that she wasn’t going to wait for a reply. She was giving Caroline a warning of her arrival. Enough time for her friend to get her story straight, perhaps.
It was a narrow road to Caroline’s cottage. Shilpa hadn’t been before, but she imagined from her impressions of Caroline that it was more than just a cottage. If she had been proved wrong, then it was another reason why Robin could be right about Caroline wanting Arden Copse sooner rather than later.
Shilpa stopped at a passing place to let a tractor go by. Before Devon, she had never come across such narrow roads. They were clearly not built for the four-by-fours of today’s generation. She was lucky she had just a small Fiat that could easily manoeuvre into a small passing place. The first time she had taken Tanvi out in her car the look on her friend’s face was priceless as Shilpa reversed into a passing place ten metres behind her to let a Volvo pass.
‘I could never do that,’ Tanvi had said. ‘Another reason not to move here.’
Shilpa understood where Tanvi was coming from. In London they rarely drove, taking Tubes and taxis to get to where they wanted to go. Driving was an effort, and having to reverse down a narrow country road had seemed impossible to her when she had first moved to Otter’s Reach, but Shilpa found that after the first few times, she had eased into it. She didn’t like it, but it was a small price to pay for living in such a beautiful part of the world.
As the tractor passed, Shilpa headed towards Caroline’s house. Her friend had implied that she planned to tell Shilpa what she knew about her father’s killer on Saturday. But if it was serious, Shilpa didn’t see why she needed to wait.
In her message with directions Caroline had previously sent, she said Shilpa would know the house from the strip of vibrant turquoise paint along the gable wall, which was visible from the track. This track led to a second track that would lead her straight to Caroline’s house, apparently. Once you are on the second track, her friend’s message had said, you can’t miss it. We are the only house on that lane.
Shilpa was just about to turn onto this second track when a silver car came speeding towards her. The roads were wet, dangerously so. The car heading towards her wasn’t going to change direction. In a split second, Shilpa swerved to avoid the tearaway vehicle. She turned her steering wheel as quick and as hard as she could. She lost control of the car, and even though she tried to turn the steering wheel back the other way, her little red Fiat would not obey. She screwed her eyes shut as the car veered off the road. There was a loud clunking noise, and Shilpa’s seatbelt dug into her side.
When she opened her eyes, it took her a moment to realise that she, along with her car, was in a ditch. Stunned, Shilpa sat motionless. She peered out of her window. Her car was at a forty-degree angle. As the rain finally eased, she wondered what to do next.
After a moment’s pause, she grabbed her bag that had fallen into the footwell of the passenger seat. She managed to wedge her door open and got out. She scanned her body for any cuts or grazes. Nothing.
Her heart was pounding in her chest as she pulled her phone out of her bag. She wasn’t sure who to call. Calling Caroline made the most sense. She was less than a mile away and could come to her aid, but something held her back. Whoever had run her off the road had to be coming from Caroline’s house. Caroline’s house was the only one on that track. Was it one of her boys? Jack or even Caroline herself? Shilpa had no idea what kind of cars they owned. Had Caroline seen Shilpa’s message and made a quick escape?
She needed to call the AA. Did she need to call the police too? The person driving the silver car had been reckless. Their driving could be classed as dangerous, and they might harm someone else on the roads. Shilpa started to panic.
As she dialled the AA, she saw a black car heading towards her. It stopped a few metres away. Shilpa suddenly felt like she was in some kind of horror movie. Had the person in the silver car sent someone back to finish her off? There was no movement in the stationary car. Shilpa considered her options. She could run towards Caroline’s house or call the police. Getting back into her own car wasn’t an option. She would be a sitting duck. Shilpa realised then that she had been dialling for roadside assistance, but the call hadn’t gone through. She pulled her phone away from her ear and looked at it. She had no mobile reception.
The door of the black car slowly opened and a man got out. A shiver ran down her spine.