Tanvi held a bottle of red wine and scowled at Shilpa. ‘Marbella would have been much better than this,’ she said.
‘You said you didn’t mind helping.’
‘Last night I was icing blinking cupcakes in green and white. Talk about showing a friend a good time,’ she said, grinning. ‘Now all of a sudden I’m a drinks waiter as well. I haven’t done any waitressing since my college days.’
‘It shows,’ Shilpa said. ‘Go on, get out there and mingle while I arrange these cakes.’
‘I get all the best jobs.’
‘Perhaps you should have said you weren’t a waitress when that woman asked you to serve the wine.’
‘“Get a move on and serve the wine”, is what she said,’ Tanvi corrected her. ‘Well, I am dressed all in black like the other waiters, even if my trousers are Donna Karan.’ Tanvi laughed. ‘At least this way I can eavesdrop so you can talk to the right people. Remember, you’re here to get the word out about Sweet Treats, so put your PR hat on. You were so good at all that in London. Here you seem to be more interested in solving a crime that has nothing to do with you! The sea air has done something to your brain.’ Tanvi scanned around the room. ‘Although I must admit, playing detective is more fun than promoting occasion cakes. Saint Laurent shoes at twelve o’clock,’ she said. ‘That must be our femme fatale, Harriet.’
Shilpa strained to look and then quickly turned as Harriet looked in her direction. ‘Go on then, Tan. She looks like she favours a glass of red.’ Tanvi didn’t need to be asked twice. She headed in Harriet’s direction. Shilpa started taking the iced cupcakes out of the boxes and carefully arranging them on a stand. It had been a late night for them yesterday. After Tanvi found her uncle’s photo albums, they had searched through the remaining boxes in the house. They hadn’t found much else, but that one album had uncovered a life he had kept hidden from her family.
Dipesh had a partner, a whole life she knew nothing about. The album Tanvi had found was full of photos taken in exotic locations and on city breaks around the Mediterranean. In most of the photos, the same man was present – someone, it was clear, he loved very much. So why hadn’t he shared this with her? Perhaps he thought her parents were too antiquated, that they wouldn’t understand his sexuality.
But she had spent most of last night thinking about it, and she came to the conclusion that her parents already knew. There were so many hushed conversations between her mum and dad after her uncle’s death, and now those cutting remarks her aunts had made after his passing about the way he was made sense. But if her parents knew, why didn’t they share it with her and her brother?
She had called her brother at two this morning to ask him if he had known. He wasn’t best pleased she had woken him up, but he was as surprised as she was. Were her parents that close-minded that they wanted it hushed up even where their kids were involved?
The thought made her see red, which was why she had told her brother not to mention anything to her parents before she did. She would do some digging around on her own first before she confronted them. Who was the man in her uncle’s life, and why had she never met him? More to the point, where was he now? Surely they lived with one another. Yet there was no trace of him in the house, and that album had been squirrelled away at the bottom of a dusty old box of books, almost like it had been forgotten under the pile of Danielle Steels.
Her uncle had lived a life that he felt he couldn’t share with her. Thank goodness for Graham and John. She imagined they were a great support to him. She would speak to them and try and find out about her uncle’s partner. She wanted to meet him. Perhaps he would want something to remember her uncle by.
After this revelation, they had tried in vain to get into the garage, the key to which was still nowhere to be found. Shilpa was now desperate to get in there and was going to call a locksmith until Tanvi had pointed out that it was past six o’clock and that she would have to pay an extortionate amount of money for an out-of-hours one.
‘That’s her,’ Tanvi said, sidling next to Shilpa as she placed the last cupcake on the stand. Tanvi had been listening in on Harriet’s conversations, the first with a work colleague. ‘She was very corporate,’ Tanvi said. ‘Apparently she has something to do with the social media campaign surrounding the company. She was droning on about it. She probably posted one tweet. When Harriet moved on to speaking to her friend though, her tone changed. “It sounds terrible”, Harriet said, “But I can’t help but think there was a reason for all this happening to me”. Those were her exact words.’
Tanvi was surprised that Harriet could find serendipity in Mason’s death, but Shilpa wasn’t. As she was arranging the cupcakes, two young women who looked to be employees at Drew Accounting came up to her, eager to try them. After telling Shilpa how delicious they were, they carried on with their conversation in hushed tones. They were talking about Harriet and Mason. Shilpa was in earshot, but they didn’t seem to mind.
‘She knew he had lovers,’ one of the women said, explaining that a week before the engagement party Harriet found out that Mason was seeing one of his exes. The woman looked around her. Ignoring Shilpa, she said in a whisper, ‘They say that’s why she did it.’
‘Who said that?’ the other friend asked. Her friend didn’t answer. Instead she spoke at length about Harriet, who was overheard saying once that she didn’t suffer fools. This was reason enough for the young lady to believe that Harriet killed Mason.
‘He cheated on her, and she wasn’t going to take it lightly,’ the woman had said.
Tanvi poured both Shilpa and herself a glass of wine.
‘I’m not sure the staff can drink at events like this,’ Shilpa said.
Tanvi made a face. ‘Stop me,’ she said, taking a sip of wine. She looked at the bottle of red. ‘This isn’t bad.’
Shilpa followed her lead and tried the Merlot. It slipped down easily. ‘Have a cupcake too while you’re at it,’ she said. Tanvi raised an eyebrow.
‘Don’t tempt me. Tell you what else I overheard. Sounds like the Drew Accountancy firm is in a bit of trouble over not spotting some gaps in the Connolly accounts.’
‘What do you mean?’
Tanvi explained that it sounded like someone was embezzling money from the company. ‘I heard two of the junior staff talking about it. I wasn’t the only one eavesdropping though. That man over there with the scarf,’ Tanvi said, looking towards the man in question. ‘He was listening in too, and from what I gather, he works with Drew Accounting. He didn’t stop to correct them. I think there’s some truth in what the graduates were saying. Perhaps you should go and talk to him?’
‘Why? I’m not interested in the Connollys’ bank accounts. I want information on Mason Connolly’s death.’
‘It could be connected, and anyway, I think he’s a family friend,’ Tanvi said confidently.
Shilpa gave her friend a look. ‘You just said he worked with them.’
‘You know what it’s like with these rich families. Work, play; it all gets intertwined, and look, there he is joking with that lady.’
‘June.’
‘You know her? She looks very beige. She clearly got the memo that black is for waiting staff only,’ Tanvi said, looking down at her own attire and grinning.
‘She’s Mason’s mother. Maybe I’ll go over and say hello.’ Shilpa left Tanvi by the cupcakes and headed towards the old man with the neckerchief.
‘Shilpa,’ June said. ‘Lovely to see you again. I didn’t get to thank you for the cake you made.’ June turned towards the old man. ‘This talented lady catered for Mason’s funeral.’
‘Oh, I just made the cake,’ Shilpa said, not wanting to take all the credit.
‘And what a sumptuous cake it was. Everyone mentioned just how good it was. You really are talented. And you made the cakes here today? The flavour is just exquisite. I’ve not tasted anything like it.’
Shilpa smiled. She needed someone like June around. She was single-handedly promoting her in Otter’s Reach, and with success. ‘It’s sweet lime. An Indian fruit, a little like an orange, but the flavour is more delicate. You have to be careful cooking with it; if you don’t use it soon after cutting the fruit, it can be extremely bitter.’
‘Oh, where are my manners,’ June said, making introductions. ‘Lewis and I go way back. He, Steven and I were friends many moons ago.’
‘When we were young,’ Lewis said. Shilpa noticed that although Lewis had grey hair and from a distance looked like an older man, up close he looked to be of a similar age to June and Steven.
‘If you ever need legal representation, Lewis is your man,’ June said. Her eyes darted away from them and towards Steven, who was heading towards the microphone set up in the corner of the room. ‘Oh, please excuse me,’ June said, colour rising to her cheeks. ‘I must go and congratulate Steven on his achievement here today.’ And with that, June was off, leaving Shilpa with Lewis.
They watched as June stood in the sidelines while Steven prepared to speak. He shuffled the paper in his hands and then started to talk, thanking his team for their efforts – and of course, his daughter, the social media whizz.
Lewis chuckled at this. ‘I’m cruel. Ignore me,’ he said. ‘I’ve known the Drews for a long time and love them dearly. Harriet is many things, but a whizz kid is not one of them. At my age, you tend to say things how they are, but I shouldn’t. My wife says it’s rude, and she’s right.’
Shilpa looked towards Harriet, who was now standing close to Evan. She had seen him before at Leoni’s, and Tanvi had commented that he looked a little like Gavin Henson with his small eyes, sharp nose and chiselled jaw. Shilpa, who had never been into sport, had to google the rugby player on her phone to get the idea. Looking at Evan now, she could see the resemblance. They could have been brothers.
‘I hope it works out better for Evan and Harriet than it did with her last two fiancés,’ Shilpa said, trying to keep her tone light.
‘Oh, indeed,’ Lewis said.
‘A terrible thing to happen twice. First Finley and then Mason. It would give anyone else in her position a complex,’ Shilpa said, looking at Lewis from the corner of her eye. ‘It certainly would me,’ she added. ‘A murdered partner at your engagement party and a dead fiancé on his stag do. That’s what I heard.’ Shilpa was impressed by how freely she was talking to Lewis. She was never ordinarily this blatant.
‘Finley didn’t die on his stag,’ Lewis said. ‘Harriet was with him. It was their last holiday together before they were to be wed. It’s a funny story. The two of them went to a private villa in Crete, paid for by Harriet’s father, Steven. Of course, Harriet didn’t know that Steven had paid Finley to leave her. Can you believe? But the boy was a smart cookie. He took the cash and went on a luxury holiday with the man’s daughter. Steven didn’t want Harriet to know, so he didn’t tell her. What a fool he had been made to look, but it all came out eventually, and Harriet wasn’t happy. Luckily for Steven, the poor chap met with an accident before he returned, or I think Steven would have killed him himself on the lad’s return. You have to laugh – not at the poor chap’s death, of course, but at Steven’s stupidity. What did he think would happen? He won’t try that again.’
Shilpa recalled what Graham had told her. ‘I thought Finley died on his stag do in Turkey.’
‘That’s what everyone around here believes, and you can understand why the Drews are happy to let them think that. They wouldn’t want any fingers pointed, and Steven is desperate not to let anyone know about his attempted bribe. I only know because he confessed to me one evening after too many whiskys, and of course, I had seen Harriet at the airport.’
‘What do you mean?’ Shilpa asked. She felt sorry for Steven. Despite his efforts, everyone knew about his attempted bribe.
Lewis explained that Finley had booked the holiday to Crete as a surprise, so he hadn’t told many people in Otter’s Reach. Most of his friends lived in London, and so when he said he was going away, people assumed it was his stag with his London mates. Lewis happened to be at the airport taking a flight to Zurich at the same time that Finley and Harriet were boarding for their Crete escape. Lewis didn’t approach the couple. Harriet had been wearing dark glasses and a scarf tied around her head, which Lewis had thought a little strange as they were inside, but in his line of work he knew when a woman didn’t want to be recognised and so he had left her alone.
Shilpa looked back at Harriet and Evan. Why didn’t she want anyone to know she was with her fiancé when he died? Had she had something to do with his death, or had her father? Steven Drew didn’t want either Finley or Mason in his daughter’s life. Had both father and daughter worked together to get rid of Finley and then Mason? It was definitely a possibility.
‘What kind of accident did Finley have?’ Shilpa heard herself asking.
‘He lost control of the moped he was on. Fell off the side of a cliff.’
Shilpa gasped and put her hand to her mouth. ‘How awful.’
‘Yes. These mopeds abroad can be cruel. I would have thought Finley would have known what he was doing though. Apparently, he had travelled around India on a moped when he was younger, and they are notorious for terrible driving. His poor mother was distraught, and of course, she thinks something untoward happened. She thought her son was a good rider. Like so often when you lose a loved one, you want to assign blame to someone, something, anything but the one you’ve lost.’
‘Did she find anything or anyone to blame?’ Shilpa asked.
‘Ah, but of course. First there was the shoddy moped – and she took the company that rented it to her son to task. But she couldn’t prove anything. The moped was in pieces, and I don’t think officials in Crete were too concerned. I expect this thing happens with tourists and mopeds more than we hear about. His mother travelled out there. There was even a piece written in the local rag – you know, the kind that mothers read to their children before they go on their first grown-up holiday without their folks.’
‘I see,’ Shilpa said.
‘His mother dropped it after a while and then went after the Drews. Well, she did and she didn’t. By this time, she was a bit of a wreck, and people weren’t paying much attention to her. I don’t think she knew Harriet was in Crete at the time, because in one of her monologues to me she did mention it, but without much conviction, and I wasn’t going to be the one to give her the ammunition she so badly needed. I remember it, because the woman didn’t know me from Adam, but everyone at this point certainly knew about her. She thought she would bend my ear, and so she did. Told me that she believed Harriet was in Crete with Finley and that it was strange that Finley would be on a moped without his fiancée unless said fiancée had designed it that way.’ Lewis twirled the stem of his glass between his fingers. ‘She made the police aware, so they must have looked into it. The woman has been rather quiet for a while, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she came out of the woodwork now that Mason has died under such terrible circumstances. I’m sure she’ll think this is her opportunity to open the case into her son’s death again. She’ll be somewhere, pointing fingers, you mark my words. But I suppose an accident is called an accident for a reason. It isn’t something you plan.’
‘Harriet was lucky she wasn’t with him,’ Shilpa said, and she genuinely meant it.
‘Quite,’ said Lewis. ‘Quite.’