CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
It was a few days later, and with Ellie away at the cash and carry, we’d gathered in the café to drink coffee, eat mince pies and talk about Chutney-gate.
‘Okay.’ Maddy gave a heavy sigh. ‘Who’s actually prepared to tell her?’
I frowned. ‘I thought you were going to break the bad news?’
‘But why should it be me?’ she exclaimed.
‘If I tell Ellie we were all ill after eating her delicious Christmas chutney, which is why she should just bin the whole lot, she’s going to feel really bad that she poisoned her best friends.
Someone could have died! I’m just not willing to drop that bombshell on her. ’
‘So what are we going to do, then?’ asked Jaz, looking around at our clueless faces, and looking pretty clueless herself.
I shrugged. ‘Beats me.’
‘Well, I was thinking, we could . . . make the chutney disappear?’ said Maddy with a shrug.
I made a face at her. ‘How on earth do you propose we do that?’
‘Hire a magician for the night?’ suggested Fen.
Jaz gave a snort of laughter. ‘I don’t think she means it literally.’ She looked at Maddy. ‘You’re talking about nicking it, aren’t you?’
‘Absolutely. All the jars are in boxes in Ellie’s shed in the back garden.’
‘So . . . we break into the shed and steal it all?’ I said doubtfully.
‘Exactly.’ Maddy’s eyes sparkled wickedly. ‘Who’s up for a midnight chutney heist?’
‘It kind of goes against the grain, stealing,’ said Fen, looking quite appalled at the idea.
‘But we’d be doing the public a service,’ I pointed out, ‘so technically, it would be thieving for a good cause.’
Fen still looked worried. ‘But what if Ellie and Zak catch us in the act, breaking into their shed?’
‘Well, then we’d have to come clean and tell them why we were forced to do it,’ said Jaz.
‘They might call the police, thinking it was an actual real break-in, though.’
‘You’re overthinking it, Fen,’ said Maddy, grinning. ‘The police aren’t going to scream over there, blue lights flashing, over some rank homemade chutney that’s gone walkabout! It’ll be fine and we’ll have saved the community from the evil Sunnybrook Poisoner.’
‘Well, I’m up for it,’ said Jaz, her eyes gleaming with relish. ‘We could call it “Operation Chutney Grab”.’
Even Fen couldn’t help chuckling at that.
‘Operation Chutney Grab,’ she repeated. ‘Okay. Fine. I’m in.’
*****
Later, at home, my phone rang and I pounced on it, hoping it might be Caleb.
It was Penny, and my hope died once more.
‘Hey, I’m not sure what you said to Will the other day, but he actually did an audition at school today.’
‘He did? Oh, wow, I don’t believe it.’
‘Neither do I,’ she laughed. ‘But he did. And guess what? My lovely son is only going to be playing the starring role in the school Christmas show!’
‘He’s going to play Shrek? Oh, Penny, that’s great. Good for Will!’ And yah boo sucks to that scummy horror, Lewis Hatcher!
‘Katja? This is changing the subject, but I was wondering . . . is there something up with my brother?’
‘Caleb?’
‘You two haven’t had a falling out or anything, have you?’
‘Um . . . no. No, not at all. Why?’
‘Oh, nothing. It’s just he’s been a bit weird lately.
I mean, he usually makes a big fuss of Will’s birthday, arranging to take him out somewhere special, just the two of them.
But this year, I think he almost forgot the date.
Will was already in bed by the time Caleb turned up with a card and a present, and he only stayed for five minutes.
It was like he was desperate to be away again.
And then he cancelled the plans we’d made for the following day. ’
‘Really?’
So my birthday wasn’t the only one he almost forgot, then . . .
‘I thought he looked awful as well.’
‘He’s working really hard on his next housing project, I know that for sure,’ I told her, thinking of finding him in the site office on Saturday night with Amanda.
Ever since then, I’d been unable to shake the feeling that I’d walked in on something .
. . intruded on something important going on between them.
But something stopped me telling Penny this.
I didn’t want her to draw the wrong conclusion and imagine that Amanda had anything to do with her brother behaving out of character recently.
She might think it was a guilty conscience . . .
Was it a guilty conscience? My heart gave a sickening lurch in my chest at the very thought.
But I dismissed it almost immediately.
If there was anything romantic going on between Caleb and Amanda, he would have done the decent thing and ended our relationship first.
Caleb was far too honourable a guy to do the dirty on me.
So it wasn’t that. I was almost sure of it.
‘You’re right,’ Penny was saying. ‘He’s a workaholic, my brother. He’s probably just been overdoing it.’
‘I think so. We had dinner together on Saturday but he looked . . . well, exhausted . . . so we ended up calling it a night quite early and Caleb went home to sleep.’
‘I’ll give him a call and invite him over for dinner.’ She gave a despairing laugh. ‘Even he has to find the time to eat occasionally.’
‘Good idea.’
‘How about the pair of you come over?’
‘Erm . . . no. Thanks, Penny. But it might be best if you have a chat just the two of you. Maybe you can find out what’s going on with him?’ And find out if it’s anything to do with his feelings for me . . .
She chuckled. ‘Okay. And I’ll report back. It sounds as if you’re a bit in the dark about what’s going on for him as well.’
‘I am a bit,’ I confessed.
‘Well, don’t worry. He’s probably just too wrapped up in his next project.’
We ended the call and I sank down on the sofa, thinking about our surprising chat.
I hadn’t realised Penny was also thinking Caleb’s behaviour a little ‘off’ lately. But she was right. He was probably giving all his focus to his next project.
As long as his next project wasn’t Amanda . . .
*****
I had the nightmare again that night.
This time I was standing on the flat roof of a dilapidated old warehouse in the middle of nowhere. It was dark and a savage wind kept pushing me nearer the edge, and then to my horror, the whole building began to crumble around me.
I called out for help but I knew it was useless.
No one would hear my screams as I fell . . .