Chapter 5 #2
‘Oh!’ she said. It was, indeed, the man she’d seen at Greystone Manor, and then at the Buttered Scone. He carried a small black duffel bag, big enough for an overnight stay.
‘I’m checking out,’ the man said to the receptionist. ‘I’m in a hurry. You’ve got my number and credit card details… I’ll settle up later.’
As he turned to go, his eyes landed briefly on Julia and his forehead furrowed in recognition and confusion. He looked like he was about to say something, but he changed his mind and rushed for the door.
‘No problem, sir, I’ll just…’ the receptionist said to his retreating back. She turned to Julia with a smile, and said, ‘Sorry about the interruption. He was obviously in a hurry. Now, what can I do for you?’
‘Nothing, thank you. Never mind,’ Julia said. She took Jess’s arm and led her out after the man. She looked up and down the road, but there was no sign of him.
‘Damn,’ she said. ‘Lost him.’
She took out her phone, intending to tell Hayley about the mysterious man in a hat.
At that moment, a car came speeding out from the parking area behind the inn.
It stopped briefly at the entrance, preparing to turn into the road.
Julia peered into the window as it passed, to give the reckless driver a stern look.
She looked straight into the eyes of the man in the grey hat.
As the car swung hard into the high street, Julia fumbled with her phone and brought up the camera. She snapped a picture of the car’s number plate as it drove away down the high street and disappeared into the distance.
‘A moment more, Jess, I have a quick question for the receptionist,’ Julia said, turning back to the inn.
‘I’m going to get a packet of crisps in that case,’ Jess said. She followed her mother back into the inn, and went straight through to the bar.
Now that Julia wasn’t preoccupied with the grey-hatted man, she recognised the receptionist as the girl who had served her before in the restaurant at the inn.
‘Aren’t you a friend of Laine’s?’ she asked.
‘I am! I thought I recognised you. You came in for supper with Laine and Jono. Aren’t you Jono’s dad’s, um…
’ She faltered at the word ‘girlfriend’.
Julia couldn’t blame her, it was a ridiculous word for a sixty-something-year-old woman.
Unfortunately, ‘partner’ was almost worse.
It made her think of a firm of solicitors. ‘Um’ seemed the best of the lot.
‘That’s me,’ she said, brightly, avoiding the naming of the position entirely. ‘And I remember that you worked in the restaurant.’
‘Still do,’ said the girl. ‘I help out at reception sometimes when they need me. I’m Bonnie.’
‘Right! I remember. Good name. I’m Julia.’
Jess came in with an open packet of crisps. She dipped her hand in, and brought a small pile of them to her mouth.
‘This is my daughter, Jess.’
Jess nodded and smiled wordlessly at Bonnie, her mouth full and crunching. She offered the open packet around, but the others demurred, even though Julia could happily have tossed the entire contents into her mouth at this point.
Jess resumed her crunching.
‘Can I help you with something?’ asked Bonnie. ‘Are you here to eat?’
‘Not today, unfortunately. We’re about to go to the Scone for breakfast.’ Julia’s stomach rumbled enthusiastically at the thought of it. ‘Funny thing, though. I thought I recognised the man who just left. I think he might have been at school with my cousin…’
Jess paused the delivery of the next pile of crisps into her mouth, and looked at her mother with wide, astonished eyes. Julia read her expression: ‘Mum, you’re lying!’
‘Mr Kingston?’ Bonnie said. ‘He’s not from around here. He’s from London, I think.’
‘No, I don’t recognise the name. I must be mistaken. He looked so familiar. But he dashed out in such a hurry that I didn’t get an opportunity to ask him.’
‘He certainly did leave in a rush. And early, too. He booked for two nights but only stayed the one. He’ll have to pay for both nights. They’re very sticky about that sort of thing here.’
‘That’s fair enough, I suppose. He did book the room, after all.’
‘That’s true,’ the girl nodded. ‘Waste of money, but he said he was here on business so I suppose his company will pay.’
An older lady came clunking down the stairs with a bucket full of cleaning equipment which she set down heavily on the floor.
‘Oh, hello, Mrs Kay,’ said Bonnie.
‘Hello then, Bonnie. The man in Number 7 left something behind in his room,’ she said, handing over a rolled-up leather pouch of what looked like tools.
The metal tips of pliers and files and screwdrivers protruded from the pouch.
They looked like the sort of things you might use to tinker with an engine or fix an electrical appliance.
‘I dare say he’ll be back for them soon enough – he probably needs them for his work. ’
‘I expect so.’ Bonnie peered at the little tool set. ‘Funny, though. He doesn’t look like an electrician or a handyman, what with that fancy hat. Anyway, I’ll keep the tools here behind the counter, and if he doesn’t come back for them, I’ll give him a ring later.’
‘Right you are then,’ said Mrs Kay, picking up her bucket.
Julia sighed. She had to agree with Bonnie – the mysterious man had not looked like a plumber or handyman.
Why on earth was he in possession of a set of tools?
And since when did handymen travel for business – especially when Berrywick was well serviced in that department by old Johnny Blunt and his grandson?
Julia took out her phone and typed a quick message to Hayley, and had barely hit ‘send’ when Hayley responded with a ‘will look into it’. Julia smiled, and turned to Jess: ‘Breakfast, then?’
The packet of crisps hadn’t ruined Jess’s appetite.
When they returned to the Buttered Scone, she ordered ‘the whole catastrophe’ as she cheerfully referred to it – tomato, baked beans, mushroom, sausage, bacon, toast and two eggs sunny side up – and proceeded to work her way through it methodically and with occasional grunts of approval or pleasure.
‘So what do you think about the man in the grey hat?’ she asked Julia, when she had eaten about half of the breakfast and was ready to take a breather. ‘Do you think he’s got anything to do with the’ – she leaned forward and spoke quietly – ‘murder?’
‘Oh, I don’t think so,’ said Julia. ‘Most likely he was at the house on an errand.’
‘What about the tools?’
‘Well, the colonel certainly wasn’t killed with a pair of pliers or a file. The grey-hatted man must have been there on some other business. Something that needed tools, maybe? Although he really wasn’t dressed for handyman work, I have to admit.’
‘Maybe he was an estranged cousin back from Australia… Or a Bible salesman… Or someone’s secret lover…’
‘You do have an imagination, my darling. More likely he was checking for gas leaks. The sort of household thing that people forget about as soon as it is done.’ Julia paused.
She didn’t really believe what she was saying to Jess.
Why had nobody mentioned the grey-hatted man?
And why had he left Berrywick so very suddenly?
So suddenly that he’d left behind his tools.
And the fact of the tools, when he looked so smart. There was a mystery here, to be sure.
She looked at Jess and smiled. ‘I’ll ask Hayley Gibson or Walter Farmer when I see them. They will find out the whole story of the grey-hatted man, I’m sure.’