Chapter 29
‘Happy birthday, darling girl!’ Tabitha’s bangles clinked and jingled as she flung her arms open for an embrace.
‘Thank you, darling godmother,’ Jess said, going in for a squeeze.
‘Look at you!’ Tabitha leaned out, holding Jess at arm’s length. ‘I can’t believe you’re not still twelve.’
‘Oh, please don’t get Mum started on that, she’s been waxing sentimental about the passing of time. “Ah, how fleeting is youth!”’ Jess said, pretending to imitate Julia. ‘“Just yesterday you were a zygote…”’
Tabitha guffawed and gave her another hug.
‘Don’t take the mickey out of your mother,’ said Julia, laughing. ‘I’m allowed to be soppy on your birthday.’
‘Of course you are! Now, Tabitha, come outside with me. We’re going to have some bubbly.’
Tabitha gasped when she saw the table, set with a white tablecloth and decorated with candles and mismatched bottles and jars filled with garden flowers. The scent of roses and jasmine hung over it all in the still air.
‘Well, doesn’t this look just beautiful!’ said Tabitha. ‘Gosh, you have been busy.’
‘Dylan got the outdoor fairy lights as a birthday surprise, and we set everything up this afternoon.’ Jess glowed with happiness, and with the tiny twinkling fairy lights strung above and around the table.
The soft setting sun burnished her dark hair to a coppery shine.
‘It was such fun. Christopher did the flowers, and Dad brought the champagne. Mum is head chef, as usual. The food’s going to be amazing. ’ She hugged Julia.
‘Hello, Tabitha,’ said Dylan, who was setting out glasses on a little drinks table. Peter was wrestling with the cork of a champagne bottle. It gave a satisfying pop, to a chorus of ‘Ah!’
They were passing round the glasses and exchanging hugs and hellos, when Leo came trotting round the corner, heralding the arrival of Sean and family. Jake gave a little yelp of welcome and got up to greet his friend.
‘Hello, Sean, we’re outside in the garden!’ Jess called.
‘Coming!’ came Jono’s voice.
He came out, followed by Laine, with Sean behind bearing a large cake, swirled in pink and white and topped with candles. Jake lumbered dangerously close to Sean, slapping his tail against his knees.
Julia grabbed Jake as he launched himself into another circle of Sean’s legs. ‘That cake is gorgeous! Did you make it?’
‘Yes indeed,’ said Laine. ‘It was a group effort, Sean and me and Jono.’
‘And…’ said Sean, proudly, ‘it was made with our own home-grown—’
‘Not tomatoes, please don’t say tomatoes!’ cried Julia, to shrieks of laughter.
‘Raspberries, fresh from the garden,’ said Sean. He shifted the cake around, trying to give Julia a hug.
‘Thank heavens for that,’ said Julia. ‘Let’s put that in the kitchen for safekeeping, shall we?’
The two of them went into the kitchen, where Sean deposited the cake on the counter, making sure that it was out of reach of any hungry Labrador that might get ideas into its head. They lingered for a minute, enjoying the still little moment together amidst the bustle and babble of their families.
‘I like the hair.’ Sean stroked it lightly enough not to muss it up, and tucked a strand behind her ear. ‘I like your usual style, but it’s nice to do something fresh and new every now and then.’
‘Why, thank you! I was looking for exactly that, something fresh and new, but I’m not sure it’s much of a change. You’re the only one who’s noticed!’
‘Well, that’s because I like to look at you,’ he said, in a voice that gave her little flutters. She kissed him, then pulled away reluctantly, and they walked out together, holding hands.
‘The cake is magnificent, Sean, thank you,’ Jess said. ‘It’s the loveliest birthday. Lovely to have everyone here.’
‘And Hayley and Sylvia are still to come,’ said Julia. It seemed she’d summoned them with her words, because they came around the corner, Hayley carrying a plate of little pastries.
‘Sorry we’re late!’ said Sylvia.
Hayley looked at her watch. ‘Six minutes late,’ she said, giving her girlfriend a playful squeeze.
‘I like to be punctual, what can I say?’ Sylvia was unapologetic. ‘We had to wait for the cheese puffs to cool a bit when they came out of the oven. And then as we were about to leave, Hayley got a phone call. Work, as usual.’
She handed the plate of cheese puffs to Jono, who took one and passed them along, emitting a heavenly smell of melted cheese and hot butter as they went.
‘I do have an investigation to round off, so I’m afraid the phone calls keep coming.’
‘How’s that going? Have you arrested the pregnant lady? Is she definitely the one who did it?’ asked Jess, who was curious by nature, and who wasn’t one to beat about the bush.
‘Beth’s in the hospital,’ said Hayley. ‘She had the baby yesterday. A little girl, fine and healthy.’
‘It’s so sad.’ Jess looked ready to cry.
‘It is,’ said Julia. ‘She did evil, stupid things just to hasten the arrival of Greg’s inheritance. It was an awful decision, and she’ll have to face the consequences.’
She adopted what she hoped was a tone of finality, which would put an end to the discussion of the murders at the manor house.
Dylan chewed his cheese puff slowly, swallowed and asked: ‘They already lived in the manor, and enough money for a cushy life. It’s not like they wanted for anything.
Why did she need more money?’ He was a sweet chap, and seemed genuinely perplexed by the question.
‘And they would have got the money anyway, when the colonel died.’
‘It was more about greed than need, Dylan,’ said Julia, sadly. ‘Also, Beth knew that the colonel was going through the money at quite a pace and she was worried there wouldn’t be much left by the time Greg got his inheritance.’
Hayley explained. ‘It turns out that Loxton sold Greystone Manor to Marigold five years ago. The forensic accountant thinks that he was in debt – probably gambling – and he wanted to free up a lot of cash and pay off his gambling debts. And for a while things were fine. But then he started spending that money, too. For a start, the police established that as part of the deal, he had to pay for the renovation of the Coach House to Marigold’s specifications. ’
‘It’s beautiful, everything top-drawer – it must have cost a lot,’ said Jess.
‘Yes. And the gambling had always been a problem, clearly – betting on the horses, what have you,’ said Julia. ‘But when he had more money in his pocket it seems it got worse, not better.’
‘And then he discovered online gambling, too. You can imagine how that went,’ said Hayley.
‘It seems that a year ago he’d made a big play – a huge sum on an inside tip – and was almost wiped out.
He’d been borrowing to stay afloat, and still gambling, in the hope of getting back on top and paying his debts.
Surprise, surprise, that plan didn’t work.
It was the debt collector that broke his toe.
It was a message from the bad guys he borrowed from.
Beth heard the scuffle, and when the goon left, she went in to confront the colonel. ’
‘The guy’s there with a broken toe and she goes in there to give him what for?’ said Dylan.
‘She says she just wanted to remind him that he wasn’t only going to ruin his own life – that she and Greg and the baby were all counting on him.
And then he told her about the gambling, that he was in trouble.
We’re not sure what happened in that room, but Beth claims she hit her father-in-law in a fit of rage.
Says she can’t remember doing it, and that she didn’t mean to kill him. ’
‘That’s handy,’ said Dylan.
‘Very handy,’ said Julia. ‘I’m sure the court will make a strong argument that she killed him in cold blood, before he lost Greg’s inheritance entirely.
She didn’t know that the manor wasn’t in his name anymore, and she would have believed that Greg would inherit it.
Then when she heard that the manor belonged to Emily, she faked going into labour.
Apparently she thought that Emily would then feel sorry enough for them to give them the manor. ’
‘Do you think she really did it in cold blood, Mum?’ Jess asked.
‘I do,’ sighed Julia. ‘I think Beth is very materialistic and status conscious, and not very stable or ethical. A dangerous combination. And I saw how eager she was to have Clara arrested, all the horrible things she said about her. It’s one thing to kill in a fit of rage; it’s another to take pleasure in an innocent person taking the fall for you. ’
There was a pause while they considered, in their own ways, what kind of person Beth must be.
‘Oh, speaking of Clara… Once we knew Beth had done it, I forgot to ask you about Clara – if she didn’t have anything to hide, why did she lie about being in Malawi?’ Julia asked Hayley.
‘She did have something to hide, but not murder,’ said Hayley. ‘She’d lost her job to budget cuts for overseas health projects. She was hurt and ashamed, and didn’t want to tell her family.’
‘That’s so sad,’ said Christopher.
‘Did Greg know that his wife had killed his father?’ asked Jess, eager to get back to the main story.
‘It seems not,’ said Hayley. ‘She acted alone. He’s shocked and horrified and angry – and grief-stricken, poor man. The whole thing is a sad mess. But he’s determined to be a good father to the baby – I think it’s given him something to live for.’
The festive, fairy-lit birthday party had taken a rather depressing turn. Julia was just about to stand up and get supper started, when Jono spoke.
‘I don’t understand why she killed the other guy, the gardener,’ he said. ‘Like, what did he have to do with anything, the poor guy?’
Realising that she’d have to let the conversation run its course, and give them the last pieces of the puzzle, Julia answered: ‘Ian was Colonel Loxton’s son, the result of a brief fling with Biddy’s sister, Ellen.’
‘Whaaaat?’ said Jess.