Page 41 of A Village Theatre Murder

Roger Grave was now off the phone and looking at Julia expectantly. She couldn’t discuss the case with him, not after what she’d heard. She just stood there gaping, hoping that something would come to her. Nothing did.

‘How are you, Julia? What can I do for you? What did you want to talk about?’

‘The dogs!’

She blurted the words. They seemed to come straight out of her mouth without spending even a brief sojourn in her brain. And then she was committed.

‘Dogs? I’m sorry, but you’ll have to explain.’

‘Yes, of course, that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll explain.’

She smiled and nodded like a lunatic.

‘Are you all right, Julia?’

‘Yes, yes. Of course. It’s just the dogs, you see. I had a thought. Which seemed like a very good thought. So I thought, Roger! He’s the man to talk to.’

‘About the dogs?’

‘Yes, let me explain…’

He waited.

‘I was thinking of a fundraiser, that’s it.’ Julia almost laughed with relief when the idea entered her head. It was an idiotic idea, most likely, but at least she had something to work with. ‘People love dogs, don’t they? And Graham loved dogs.’

It was true, in fact, as far as she knew, that Graham had loved dogs. She had regularly spotted Graham and Jane at the dog park with a brace of small yappy beasts, each with a different coloured ribbon in its well-groomed hair.

Roger’s expression had morphed from mildly confusedtowards concerned. He must be wondering if she had had a stroke.

‘A dog fundraiser?’

‘Yes, that’s the idea,’ she said, more confidently. Now she had an idea, she gathered steam. ‘I was thinking, perhaps we could do a special performance of the show as a fundraiser for the RSPCA. In Graham’s memory.’

As she said it, she thought it was rather a good idea. Perhaps even brilliant.

‘I like that, Julia.’ Roger Grave smiled. ‘We’d have to run it by Jane, of course. But I know that everyone in the group would like to do something to honour Graham.’

Especially the man who murdered him! What better cover up for his evil act? The thought came back to Julia with the force of a blow. She replayed the fragments of Roger’s conversation with Bethany in her mind.When I realised I couldn’t talk you out of it, I helped you with Graham…What else could that mean? Somehow, Bethany and Roger had orchestrated the death of Graham Powell – Bethany’s love, Roger’s rival for her affections.

Julia had to get out of there. ‘I know you’re busy, Roger, and I’ve left Jake in the car, so I’ll be running, then. Well not running, not running away, just, I’d better be on my way. So you think about it. Think about Graham. I mean, the fundraiser, not Graham himself. And we can talk about it some other time. Okay?’

‘Are you all right, Julia? You look pale and a bit…shaky.’

‘Blood sugar,’ she said, without further explanation.

‘Sweetie?’ he asked, rummaging in his jacket pockets. ‘I always have a toffee on me somewhere.’

He pulled out a sweet in rather crumpled paper. Julia snatched it from his hand, just to put an end to the exchange. She unwrapped it and tossed it into her mouth.

‘Thanks.’ The word came out more like ‘Hunks’.

The toffee must have been in his pocket since the Early Jurassic, and was approximately as hard as the rocks from the same era. This was helpful, in fact. She made muffled sounds and a series of mimed movements in place of a proper goodbye, and made a hasty and undignified exit.

21

‘I’m sorry, but there’s somewhere else I need to go,’ Julia told Jake when she got back to the car. ‘It looks like there will be no walk with Leo today after all.’

WALK!– his favourite word. Jake whined in delight and turned his large body in circles – no mean feat in the back seat of a small car. He banged the back of Julia’s seat, and his tail whipped against the windows. The whole car trembled.

---