Page 10 of Murder in the Winter Woods
‘Yes. She’d known him her whole life. Her grandfather and his father were second cousins or something, I believe.’
‘She’s a sweetheart – I can’t imagine her being mean about anyone, let alone the recently deceased. What did she say?’
‘It’s more what she didn’t say. It was as if she was holding something back. Reticent, might be the word. She said she knew him better when they were younger, but it was long ago, and she didn’t remember much about him and they’d rather lost touch, and she’d prefer not to be quoted about “that man”. That’s what she called him –that man.’
‘Slightly odd, seeing as they lived in the same village their whole lives,’ Julia mused. She took a bite of her oozing toastie, and chewed it while she thought. ‘It sounds to me like they had some kind of falling out. Not uncommon in families, is it? Or in small villages. People have their disagreements.’
‘I suppose so. Who knows, maybe he stole her parking space in 1985.’
‘Trod on her toe at the school dance.’
They laughed, and stopped talking to pay due attention to the best toasties in the Cotswolds. After a few more bites, Jim said: ‘Ah well, I guess it could be that he just wasn’t such a great chap.’
‘Well, nobody’s perfect, Jim.’
‘You’re right, no one is universally adored and admired, are they? I suppose I’m just irritated because it’s made my life difficult. I thought I’d whip the article together in an afternoon, but I’m a bit short. I can’t use the lukewarm comments for this sort of piece. All I’ve got really is a lot of people saying he was a good chap, never late to fetch you, and he didn’t talk too much in the taxi or play the radio loudly or smoke or anything. That’s why I asked you when I saw you. Thought you might have an anecdote or some such. No worries, though, I’ll ask around, see what I can find out about old Lewis.’
Flo arrived soundlessly and made them both jump, saying: ‘Poor Lewis. He was a good chap.’
Jim looked up with a grin. ‘Tell me more, Flo. Tell me more.’ Julia had to bite back a laugh. Flo never had to be encouraged to tell anyone more about anything.
‘Well, I met him, what, ten or fifteen years ago, I’d say? I had a bad ankle sprain and couldn’t drive. Quite reliable he was, and gave me a special rate. Now, who’s for something sweet?’
They demurred and waved her away, having each eaten sufficient calories to sustain them on an Everest ascent. Julia leaned back in her chair. ‘That was fantastic.’
‘I could do with another one,’ said Jim. ‘Like, next week maybe.’
Their laughter was interrupted by the arrival of Pippa at the table next to them.
‘Hello, Pippa. No puppies today?’ said Julia. She thought Pippa actually looked slightly strange without them. Herself but not herself, in a way that reminded Julia of the time Peter had shaved his moustache off after ten years of facial hair. When he’d come home, she’d known there was something wrong, but it had taken her a good few minutes to see what it was.
‘Sadly not. I am on my way back from a visit to my Aunt Margaret, who’s not well. I left them at home. I didn’t think it sensible to bring a brace of wild half-grown Labradors to visit a frail older lady.’
‘I’m sorry to hear about your aunt, Pippa.’
‘Ah well, it’s sad. It’s not easy. She’s not even that old, but she has a brain tumour and they’re not sure what they can do. Inoperable, is what the specialist said. I suppose it comes to us all eventually.’
The two women sat silent for a moment, contemplating their own brisk forward march in that direction. Julia, herself, was, inexplicably, in her sixties. And not sixty-one, either. Pippa was a good deal younger, but not so young that she could be oblivious as to what lay ahead.
Jim, who was decades away from his sixties, had no such worries. In fact, he had his own, more immediate, agenda. ‘Now,Pippa,’ he said, leaning across to her. ‘Tell me. Did you know Lewis Band?’
6
Julia was showered and dressed and standing in front of the bathroom mirror applying a dash of lipstick – the final task of her minimalist morning routine – when the doorbell rang. She looked at her watch. Nine thirty exactly. One thing about Brendan Blunt, he was as punctual as the sunrise.
Julia smacked her lips together in front of the mirror, tossed the lipstick down and shouted: ‘Coming!’ Not that Brendan would be able to hear her above Jake’s excited, high-pitched barking.
‘Jake, be quiet!’ she instructed, to no avail. It was a wonder she had two intact eardrums, frankly.
Jake was out of the door the second it cracked open, hurtling around Brendan’s ankles, smacking his legs with his tail.
The young man patted him, trying to calm him down. ‘There’s a good chap. There you go, Jakey. I’m pleased to see you too.’
When the dog had calmed down sufficiently for them to have a conversation, Brendan said, ‘Shall I get busy then, Mrs Bird? Johnny told me what needs doing, and I think I’ve got all the materials in the van.’
Brendan was the grandson of Johnny Blunt, who had been the handyman in the village as long as anyone could remember. Possibly longer. Between the two Blunts, they maintained the fiction that Johnny was still in charge and he was training Brendan up to take over ‘one day, when I’m getting too old for it’. In fact, Johnny was no longer nimble enough for a ladder. When he was on site, he issued instructions from ground level. He wasn’t often on site. In fact, he spent a large portion of the day in the Buttered Scone. Brendan, who had been working as Johnny’s apprentice on weekends and holidays since his school days, and full-time for the two years since, did almost all of the work. Julia suspected he took Johnny’s instructions more from kindness than necessity. He had, to all intents and purposes, taken over, but you wouldn’t say as much to Johnny Blunt, not if you knew what was good for you.
Julia and Brendan walked over to the chicken run. The day was mild and there was no rain forecast – good DIY weather, fortunately. The chicken run was being ‘winterised’. This, Julia considered an awful term, but it seemed to have entered the modern lexicon and there was nothing to be done.
