Page 59 of Murder in the Winter Woods
Julia turned over the postcard. The picture on the back was of a rough and windswept landscape with a shaft of sunlight breaking through a layer of thickly curdled clouds. It was a generically beautiful moorland scene that could have been anywhere.
‘No,’ she said, in answer to Coral’s question. ‘No, I think that’s unlikely.’
She turned the postcard over again, and read the small printed description below the angry capital letters.
Edinburgh Castle Gardens.
‘You need to take this to the police,’ Julia said, holding it carefully at the edges, although she suspected it was too late to save any fingerprints that might have been there. ‘It might be useful in the investigation. It might be a clue.’
‘I agree with Julia,’ said Hester. ‘The police should see it.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Coral. ‘Digging up old hard feelings, answering personal questions. Tarnishing Lewis’s good name. And it’s probably not even relevant.’
‘Come on,’ said Hester. ‘I’ll come with you to the police, and I’ll throw in lunch at the Buttered Scone. How does that sound?
‘It sounds good,’ Coral sighed. ‘You’re probably right, both of you. I’ll take it to the police.’
‘I’ll go in and get my car keys and I’ll drive you,’ said Hester kindly.
Julia was about to explain to the widows that there was no need to go to the police as the police were coming to her, when she spotted DI Hayley Gibson coming down the path. And she looked like she meant business.
The detective sat opposite Julia at her kitchen table, the postcard between them. Hayley had placed it in a clear plastic evidence bag – rather belatedly, seeing as it had already been passed from hand to hand by the other three women. She stared fixedly at it, and drummed her fingers lightly on the table, as if it might at any moment give up its secrets.
Julia waited. The kettle heated noisily on the stove behind her.
‘What do you think?’ Hayley said finally, gesturing towards the postcard.
‘Well, as you heard, Coral thinks it might be from a woman. She said the ladies liked Lewis, although I suspect it was a case of Lewis rather liking the ladies.’ Julia paused for a moment. Hayley didn’t usually like her speculating, but she had asked a direct question this time. ‘I had another thought. The picture is of a place in Scotland, and Ken lived in Scotland, so naturally, I’m thinking it might be from Ken. And although he comes across as rather placid, even rather down-at-heart, at least when I’ve seen him, he’s a guy with a history of anger. There’s a lot of bitterness in him, especially towards Lewis and Matthew. It goes back to their younger days in the band. And then there was conflict over the investment syndicate at some point, when Matthew and Lewis got cold feet. So, I don’t know. Maybe Ken was threatening Lewis.’
Hayley nodded, slowly, and scratched at a drop of candle wax on the kitchen table. She seemed distracted, as if there was something else on her mind.
The kettle reached a boil. Julia got up and switched it off, but sat down without making tea.
‘Hayley, why are you here? You didn’t come to talk about the postcard, and Ken.’
‘As it happens, Iamhere to talk about Ken,’ said Hayley. ‘I hear you visited him yesterday.’
Julia was taken aback. ‘Yes, I did. I dropped something off for him.’
‘Muffins.’
‘Muffins? No. A book. There was an old book of his that had been donated to Second Chances, which Wilma thought he might want. I offered to deliver it. What’s all this about?’
‘Ken was admitted to hospital. Suspected poisoning.’
‘Gosh, how awful!’ Julia looked at Hayley, who was staring at her intensely, a small frown between her eyebrows. ‘Wait, do you think it was deliberate?’
‘Julia, I have to tell you that this is an official police investigation. If you want to have a lawyer present, that is your right.’
‘A lawyer? Hayley, what are you talking about? No, I don’t want a lawyer. Why would I need a lawyer?’
‘Initial tests indicate that the source of the poison is the muffins you brought to Ken. They’re doing a full assessment of the poison used now. Fortunately, he thought they tasted odd, so he only ate about a quarter of one. He started to feel dizzy, and had stomach pains. Luckily, he went to the emergency room. If he’d eaten the whole thing, he might have died.’
‘Good heavens. That’s appalling. But I had nothing to do with it.’ Julia thought for a moment, remembering the tray of muffins that she had picked up outside Ken’s home, thinking that she was doing him a favour. In her mind she heard her mother’s voice saying, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ Julia had to make Hayley understand what had really happened. ‘Hayley, I didn’t bake the muffins.’
‘Ken said you brought them.’
‘I didn’tbringthe muffins, I brought themin. They were there when I got to Ken’s house. They’d been left on the doorstep. I simply picked them up and handed them over. He was so busy gushing about the book, he didn’t listen to me when I said I’d found the muffins on the doorstep. Hayley, you know I…’ Julia stopped speaking, unable to finish her sentence she was so distressed.
