Page 24 of Murder in the Winter Woods
Julia relayed the information about the Butter Nuts and the bees.
Hayley looked sceptical. ‘Vegans object to bees making honey?’
‘They object to people harvesting the honey. Well, some of them do, at least. They think it’s cruel to the bees. Look, Hayley, I’m sure there’s no connection between the vegans and Matthew’s death, but Hester was pretty upset by them. She said they hounded her and Matthew, and they were on at him at the market the night he died. She worried they had distracted him, and that’s why he was run over.’
Hayley didn’t respond. She wore the serious almost-frown that meant she was processing facts and factors.
When Julia could stand it no longer, she said, ‘It’s probably nothing, but I thought I’d mention…’
‘It’s not necessarily nothing.’
Julia waited.
‘People with passionate political beliefs can get very carried away. Even violent. It sounds like this lot are pretty convinced of their position. And they were certainly angry.’
‘That’s true, but it’s not as if Hester thinks theykilledMatthew. I mean, onpurpose.’
‘Even so, I’ll have Walter look into those Butter Nutters.’
‘Butter Nuts.’
‘Whatever. They might have harassed Matthew. They might have hit him with a car by mistake. We don’t know.’ Hayley was using her official voice, which was slightly but significantly different from her friendly voice.
‘But even so, an accident…’
‘Leaving the scene of a car accident is an offence that carries a fine and possibly even time in prison. If they knew that someone was injured or dead as a result of the accident, that’s even more serious.’
‘Yes, of course. It would be.’
‘Between you and me, Julia…’ Hayley paused. Julia leaned in attentively. ‘And I meanreally, you and me…’
‘Yes.’
‘Both Lewis and Matthew were hit and then driven over again.’
Julia, of course, already knew about Lewis from Walter, but she didn’t want Hayley to be angry with him for telling her. She didn’t have to fake her horror though – it was terrible and ominous that the same thing had happened to Matthew.
‘God, how awful.’ Julia had to fight to stop herself picturing the situation.
‘Again, it was dark both times. Now I don’t like to jump to conclusions, but it does make me wonder…’
‘Do you think it might have been…deliberate?’
‘I can’t imagine why. It makes no sense…But I can’t discount the possibility. Despite what some members of the public seem to think, we are taking these two motor incidents very seriously. I intend to bring the guilty parties to book and get convictions. We must set an example to all road users.’
‘I know you’re doing everything you can, Hayley. People are just upset.’
‘Understandably. The people of Berrywick demand and deserve safe roads. It’s our job to make sure they get them. Now, thanks for the info. I’d better get back. There’s a ton of forensic information and paperwork coming my way today. Some of it useful, I hope. And please will you do me a favour and message me the name of the butter company and any of the people’s names you have. I’ll get Walter onto it.’
‘Right you are.’
‘And Julia, what I said about similarities…’
‘Not a word, I promise.’
Julia had packed away the groceries, household cleaning products and pet food, and was ready to put her feet up. It had been all go, go, go that morning, first with Hayley Gibson’s arrival, then the visit to Hester, and then the shopping and unpacking. Not to mention swinging by the protest. She hadn’t even had time to do her word games. She got out her phone to remedy that oversight, when she remembered her promise to send Hayley information about the Butter Nuts. She googled them – ‘the Butter Nuts, Cotswolds’ – hoping to find contact details and save Hayley at least a little bit of research. They were surprisingly ubiquitous on social media. There wasan Instagram account and a Facebook page. On both, their products were colourfully displayed, and described in cheerful, wholesome prose. It was neither controversial nor combative. There was no evidence of it being a company of psycho bullies, or vehicular murderers. In fact, Julia fancied trying the macadamia nut butter. With a little digging, she found an email address and a phone number, which she shared with Hayley, and carried on clicking aimlessly through the content.
Poppy’s name popped up. Curious to see the woman behind Hester’s horror stories, Julia decided to do a bit of nosing around. She clicked through to Poppy’s personal social media accounts, which bore out what Hester had related. Here was the controversial and combative side! Poppy had gotten into quite a number of beefs – if that term could be applied to vegans – largely, but not exclusively, to do with the bees. She felt very strongly about a number of issues, and she didn’t mince her words.
