Page 25 of Murder in the Winter Woods
The blood of the bees is on your hands!she’d told a woman who had proudly posted a picture of her homemade honey cake on Facebook. Julia wondered if bees actuallyhadblood. But the point was clear, either way.
Poppy also posted regular pictures of what she labelled her ‘yoga practice’ and shared classes offered by the studio that she attended. She probably needed the yoga to calm her down after all the stress of arguing on social media. Julia knew the Hayfield studio in question – she had visited it on one of her previous amateur sleuthing missions, and remembered the lovely, lithe young lady who had run the place.
‘Long black hair. Boyfriend worked at the garden centre. What was her name again?’ she asked herself impatiently. Proper nouns were quite tardy in arriving at her conscious brain these days. ‘Milly!’ she said, relieved, when the name dawdled in.
She rolled her stiff shoulders, enjoying the clicks and the easing of stress. ‘I really should do yoga more regularly. Tomorrow is as good a time to start as any.’
14
Jake looked up eagerly at the clinking of the car keys. His eyes bored into Julia’s, and she could almost hear the whirring of his brain trying to interpret the signs. What did this mean? Was it good for the dog? What larks might be on offer? Was there a morning walk in his future? Or at least a trip in the car? Or was he to be abandoned? Bereft?
‘No, not now, Jake, we’ll go out later,’ said Julia. She had learned not to use the word ‘walk’ in his presence, as it only got him excited, even with a ‘no’ in front of it. Her body language and the word ‘no’ were enough to convey the bad news. Not only was there no walk, but he wasn’t invited on the outing Julia had planned for the morning, which was to a 10 a.m. yoga class in Hayfield.
Julia had found, in her online investigation, that Milly’s yoga studio, the one that Poppy frequented, offered a free trial lesson to new students. She had messaged Milly the previous evening to enquire, and now here she was in tracksuit trousers and a rather shapeless long-sleeved T-shirt, which would have to pass for yoga gear.
Jake put his head on his paws and sighed dejectedly. Chaplin, who frankly couldn’t give a toss about Julia’s plans for the day,stared fixedly at his bowl. As long as his tummy was filled, and there was a comfortable and warm spot to sit, he was fine. Julia put down her bag and car keys, topped up the bowl with fresh biscuits, stroked his head, and went on her way.
At the far end of the Hayfield main road, just past the last of the shops, was Milly’s small yoga studio. Julia opened the front door and stepped into a little area fitted with shelves for shoes and bags. She stowed her things and went into the studio itself, a calm and restful place, with pale wooden floors and white walls. With her characteristic punctuality, Julia had arrived twelve minutes before the scheduled time for the class to begin. The studio was empty, except for Milly, who was straightening a pile of yoga blocks.
She turned when she heard the door. ‘Julia!’ she said, and reached out to take both Julia’s hands in her own. ‘I was so happy to hear from you, and I’m pleased you are here.’
‘And I’m pleased to be here, finally. I’ve been meaning to come for ages.’
‘You never regret the time and energy you put into your physical and emotional health,’ said Milly, reminding Julia how sweet and earnest she was. One of those trusting, kindly sort of people. Which made Julia feel bad about being less than entirely honest with her about the motive behind her sudden interest in yoga.
‘Well, I’m sure you’re right about that. The other day I saw something about your studio on Facebook and I thought, well, that’s a sign! So here I am.’
‘Really? What did you see? I’m not very good at all that online marketing.’
‘It was on someone else’s page. Poppy, her name is. You know how these things mysteriously come up on your screen.’
‘It’s the algorithm,’ Milly said, as if that explained everything.
‘Poppy makes all those nice nut butters. I saw them at one of the markets and I googled them. And the next thing I was on their page and it showed me her profile, and I saw she was somehow connected to you.’
‘Yes, Poppy is a regular here.’ There was a slight reserve in Milly’s voice. ‘In fact, she’ll be here any minute. She lives down the street and she always comes to this class.’
‘Ah, well, that’s nice. She did seem a little stressed in her Facebook posts. Angry, even. I’m sure the yoga helps her relax.’
‘Yes, poor Poppydoesstruggle with her anger. It’s such a destructive emotion. Poisonous to the body and soul. It comes from a good place, it really does – she cares so much about the animals. She just gets worked up.’
‘She certainly seems very committed.’
‘I’m vegetarian – I have been since childhood. So I understand her position and her passion. But you can’t expect everyone to be where you are. And shouting at them doesn’t generally help them come over to your views.’
‘You catch more bees with honey than with vinegar, as my mum used to say.’
‘That’s so true, Julia. Your mother was a wise woman, by the sound of things. But I wouldn’t be mentioning honey around Poppy. Or bees. She gets very angry about that, too.’
Julia was about to enquire further, when Milly’s phone rang. ‘Excuse me,’ she said, and answered it. A series of short, non-committal comments: ‘Yes…The old Mercedes…? Gosh…That sounds horrible…I hope you’re all right…Yes…See you soon…Poor you, do try and do some deep breathing, and if you can manage a few stretches…Okay. Bye, Poppy.’
Milly ended the call. ‘Well, it looks like Poppy won’t be here after all. She has to take her car to the panel beater in the next village. She’s getting a dent fixed.’
‘Oh dear, that doesn’t sound good.’ It didn’t sound good for Poppy, thought Julia, especially if she had come by that dent in the way that Julia was thinking.
‘She’s fine, apparently. It was just a bump, and it’s a big, solid old car. It belonged to her gran.’
‘Hello!’ came a call from the door. Two more women came in, followed quickly by another. They were clearly regulars, judging by the chummy way they greeted each other. They welcomed Julia, and took up their positions on the mats.
