Page 27 of Murder in the Winter Woods
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‘Is there a tap or a bathroom where I can wash the dust off my hands?’ Julia asked, rubbing her perfectly clean hands together.
‘The bathroom is inside, on your right,’ said Geoff, without looking up from the scratch which he was attending to with vigour.
Julia walked into the workshop, past the little office area on the left, and was about to open the bathroom door when a woman walked out. It was Poppy. Julia recognised her from her social media. Her bright red hair – dyed to match her name? Julia wondered – made her instantly recognisable.
Julia stepped back and held the door to let Poppy pass. The woman looked distracted, and walked past Julia without even making eye contact, let alone saying thank you. It was as if she didn’t even see her. Julia had become accustomed to her invisibility as a woman of a certain age. On a good day, she even appreciated it. It had its uses, on occasion – like now, for instance, when she was engaged in amateur snooping.
A man’s voice came from the workshop: ‘There you are, Poppy. Are you all right?’
Julia glanced behind to see a man coming towards the redhead. He took her in his arms.
Julia stepped into the little bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar. She stood by the door, her ear to the gap, to catch their conversation.
‘Thanks for coming to fetch me, Ollie.’
‘It’s no problem. But what’s going on? Why didn’t you tell me about the accident?
‘I was confused. Upset. I didn’t want you to think…’ Poppy gasped between the words. ‘There was this horrible sound. I’ll never forget it.’
‘It was an accident, darling.’
‘I took a life…I killed a living being.’
‘It was an accident, Poppy. You wouldn’t even kill a mosquito, everyone knows that.’
‘Well, now I’ve killed something, and not a mosquito. A sentient being. I’ve committed a crime. A soul is dead.’
‘You need to go to the police, tell them everything.’
‘No, I can’t tell them…It’ll draw attention to us.’
‘They’ll find out.’
‘I can’t go to prison, Ollie. They eatmeatthere.’
Julia shut the bathroom door, her blood pounding in her ears. A confession! She needed to tell Hayley immediately. She washed her hands, shook off the drips, and dried them on the paper towel. She reached for her phone and dialled.
Hayley answered in two rings, rather to Julia’s surprise.
‘What’s up?’ she asked, with her usual brusqueness.
Julia described what she’d seen and heard. She told her about the blood, and was only halfway through relating the results of her bathroom eavesdropping when the detective cut her short.
‘Got it. Thanks. Tell the mechanic not to touch that car. The police will be impounding it. Can you come by the station, give DC Farmer your statement? And I’ll get onto this Poppy person.’
The protesters were outside the police station again. There were eight of them now. The old chap, Fred, was there, still in his voluminous red puffer jacket. The woman with the double pram wasn’t present. Presumably, two small kids kept her too busy to be protesting every day. Diane and the older hippy lady – Lorraine, that was her name – were bossing around the new recruits.
‘Oh, hello, Julia,’ Diane said. ‘Have you come to join us?’
‘Ah, no, although I support your cause. I’ve got other business today.’
‘Well, we’re here from twelve until one every day.’
‘I see, well, I might see you on another occasion. Right now, I’ve got an appointment at the police station.’
‘Ah, and what would that be…?’
