Page 71 of Murder in the Winter Woods
Pippa standing up disturbed the puppies who had been lying quietly at her feet. In the way of small Labradors, they went from snoozy balls of softness to wild zooming creatures in a matter ofseconds. They went racing around the room as Pippa shouted, trying to get them to calm down, knocking into Hayley, Julia and Margaret until the small brown puppy that had reminded Julia of Jake got entangled in Julia’s handbag strap. In the process of trying to get aways, he pulled at the bag, still attached to the chair. As Julia leapt to her feet to untangle him, the chair fell backwards. The brown puppy pulled away, still entangled in the bag. The contents spilled out – a somewhat embarrassing mix of loose coins, a lipstick, a crumpled shopping list. The puppies gathered round to investigate, hampering Julia’s attempt to scoop up the handbag detritus.
All eyes were on the scattered items, which had distributed themselves over a remarkably large area. Even Margaret surveyed the scene with a dazed expression.
‘There it is!’ she said, pointing at the floor with a quavering finger.
Julia grabbed a half roll of mints and a lip balm and put them onto the table.
‘There it is. That’s my St Christopher!’ Margaret chirped.
‘This?’ Julia said, picking up the silver disc attached to a broken chain.
‘Aunt Margaret has been looking for that medallion for ages. I thought it must have been lost, or just misplaced around the house,’ said Pippa. ‘How on earth didyouget hold of it?’
Julia looked down at the St Christopher that she was holding. ‘I found it on the road,’ she said slowly, handing it to Margaret.
‘I’ve no idea how it got there, but what a piece of luck that you found it!’ said Pippa. ‘How did you know it was hers?’
‘I didn’t know who it belonged to,’ said Julia. ‘But I thought someone might miss it, so I put it on the Berrywick Facebook page. There was no response and I forgot all about it. What a coincidence that it should belong to Aunt Margaret.’
Pipp smiled happily. ‘Let me get that tea.’
As soon as Pippa left the room, Julia turned to Hayley and whispered, ‘I found it near Lewis’s body, Hayley.’
‘At the crime scene?’ Hayley hissed, her eyes narrowing. ‘You found a piece of potential evidence at the crime scene? And you didn’t hand it in?’
‘It was a couple of days after the incident, and a little way away from exactly where it happened, and to be honest, I forgot about it.’
‘You forgot.’ Hayley sounded sceptical.
‘Forensics had been and gone. The police tape was cleared away. It didn’t seem important. I just popped it in my bag because I thought someone might be missing it, and I could return it. But I forgot it was even there.’
A small silent storm played over Hayley’s face. Her team had missed a potentially useful piece of evidence. Julia had found it, but forgotten all about it. And she, Hayley Gibson, was angry with everyone, including herself.
Hayley turned to Margaret, who had sunk back in her seat and seemed to be having a small nap. ‘Margaret,’ she said loudly.
Margaret opened her eyes. ‘No need to shout,’ she said. ‘I’m right here.’
‘Is this St Christopher definitely yours?’ she asked.
‘Oh, yes. It was a present from my mum. It’s got the saint on it, and also there’s the chain. It must have broken.’
When it came to the questions of when and how she’d lost it, Margaret became vague. ‘I suppose I dropped it. At the shops, maybe? Or on a walk. Or someone might have stolen it. Pippa never locks her door. I told her, you can’t trust people. Maybe someone took it.’
Dusk was falling and the room was dim and grey. No one had thought to turn on a light. The fire had burned down, and needed another log. Instead of adding the bright and festive touch they had earlier, the Christmas bells and baublesnow somehow managed to have the opposite effect, drawing attention to the gloom.
Pippa came back with a plate of muffins, which she put on the coffee table in front of Hayley and Julia.
The sight of Pippa looking so tired and pale reminded Julia of something.
‘Pippa, you mentioned that Margaret stopped driving recently.’
Pippa looked slightly confused by the turn the conversation had taken. ‘Well, I had to take her keys away, didn’t I? She kept coming home with dents in the car and couldn’t remember what she had driven into, poor thing.’ Pippa gave a small laugh. ‘I keep expecting a neighbour to claim for a postbox!’
Hayley and Julia exchanged a quick glance.
Pippa smiled and indicated the muffins. ‘Help yourself. Back in a mo with the tea.’
Julia salivated at the sight of the muffins, and her tummy gave a low anticipatory growl. They looked delicious, deep golden brown, perfectly risen, and she’d had a very busy day with nothing to eat since breakfast. She reached for the plate, and then pulled her hand back, as if she’d been shocked. The little slice of banana pushed into the top of each one – she had seen those exact muffins before. In fact, she’d handed a plate of muffins just like that to…
