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As I watered the garden that evening, I inhaled the familiar scent of lavender that transported me to wonderful summers with my Aunt Ada. If only I had taken time to get to know about her life, then perhaps I would have understood her trip to Paris more. The picture I had created of her in my mind over time was incomplete, making me feel sad. Musing on Aunt Ada’s love of life and kindness for others, I crushed some lavender between my finger and thumb to release the comforting aroma. Raised voices reached out from Felix’s garden and my ears tuned in.

‘What the hell have you done?’ Theatrical tones of Felix’s voice boomed. A flock of birds flapped overhead as they flew from the hedge.

‘I didn’t mean to kill him. I’m so sorry.’ Amelia’s tone remained calm. ‘Let’s open the champagne. Cover him up and we can get someone to clear it up later. Sit down, the champagne will get warm.’

Frozen to the spot, my mouth went dry, and I stared through a gap the hedge, hoping to get a glimpse of something. Sobbing disturbed the silence . Were Amelia and Felix not what they seemed, I wondered. There was a crumbling old stone wall in front of the fence; despite the warm weather the wall was mossy and slippery because it was sheltered by tall trees. As I scrambled to stand on it, a splinter jabbed my finger and I lost my footing. I tried to grab at the wall to steady myself.

‘Maisie,’ shouted a familiar man’s voice. He seemed to be near to me. ‘Maisie, wake up. You‘ve fallen.’

Placing my hand on what felt like grass, I rolled on to my side. Where was I? My mind drifted towards familiar dreams of my aunt arriving home and I wanted to call her name. Bronte nudged me with her nose, so I prised my eyes open and realised I had slipped and fallen on the lawn. My eyelids were heavy, and I wanted to sleep. Then someone shook me. I remembered Felix’s sobs, but my thoughts were hazy. Did Amelia say she had hurt someone? ‘What happened?’

‘Maisie, are you OK? Wake up, it’s me - Danny. I’ll drive you to the hospital. We need to get you checked out.’

‘I can’t quite remember what happened,’ I said, trying to untangle my thoughts. I managed to stand up.

‘Come on Maisie, hold on to my arm and I’ll help you up. You need to rest. I think we’ll have to get you checked out for concussion.’ Danny put his arm around me, and I felt the urge to rest my head on his shoulder. We walked into Tanglewood Cottage, and I let Danny close the door.

*

Sunlight burst in through the windows of the living room. I recognised the floral sofa, then I remembered slipping on the mossy wall yesterday evening. Danny had driven me to the hospital for a checkup, then insisted he monitored me for signs of concussion. He'd slept in the armchair but there was no sign of him now. I sat up slowly. ‘Ouch,’ I said, rubbing a bump on the back of head.

I loosened something digging into my waist and realised it was my shorts, then I moved the fleece and noticed grass stains on my knees. My hands were cut and bruised. Easing myself off the sofa, I said, ‘My bones ache.’ Bronte clambered into a tiny space beside me on the sofa. ‘Morning, Bronte. Come on, get down lass.’ Bronte jumped down and then sniffed under the kitchen door.

The oak kitchen door creaked open, and I heard sizzling and inhaled the aroma of sausages. ‘You’re going mad,’ I said to myself, wishing my aunt would suddenly appear in the doorway. I used my fingers to comb through the knots in my hair and bits of grass fell to my lap when I shook it. ‘Danny?’ I shouted. My stomach responded with a gurgle and a grumble.

‘Breakfast is almost ready,’ replied Danny.

‘Great. I’m starving.’ I stood up then sat down again. When I touched my hip, I felt a sharp pain.

‘Where’s the brown sauce, Maisie?’

Grabbing hold of the arm of the sofa, I pushed myself up gently. The back of the sofa supported me as I eased myself towards the kitchen door. Pain in my leg made me wince. Hand on the door frame, I peered into the kitchen.

‘Good morning! How’re you feeling?’ Danny stood at my stove. ‘I like the sausages to be a little burnt. How about you?’ He dropped a sausage in Bronte’s mouth. ‘I don’t think she can wait until it’s well done.’ My blue and white striped apron clung to his skinny body and reminded me of a stick of rock. Stirring the sausages in time to the music blasting out of the smart speaker, Danny looked as if he had always lived there, and it made me happy to have his presence in my kitchen.

‘Thanks for cooking breakfast and for staying last night.’

‘No worries, you did ask me to cook you breakfast so here I am. You had a nasty fall last night.’

Rubbing my head, I remembered some bad dreams. ‘Did I talk in my sleep?’

‘You thought I was trying to kill you. You muttered ‘murder’ several times in your sleep. My intentions are honourable - honestly.’ Walking over he gave me a playful nudge. ‘Oops, sorry I forgot you’re a bit wobbly.’

Holding on to the kitchen worktop, I managed to reach the table to sit down. Though I wanted to tell him he reminded me of Florence Nightingale disguised as a stick of rock, the words did not come out. I tried to take in the whole scene again, revelling in the sight of a man cooking breakfast for me, but I resisted the urge to share a photo on social media for the benefit of Matt.

He removed the sausages from the pan board and cut them longways on a wooden board. After slicing some huge white bread cakes, he added the sausages and a ton of brown sauce.

I took a huge bite of the sandwich. The soft white bread and chewy texture of the sausages made me smile. ‘Mmm,’ I said.

Danny bit into his sandwich and let the brown sauce drip down his face, I tried not to cringe when he chewed the food like a hungry dog. But I still preferred this to the sight of Matt dabbing the corners of his mouth with kitchen roll and pointing to sauce on my face.

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘My mother says I sound like an animal when I eat. I’m always starving when I’ve been on my run.’ He cleared his plate then removed mine from the table and started washing up.

‘I’ll wash up. You’ve done enough.’

He searched the cupboards as if it was his own kitchen. ‘Don’t worry, I love washing up.’ Holding up his hands, he sniffed them. ‘This lavender washing up liquid smells lovely.’ He padded over to the table.

‘Heatherbridge Stores own eco brand, no less.’

Pointing to the apron he said, ‘What do I look like in this pinnie?’

‘Stick of rock?’ Oops, I worried I had offended him.

Lines around his eyes creased and he let out a low laugh.

‘Give me the apron, it looks better on me.’ I tried to stand up, but pain shot down my leg again.

‘Whoa, sit down. I’ll get you settled here then get on with my work. I work for myself so can set my own hours.’ He handed me a business card. ‘You can call me if you need help.’

The blue and white card simply said ‘Big Breaks’ along with his name Danny Day. I hadn’t expected him to be involved in snooker. I’d pegged him to be a fitness instructor or someone who worked at the youth hostel organising outdoor events.

As if reading my mind, he explained, ‘Big Breaks is my own business and hasn’t got anything to do with snooker. I organise active and unique holidays for executives by day and get involved being an outdoor instructor and mountain rescue volunteer in my spare time.’

‘I’d assumed surf bum.’

‘How did you guess?’ he said, pointing to the surfboarding picture on his T-Shirt. ‘I have less time to go surfing at weekends now. I did think about living near to the sea, but my gran left me my cottage. I hadn’t the heart to sell it, so I moved in with Laura.’

Poor, sweet Nancy must have been his grandmother. ‘I never saw you here when I was younger,’ I said, thinking it would have been nice to have a friend here in Heatherbridge then.

‘No. My parents live in France. We didn’t get back here very often.’

‘It’s a shame. There was never anyone here the same age as me. Mind you, I’m not sure we’d have shared the same interests. I was either reading or watching TV.’

‘I watched a lot of British TV when I was here. I even liked all the repeats of Morecambe and Wise.’

‘Really, me too.’ Worried I sounded too surprised, I changed the subject. ‘Do you speak French?’

‘ Bien sur ! I went to school in France. Do you speak French?’

‘All the right words, but not necessarily in the right order.’

‘Boom! Nice one.’

Unaccustomed to this response to my silly jokes, I fiddled with my hair.

‘So, why were you peering over Felix’s fence?’ His face widened with a huge grin.

I waited and remembered Felix sobbing. At that moment I was certain Amelia said she didn’t mean to kill someone. ‘I was digging up some tough weeds and slipped. I’m not used to hard physical work.’ Even though he made me want to confess my suspicions, I did not want to reveal too much and start the crazy Maisie reputation. I would ask Felix what had happened. Clatter of coins falling on the doormat stopped the conversation.

Danny picked up the money and dropped it in the jar.

‘How did you know to do that?’ I asked, a little suspicious of his familiarity with my routines.

‘Just going on what I’d do with the money. What’re you saving for…?’

Tapping my nose, I said, ‘That’s my business.’ I had to stop myself from spilling out all of my thoughts like a speaking book.

‘Cool! Don’t tell me if it’s not legal.’ Then he mirrored my gesture and the tiny flick of the head I seemed to have been perfecting recently.

Relieved he did not judge me or quiz me more about why I had been peering over the fence, I relaxed. Danny was fun to talk to, I kind of liked him and never felt the pressure to impress him. He was the kind of guy you could trust. My aunt trusted him, so I asked, ‘Danny, what do you think of Felix?’ If he raised concerns, then I might dig in but otherwise I would keep shtum.

‘He seems OK. Polite. A charmer! He was good friends with your aunt, so she liked him.’

‘I didn’t know Felix was a close friend of hers until recently. In fact, it’s amazing how much I didn’t know about her and her friends.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Did you know about her lover in Paris?’

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Afraid not. Felix may be a ladies’ man, but she treated him like her son.’

‘Don’t worry.’ I raised my hand in the air. ‘I know he wasn’t her lover. However, I would like to get in touch with her lover in Paris - just to let them know. And. Erm. See if …’ Something stopped me from articulating my worries.

‘Have you asked Nora and Camellia?’

‘I asked Nora. She seems to think my aunt is in the potting shed.’ I could not believe I had blurted it out.

Throwing back his head, he chuckled, ‘Nora fancies herself as Jessica Fletcher. Ignore her. I’ve read their Facebook posts, and they suspect you and Felix.’

I coughed. ‘What on earth?’

‘I know. It’s hilarious, isn’t it? They think either one of you may have kidnapped her or…’ He widened his eyes. ‘Or worse.’ His shoulders shook. ‘It’s a peaceful village but they have to make their own entertainment.’

‘Oh no, maybe they’ll suspect me even more if I go to Paris.’

‘Tell them you have to see the authorities about your aunt. Don’t worry about them.’ He glanced at his phone. ‘I need to get going soon.’

‘Right, I think I’ll go get a shower and change these clothes.’ I tugged at my creased T shirt and pulled a face. I wanted to be alone now because my head was throbbing.

‘I’ll walk behind you as you go upstairs. Just to check you’re safe. I can run and grab any stuff you need to save your legs.’

‘But I’m fine,’ I said, wobbling to my feet and grabbing hold of the furniture.

Observing my scowl, he put up his hand to surrender. ‘Fine. I’ll leave you to it then. Just call me if you need any help.’ He turned and let himself out. I regretted the scowl I had given him, but he left in good humour.

I managed to shower, but my back smarted with pain each time I tackled an item of clothing. Maybe I would phone Danny later to get me some painkillers from the pharmacist. Danny was not the sort of guy I would normally think of talking to. If someone ran past me, I usually looked the other way as I did not want to be showered in their sweat. When Matt returned from the gym, he was always neat and tidy. Realisation hit me, forcing me to screw up my eyes like I did when eating sherbet. He may well have been pretending to go to the gym when he was visiting Connie.

Observing myself in the mirror, I noticed a small bruise on my forehead. There was no point in adding any make-up as it would run down my face in this heat, so I gave up and struggled downstairs, holding onto the handrail for dear life. When I reached the hall, a shadow appeared behind the opaque glass and the door opened.

‘Hello, there!’ Felix stood behind an enormous bouquet of red roses. Charm lit up his face like a Christmas tree and almost wiped my memory of last night’s incident. Once my memory rebooted, I started to flush with anxiety.

‘Er, er, er,’ I said, waiting for sentences to form. I did not want him to ask to come into the house. Then I remembered he had a key. ‘Can I have your key, please?’ I managed to push out the words. ‘I seem to have lost mine.’

‘Your key is right here in the lock.’

‘Oh, silly me,’ I said, knowing my vest top revealed my neckline colouring a scarlet red to match the roses. ‘Give me the …’

‘Do you need anything?’ He raised both eyebrows then creased his forehead to show concern.

With my leg throbbing, I thought of the painkillers. ‘Well, I do need some erm.’

‘Danny told me you had a nasty fall trying to remove some weeds near to the fence.’ Now right up to my face, he kissed me on both cheeks, forcing me to lose balance. Though it was akin to the temporary thrill from a fairground ride, I could blame the stumble on my fall. ‘Oops, I’m a bit dizzy after the fall.’

He pushed the flowers into my arms and said, ‘Danny’ll check on you later. I need to meet someone today.’ Then Felix stood beside me, put his arm around my shoulder and I savoured the delicious scent of musk, sandalwood and cardamom. ‘Sorry to leave you, Maisie. We’ll get together soon.’ When his face creased with concern, he looked even more attractive.

‘Yes, that would be nice.’ Even if Felix was a criminal adept at winning women’s hearts, I would still have handed mine to him wrapped up in a bow at that moment. With my hand covering my red neck, I gazed at him walk away with my key. ‘Is Amelia okay?’ I asked when I found the strength to project my voice. ‘And I need my key back.’

Felix’s glide came to a halt. Invisible strings moved his head up and down as he nodded to my response. His phone rang. ‘Yes, yes, sweetie. I’ll be there soon. Jemima, darling, big girls don’t cry.’ With his back to me and the mobile phone still against his ear, Felix strolled away.

But as soon as Felix and his charm disappeared, I found myself thinking of Danny.