Page 21

21

‘I’m sorry, but there’s somewhere else I need to go,’ Julia told Jake when she got back to the car. ‘It looks like there will be no walk with Leo today after all.’

WALK! – his favourite word. Jake whined in delight and turned his large body in circles – no mean feat in the back seat of a small car. He banged the back of Julia’s seat, and his tail whipped against the windows. The whole car trembled.

‘No, I said not going for a…’

Julia stopped herself just in time, realising her mistake. Jake’s vocabulary was limited, and he was selectively deaf when it suited him, but ‘walk’ was one word he never missed. The word ‘no’ and its close relative ‘not’ were words that seemed unrecognisable to his doggy brain.

‘Okay, Jakey, calm down.’ She stroked his ears, which sometimes worked to settle him. ‘Sit down. I’ll tell you what, I’ll drop you home first. You can hang out with Henny Penny and Chaplin while I go and see Hayley.’

Jake was, frankly, bored with her itinerary and with her commentary. There had been all too much driving, waiting and talking, and too little snacking and walking, as far as he was concerned. When Julia started the car, he gazed wistfully out of the window.

Once home, Jake leapt from the car as if he was being released from prison. Even Chaplin seemed annoyed at their long absence. He was sitting on the front doormat glaring at them like a stern father waiting for a tardy teenager who had missed her curfew. Julia half expected him to tap his wristwatch and demand to know exactly what time she thought it was, young lady.

Julia dashed to the back garden to let the chickens out, and saw that Henny ‘Houdini’ Penny had let herself out already. Jake galloped up to her and snuffled her chestnut feathers with his big brown nose. ‘Right then, you behave yourselves, I’m off,’ Julia said, having checked the water bowls and general state of things. ‘If it’s quick, we might still be able to…’ She stopped herself just in time, and said, ‘Ambulate.’

As she got back into the car, she had a bit of a laugh at her own joke, but sobered up rather quickly at the thought of going to see Hayley. She’d been warned about coming with another of what the detective liked to call her ‘half-baked ideas and improbable theories’. And the more she thought about it, the more she realised that this one was based on an assumption – that the ‘Bethie’ in the phone conversation was Bethany. Julia couldn’t see who else it could possibly be, but that was the sort of detail that Hayley liked to home in on, and then she would give Julia one of her looks, or worse, one of her talks about minding her own business. The theory was based on two unproven premises, in fact – the other being that Roger Grave and Bethany had something going on between them. Julia had no evidence of either fact. And without that, ‘half-baked ideas and improbable theories’ rather accurately covered the situation.

One thing about Julia Bird, though: she wasn’t long out of ideas .

Julia seldom shopped at the supermarket that Graham had managed and where Bethany worked. It was on the very edge of Berrywick, on the opposite side from Julia’s house. It wasn’t more than a five-minute drive, but Julia was in the habit of shopping at the little shops in the high street. She was usually only shopping for one – one human, that was – and more often than not, she picked up two or three items on her walks, or on her way to Second Chances or the Buttered Scone. She enjoyed the ease and neighbourliness of it, and only went to a bigger shop, by car, once a month or so.

The shop wasn’t busy. It was 2.30p.m., after the lunchtime shoppers, and before the rush of people stopping on the way home from fetching children or from work. Bethany was easy to spot, thanks to her red hair, which she wore pulled up in a tight, no-nonsense ponytail. She was in the cleaning products aisle with a clipboard and a pen, presumably doing some sort of stock-related activity. It would be a big job. The sheer number of cleaning products in the world was one of the things that made Julia feel like some peasant transported from the nineteenth century. She was ninety-eight per cent convinced that there were only three distinct products, and the rest was packaging and smells. Furthermore, she felt sure that water, bleach and vinegar would take care of household hygiene. But she could never entirely resist the pressure to buy floor cleaner, tile cleaner, oven cleaner, window cleaner…

‘Oh hello, it’s you!’ Julia said to Bethany, in what she hoped sounded like surprise. ‘I’m Julia, we met at the funeral.’

She added this, knowing that young people didn’t seem to be able to remember and recognise older people. She imagined they thought they all looked the same. It was part of the invisibility of old age.

‘Of course I remember you, Julia,’ said Bethany. ‘You were very kind. You gave me tissues and sweets. ’

‘How are you doing? It must be hard being back at work without Graham.’

‘Oh, it’s sad and weird, but when you’re busy, it takes your mind off things for a bit.’

‘Well, I hope you’ve got good support.’

‘Not really…’

‘And you’ve got Roger Grave to lean on, haven’t you?’ Julia hoped that she was not being too direct.

Bethany looked at her in mild surprise. ‘Oh, do you know him?’

‘I do, actually.’

‘And how did you work out we were…?’

‘I’m a social worker; I have a bit of an instinct for human relationships. I put two and two together.’

‘Well, I mean, quite a few people know by now; it’s not the secret it once was. So I suppose there’s not a lot of putting together needed, really.’

Times really had changed. Grave was a senior policeman, and old enough to be Bethany’s father, and if what Bethany said was true, it was an open secret that the two of them were involved in a relationship, and no one batted an eyelid.

‘Anyway, it’s not as if he’s very supportive as far as Graham is concerned,’ Bethany said.

‘Graham?’ Julia wasn’t sure if the young woman would be pleased to realise that Julia knew about the affair.

Bethany dropped her voice. ‘Graham was in love with me,’ she said. ‘He was going to leave Jane.’

‘You can see why Roger might not have liked that.’ Julia felt she was rather understating the situation.

‘I suppose he’s very protective, and he didn’t think the relationship with Graham was good for me.’

‘I can imagine it’s been quite difficult for you, being torn between the two of them.’

‘That’s exactly it! It’s as if they think they were in some sort of competition for my attention.’

‘Understandable, really, when you think of it. Two men, both of whom care for you.’ Julia was slightly stunned by how openly Bethany was talking about this, but told herself again that times had changed.

Bethany was still speaking. ‘Exactly, and you know what dads are like with their daughters.’

Dads? Why was she talking about dads now? Not that she could blame Bethany’s dad, whoever he was, for being worried for his daughter. This wasn’t the kind of arrangement a parent dreamed of for their child.

Bethany glanced around the shop to make sure no one was in earshot, and went on: ‘Of course, with Graham being married, Dad was not at all happy. But like I said to him, “It’s not like you’ve got much of a leg to stand on, Regional Superintendent Grave. Mum was actually engaged to someone else when she fell pregnant with me.”’

Wait. What?

Roger Grave was Bethany’s dad ? Julia was struck dumb. She actually did not know what to say at this surprise revelation. This passed unnoticed, because Bethany was more than prepared to keep up the conversation on her side. ‘I feel like I can talk to you, Julia. I’ve got no one to talk to about this, really. All the other girls here disapprove – they think I’m awful for getting involved with a married man, and my boss at that. My mum doesn’t even know about it; she would be very upset and disapproving, too. I mean, I don’t blame her, I feel bad about it. Bad about his wife. I know it was wrong. It wasn’t the plan at all, but we were spending all this time together at work, and next thing we knew, Graham and I were in love.’

Bethany looked so sad and wistful that Julia couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She was a young woman who, for the sake of love, had done something she knew was morally suspect, and now she’d lost everything.

‘I told Dad we were in love, that Graham’s marriage was over and we were going to be together. Of course, he was furious. He blamed Graham. He thought he had taken advantage of me. And he’d already cast him in the play when he found out about us, which made it even more awkward. I was worried there would be trouble between them in the production, but apparently they mostly kept it professional. Although he did have a chat with Graham, made it clear that if he was serious about me, he needed to leave his wife. And that helped a lot.’

‘Bethany, did your father ever threaten Graham?’

‘No, of course not! I mean, not seriously. He did tell me he’d like to punch him in the face. But you know my dad. He’s all talk. He would never hurt him.’

‘You’re sure?’

Bethany’s voice rose alarmingly. ‘Of course I’m sure! Oh, my God, Julia! You can’t think he had anything to do with the shooting. That was an accident! And besides, Dad is a policeman! He would never dream of doing such a thing.’

Julia was considering how best to ask Bethany about the conversation she’d overheard, when the younger woman said, ‘Oh-oh, here comes trouble.’

Julia followed her gaze, and saw a bossy-looking woman marching towards them.

‘The assistant manager. She has designs on Graham’s job, and of course she doesn’t like me. I’d better get back to work,’ Bethany whispered, before saying, at normal volume: ‘Here you are, then. These are the floor polishes. All sorts, we have, and a number of different sizes. Sprays, of course, and, um, wax, and this one smells of lavender and that one’s lemon…’

‘Thanks for your help. You’ve been very informative,’ said Julia, grabbing the nearest can of something from the shelf. As she swept past the assistant manager, who was now bearing down the aisle like a small brunette tank, Julia repeated herself loudly, for good measure: ‘Very helpful and informative indeed, thank you, Bethany.’