Page 25 of Murder in the Winter Woods (Julia Bird Mysteries #8)

The weather, which had been unseasonably – some might say suspiciously – mild, had had a sudden change of heart.

In fact, it seemed to be making up for lost time, chucking everything it had at Berrywick.

Julia had woken to the pleasant sound of rain pattering on the roof, but it had cleared by the time she’d fed the animals and had her breakfast, leaving a watery light and biting cold in its wake.

Julia had been in the Cotswolds long enough not to trust a brief respite, and had decided to drive into the village, in the expectation of more rain or even snow.

Her expectations were more than met – they were exceeded – when the first flakes of the season started to drift down mid-morning.

Fortunately, when it began, she and Jake were already holed up in the Buttered Scone waiting for their order – a hot chocolate for her, and a pork sausage for him – and waiting for Hayley Gibson.

‘Good lord,’ said Julia, as the snow grew from a gentle flutter to a strong downfall. A gust of wind hurled the flakes horizontally at the front window of the tea room. ‘It feels like we’re in a boat in a storm at sea.’

Jake had never experienced a storm at sea, but he wasn’t enjoying the weather, not at all. He looked nervously at the windows, and then back at Julia, the whites of his eyes showing as his gaze swivelled to and fro.

‘It’s okay, Jakey,’ she said, patting his shoulder. ‘Lie down, there’s a good boy.’

Flo came over with a huge steaming drink, and the warm sausage, considerably improving Jake’s state of mind.

‘Ah, that looks good! I don’t think I’ve ordered a hot chocolate in years.’

‘Well, it’s the weather for it. That or a hot toddy with a good lug of brandy.’

‘Eleven is slightly early for that,’ Julia laughed.

She took a sip of her drink, which was silky smooth and rich with chocolate.

The Buttered Scone might just be the local tea room in a little village in the Cotswolds, but Flo prided herself on using the best local ingredients, and doing everything just right.

The hot chocolate was made with real chocolate and farm milk, with a raft of whipped cream and a grating of dark chocolate.

The door burst open, and a little group of people came in seeking shelter from the snow, Pippa Baker amongst them.

They slammed the door behind them against the weather.

There was a small commotion, laughter and exclamations, and the stamping of feet.

They removed raincoats and shook out umbrellas, and hung up their dripping outerwear on a coat stand, before dispersing into the warm fug of the Buttered Scone.

Pippa stopped by Julia’s table and gave a dramatic shiver. ‘I see winter’s decided to join us. It’s icy out there. So bad that I left the puppies – it’s not the weather for dogs.’

‘Nice weather for the ducks though.’ Julia delivered the cliché with a laugh. ‘For humans, I recommend the hot chocolate. Do you want to sit?’

‘Just for a mo. I’m meeting my brother – I’m a few minutes early.’

Flo appeared noiselessly at their table, pen and notebook poised. ‘What can I get you, Pippa?’

‘Oh, thanks Flo, but I’ll wait for my brother. We’re going to have lunch. I’ve been dreaming of your delicious lamb chops.’

‘Have you now?’ Flo smiled. She was susceptible to a bit of flattery. ‘Well, they’ve come in just in time. Delivery from the butcher was late, what with poor Lydia. Isn’t that a thing?’

Flo was susceptible to local gossip, too. She wasn’t mean, but if there was news to be broken in Berrywick, she did like to be the one to break it.

‘I haven’t heard…’ Pippa and Julia looked at her expectantly.

‘Died in her sleep, she did, poor thing.’

‘What, last night?’ asked Pippa, in astonishment.

‘I can’t believe it. I was in the butcher’s shop just the other day with my aunt Margaret.

She can’t drive anymore, so I took her out to do her shopping.

Lydia was behind the counter serving the customers, fit as a fiddle.

Well, apart from her bunions, which have been troubling her no end, as usual. ’

‘I shouldn’t think that was what did it. No one ever died of bunions, as far as I’m aware,’ said Flo, frowning. Julia wondered if she was perhaps worrying about her own bunions. She was on her feet all day, after all.

‘Indeed, I think not,’ Pippa agreed. ‘My aunt Margaret has bunions too, so the two of them had a good old chat about them. Aunt Margaret even insisted on going back that afternoon and giving Lydia some of her medication that she said really helped with the pain, and Lydia gave her some bunion plasters that hadn’t helped her, but she thought might help Margaret. ’

‘Ah, well, isn’t that nice of them both? Either way, the bunions won’t be troubling her now. Gone she is, poor Lydia, but at least she went peacefully in her sleep.’

Julia reflected on Lydia’s calm death, compared to the tragic ends of Lewis and Matthew.

I hope I go that way, she thought. A nice quick heart attack or stroke in my own bed.

The thought wasn’t morbid or frightening.

In fact, it was rather soothing. Julia had seen enough of life to be pragmatic about death.

‘Hello, everyone.’ Hayley Gibson had come in unnoticed, and was standing at the table.

Pippa said hello, and then said her goodbyes, claiming a nearby table for herself. Flo handed Hayley a menu as the policewoman made herself comfortable across from Julia.

‘What are you in the mood for, Detective? We’ve got lovely hot tomato and pepper soup; I made it specially when I saw the weather forecast. Comes with a slice of fresh sourdough.’

‘I’ll have that, thank you, Flo.’ Hayley handed back the menu, unopened. She looked pleased to be relieved of the burden of choice.

‘Nothing for me,’ said Julia. ‘That hot chocolate will keep me going until next week.’

‘Oh go on…A little drink like that?’ said Flo. ‘No room for a toastie? I know you love a little toastie.’

Flo’s toasties were not little, not by any stretch of the imagination. And her little drink hadn’t been little either. Julia waved her away with a smile.

As soon as Flo was out of earshot, Hayley cut to the chase. ‘So, what’s this information you have for me?’

Julia told her everything she had discovered from the time Hester came round to share her worries about the absent funds.

When she got to the part where she and Hester and Coral had gone to call on Anthony Ardmore, Hayley let out an exasperated, ‘For heaven’s sake, Julia.

’ For the rest, she let her speak, interrupting once or twice for a point of clarification.

When Julia was finished, Hayley sat silently for a good two minutes, her face impassive, while her brain whirred, processing what she’d heard.

She leaned forward and summed it up. ‘So two men died in the same way, within roughly two weeks of each other. And it turns out they were members of the same band years ago, and they recently became investors in the same investment scheme.’

‘That’s it, in a nutshell,’ said Julia. ‘I think we can safely say the deaths were no accident.’

Hayley waved her hand. ‘I was pretty sure of that from the minute Matthew died.’

‘As was I.’

‘But the way you’ve described it, it looks like it could be some kind of hit.’

It was the first time Julia had thought of it in quite those terms. ‘Hit’ was a word that belonged in the movies, usually movies about organised crime, or gang warfare. It gave her the shivers.

‘What was your impression of Anthony, Julia?’

‘He’s smooth. Too smooth for my liking. He got up my nose, the way he talked to us.

Patronising. He’s good-looking though, and well-groomed, so he probably gets away with it.

And he’s a sharp talker, the kind of man who’s got an answer for everything.

My impression is that he’s probably leaning towards dodgy, but just how far he’s leaning, it’s hard to say. ’

‘You paint a very vivid picture. I know the type. The question is, is this plant medicine thing an out-and-out scam? Or is it genuine, but making use of insider trading? Or might it even be a legitimate business venture, just a rather unusual one?’

With impeccable timing, Flo arrived with a steaming bowl of soup, a massive slab of fresh bread, and a tub of golden farm butter.

She had to manoeuvre carefully between the tables, every one of which was now full.

It seemed half of Berrywick had decided to take refuge from the weather and enjoy something warm and delicious at the Buttered Scone.

‘Enjoy,’ said Flo. Her plimsolls squeaked as she turned to leave.

They waited a moment, inhaling the tangy, basil smell of the soup. Hayley scraped a delicate layer of the surface with her spoon, and held it in front of her mouth, waiting for it to cool before sipping it.

Julia spoke. ‘It’s also possible that it’s somewhere in between – a highly speculative investment that he’s flogging to people who don’t fully understand the risks.’

‘Also dubious, but not necessarily illegal,’ Hayley said.

‘It’s a minefield, honestly. I went to a workshop on Fraud and Financial Crime in the Digital Age, or some such, a couple of months ago.

Very interesting, and pretty scary. Makes you want to close all your bank accounts and carry around a roll of tenners in your bra.

But I do know that there are plenty of very strange-sounding things that are perfectly legit.

And some people are making tons of money on them. ’

Julia nodded. ‘I’ve come to terms with the fact that it will never be me making tons of money off weird things. I’m more of a savings account sort of investor. And Hester and Coral, too, I imagine. They hoped to get the money back when we visited Ardmore, but he was having none of it.’

‘First things first, I’ll ask the financial crimes unit to have a look into the investment and see if it’s legit.’

‘Hester has got the emails with all the details, the contract and so on.’

‘Thanks, Julia, I’ll get them from her and take things from here.’ Hayley pulled a chunk of bread, dipped it into the soup, and popped it into her mouth.

‘Whatever the verdict on the investment, that still leaves us with the two dead men. Two murdered men, by the looks of things,’ said Julia.

‘It’s an odd way to kill someone, though, isn’t it, Hayley?

Well, maybe one person, if you were trying to make it look like an accident, but two people?

Two similar accidents in the same area within a fortnight or so seems likely to trigger suspicion. ’

‘Yes, I was assuming that the perpetrator was not a top-level professional criminal, and this was more of an on-the-fly kind of plan,’ said Hayley, who was hoovering up the soup like a person who hadn’t eaten for a week. Knowing Hayley, that might well be the case, thought Julia.

Hayley continued thinking out loud. ‘Someone who thought, it worked once, so why not try it again? But this whole investment aspect might make me rethink that. Either way, Julia, whoever’s behind this is dangerous. You can’t go poking around asking questions.’

‘I really wasn’t poking around, and I had no idea this was anything to do with the deaths,’ Julia said.

‘Hester asked me to go with her to find out about the investment. That’s all.

’ Julia tried to ignore the nagging guilt that this was not an entirely accurate portrayal of what had actually happened. She didn’t like misleading Hayley.

‘Well, that’s the end of it,’ said Hayley. ‘I’ll take this to financial crimes, and your business here is done.’

‘Yes, yes, of course.’

‘I’m serious, Julia,’ said Hayley sternly. ‘Don’t go near Anthony Ardmore. If this is a scam, or insider trading, and you threaten them, you’re in serious danger. These people can be ruthless.’

‘You have my word.’ Julia said, wondering as she spoke whether this was something she could promise.