Page 38 of Murder in the Winter Woods (Julia Bird Mysteries #8)

The main road into Berrywick was lined with big white posters, attached to street lights, each with a single sentence.

Slow down, tortoises live here too!

Drive slowly, children bike on this road!

Slow down, dogs abound!

Be aware, children everywhere!

Julia felt a strange feeling of confusion and recognition. She recognised the words – after all, she had come up with the messages – but in all the drama with Aunt Margaret, she had completely forgotten that the posters were going to be put up that week. They must have gone up that very morning.

Julia was quietly delighted and slightly discombobulated by the fact that the words in the slogans had come out of her own brain. She drove on, in the direction of the police station, and saw the rest of her creations:

Drive slowly, our children walk to school.

Please drive carefully in our village.

Slow down, dog walkers ahead!

Tame driving keeps our wildlife safe!

They were pretty good, if she said so herself.

Specific, official-sounding, but friendly.

She was so busy reading her own road safety posters and congratulating herself on her copywriting that she failed to concentrate on the road.

She looked up to see a pigeon standing in the middle of the road.

Yanking the wheel to give the bird a wide berth, she almost scraped her tyre on the pavement.

‘Mind where you’re going,’ shouted the old gent who was standing at the roadside, preparing to cross.

She jammed on brakes and mouthed: ‘Sorry,’ through the windscreen.

‘Read the signs!’ he said, jabbing an angry finger diagonally upwards towards the closest one.

She smiled to herself at the irony of it all.

‘It’s no laughing matter,’ he said huffily. The pigeon eyed them both from the centre of the road.

Hayley Gibson was in her office with an expectant look on her face. ‘So, what is it that can’t wait until tomorrow?’

‘Do you know Pippa Baker’s Aunt Margaret?’

‘The one who’s ill?’

‘Yes, she has a brain tumour, poor woman. It’s been very hard on Pippa.’

Hayley frowned. ‘You needed me to urgently know that things have been hard for Pippa Baker?’

Julia smiled. ‘No, Hayley. Bear with me. Margaret, as it turns out, has a history with Lewis Band. Not a good one.’ Julia relayed the story of the band and its young singer, fresh from a Cotswold village, and how she’d suffered at the hands of one of her fellow band members.

‘If that Lewis Band was still alive, I swear, I would see him in prison, no matter how long ago the crime was committed,’ said the detective, with quiet, cold fury. She steadied herself with a long, deep breath and said, in a more even tone, ‘But I’m not sure that there is anything I can do now.’

‘I just can’t help feeling there’s something more here, Hayley. That if we ask Margaret the right questions, she might lead us to the solution.’

‘And you want me to ask those questions?’

‘Yes,’ said Julia. ‘I know people. But you know crimes. You’ll know what to ask.’

Hayley thought for a moment and then got to her feet.

‘Let’s go,’ she said, pulling the jacket off the back of her chair, and swinging it over her shoulders in one swift, fluid movement.

She was at the door before Julia had gathered her handbag and stood up.

‘Come on,’ Hayley said. ‘Leave your car here. I’ll drive us.

We can talk on the way. I’ll phone and tell Pippa we’re coming. I need to speak to Margaret.’

‘So after what Lewis did to her, Margaret left London and the whole record deal fell through?’ Hayley asked as she drove.

‘Yes, that’s what it sounds like. And she went without talking to anyone, not even Matthew. So no one knew why she left. There was a lot of anger and disappointment.’

‘I’m sure there was. And what about Lydia? Did Margaret tell you if she had anything to do with the band? She seems to have nothing in common with the others.’

‘No connection to the band. Margaret knows her from the butcher’s, of course. Grumbled about the quality of the chops she sold her. But she didn’t know her from the old days, or from the band, as far as I know.’

‘Mysterious.’

Pippa showed them through to the sitting room, which was bedecked with Christmas decorations. A fire was alight in the grate. It all looked quite festive. Even so, Julia’s mood was sombre.

Hayley sat down and indicated that Pippa should do the same. Once Pippa was perched on the edge of her chair, Hayley said, ‘I have some questions for you, and for your aunt, if that’s okay.’

‘I’ll bring Margaret,’ Pippa said, ‘although I’m not sure how she can help you in your investigation, Detective. Whatever happened, it was so long ago. I can’t see how it has any bearing on what happened to poor Lewis and Matthew.’

‘It might be nothing, but I’d like to hear first-hand what she remembers,’ Hayley said.

‘She’s not a robust person and the conversation about the assault really shook her up. She did some baking, which always calms her, and she had a little lie-down. I don’t want her upset. You’ll be gentle, won’t you, Hayley?’

‘Of course. I won’t press her on the details of the assault. I’m more interested in the relationship dynamics at the time. And what happened after.’

‘All right,’ Pippa said, with some reluctance, and went to fetch her aunt. Once Margaret, Pippa and the pack of puppies were back and settled, Hayley got down to business.

‘Margaret, Julia told me about the band, and what a good singer you were. She told me about your trip to London.’

‘Long time ago.’

‘Yes. Margaret, I know Lewis treated you badly,’ Hayley said. ‘And I’m sorry you went through such a terrible experience. If he was still alive, I would help you press charges against him, and make sure you get justice for what he did all those years ago.’

Margaret gave a humourless, monosyllabic almost-laugh: ‘Hah!’ Her eyes narrowed as she said, ‘He paid the price in the end. He got his comeuppance.’

Julia and Hayley glanced at each other.

Hayley continued her questioning: ‘Margaret, can you tell me about Matthew? He was your boyfriend, wasn’t he?’

‘We were in love. Sweet young love. Until…I ran away that night. He should have known . He should have helped me. I was so lonely.’ Her voice wavered pitifully. ‘I never forgave him for how he treated me.’

Pippa shot Hayley a warning glance.

The detective spoke gently: ‘Have you seen Lewis and Matthew since you came back to Berrywick, Margaret? Did you see them before they both died?’

‘Yes, I saw them.’ Margaret’s tearful moment was gone, replaced by rage. She spat out the words. ‘All of them, laughing. Bunch of good-for-nothings.’

‘Who are you talking about? Who did you see?’

‘All of them. The people from the band. The boys’ club. Together. Bastards.’

‘Ken Payne?’

‘Yes, him. And the other one. Dom. I saw them all,’ Margaret said.

‘I saw them all together. But they didn’t see me.

Too busy with their lunch. Laughing about the poor stupid girl I was in those days.

Lewis was likely telling them the story.

I could tell. They didn’t see me. Not then, and not the other times.

Never knew. Never saw it coming. Who’s laughing now?

Who?’ A humourless shout of laughter exploded from her frail chest.

‘Aunt Margaret, gosh, you are getting worked up. I think we could all do with a cup of tea and something sweet. I’ll put the kettle on and get us a little something to eat,’ Pippa said, standing up from the sofa.

‘I think we should talk about something else. It’s not good for Aunt Margaret to get so emotional.

Perhaps you can speak to her another day. ’

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 of seconds.

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 did you get 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?’