Angel Kiss (17 page)

‘Do you have any cocktails, Joe?’ asked Mary, her elbows resting on the table.

‘Where do you think you are?’ Joe joked with them.

Mary sighed. ‘Fine! We’ll have two more white wines, please.’

‘Coming right up,’ said Joe, and then disappeared through the door behind the bar.

‘And remember that time,’ said Mary, ‘the three of us snuck
off to the disco in Drumshanbo, and we would have got away with it if Beth hadn’t forgotten her bloody key!’

I couldn’t believe my luck. They were actually talking about Beth. Maybe I’d learn something more about her. Even if she wasn’t the spirit who needed my help. I was intrigued.

‘Oh, that was hilarious!’ said Lydia. ‘I got in so much trouble over that. But it was worth it. One of the best nights ever. We should go out more, you know. We used to go out all the time.’

‘I wish I could,’ mumbled Mary. ‘But it’s nice that we go out for Beth’s birthday, no matter what.’

‘To Beth,’ said Mary.

‘To Beth!’ said Lydia, and they clinked glasses.

‘Lydia,’ Mary paused. ‘Do you think she’s … you know … looking down on us?’

‘I like to think she is. I’ll never forget it, Mary. The day she went missing. I’ll never forget it as long as I live. I wish I hadn’t fought with her … that I’d just gone shopping like she’d asked.’

‘You can’t keep blaming yourself,’ said Mary. ‘It wasn’t your fault. You weren’t to know something terrible was going to happen.’

Lydia took another sip of her drink. ‘Do you have any idea who did it?’

‘No,’ whispered Mary. ‘I don’t.’

‘There you go,’ said Joe, placing two tall glasses on the table.

‘What’s this?’ asked Lydia.

‘You made us cocktails!’ said Mary.

‘I tried my best. May not be what you’re used to, but –’

‘Thank you!’ said Lydia.

‘What’s it called?’ asked Mary. ‘What kind is it?’

‘A bloody Mary! What else?’

Mary found this hilarious and started laughing hysterically.

Lydia took a sip from her blood-red drink.

‘Go on, Mary, have a sip.’

Mary took a gulp from her glass, then twirled the little party umbrella sticking out from it.

‘You’re brilliant, Joe,’ she said.

‘Ah, would you stop,’ he chuckled as he went back out through the door.

‘Imagine,’ said Lydia, turning to Mary. ‘Yourself and Joe could have been an item.’

‘Yes, I know,’ she sighed. ‘You never know what turns your life will take, do you?’

There was a loud burst of laughter that drowned out the conversation. Suddenly I realized I was sitting at a table of teachers. I could tell they were censoring their gossip for my benefit, so I decided to go out for some air and leave them to it.

Joe was standing outside, smoking a cigarette.

‘Jacki!’ he said. ‘I have something to ask you. We saw your poster in the parish hall, and myself and Brigid would love to hire you for the party, just to sing one song. We already have the band, but I think Mary would love it if you sang too.’

Oh no. I had planned to avoid the party. I didn’t want to hang out around Nick any time soon. But Joe looked so enthusiastic that I found myself saying, ‘I’d love to!’

‘Great!’ Joe took out a little crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. On it was a list of ten song titles written in red pen.

‘These are a few she likes.’

‘How did you get the list?’

‘I made it myself. I know all of Mary’s favourites. Just pick whichever one you like.’

‘OK, thanks. How’re the party preparations going?’ I asked as I put it in my pocket.

‘They’re going great. We still have a lot to do though.’

‘And Mary still has no idea about the party?’

‘Not a clue. She wanted to organize a Tidy Village Committee meeting for Friday, but everybody kept saying they had other stuff on. She was in a right huff yesterday! I can’t wait to see the look on her face. It’s going to be priceless.’

‘How are you going to get her there so?’ I asked.

Joe checked over his shoulder to make sure Mary was with Lydia at the bar and well out of earshot. ‘Well, you know her husband, Michael, the sergeant – he’s going to pretend to be taking her out to dinner, and then he’ll say that he has to drop something off in the hall, and then he’ll come out to Mary and say that I want to talk to her for a minute, and we’ll all be there when she comes in!’

‘She’ll be delighted.’

‘I hope so,’ said Joe, flicking his cigarette ash on to the ground.

‘Joe … do you know anything about the Beth Cullen murder?’

He looked at me strangely. ‘That’s a bit out of the blue! Why do you ask?’

‘I overheard Lydia and Mary talking about it just now, and I’ve seen her name mentioned in a couple of places.’

Joe sighed. ‘That was a long time ago … yet in ways it’s like yesterday. Do you not know what happened to her?’

‘I know she was murdered and her body was found in the forest.’

‘Yes, and she was … well, you know …’

‘She was what?’

‘She was … she was molested,’ whispered Joe, his voice quivering on the last word. ‘From the … 
evidence
left on her body they were able to determine the blood type of the killer … they took blood samples from all the men around here to try and find a match. I gave a sample, along with all the other men in the village.’

‘But they didn’t find a match?’

‘Well, I suppose they narrowed it down to a certain number, but they didn’t have enough evidence to charge anybody.’

‘Why didn’t they do DNA testing?’

‘That wasn’t available back then.’ Joe took a puff from his cigarette. ‘Personally I didn’t think anyone from around here would be capable of murder … But the human mind is a strange thing … You never know what will make somebody snap.’

I was resting on one of our patio recliners practising Van Morrison’s ‘Have I Told You Lately’ for Mary’s party. I sat cross-legged, playing my guitar. I loved my guitar – it sounded awesome and was pretty much an extension of me. I played it so much that it looked kind of battered. My gran had bought me a guitar case for my birthday. Reluctantly, because she’d wanted me to learn piano. I’d gone for a few lessons, and knew the basics, but guitar was my first love. As I practised the song over and over, I wondered why Mary and Joe hadn’t ended up together. I was sure they would have made a sweet couple. I’d seen Sergeant Reynolds around the village, and had to admit he was more handsome, but Joe Clancy was so nice.

‘Jacki,’ said Mum. ‘I like that song, but if I hear it one more time I will have to bash you over the head with that guitar. Could you not play something different?’

‘Oh, I forgot to tell you,’ I said. ‘I have my first paid gig. I’m singing at Mary’s fiftieth. Remember you told me to be enterprising?’

‘That’s great! Congratulations! But you had that song
perfect half an hour ago. Play me one of your own. I haven’t heard a new one in ages.’ Mum sat up and adjusted her sunglasses.

‘OK,’ I said, tuning my guitar. ‘By the way … I need new strings.’

‘So your first gig is costing me money?’ said Mum with a sigh.

‘I’ll pay you back.’

‘Go on then, let’s hear it.’

What had started as an upbeat love song had now morphed into a bleak ballad, but I sang it nonetheless.

‘Very nice, Jacki, good lyrics.’

‘Thanks, Mum!’

‘I almost forgot, can you go down to the shop to get stamps and post these letters for me?’ She rooted around in her handbag and pulled out two envelopes.

‘That’s it? That’s all you have to say about my song?’

‘You know I think all your songs are great. But I really have to get these in the post.’

‘Sorry, Mum, I can’t go down to the shop.’ I pulled the guitar strap off over my head and put the guitar back in its case.

‘Why, what’s up? Is something wrong?’

I wanted to tell her, but if I told her one thing I’d have to tell her everything. So I decided against it.

‘Long story,’ I said, zipping up the case.

‘Well, you can either go down to the shop or there’s a pile of dishes mounting up inside.’ I looked up at Mum, hoping she was joking, but her stare confirmed that she wasn’t.

‘Fine! I’ll go then.’

When I got to the door of the shop I took a deep breath, pushed it open and stepped inside. There was nobody there.

I heard some activity and voices out the back.

‘For God’s sake, Mary!’ a man’s voice bellowed from inside the storeroom. They mustn’t have heard me come in. My heart pounded. I stood still, behind one of the shelves, unsure of what to do next.

‘Michael, please … please just calm down,’ said Mary.

It was her husband who was yelling at her. Part of me wanted to quickly leave … to get as far away as possible, but another part of me needed to stay and listen.

‘How dare you … how dare you bring that murderer on to my premises?’

Murderer?
Had I heard that right? Michael’s voice frightened me. It had a quality that made me shiver.

‘I didn’t ask him to come in. He just happened to be in the shop the morning it broke. Who told you that –’

‘Oh, so you didn’t think I’d find out?’

‘No … I …’ Mary’s voice was shaking. ‘He offered to help. I could hardly say no. He was only here for a few minutes … He fixed it in no time … I couldn’t afford to wait.’ Mary paused and then continued with slightly more force in her voice. ‘Besides there was never any proof that he –’

I heard a dull thud, something being thrown on the floor. Then I thought I heard a whimpering sound.

‘You know as well as I do …’ Michael was yelling, ‘he didn’t have an alibi for that night. Half the village knows he did it. That should be enough for you … What is it going to look like … you hiring him to fix our bloody freezer? A killer on my premises. You’re so stupid sometimes.’

There was silence.

‘You didn’t have one either,’ she said.

‘Excuse me?’

‘You didn’t have an alibi for that night either, Michael.’

There was another loud crash and Mary yelped.

‘How dare you,’ said Michael. ‘Keep your mouth shut. And if you ever invite Des Butler into this shop again, you will be very, very sorry.’

The storeroom door swung open and Sergeant Reynolds stormed out of the shop, completely ignoring me.

Moments later Mary emerged from the storeroom with her signature cheerful smile plastered across her face.

I needed to talk to someone about this. Fast. I bought the stamps and left in a hurry. I knocked on the door of the guesthouse but nobody answered. So I tried Lydia’s shop. I could hear The Cure blasting out from the speakers before I even opened the door. The workshop curtain was pulled back, and Lydia was at the sewing machine. She looked up, and must have seen the worried look on my face, because she turned off the stereo straight away.

‘Jacki, are you OK?’

‘No, I’m not really,’ I said. ‘I just heard something really upsetting.’

‘What’s wrong?’ said Lydia, hurrying over and putting her arm round my shoulders. I felt like I was going to faint. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. It took me a few seconds before I could get the words out.

‘Did Des Butler kill somebody?’ Saying it out loud made me feel even worse. ‘Who told you that?’ Lydia sounded kind of angry.

‘I overheard Sergeant Reynolds say something.’

‘Some people think he did,’ said Lydia. ‘But not everyone thinks so.’ She pulled out a stool from under her desk and offered it to me. I sat down, but still felt faint.

‘Why do they think that? Who did he kill? He’s working on my house. My mum has been on dates with him!’ I couldn’t understand why nobody had told us this.

‘He was a main suspect for Beth’s murder,’ said Lydia. ‘But no one in my family believes it. He would never have hurt Beth. Michael Reynolds’s opinion is not everybody’s opinion.’

‘Beth Cullen …?’ I couldn’t believe that Des was a suspect.

‘Yes.’ Lydia sat down on her swivel chair, weaving a piece of blue fabric between her fingers.

‘If he was a main suspect, then there must have been some reason –’

‘The partner is often a main suspect.’

‘Des and Beth were … together?’ This was too much. I just couldn’t believe it.

‘They were childhood sweethearts.’ Lydia smiled when she said this. I couldn’t understand why she was so calm. Surely, in this instance, a police officer’s opinion would be a good one to take? I didn’t particularly like Sergeant Reynolds, but he must have had a reason for suspecting Des.

This was crazy. Des was going out with my mum. I was pretty sure she really liked him. I just couldn’t understand why nobody had told us this sooner.

‘If he didn’t do it, then who did?’ I asked.

‘The killer hasn’t been found,’ said Lydia flatly. ‘But I know Des isn’t capable of murder. You and Rachel have nothing to worry about. He didn’t do it.’ She sounded so sure.

Nevertheless I couldn’t just ignore what I’d heard. I would have to tell Mum. How on earth was I going to tell her that the guy she really likes and has been dating was a suspected murderer?

I made the walk back home last as long as I could. I wanted to let Mum have a few more carefree minutes. Also, I had to decide the best way to tell her. She might think I was overreacting, exaggerating whatever I’d heard because I didn’t want her to go out with Des any more. She thought I didn’t like him. But the truth was I’d got to like him a lot and thought he was a really nice guy. I didn’t want Mum to go out with anyone, but I guess, if she was going to date, it might as well be someone like Des. That was before I’d gone into the shop of course.
Before I’d overheard Sergeant Reynolds. I put in my earphones and played some music to help me focus. To help me figure out what I was going to say.