“No.” Maggie’s tilted head seemed less sure. “But we have just gone into the hornet’s nest and made our intentions known. If one of those three is behind this, they now know we’re investigating.”
Ellie gulped. “Investigating?”
“It’s not too late to turn back.”
She glanced back at Blackwood House as shadows shifted behind the red window, and she knew it was too late to turn back. She had to see this project through until she had answers, and she wasn’t confident the officers who lunched were up to the job of finding the plot holes in the Blackwood family story.
Chapter 12The Best Corpse in Meadowfield
Ghosts roamed the streets of Meadowfield even during the day, but the latest visitation from the past was the strangest yet. Ellie’s heart skipped a beat as Auntie Penny wrestled with a brown leather lead, and at the end of it, a small white ball of fluff bounced excitedly away from Ellie’s mother’s cottage.
“Duchess?” Ellie called, her voice filled with disbelief as she crouched down to greet the energetic dog. “Impossible...”
“Duchess the Third,” Penny corrected, a hint of pride in her voice. “We put her in the dog hotel last night so she wouldn’t get in the way at the party. The little madame has been full of beans since I collected her.”
Ellie’s hand stopped mid-scratch as the realisation hit her. Despite what her eyes told her, this couldn’t be the same Duchess she remembered. That little Maltese would be ancient by now. She resumed scratching, a mix of nostalgia and amusement bubbling up as the puppy’s enthusiasm brought back memories of her childhood companion—despite her mother’s protests, Duchess II had always gravitated to Ellie.
“I forgot Duchess wasn’t the original when I was growing up,” Ellie admitted, watching as the little dog’s tail wagged at her words, grinning up at her.
“Your poor mother was heartbroken.” Penny glanced back at the house as though they might be overheard. “She couldn’t imagine a day without that sweet little face. So, when I stumbled upon another beauty that looked just like her, it was fate.”
Duchess III, apparently bored with Ellie’s attention, began tugging at her lead, her eyes fixed on a golden Cockapoo across the green. Penny stumbled as the small dog pulled with surprising strength, and the two dogs met in the middle by the war memorial like old friends.
“If you’re looking for your mother, she’s in the kitchen rehearsing,” Auntie Penny called over her shoulder as Duchess III dragged her away.
“Rehearsing?” Ellie repeated, confusion wrinkling her nose as she brushed off her knees.
With a deep breath, Ellie pushed open the front door and prepared herself for anything as she stepped into her mother’s terraced cottage. The sight that greeted her was both comical and oddly nostalgic. Her mother lay sprawled across the kitchen counter, draped in a white bedsheet pulled up to her neck like a makeshift shroud. Underneath that, who knew?
Ellie might have been startled at the sight of her mother pretending to be dead, but then she remembered the preparation for Zombie Village 3. For days, she’d shambled around the house, groaning and contorting herself into increasingly ridiculous positions, all in the name of ‘finding the character’. Ellie had declined to attend the VHS screening when it arrived in the post; she’d been seven. She’d later heard through the grapevine that her mother’s ravenous screen time amounted to a grand total of five minutes.
Creeping forward, Ellie noticed the slow rise and fall of the sheet covering her mother’s chest. Carolyn had fallen asleep mid-rehearsal, her dedication to her craft apparently no match for the allure of an impromptu nap on the kitchen counter. She snapped a picture for posterity, wondering if she should wake her mother.
Just then, the back door creaked open, and Anne Collins snuck in with a cleaning basket tucked under her arm. The older woman’s eyes widened at the sight of Carolyn’s dramatic pose on the kitchen counter, and she continued on, even less fazed than Ellie had been.
“Is this for Casualty?” Anne whispered, a hint of excitement in her voice as she made her way to the sink. “Your mother back on prime time, eh? Who’d have thought it.”
For a moment, Ellie was puzzled by the housekeeper’s presence, but then she remembered her mother mentioning sharing a cleaner with the Blackwoods and Sylvia. As Anne filled a bucket with hot water, Ellie studied her face, trying to place her in her childhood memories.
“You used to clean at The Old Bell when I was little,” Ellie said, the realisation dawning on her.
Anne smiled over her shoulder. “That’s right, lovey.”
“You were just at the Blackwoods with your gran. How’s her hip?” Anne asked, her voice low to avoid disturbing Carolyn.
“Better than ever, if you ask her,” Ellie replied, hesitating for a moment. She sensed that Anne, having cleaned around the village for years, might be privy to important information.
Anne whispered, “I’ll start upstairs and work my way down, so as not to disturb Carolyn. It’s rather exciting that she’s going to be back on TV again.”
As Anne hurried off towards the stairs, Ellie felt a sudden urge to follow her. She had questions, and Anne might just have the answers she needed.
Ellie followed Anne into the bedroom, her eyes scanning the already pristine beige palace. She ran her finger across the polished dresser, not a speck of dust.
“Penny does her best, bless her,” Anne whispered as she stripped off the bedding. “But your mum likes me to do a whip-round twice a week. Don’t tell Penny, mind. I time it for her dog walks. She tries so hard, but there’s an attention to detail she misses. Give us a hand with this, will you?”
“Of course.”
Anne dug herself into the fresh sheets, turned them inside out, and buried herself again. She found the corners, stretching her hands out under the sheet like a ghost about to commit to a haunting.
“The lines go across on super king duvets,” Anne explained within the sheet as Ellie fed the corners of the duvet into Anne’s clasping hands. “Big old bed for just your mother, mind. I bet she can roll ten times from one side to the other. You’ll never fall out of bed, mind, but I’m content with my single. I heard she’s seeing someone.”
“Hmm?”
“Your mother,” Anne grumbled as she whipped the cover off herself by flipping it over the duvet, still clinging to the corners. “Shake from that corner, will you? And aye, someone saw a fella creeping out the back. I haven’t seen anything, mind, and I’m here twice a week.”
“It could have been Daniel from next door?”
“Oh, that handsome chap who works at the school?” Anne said as they vigorously shook the creases out of the duvet. “So, is she?”
“Seeing someone?” Ellie wasn’t sure. She did call her mother as often as she could—or wanted to, she wasn’t sure—but she often talked about herself and her upcoming auditions. She could talk at length for hours without revealing anything, but if she was seeing someone, she wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from bragging. “Probably not. She’s been single since the divorce and that was before I was born.”
“Producer fella, wasn’t he?” Anne asked, to which Ellie nodded. She’d never learned much about David Swan, despite inheriting his surname. “What about you? Anyone special in your life?”
“Oh, I—”
“You were that Luke’s girlfriend, weren’t you?”
Gulping as she helped Anne straighten the duvet across the bed, she stopped herself from correcting her with ‘ex-fiancé’, instead settling for a nod and hoping the housekeeper wouldn’t dig.
