Small Town Christmas (Some Very English Murders Book 6) (17 page)

“It smelled odd.”

“Yeah, it’s a nasty little thing. Don’t eat it! It’s very
poisonous.”

Penny shivered. “I don’t intend to.”

All thoughts of poison and plants were pushed out of her
mind as they crossed the road and entered the magical winter wonderland of the
Upper Glenfield Christmas Market.

The whole central open air market area was transformed. It
was late afternoon, but already getting dark. At the far end, Santa’s grotto
had been set up. It was actually a well-decorated large garden shed, open all
along the side, and festooned with shining lights and fake snow. Outside was
the reindeer created by the pupils at The Acorns, and next to that was the
nativity scene. There was also a profusion of elves, snowmen and sheep, all
made by the local primary schools and the High School. There was a sound system
set up to play a succession of merry Christmas carols. It was guaranteed to
send any retail worker into furious rage, as they had been exposed to those
songs on a loop for the last five weeks, but everyone else was thoroughly
enjoying it.

There were stalls set up along the edge of the market.
Everyone was wearing red hats or was covered in tinsel and baubles, and there
was a relaxing holiday feeling.

“Penny! Drew!” Ariadne pushed forward out of the crowd,
waving madly. She was wearing the promised reindeer ears, and had a bright red
scarf with knitted snowflakes shapes all up it. Her cheeks were rosy and her
smile was broad and genuine. She thrust a pair of antlers at Penny. “Put them
on.”

“Go on, auntie Penny,” chorused the children.

She had no choice. She clipped the headband over her hat
and scowled. “How do I look?”

“Ridiculous!” everyone laughed.

They bunched together, Drew included in the family group,
and began to move around the market, looking at the crafts for sale. Penny kept
an eye out for Cath, expecting to see her with the pager that she had offered.
She spotted a few police officers in uniform but there was no sign of Cath.

“Mulled wine!” Ariadne declared and dragged them all over
to a stand where a woman was dishing out hot, spiced alcohol from a metal cask.

“Mum, you’ve already had two,” Wolf said sternly.

“It’s Christmas,” Ariadne declared.

“Leave her be,” Destiny said.

They gathered around the stall, lightly bickering. Penny
was standing at the edge, trying to decide between mulled wine and mulled
cider, when she was tapped on the shoulder. She was instantly alert, and
grabbed Drew’s elbow before she turned around.

“Ah, Penny!” Ginni said. “What’s wrong? You look like
you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Sorry; I wasn’t expecting it to be you.”

“Who were you expecting?”

Oh, a mass murderer, that sort of thing. The usual.
“No one. Cath, maybe. Are you enjoying the market? It looks wonderful! You’ve
all worked so hard.”

“We have worked hard. You’re part of the committee too,
remember. And, er, about that…”

“Oh no.”

Ginni smiled but without humour; she was trying to look
friendly and approachable, but she had a job to do. She didn’t beat about the
bush. “We need to call upon your services, I am afraid. Poor Jared has been
taken ill. You’re the stand-in Santa.”

“Oh, you are joking.”

“I do not joke,” Ginni said. “It would be very poor taste.
The man is unwell.”

Penny looked desperately at Ariadne, but one glance showed
her that her sister was too tipsy to be relied upon. Drew threw up his hands
and shook his head. “Absolutely not. But I will stay with you,” he said. “I
could dress up as an elf.”

“Steady on, now. This is supposed to be a happy occasion
not Nightmare on Elm Street.”

“Charming. But seriously; I won’t leave you alone.”

Ginni patted Penny on the shoulder in a proprietorial way. “Oh,
she’s a big girl. I am sure she can look after herself. Come along.” Of course,
she didn’t know about the second attack on Penny’s life.

Penny was towed away from the mulled wine, and Drew
followed behind, laughing and smirking.

* * * *

Ginni led her to the storage area which was now designated
as the Santa-changing-room. She left Penny and Drew alone. Penny thought she
caught a wink from Ginni as she retreated, but it must have been her
imagination.

Ginni would never wink.

Penny turned to the bright red costume and sighed. The
oversize trousers and jacket were laid out on a chair. There were also two
cushions and a long belt, which she assumed were to make the wearer into a
suitable Santa-shape, and on top of the cushions were the hat and the beard.

Drew picked the beard up and sniffed it as he looked at the
outfit she had to wear. “So, this gets used every year?”

“Yup.”

“Lovely. It doesn’t smell
too
bad.”

“It all gets cleaned, you know. They spray alcohol on it to
lift the bad odours away.”

“Alcohol? What a waste of a drink.”

“It’s neat. It’s more of a solvent,” she said.

He put the beard down. “Right. So, how are you going to do
this? Do you need help, or … privacy?”

This was
not
the time to get flirty. She assessed
the costume. “I’m just going to take my coat and jumper off, and then layer up
from there.”

She put her outerwear on another nearby chair and Drew
helped her to strap the cushions to her body. She only used one, at the front.
When he had pulled the belt tight, he stepped back and pulled out his
smartphone.

“You are not going to–”

“Too late,” he said as the camera snapped a photo.

“I’ve gone right off you, you know.”

He shrugged. “It was too good an opportunity for later
blackmail purposes. Okay, are you ready for the trousers?”

It was a struggle to get the trousers pulled up, but with
braces securing them in position, they looked all right, at least according to
Drew. He held the jacket out for her, and she twisted her arms back to get into
it.

Drew was laughing as he looked at her. “That is a
magnificent sight.”

“I’m sure.” She looked down at her bulging red belly and
had to smile. “This is insane. Will you go and fetch my sister and the kids?
They will love this.”

He agreed.

As he left, she was struck by the unwelcome realisation
that she needed to visit the lavatory. She may as well go now, before she
pulled on the beard and hat and gloves. She went to the door just as Drew was
disappearing into the crowd.

There was a jolly, thronging mass of people pushing and
pulling. She called out, “Drew, wait, I need to –”

She heard him speak, but not to her. “I thought you were
ill,” he was saying, then a group of giggling teenage girls cut off her view.

One of them caught sight of Penny and screeched, holding up
her phone. “Can I get a selfie with you? Oh, can I, can I…”

“I need the loo,” Penny said crossly, and waddled off.

I should have thought of this before I got dressed,
she told herself angrily as she attempted to pull the braces down without
removing her jacket.
This is a nonsense.
She fought the costume, banging
her elbows on the walls of the narrow cubicle. By the time she had emerged from
the toilets, she was a sweaty mess of disarray.

She paused to catch her breath and look around for Drew. He
should be back by now with Ariadne and the others.

A small child was dragged past by his mum, and he stopped
to stare. “It’s Father Christmas!” he said in wonder.

“Later,” the mother said without even turning to look.

Penny had a job to do. She went back to the storage cabin,
but it was empty; no Drew.

A cold revelation stole over her.

I thought you were ill
, he had said as he
disappeared into the crowd.

Jared!

It all fell into place.

It must be Jared.

He was on the list of suspects. After all, she had rejected
him. The two attempts on her life came after that.

Could Jared have also killed Clive? Was it somehow
connected?

She wondered how long Jared had been secretly obsessing about
her. Obsession, she realised, was what it had been.

What it was now.

She cast her mind back further. She had argued with Clive;
he had insulted her at that meeting. It seemed long ago, now.

Jared had been there.

Had he …

Oh no.

Her cold fear was alternating with rushes of hot sweat,
now. The thought was too horrible for her to fully form but it was there.

Had Jared killed Clive …
for her?

The police had lacked the motive and that had hampered
their investigation. Penny realised that
she
was the motive.

And Jared was here at the market – and Drew, her protector,
had not returned after speaking to him.

She stood in the centre of the storage room, alone, staring
at the open door. Outside in the darkness, there was festivity and laughter.
Inside, though she was in an orange-lit cabin, she felt as if she lurked in the
shadows. Everything was wrong, topsy-turvy. A man who had professed love for
her was out to kill her. The man who vowed to protect her was missing.

She grabbed her phone and hesitated. Did she have any real,
hard evidence? Cath and the police
knew
all of this already. They were
clever people. If there were connections to be made, they would have made it.

Evidence.

And then she had it, the crucial missing part of the jigsaw
and the thing that tied Jared to the attack with the bicycle pump that night.
Cath had seen it, too.

But had she seen the
significance
of it?

She called Cath. “Are you here yet?” Penny said
breathlessly as soon as Cath answered. Penny clutched the phone to her ear in her
right hand, and picked up the beard in her left hand, dangling it from the
elastic that would go around the back of her head. The whiff of alcohol still
rolled off it. She peeped out of the doorway. She could see the side and back
of the grotto, and already a queue of kids and their parents was lining up
outside.

She still had a job to do, she reminded herself.

“Yes, I’m here,” Cath said. “I was a bit delayed because
the pager needed batteries but I’ve sorted it now. I need to come and give it
to you. Are you in the grotto yet? I’ve just seen Ginni who said she went to
the storage area but you weren’t there. I’m not saying she’s a bit annoyed but
she’s left scorch marks in the concrete.”

“Oh, no. I’d popped to the loo. After all, it’s the kids
who are supposed to wet themselves, not Santa himself. I’m going over there
now. But listen, Cath. It’s about Jared. It’s him! He did it! He did it all.”

“Ahh,” Cath said. “Yes. We had some suspicious as to that…”

“What? What are you going to do about it?”

“We need evidence. We’ve got no evidence.”

Penny put the beard under her arm and picked up the hat
with her free hand. She couldn’t put the beard on while she was talking on the
phone. She stepped out of the cabin. “You’ve seen the evidence,” she said. “The
photos. The photos on the community website the night I was attacked. I wasn’t
the only one who had taken some great shots that night; Jared had, too. That
was his username. WhiteDeer. The date stamp on the photos were the same so he
was out at the same time.”

“Bingo!” Cath shouted. “You are a star! Thank you. I’ll be
over to the grotto right away.”

“Wait – have you seen Drew?”

“Hang on.”

“I can’t. Oh my, there is a crowd waiting for me. I’m late!
See you there.”

Penny pushed her phone under her jacket into her jeans
pocket. The line of kids was staring at her expectantly and some of them looked
confused.

“Er, you’re not properly dressed,” a man hissed.

She turned her back, embarrassed, so she could finish off
getting ready, and stepped back towards the cabin before too many kids saw her.
She didn’t want to spoil the illusion.

She took the beard in her hands and began to lift it up to
her face. The back of the beard was a fine mesh, and looked like it was going
to be itchy. It was a full and bushy affair that would cover most of her face,
sticking to her skin.

Reluctantly she pulled the elastic over the back of her
head.

“The beard!”

She paused.

Drew burst out of the crowd, and people turned to stare as
he launched himself towards Penny. “THE BEARD! The beard is poisoned!” he
shouted.

And then another figure appeared from the side and slammed
into Drew, knocking him to the ground. In an instant, the second figure was on
his feet; Jared.

Jared grabbed at the beard and pulled, hard, snapping the
elastic so that a stray end hit Penny’s cheek.

“Hey, that’s
my
beard,” she called, clawing at it.

Somewhere a child started to sing, “Go, Santa, go San-ta,
go San-ta…” and another child was clapping. Soon they were encircled by a ring
of children, egging them on like a playground altercation.

Penny faced Jared.

Jared crouched down, his fists raised. Behind him, Drew was
being helped to his feet, but he looked temporarily dazed and Penny guessed
that he had hit his head.

Jared was gripping the beard in his hand, and his eyes were
wild. He breathed heavily, phlegm glistening on his lips. “You ruined
everything. I would have done anything for you. Anything. But you were always
too
independent
,” he hissed.

And then he sprang towards her, and Penny opened her arms
and flung herself forward to meet the attack, using the full force of her
well-padded body to slam into him. Like a scary Santa sumo wrestler, her impact
tumbled him backwards. His legs skittered as his knees bent and he lost his
balance, half-dancing, half-falling his way into the display next to the
grotto.