Shortbread and Sorrow Read online

  Shortbread and Sorrow

  Agatha Frost

  Contents

  About This Book

  Newsletter Signup

  Also by Agatha Frost

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Espresso and Evil Cover

  Also by Agatha Frost

  Newsletter Signup

  Afterword

  Published by Pink Tree Publishing Limited in 2017

  All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © Pink Tree Publishing Limited.

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For questions and comments about this book, please contact [email protected]

  www.pinktreepublishing.com

  www.agathafrost.com

  Cover designed by Ashley Mcloughlin

  Edited by Keri Lierman

  About This Book

  Released: May 23rd 2017

  Words: 43,000

  Series: Book 5 - Peridale Cozy Café Mystery Series

  Standalone: Yes

  Cliff-hanger: No

  When Julia’s gran, Dot, wins an all-inclusive spa trip to Scotland, Julia finds it difficult to refuse the offer of a relaxing week away from her café. Along with her sister, Sue, they pack up her tiny vintage car and drive all the way from Peridale to Seirbigh Castle, ready to be pampered. The last thing Julia expected was to be caught up in another murder investigation, but when the cruel owner of the family-run spa, Henry McLaughlin, is shot dead, she can’t resist ditching the facemasks and massages in favour of cracking the case.

  Julia quickly befriends the young cook and talented-baker, Blair, and acquires a job in the kitchen so she can observe the strange family in the wake of the murder. Henry’s wife and children are acting suspicious, and with an incompetent young Detective Inspector on the case, Julia makes it her mission to discover the secrets held within the ancient walls before Seirbigh Castle claims another victim.

  WANT FREE COPIES OF FUTURE AGATHA FROST BOOKS, EXCLUSIVE CONTENT, AND GIVEWAYS? SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER BELOW!

  agathafrost.com

  You can also follow Agatha Frost across social media:

  Facebook

  Twitter

  Goodreads

  Other Books in the Peridale Cafe Series!

  Pancakes and Corpses (Book 1) - OUT NOW!

  Lemonade and Lies (Book 2) - OUT NOW!

  Doughnuts and Deception (Book 3) - OUT NOW!

  Chocolate Cake and Chaos (Book 4) - OUT NOW!

  Shortbread and Sorrow (Book 5) - OUT NOW!

  Espresso and Evil (Book 6) - PREORDER NOW

  1

  Julia inhaled the sweet icing as she finished piping Jessie's name onto the smooth surface of the birthday cake. She stepped back and assessed her work, unhappy with how wobbly the ‘J’ looked. Mowgli, her grey Maine Coon, jumped up onto the counter and looked down disapprovingly at the cake before turning and sashaying to his food dish.

  “You’ve missed a candle,” Sue, Julia’s sister, whispered over her shoulder. “There should be seventeen, and you’ve only put sixteen.”

  Julia quickly counted the candles. Her sister was right. She let out a soft chuckle, plucked a seventeenth candle from the large bag, and slotted it in a free space around the edge of the cake. Being the best baker in the small Cotswold village of Peridale meant she was often called upon late at night to quickly whip up birthday cakes for residents who didn’t want to admit they had forgotten a loved one’s special day. She always did her best to meet their deadlines, but when it came to family and friends, she always put a little extra love and care into the baking. She had been mentally planning Jessie’s cake for weeks.

  “Smells delicious,” Sue said as she hovered over the cake. “Is that vanilla?”

  “Just a dash,” Julia said, slapping Sue’s hand away before she swiped her finger along the edge. “Dot and Jessie should be back by now.”

  They both looked at the cat clock above the fridge as its tail and eyes darted from side to side. It was a little after midday, but it didn’t surprise Julia that their gran was late. Dot worked to her own clock, which rarely synced up with anybody else’s.

  Julia placed the cake in the fridge and quickly wiped away the spilled flour. She dumped the dishes and whisk in the sink for washing later, and dusted the dried icing off her caramel-coloured flared dress.

  “Have you got anything sweet to eat?” Sue asked as she poked through Julia’s fridge. “I’ve been craving chocolate all week.”

  “Top shelf,” Julia said with a soft smile as she reached around Sue to grab a plastic tub. “Plenty of chocolate cake left over. I know it’s Barker’s favourite, but I think I’ve made it so much that he’s sick to death of it.”

  As though he had heard his name, a key rattled in the front door, and Barker hurried into the cottage, still in his work suit. He dropped his briefcase by the door, hung his sand-coloured trench coat on the hat stand, and checked his reflection in the hallway mirror, tweaking his dark hair slightly. Sue and Julia looked at each other and smirked.

  “You’ve given him a key?” Sue mumbled through a mouthful of cake. “You two must be getting serious.”

  Julia blushed. Barker had moved to the village nearly four months ago to fill the vacant Detective Inspector position at the local police station. They hadn’t started out on the best terms, but they had been dating for over three months now, and they were very much in love. The exchanging of front door keys had happened two weeks ago, and at the time, Julia had not thought it was a big step, mainly because they were both getting tired of having to knock on each other’s doors whenever they wanted to see each other. From the amused look on her sister’s face, she was beginning to wonder if she had missed a relationship milestone that was a big deal to other people. Julia promptly dismissed the thought. Ever since their first meeting, her relationship with Barker had been anything but conventional.

  “Am I late?” Barker asked as he kissed Julia softly on the cheek, his greying stubble brushing against her soft skin and his spicy cologne tickling her nostrils. “Is that my chocolate cake you’re eating, Sue?”

  “You can have some if you like,” Sue said as she took another bite, cake flying from her mouth. “I’ve been craving chocolate.”

  Another key rattled in the door, signalling the arrival of Jessie and Dot, both of whom also had their own keys to Julia’s cottage. She was pleased to see it was Jessie, her lodger, who was unlocking the door, and not her Gran, who had a habit of letting herself in whenever she felt like it, day or night.

  “It’s only us,” Dot announced, just like she did every other time she entered. “I know we’re late! I know, I know! But there was a tractor driving up the lane, and the taxi couldn’t get through. Hello, girls.”

  “Hello, Gran,” Julia and Sue replied in unison.

  “Barker,” Dot said with a curt nod, dropping her shopping bags by the door before adjusting the brooch holding her white collar under her chin, using the same mirror Barker had used to play with his h
air. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work fighting crime and not scoffing cake?”

  “It’s my lunch break,” Barker mumbled through some of the cake Sue had shared with him.

  Julia looked down at the shopping bags Jessie was holding. She had a huge grin on her face, and Julia was surprised to see she was still wearing the ‘Seventeen Today!’ badge that Dot had insisted she put on before she took her out for a birthday shopping spree.

  “I don’t remember getting that much stuff on my seventeenth birthday,” Sue murmured in Julia’s ear.

  “Times have changed!” Dot exclaimed as she waved her hands around, her hearing as robust as ever. “The kids these days want all sorts of things that I can’t quite wrap my head around. What’s the point in those Apple Pad whatchamacall them things if you can’t write on them! Not like any pad I’ve ever known.”

  “They have apps on them,” Jessie said, reaching into one of the bags to pull out the latest model of a tablet. “And the internet, and stuff.”

  “That couldn’t have come cheap,” Barker said after an intake of breath.

  “Never you mind!” Dot said, extending a finger and wagging it in Barker’s face as she pushed past him. “Julia, where’s your radio?”

  Julia watched as Jessie sat at the counter and eagerly unwrapped the plastic off her new gadget. It warmed Julia to see the look of joy on Jessie’s face, especially because she would like people to think she was just another surly-faced teenager. After a lifetime of foster care, and six months sleeping on the streets before Julia had taken her in, she knew the gifts meant much more to Jessie than she would admit. Julia had gone to great lengths to ensure every part of her first birthday in Peridale was the best she had ever had. She hadn’t even minded dipping into her little pot of savings to give Dot money to buy Jessie the tablet she had been eyeing up online for weeks.

  “Radio?” Dot exclaimed. “Where is it? Tony Bridges’ program is coming up on Classic Radio any second!”

  “What do you want to listen to that for, Gran?” Sue asked, arching a brow at Julia, who could only shrug back. “Tony Bridges is ancient! He was on the radio back when I was a kid and he was old then.”

  “And me,” Barker added.

  “None of your business!” Dot mumbled as she ducked under the sink and rummaged through the cleaning products.

  Julia reached up and grabbed the radio from the top of the fridge. She brushed off a layer of dust and handed it to Dot, who snatched it up to her face. She twiddled with the dials and buttons, lifting it up to her ear to give it a hard shake until she found the station she wanted.

  “And that was the smooth sound of Barry Manilow,” Tony Bridges, the radio presenter, announced as the music faded out. “Coming up next we have a little Stevie Wonder, and then it’s our daily Music Quiz at half past the hour!”

  Dot glanced at the clock as she rested the radio on the counter, nodding her head as she counted the tiny markings on the clock. They all exchanged glances, confused and amused by her strange behaviour. Julia had never thought her gran was much of a music fan, but she knew her gran was a fickle woman who could change her habits and interests at the drop of a hat.

  Remembering what she had been waiting to do all morning, Julia nudged Sue and nodded to the light switch. Sue tapped the side of her nose and scooted across the room as Julia pulled the birthday cake out of the fridge. Jessie was so distracted by her new purchase, she didn’t notice Julia striking a match to quickly light all seventeen candles. Julia winked to Sue, who flicked off the lights, sending her bright kitchen into partial darkness thanks to the lingering grey clouds outside.

  Julia enthusiastically led a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ over Stevie Wonder, which grew louder and louder as Dot crammed her ear up to the speaker and cranked up the volume. Jessie blushed, pretending to be transfixed by the screen, but she was unable to contain the smirk prickling the sides of her lips.

  “Make a wish,” Julia announced as she set the cake on the counter.

  Jessie rolled her eyes, but her smile broke free when she looked down and saw her name iced onto the cake’s surface. She clenched her eyes, thought for a minute, and then blew out the candles with one swift breath. They gave her a little round of applause, which only caused Dot to turn up the radio even louder.

  “What did you wish for?” Barker asked as he glared over his shoulder at Dot.

  “I wished that you’d turn into a donkey,” Jessie said with a small shrug. “Because you’re always making an a-,”

  “I guess you won’t want this then,” Barker jumped in, pulling a small envelope out of his inside pocket.

  He waved it in front of Jessie’s face for a second before she snatched it out of his hands and ripped it open. Instead of a birthday card, or even money, an application form fell out. Julia recognised it as a learner driver provisional license application form, although it had changed a lot since she had applied for hers at Jessie’s age.

  “I thought I could teach you to drive,” Barker said coolly, his cheeks reddening a little. “I’ll put you on my insurance once you have your provisional. In my car, of course. No offence, Julia, but I don’t think I would trust your old banger to get to the end of the road with anybody else driving it but you.”

  Julia was too touched to be offended. Barker hated her vintage aqua blue Ford Anglia, but she would keep driving it until the wheels fell off and the engine finally died.

  “You’d do that?” Jessie mumbled, dropping her hair over her face. “Thanks.”

  “I like you sometimes,” Barker said with a wink as he ruffled Jessie’s hair. “Only sometimes though.”

  “Yeah, well it’s a good job I don’t like you most of the time.” Jessie slapped his hand away and ducked out of the way, a small smirk on her lips.

  Julia laughed, even though Sue looked a little confused by their exchange. Julia treated Jessie like she would her own daughter, and even though she was dating Barker, he was more of a brother than a father figure. They bickered and fought like siblings, but she knew they cared about each other, maybe even liked each other, not that they would admit it.

  Just as Julia sliced into the cake after taking out the candles, which she would put back into her collection ready for use on another birthday cake, Dot whizzed past her, grabbing the house phone off the wall as she did. She ran across to the bathroom and slammed the door, the spiral cord on the phone almost entirely stretched out. A small laugh of disbelief escaped Julia’s lips.

  “She’s nuts,” Jessie said. “She bought me new Doc Martins too. I told her she didn’t have to.”

  Julia smiled because she knew they had been bought with Dot’s own money. She sat next to Jessie and watched as she tapped away on the tablet, installing various apps and games.

  “What’s she doing in there?” Sue whispered, glancing over at the bathroom door.

  “Do you really want to know?” Barker asked.

  They both stared at each other for a moment before snickering like naughty school children. Julia picked up a piece of the sliced cake and took a small bite. Just as she suspected, the sponge was light and fluffy, and the icing was delicate and sweet. Even by her impossibly high standards, it was almost perfect.

  “There’s something I want to tell you when Gran gets back,” Sue murmured, chewing the inside of her lip.

  “Oh?” Julia asked, a brow arching.

  Sue opened her mouth to speak as she looked down at her fumbling fingers, but before any words came out, Dot’s voice filled the kitchen.

  “Hello? Am I on?”

  Julia turned to the bathroom door, as did Jessie, but Sue and Barker turned to the radio on the counter.

  “You’re through to Tony Bridges’ music quiz, where you can win a holiday for you and two of your friends, granted that you get the answer right!” Tony exclaimed jollily through the speakers. “Tell us your name and where you’re from.”

  “Oh my God, I’m actually through,” Dot cried through the phone, loud enough tha
t Julia could hear her on both ends. “Do you know how many times I’ve tried to get on this stupid show? Every day for two whole weeks! Two! I was about to give up!”

  There was an awkward pause on the radio and in the room. Sue hurried over and turned up the volume as she cast a curious look over her shoulder to Julia.

  “Yeah, well, a lot of people try to get on the air,” Tony said with an uncomfortable laugh. “My producer tells me your name is Dorothy and you’re from Peri – Perimale?”

  “It’s Dot,” she snapped harshly. “And it’s Peridale. What’s the question? I don’t have time for niceties. I want to win the holiday!”

  There was another awkward silence as Sue and Julia both cringed. Julia was unable to even look at the radio. She could practically see the bemused grin of the DJ in the studio as he motioned to his producer to find out who had let the crazy old woman on air.

  “Well, it seems we have ourselves a firecracker here, ladies and gents,” Tony joked. “It’s a good job I like them lively. Okay, folks, I’m going to get straight into this one. It’s an easy one today. Are you ready Dot?”

  “Of course I’m ready! I phoned in!”

  Tony coughed and took a large intake of breath before deciding to speak.

  “Okay, here we go! The Police spent three weeks at number one with their classic hit ‘Message in a Bottle’, but in what year and month? I need both answers for you to win the holiday.”

  “She’ll never get that,” Sue whispered. “She doesn’t know anything about pop culture.”

  “I think it was 1981,” Barker mumbled.

  “What’s The Police?” Jessie asked.

  They all turned to the seventeen-year-old and scowled, which caused Jessie to scowl right back.

  “I remember hearing that song as a kid,” Julia said. “But it could have been anytime in the early 1980s.”