The Peridale Cafe Cozy Box Set 4 Page 23

  “So what?” the same guy said again, giving Julia the impression he was the elected leader. “Why should we tell you anything?”

  “Make it worth our while.” The girl stepped forward, nodding at Julia’s bag. “Women like you probably have a few coins to spare.”

  Julia clutched her bag even tighter and took a step back. Looking around the courtyard, she found most of the gangs were now staring in her direction. She had wandered into the lion’s den with a bloody steak strapped to her chest. She stole a glance at her car. Could she unlock it, climb inside, start the engine, and drive away before they closed in? She doubted it.

  “First, I want to know that Craig Wright lives here.” Julia poked up her chin and gritted her jaw. “Then, we can discuss bribes.”

  The group looked amongst themselves, snickering and shaking their heads at the Peridale woman brave enough to stand her ground. They were able to communicate with each other without saying a word. Julia felt her fate as a sleuth hanging in their hands.

  “Yeah, he lives here,” the leader said, stepping into the glow of the streetlamp. His skin was pock-marked, his exposed chest was lean, and his hair was spiked up with gloopy gel. He couldn’t have been any older than twenty. “What do you want with a saddo like him?”

  “He’s an old friend,” she lied.

  “You need better friends,” the girl said, also stepping into the light. “Cough up, and we’ll tell you where he lives.”

  Julia looked around for Barker again, but his car was still nowhere to be seen. She carefully unclipped her bag and retrieved her purse. She had a little under £100 in notes, but she made sure not to show them off. She plucked out a crisp £20 note and handed it out. When they laughed, she pulled out a second. The leader snatched them out of her hand and stuffed the money into his pocket.

  “104,” he said, jerking his head to the first block. “Top floor.”

  Without any fuss or drama, the gang turned their backs on Julia and walked away, no doubt off to find something to spend their winnings on. She finally exhaled, her breath trembling as adrenaline rushed through her system. She hid her purse with shaky hands before word spread that she was offering handouts. When she turned back to her car, headlights blinded her as Barker pulled into the space next to hers.

  “I told you to wait in the car.” Barker slammed his door and hurried over, locking his vehicle with a click of his key over his shoulder. “Are you okay? Has something happened?”

  “I’m not a damsel in distress, Barker.” She forced the wobble out of her voice. “Everything is fine. I went ahead and uncovered some intel while you were driving under the speed limit. Craig lives in 104.”

  “How did you unearth that?”

  “I have my ways.”

  They walked around the abandoned playpark to the stairwell where the lad had pointed. Julia told Barker everything Johnny had revealed as they walked. The lift had an ‘OUT OF ORDER’ sticker on it that was so faded it looked as old as the building. The concrete stairwell was colourfully graffiti-covered and musky smelling, so they didn’t linger on their climb to the top floor. The exposed walkway in front of the flats was filled with litter and cigarette butts. Flat 104 sat in the middle of the top row. Its curtains were drawn behind the cracked, meshed window. A flickering TV burned through the darkness, hinting that someone was home.

  “How do we know this is the right place?” Barker asked as they positioned themselves in front of the door. “Your sources could be playing a trick on you.”

  “Well, we’ll find out, won’t we?” Julia knocked and stepped back. “If this isn’t Craig, we’ll apologise and leave.”

  The noise from the TV paused, and the flickering stopped. Someone shuffled, but the door didn’t immediately open.

  “Who is it?” A gruff male voice barked through the door. “If Cameron has sent you, you can repeat what I already told him. I don’t have the money yet, so just leave me alone, okay?”

  “We’re not with Cameron,” Julia called back through the wood. “Craig? Craig Wright?”

  There was a long pause. The man sounded as though he was shuffling towards the door.

  “Who wants to know?” he called again, his voice closer. “Who sent you?”

  “No one sent us.” Barker took over. “We wanted to ask you some questions about someone you used to know.”

  “Who?”

  “Leah Burns.”

  The silence that followed dragged out for an age, and Julia wondered if he had left via another exit. Just when she was about to knock again, the door opened a crack, secured by a chain. A tired-looking man stared at them, the heavy creases under his eyes hinting at years of sleepless nights. At least four days’ worth of stubble speckled his chin and jaw, and the shiny texture of his thinning hair hinted that it had been as long since he had last showered. He wore a stained white vest that hung off his frame. Gaunt as he was, he had a pot belly only years of drinking could create.

  “Craig?” Julia asked softly, stepping closer. “My name is Julia. We’re here to talk to you about Leah.”

  “Are you police?” His eyes darted between them. “I have nothing to say about her.”

  “We’re not the police,” Julia said before Barker slipped into his old role. “I’m an old friend of Leah’s.” Julia hesitated, the role of ‘old friend’ no longer sitting comfortably. “I went to school with her. I just wanted to ask you a few questions.”

  “Why?” he demanded.

  “Because she’s missing,” Barker said bluntly.

  The door slammed shut, and the chain rattled before Craig opened the door fully. He stepped to the side and ushered them in before glancing up and down the walkway. He slammed the door and motioned for them to sit on the sofa.

  Even in the hazy glow of the TV, Julia saw that every inch of Craig’s flat was cluttered. Every surface was filled with books, DVDs, empty cups, and rubbish. The sofa was swathed in patterned blankets, and the coffee table was covered in piles of magazines and newspapers. Julia and Barker perched on the edge of the sofa, and stared at the TV, which was paused on a frame of Bruce Willis shuffling through a vent with a cigarette lighter.

  “Die Hard,” Barker said, nodding at the screen. “Good taste.”

  Craig hovered, chewing his nails. A meowing ginger cat appeared, and he scooped it up. It snuggled against his chest and purred as he stroked its back.

  “Leah’s missing?” he asked, sitting in an armchair next to an overwhelmingly filled bookcase. “Since when?”

  “Two days ago.”

  The cat wriggled free and jumped onto the sofa arm. It sauntered across the back, sniffing curiously at the guests. Julia reached out and tickled under the cat’s chin, which it took as an invitation to crawl onto her lap.

  “He’s not shy,” Julia remarked as he stroked the cat’s fur. “What’s his name?”

  “Rocky,” he replied, his brow tense as he watched her pet the cat. “What are you doing here?”

  “We already told you that—”

  “Leah is missing,” he interrupted sharply. “Yeah. I heard that bit. But what are you doing here? What does this have to do with me?”

  Julia hadn’t known what to expect, but considering everyone else’s reactions surrounding Leah, she was not surprised to hear the hostile bite in his tone. He continued to stare at Rocky, perched on the armchair like he was a visitor in his own home.

  “You’re her ex-husband, so we thought—”

  “That I’d know where Leah was?” He laughed bitterly. “I haven’t seen the woman since she divorced me seventeen years ago. What’s she doing back in Peridale anyway?”

  “We never said she was back in Peridale,” Julia said, squinting at him.

  “Well, I just assumed!” he cried. “Don’t play those tricks on me, lady. Are you sure you’re not police? You said you went to school with her, so it’s obvious she came back. She went to school in Peridale.”

  “Her mother died,” Barker said. “She moved into t
he old house.”

  “Emily?” Craig asked, one brow arching. “Never met the woman. She wasn’t too keen on coming to the wedding after we fled Peridale together.” He paused, his expression softening. “Worst mistake of my life.”

  Julia assessed Craig as he appeared to slip back into his memories. He was a ghost of a man, clearly broken by years of struggle.

  “Maybe you could tell us about your marriage to Leah?” Julia prompted. “Any information could help.”

  “It’s ancient history.” He hesitated, pursing his lips as though considering whether to divulge his story. “Rocky never likes strangers.”

  “I have a cat.” Julia pulled her phone from her bag and showed him the wallpaper picture. “Mowgli. He’s a Maine Coon.”

  “He’s adorable.” Craig smiled at the picture. “I’ve always loved cats. I should have known things were doomed with Leah when she wouldn’t let me get one. If I’d asked that simple question before we ran off, it would have saved years of pain.” He exhaled. “I was twenty-three, and Leah was eighteen. She came into my life at a time when I needed a distraction. Heidi was my high-school girlfriend. We beat the odds and made it through college and university together. I proposed because everyone told me that was the next step. I wasn’t ready to get married and have kids. Settling down isn’t for twenty-three-year-olds. It never lasts at that age.

  “Heidi said yes to my proposal. She dove into the wedding planning like it was her full-time job. It cost me a fortune. Her family barely put anything towards the wedding. They never liked me. They always thought she was too good for me. Fern Moore people don’t match you Peridale folk.” Craig paused and looked them up and down. “You don’t like us.”

  “Our daughter’s boyfriend is from here,” Barker said, grit in his voice. “Don’t make wild assumptions. We’re not here to judge your background.”

  “Then you’re the exception.” Evidently, Craig was not going to back down. “You probably weren’t born in the village if you think like that.” Barker shifted in his seat and nodded. “The wedding was coming at us like a steam train. I couldn’t get off. I’d chained myself to a future I wasn’t sure I wanted. And then, Leah exploded into my life like a firework.”

  Craig paused, looking into the distance as if seeing the memories playing there all over again. “We used to have a corner shop on the estate, but it closed years ago. Back then, I was doing every hour there I could to pay for the wedding. Then, one day out of the blue, this Peridale girl came in. I thought she was lost, but it’s like she came to seek me out. I wasn’t looking for anything, but Leah was relentless. She came in every day, flirting like it was her job. I tried to resist her, and I should have, but I was twenty-three and stupid. I ignored my instincts, and I fell in love with her. I didn’t want to hurt Heidi, but I did. She went through something no woman should have to go through, and I did it to her.”

  He stopped talking. His eyes shone damp with unshed tears. As if Rocky could sense Craig’s sadness, he crawled from Julia’s lap and settled in his master’s.

  “The affair with Leah went on for three months,” Craig continued, gulping down his emotions. “I called it off a week before the wedding. I told Leah it was over, and I couldn’t see her anymore because I was marrying Heidi and that was that. I thought she got the message, but she turned up at my flat on the morning of the wedding. She gave me a get out of jail free card, and I took it. I packed a bag, and we went straight to the train station. We jumped on the first train without looking at the destination. We avoided the conductor to the end of the line. We ended up going north, to a town called Burnley. The rent was cheap, and jobs were going. I don’t know what she was running away from, but we were running together. She didn’t care about the danger. I think she enjoyed being a saboteur. The irony is, I ended up in the exact same situation I’d been trying to run from. We worked our behinds off to pay for a tiny flat. We married at the register office one afternoon because it felt like the right thing to do.”

  “How long did it last?” Julia asked.

  “Seven months.” Craig forced a laugh and shook his head. “She didn’t announce she was leaving, she just went. I didn’t hear from her until her lawyer sent me a letter about divorcing. I didn’t put up a fight, I just went along with it. It bankrupted me. I came back here because I didn’t know where else to go. I tried to talk to Heidi, if only to apologise, but she didn’t want to hear it. I don’t know if things would have worked with Heidi if Leah had never come into the shop that day, but I like to pretend they would have. Who knows what would have happened? Heidi deserved better than me, and I hope she’s found it. Have you seen her recently?”

  Julia shook her head. She decided not to tell Craig that Heidi, according to Johnny, had been living under a cloud, unmarried and humiliated ever since.

  “Can I be honest with you?” he asked as Rocky jumped off his lap. Julia and Barker nodded. “I don’t care what’s happened to Leah. She was toxic then, and I don’t imagine she ever changed. When I got back, I heard a rumour that she lied about some teacher kissing her and she ruined his life too. People like that don’t have any goodness in their hearts—they just pretend they do to manipulate people.” He stood up and yawned. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to my film. I can’t help you.”

  Julia and Barker didn’t try to stick around. They left the messy flat and the sad wreck of Craig Wright behind them. Silently, they walked back to the stairway, deep in their thoughts.

  “Did you believe him?” Barker asked when he reached his car.

  “Did you?”

  “I believe Leah hurt him.”

  “He wasn’t blameless in all of that.” Julia pulled her keys from her bag and unlocked her car. “It takes two to tango. I don’t know. I wanted to believe him, but something was off.”

  “I’m glad it’s not just me then.” Barker opened his door and pulled the bag of posters from the passenger seat. “I’m going to put some of these up before I head off. I haven’t had any calls yet, but who knows?”

  Barker looped the bag over his shoulder at the same moment his phone beeped in his pocket. Pulling it out, he stared at the screen, his eyes scrunching as he read the message.

  “They’ve arrested Roxy,” Barker said gravely. “There must have been a second hair after all.”

  Chapter Ten

  Julia woke with a fire in her belly the next morning. Roxy’s arrest had made her even more determined to get to the bottom of the case. She had no doubt the police were jumping to the same wrong conclusion she had.

  On her return from Fern Moore, Julia had filled half a notepad, piecing together the story of Leah’s past. All the grisly details seemed even worse on paper, but Julia had decided to be objective in her search for the truth; Roxy was now her focus.

  The timeline in her notes started in late 1994 with Leah accusing Gary Williams. In mid-1995, Gary was found not guilty. Later in 1995, it moved onto Roxy’s confession to Leah, which resulted in Leah’s game for two years, ending in the summer of 1997 when Leah ran off with Craig. According to Craig’s claim that he hadn’t seen her for seventeen years, which Julia assumed was at the hearing for their divorce, their relationship had ended sometime before 2001. She added in a second marriage somewhere between 2001 and 2009 because Leah said she had entered her thirties with two divorces under her belt. Between 2009 and 2018 she had Leah planning weddings, and the timeline finished with Leah returning to, and then vanishing from, Peridale.

  Deciding to tackle what she hoped would be the easiest gap to fill in her notes, Julia closed the café an hour early and gathered Katie, Sue, and Dot for an impromptu dress shopping trip. They were surprised she was so keen to look at dresses again, and even more surprised when she suggested they revisit Brooke’s Bridal Boutique.

  “She’s crazy!” Dot cried as they pulled up in front of the shop on Mulberry Lane. “She’s going to attack us the second we walk through the door.”

  “There are other shops.�
�� Sue checked her watch. “If we hurry we can catch the one in Riverswick before they close for the day. I drove past their window display yesterday after I took the twins swimming. They have some really gorgeous dresses.”

  “I want to shop locally,” Julia insisted, locking her car after they all climbed out. “They have nice dresses here. I’m sure everything will be fine. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Julia was not sure at all; in fact, she was almost certain they would be thrown out and banned for life on sight, but she had a secret weapon up her sleeve that rarely failed to win people over. She opened the small paper bag and peered at the two pieces of leftover lemon drizzle cake she had packaged up for Brooke and Max.

  Taking the lead, Julia pushed on the door and greeted Brooke with a smile. She was behind her desk, writing in a large, leather book. It took Brooke a moment to recognise Julia.

  “No!” Brooke cried, throwing her pen on the desk as she darted up. “I’m not serving you.”

  It was the reaction Julia had expected.

  “We came to apologise.” Julia offered the bag of cakes and placed them on the desk, careful not to get within grabbing distance. “We had no idea about Leah’s connection to your family, and if we had, we never would have been so irresponsible as to bring her here.”

  Brooke peered into the bag with narrowed eyes, her thin lips tightening. If she appreciated the gesture, it was hard to tell; her sharp features were impossible to read.

  “And besides,” Dot exclaimed, stepping forward, “the woman is missing. We didn’t even know her that well, did we, girls?”

  “No,” Katie and Sue chimed in.

  “I honestly had no idea,” Julia repeated as she searched Brooke’s eyes for forgiveness. “I don’t blame you for your reaction. I didn’t know Leah as well as I thought.”

  Brooke’s expression briefly softened before she stiffened and pulled down the edges of her suit jacket. After what felt like a lifetime of consideration, she grasped the cake bag and put it behind the desk. Julia breathed a sigh of relief.