Lee Weeks: Frozen Grave

‘What else did she do?’

‘She met the gardener and they went for a coffee.’

‘Getting cosy with the hired help?’

‘Possibly. It looked like they just bumped into one another but it could have been arranged. They spent forty minutes talking over coffee then they went their separate ways.’

‘Is she the type to have an affair, do you think?’

‘I think no one would blame her. She may be trying to get even, in a small way.’

‘She’ll have a long way to go to achieve that.’

Dee Ellerman picked up her phone and dialled.

‘Hello, is that True Colours? Can I make an appointment with Paula, cut and colour? Yes, please, today if possible, the last appointment of the day. Two hours will be great. See you then. My name is Trisha.’

Paula looked at her watch: it was gone five. She was having a friend over for dinner tonight whilst her girls were staying with friends and having a sleepover there. She’d dropped them off this morning on her way to work. Paula was secretly annoyed that she had a client so late in the day – it was already five and all the other stylists, even the junior, had gone home. She went round and made the salon ready to lock up in case the client was a ‘no-show’.

The door opened and a petite woman with long dark hair in a plait walked in.

‘Trisha?’

‘Yes. Sorry I’m late.’

The two women looked at one another and it occurred to Paula that she knew Trisha.

‘Have you been here to True Colours before?’ she asked.

Trisha shook her head. Paula took her coat into the back room and returned with a gown. She slipped her arms into it, then she sat her down in front of the mirror. Paula took out Trisha’s plait and ruffled her hair, to free it and get a better look at it.

‘What would you like done?’

‘Cut it short and colour it blonde.’

‘Are you serious? You have beautiful hair. It’s wrong to cut it, let alone colour it. Have you thought it through?’

‘Yes. I’ve thought everything through.’

Two hours later and Paula had talked non-stop to Trisha about her girls, about her man troubles, about her love of Spain and her hopes to have a salon out there. She held up a mirror so Trisha could see her hair from the back.

‘Well, it’s a transformation. You said that’s what you wanted.’

Paula went into the back room to get Trisha’s coat and, as she reached the coat down from the peg, she heard the key turn in the lock and remembered that she’d put the key ready to lock up before Trisha had arrived. She walked over and tried the handle of the door.

‘Hello? Trisha, I seemed to be locked in. Hello? Trisha? Can you let me out, please?’ She listened and heard the faintest movement on the other side of the door.

‘Trisha?’

She heard the key turning in the lock again. When she opened it, Trisha was standing clutching a pair of scissors.

‘Trisha, are you okay?’ Paula took a step back.

‘I thought I was going to have to use them to open the door to get you out.’

Paula frowned. She held Trisha’s coat between them.

‘Not those scissors, they’re my hairdressing scissors; they cost a fortune.’ She smiled warily.

‘I used to be a hairdresser.’

‘Did you, Trisha?’

‘A long time ago, when I was young like you.’

‘You’re still young – now with that haircut, you look like a teenager.’

Trisha turned and looked at herself in the mirror.

‘Yes, you’re right. I don’t recognize myself,’ she said. ‘I could be anybody.’ She smiled.

‘Precisely.’ Paula took the scissors from her and put them down as she held up Trisha’s coat to help her put it on.

‘Now you can be anyone you choose.’

Ellerman wiped the dust and dirt from his eyes as he scraped away at the wallpaper in Craig’s room. He’d been working on it all day, non-stop. He had moved everything he could out onto the landing and covered the rest with sheets. He could see the hurt in Dee’s eyes when he started, but it had to be done. He felt she knew it too. They couldn’t stay in the house any more and live in a tomb. She had set up her space in the corner of his office. She had homework to do from her classes. She went out more than he ever realized before. But then, the last time he spent three consecutive nights at home, Craig had been alive.

Ellerman stopped working – he had felt his phone buzz in the pocket of his overalls. He looked at the caller ID. It was Megan. He paused, thought about it and then answered it.

‘Hello, gorgeous, how are things in sunny Devon?’

‘They are fine. I’m working too hard. I’ve just finished a big commission piece; I could do with a little distraction. Are you coming down my way soon?’

‘Ahh. I’d love to. What did you have in mind?’

‘What about tomorrow?’

‘Thursday?’

‘Yes, I thought we could spend a couple of days together, head to the coast, walk on the beach. It’s cold but the forecast is for sunshine.’

‘You don’t know how marvellous that sounds. Can I ring you back later when I’ve juggled a few things?’

‘Of course, but say yes – I feel like spoiling you. Great wine, great food.’

‘Sold! What time do you want me down?’

‘Late afternoon would be great – sixish; that will give me time to finish up the last of my work.’

‘I’ll be there, gorgeous.’

Megan came off the phone to Ellerman and opened up her list of numbers to call. She called Harding first.

‘You have my address. Would you like to make an evening of it and come and stay?’

‘Yes, I could – I don’t have a lot on on Friday. That sounds delightful. What is the plan?’

‘I’m inviting a few of the women from the list down. I think we should stick by one another – after all, we have a lot in common. You never know, good things might come out of all this. We might hit it off really well.’

‘Sounds like fun.’

Megan phoned Paula and Emily next.

‘I’ll have to check I can leave the girls with my mum,’ said Paula.

‘You can sleep here, no problem. Have you heard from JJ?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Emily?’

‘Yes?’

‘Can you come down here tomorrow? Are you ready with the contract for us to look at?’

‘Yes, the first draft of it anyway. ‘Is it going to be too icy to drive home?’

‘Possibly.’

‘I’ve had car trouble recently. The steering went on me whilst I was driving on the lanes the other day. I could hire a car especially to come down or I could borrow one from the school.’

‘Do it; but don’t drive home anyway. I think you are going to want to stay.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’m hoping JJ might make an appearance.’

‘Oh. Okay. I’ll find that very strange, to see him with everyone else.’

‘We will all find it strange, Emily, but it’s the only way to sort it out. We need to confront him. I’m not telling everyone that he’s coming. I sense that you won’t be put off, but I think others will and I want us to end this on our terms, not his. We stand together and make him tell us what’s going on. We get the truth. I want to see him squirm.’

Megan phoned Dee. Dee was walking back from the station.

‘Dee Ellerman?’

‘Yes. Who’s this?’

‘Megan Penarth.’

‘We talked before… You said you were Paula.’

‘Yes. I’m sorry.’

‘What do you want?’ Megan was thinking what a difference a few days made. This sounded like a different woman. She was also trying to work out how Dee could possibly have known she was lying about being Paula.

‘I have a proposition to put to you.’

‘Go on.’