Poppy Blake - The Windmill Café

‘It’s a particularly nasty thing to do though, don’t you think?’ mused Matt. ‘Lacing Suki’s throat spray with poison. It’s as though someone wanted her to really suffer.’

‘But why? She’s lovely. She’s kind to her sister – even though Jess is a bit flighty. We know William adores her. And she’s paid for a week’s break in luxury lodges with outdoor spas just because she wanted everyone to have fun. She’s generous, popular, well-liked, excited about her future and on the brink of something special. Can it really be one of her friends who did this to her and not an unbalanced fan or spurned admirer who followed Suki here?’

‘I’m sure of it, and that person clearly used the spray because they wanted her next live performance to be affected – which leads me to believe it was someone who was envious of her success. What they didn’t foresee was that Suki would offer to sing whilst on holiday in Norfolk.’

‘What do you mean? Oh!’ Freddie picked up on Matt’s train of thought. ‘Yes! Suki has been offered the recording contract – jealousy. And what if Nadia knew about William and Suki’s affair but was biding her time, planning her revenge?’

‘It’s a theory.’

‘And poison. It’s not like a blow to the head, is it? In fact, the person didn’t even have to be around when Suki took it,’ added Rosie.

‘Mmm, interesting point, Miss Jessica Fletcher, I think you may be onto something.’

The tinkle of a brass bell reverberated through to the kitchen and interrupted their deductions.

‘I’ll go,’ said Matt, leaping from his chair and striding from the room.

Rosie couldn’t stop her eyes from roaming over Matt’s strong physique, those broad shoulders, those taut buttocks, and the memory of his firm hands as he’d guided her own on the bow. She could still feel the warmth of his body moulded perfectly next to hers and smell the faint whiff of his aftershave on her jacket.

‘Freddie? Can you come out here, please?’

Freddie shoved a whole chocolate biscuit into his mouth and shrugged his shoulders at Rosie. When the kitchen door swung open, Rosie saw who Matt was talking to and her stomach gave a sharp nip of surprise.

‘I needed to get away from everyone, so I thought I’d come over here,’ explained Nadia. ‘Please tell me there’s something I can join in with to get rid of all this pent-up energy. If I don’t do something soon I think I might explode!’

‘Come on, I’ll take you over to the climbing wall,’ said Matt. ‘Freddie, can you hold the fort here, please?’

‘Sure.’

‘Actually, Rosie had the same idea this morning. Would you mind if she joins us?’

‘I don’t mind at all.’

When Rosie appeared at the kitchen door, Nadia flicked the sides of her auburn bob behind her ears and attempted a smile. Rosie could see how agitated she was, her hands constantly restless, her eyes jumping from one thing to another and a spasm of sympathy shot into her chest, coupled with a generous helping of apprehension if Matt was expecting her to join Nadia on the climbing wall. She had never been top of the leader board when it came to heights, or ropes, or anything remotely connected with climbing for that matter; Georgina had been the tomboy of the family.

‘Here, take these.’

Matt handed each of them an Ultimate Adventures fleece and they followed him to the store room to collect the safety equipment before tramping through to a small clearing at the rear of the office where the climbing wall was situated. Rosie tipped her chin upwards to look at the top and it was so high she almost fell over backwards.

‘Looks daunting, doesn’t it?’ said Nadia, vocalizing Rosie precise thoughts.

‘Terrifying!’

‘Do you think it’s too late for us to back out?’

‘Erm…’

Rosie glanced at Matt who was emptying a huge rucksack of gear. ‘Sorry, girls, forgotten your elbow guards. Be back in a minute.’

Matt gave Rosie a meaningful stare and an imperceptible nod in Nadia’s direction. It was a couple of seconds before she realized what he meant. She tried to shake her head at him but he had already turned his back and sprinted off back to the storeroom. However, if they were to have any chance of finding out who spiked Suki’s throat spray and why, she had to grasp the opportunity to ask questions of their suspects whenever it presented itself. She had no idea how to broach the subject of Suki’s chance to shoot for stardom, other than to launch straight in.

‘So, how do you feel about Suki’s record deal?’

Nadia stared at her for a moment and Rosie thought she was going to tell her to mind her own business, but instead her shoulders slumped. She indicated a wooden bench fashioned from what looked like a railway sleeper and started to fiddle with the silver chains at her neck, her eyes fixed on an indeterminate point in the canopy of trees above their heads.

‘Suki’s my best friend and I’m happy for her. She’s worked so hard for her big break – we both did. The music business is a tough industry to make any progress in. If you’d seen some of the places we were booked to perform in you’d appreciate how much a recording deal means to Suki. Sure, I would be lying if I said I didn’t wish it had been me, who wouldn’t? But I’m not jealous, I’m really not. If I’m brutally honest, she’s a much better vocalist than I am. And even if I was jealous, I would never have sabotaged her chances by poisoning her! The contract doesn’t transfer to me in the event of her sudden unavailability or anything like that!’

Nadia’s face flushed with indignation as she re-tucked her copper-streaked bob behind her ears. Her outfit that day was a lemon, scoop-necked T-shirt embroidered with sunflowers and tight black designer jeans. Rosie knew that Nadia relished displaying her impressive cleavage and had shaped her wardrobe to reflect that – but in the middle of a deserted patch of woodland, she looked out-of-place and out-of-sorts and Rosie felt sorry for her.

‘Okay, ready to go now,’ announced Matt, handing out the elbow guards.

‘You know, I think I might have been a little hasty when I said I wanted to do something to take my mind of things.’

‘Nothing worthwhile is ever easy,’ said Matt, his dark blond hair standing up in tufts, looking like he’d just left his surfboard behind in the storeroom.

‘That’s exactly what Suki says before we go on stage. We both suffer from nerves before a gig; Suki more often than me, to be honest. She’s always coming out with crazy mantras, and she sticks rigorously to her little pre-show rituals – if she can’t find her throat spray, all hell breaks loose. Performers often have little routines before they go on stage – you know the sort of thing – if she has three sprays before a concert it’ll go well; if she forgets, or she’s run out, or only sprayed twice, it will be a complete disaster and we’ll never get a repeat booking. Actually, looking at this climbing wall I could do with a couple of squirts of the magic stuff myself!’

‘Mm, me too,’ murmured Rosie.

Suddenly Nadia’s eyes narrowed at Matt and Rosie. ‘I know what people are thinking – that I was so jealous of Suki’s record deal that I put something in her spray so she couldn’t sing for everyone on Sunday night. That’s what you think too, isn’t it?’

‘Well, you did go to Suki’s lodge to change into one of her dresses, so you did have access to…’ began Matt.

‘We all went to Suki’s lodge before the party – except for that idiot of a boyfriend of hers. Trust him to be in the clear! If I had to pick a person responsible for this it would be Felix!’

Nadia ripped off her helmet and knee guards and flung them to the ground, ready to take flight until Matt asked softly ‘I take it you know William and Suki are having an affair?’ and her indignant demeanour deflated as if a needle had been stabbed in a balloon. She crumpled back down onto the bench, twisting one of the silver chains at her throat. A succession of emotions floated across her expression – shock, outrage, acquiescence.