‘I’ll put the hamper info up on the wall later. It seems innocent but we can’t exclude it yet.’ Harry sits on one of the plastic chairs so I join him.
‘Oh, and get this.’ I have to tell him even though it might be nothing. ‘There were worms in the veggies so Dad had to throw them out. He even threw the goodies out, which is sad because I had my eye on them.’
Harry furrows his brows and bites his bottom lip. There’s something he’s not telling me.
‘Harry, what is it?’
‘About a month ago, I’d come back from walking Diggerty in the woods. It had been tipping it down and my boots were caked with mud, so I left them outside the house. A couple of hours later, I went to put them on and there were worms inside them. Later, when I went to walk Diggerty again, James and one of his mates were laughing at me. They put the worms in my boot.’
I shiver, knowing that my family are probably the target of these bullies. I’m clenching my fists. ‘Tessa could’ve sent the hamper and James must have put the worms in it, or did James give Tessa the idea to put worms in the hamper? I thought it had to be Ray but now I’m not so sure.’
‘I think you’re on to something.’ Harry blinks.
It’s James or Tessa. It has to be. Back of the net, Detective Morgan.
Fifteen
Gemma
‘Spice Up Your Life’, by the Spice Girls blasts out on the radio, and I can’t help but sing along. As soon as Ethan came home on Saturday night, I threw my arms around him and we spoke for what felt like hours. Whoever called the police saved him because he’d been about to be charged. That makes me shudder. I still wonder if Quinn made that call. If she did, I’m beyond grateful.
I dance around the room like all my troubles have been lifted until the reality of our situation hits me again. Someone around here knows that sneaking me an article about Jasmine would bring everything back and I have no idea who they are. All I know is that they remember everything.
I hear the beeping of the vehicle as it reverses onto our drive. That’ll be the skips that Ethan is out there waiting for. Once we’ve smashed a few walls down and removed all the junk from the house, the job will seem more straightforward. We can get everything done and leave.
I walk through the main living space to the tiny dining room-cum-snug at the far end of a small corridor. It has an original stone fireplace which I know has value so we need to preserve it. It’s the only room in the house that looks to be perfectly finished, which is a relief. That’s less work for us to do. It’s a shame Aunt Dorette didn’t look after the rest of the house like she did this room.
I gaze at the solid oak Welsh dresser, which I know is at least two hundred years old, and it looks like it weighs a tonne. It used to be in the kitchen but it looks good here. It’s odd being in this room because Aunt Dorette used to do her thinking in here and I was never allowed in. It has no windows and is surrounded by full bookshelves and the dresser. Aunt Dorette would have told me to stay out of here because all her important work was done in this room and me being in it would disturb her flow. I laugh because if I could say one thing to her now, it would be, Don’t worry, Aunty, I won’t touch your room, not even in death.
I go back out to the main family room. The radio signal keeps wavering because we still don’t have Wi-Fi. Aunt Dorette never had a connection, preferring to be non-contactable except for her landline. She’d take her beaten-up old laptop to Whitby to send her emails.
I let out a long breath before checking my phone, and I have a message. My delivery is only one stop away.
Ethan enters through what was once a wall. ‘The skips are on the drive. We can start shifting the clutter out of the hall. Upstairs can wait a while as I haven’t had time to go through everything and I don’t want to tamper with your aunt’s old office. I’ve boxed up things to sell in the shed and there’s another pile for charity. All of this stuff has to go.’
‘Great.’ I check for delivery updates and a text pops up telling me the package has been left on the doorstep. I didn’t want Ethan to see it arrive but he follows me out.
‘What’s that?’ He glances down at the cardboard box.
‘Just some chocolates.’ It’s no good. Ethan will expect us to be eating the chocolates tonight and that’s not going to happen. ‘I thought we should give them to the neighbours, Tessa and Ray.’
He shakes his head. ‘After the way they treated us?’
‘We have to live here and we didn’t do anything. I want them to see that we’re nice people and one of us has to make the first move.’ I also want to check them out. I want to look into their eyes when I’m killing them with kindness and maybe I’ll be able to work out who sent the hamper.
‘Well, why can’t they make the first move?’ He folds his arms.
‘Because… I don’t know. It feels right.’
‘We haven’t done anything.’
‘Neither have they. They received those letters. They are victims and they wrongly thought it was us.’
‘And let’s not forget how they spoke to Morgan and got me arrested.’
He’s right but I think one of us has to make a move to smooth things over, and with us being the newbies, we have to suck this one up. ‘I know. You’re right but let’s be the bigger people here.’
He blows out a breath and hugs me. ‘You’re too good, you know that?’
