TWENTY-FIVE
‘Well, here she is. All done, finally.’ Mark rubbed a spot of something only he could see from Marilyn’s shining silver façade.
‘It’s all fixed, then? We can drive her again?’ Ellie opened Marilyn’s driver’s side door and peered inside. She and Fee were more or less back to normal now, but she still felt a little weak. The doctors had let them leave hospital, and they had to go back to London.
‘Yup. Valeted her inside as well. You all right?’ He looked concerned as Ellie coughed. ‘I came to see you at the hospital. But you were asleep.’
‘Yeah, I’m okay. Thank you,’ she said, feeling awkward in his presence. If he was Rowland, he’d be halfway through some long anecdote about Marilyn Monroe by now. Ellie thought back to what Esther had said at their dinner at Simona’s house:If he’s a man of few words, the ones he does say are all the more important.‘Thanks for visiting. Sorry I wasn’t awake.’
‘That’s okay. I left you some bread I made.’ He gave her a brief smile. ‘Seein’ as you like it so much.’
‘Oh, right. Yeah, that was amazing,’ Ellie chuckled. ‘We shared it with the nurses. We had it with soup.’ The bread had been a soft white bloomer, a thoughtful touch, since Ellie’s and Fee’s throats were raw. Anything tough like a crusty sourdough would have been impossible to eat.
‘You’re welcome.’ He looked away shyly.
‘So, Marilyn looks beautiful,’ Ellie changed the subject.
‘That carpet hadn’t seen a deep clean since the 80s, I reckon,’ he added, quietly.
Ellie caught his eye; she thought she detected a sparkle in his voice, but he was poker-faced.
‘Mark, thank youso, so much,’ Fee told him enthusiastically. ‘You’re our knight in shining armour. Or our knight in shining motorhome, anyway. Marilyn looks so good! Have you cleaned her on the outside too?’ Fee walked along Marilyn’s length, making appreciative noises. ‘Look, Ellie! There used to be a dent here. It’s gone!’
‘She’s a piece of vintage. Got to look after her.’ Mark shrugged bashfully. ‘Too many old things getting ruined. Makes you want to look after what you can.’
The fire at the beach house had affected everyone, it seemed. The community was in shock. Mara had said that she thought there was a shadowy side to Magpie Cove, and that was obviously true, given what Darren had done.
The police had arrested him while Ellie and Fee were in hospital. They’d come in to take their statements, and the detective had cagily suggested that they had ‘identified the perpetrator using DNA evidence’. Mark had supplied the rest of the information when Ellie texted him.
It turned out that Darren, drunk, had come looking for Jamey that night despite the terms of the temporary restraining order, and had somehow managed to get some of his blood on the glass from the windows he’d broken. The fact that Ellie and Fee could identify him as being at the house and threatening them was apparently enough for the police to deduce that he had also started the fire. Plus, Darren had been found by the police later that night, still drunk, on the high street. His clothes had been stained with petrol.
‘Make sure you bill me for all the work you’ve done, Mark. I wouldn’t want to think I’d taken advantage of you just because you enjoy your work.’ Ellie realised she sounded brusque, but she’d only meant it in a good way. She could imagine that Mark probably had done a lot of extra little jobs – she certainly hadn’t asked him to valet the interior or bang out any dents, and she didn’t like the thought of not paying him for his work.
‘’Twas a pleasure, Ellie,’ Mark replied, softly. ‘I didn’t do nothing I didn’t want to. I’ve billed you what I think’s fair, in the circumstances.’ He handed her a final invoice, folded in half. ‘Look at it later. No rush.’
Then there were the shocking family secrets that Mara had uncovered about her origins. But there was also a wonderful side to the village: it was full of good people. Lila and Nathan, her partner, had insisted that Ellie and Fee stay at their flat in the village until they were well enough to go home. And the village was rallying round Mara and Brian, helping them repair the beach house.
Ellie opened the piece of paper. In thePayablebox, Mark had written ZERO.
She looked up at him. ‘What’s this? I thought there was still a balance to pay for the final repairs. It was around two thousand.’ She frowned at him.
‘Nope. All paid.’ Mark gave her a long stare, smiling.
‘Mark, I owe you money. I know I do. We agreed it last time. I’ve got the last invoice here somewhere.’ Ellie opened her handbag and started rifling through it.
‘You don’t owe me anythin’. You saved my sister’s life.’ Mark crossed his arms across his chest. ‘End of.’
‘Mark, anyone would have done the same,’ Ellie protested. ‘It doesn’t change the fact that you’ve done all this work on Marilyn. I wouldn’t dream of not paying you for your time.’
‘You’ve paid me most of it.’ He shrugged. ‘And the rest, I’m happy to write off. Really. I mean it.’ He looked uncomfortable, like he wanted to hug Ellie, but wasn’t sure how to make it happen in the moment. ‘Jamey’s my sister. It could’ve gone very wrong that night. Thanks to you, it didn’t,’ he added.
‘I… I don’t know what to say.’ Ellie was at a loss.
‘I think what Ellie means is, that’s incredibly kind, Mark,’ Fee said, softly. ‘Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome,’ he replied, equally softly, never taking his eyes from Ellie’s face.
‘You know, I’ve really got used to Magpie Cove. Even after the fire. It just feels like we’ve been here forever,’ Fee said, sadly.
