Queen bee, p.16
Queen Bee, page 16
I went and looked at the history – being a librarian for as long as I have, I am pretty tech savvy – and I pulled up the last article she had been looking at. Initially, it didn’t register with me because I just presumed it was part of her research. But when I thought about it later, I went home and did my own bit of research. And that was when I knew there was something more to that girl, that maybe Miranda was right to suspect Verity a little bit. But I swear, not in one million years would I have ever made the association between that article and what happened that night. It was all a bit too far-fetched, even for me. And I love a good thriller with a shocking twist.
29
Once half term was done and dusted, I arranged to meet with Hatty about getting the last bits finalised for the picnic in the park. I was glad of the distraction because I had been avoiding Evie and trying to find things to fill my time, so when Hatty rang and said was I free for a little extra PTA meet-up, just the two of us, I almost bit her hand off. It was just over a week until the picnic in the park. It was the simplest event, but we wanted to make sure that nothing went wrong.
I practically skipped around to Hatty’s after I had dropped Anabel at school. When I arrived, she had just taken warm croissants out of the oven and a hot pot of coffee was on the Aga.
‘My goodness, if I knew all PTA meets were like this, I would have joined as soon as I got here.’
Hatty laughed and brought two mugs to the table. ‘I don’t think any amount of sugary carb would have convinced you. I think you have a good heart, but you needed to settle in and make sure you and your family were happy first. That was very admirable, Miranda. Don’t beat yourself up about it.’
‘Oh.’ I looked down because no one had ever said anything like that to me since I had moved here. Obviously, Evie had lots of good things to say to me – at least she did once – but I guess I am just one of those people who needs the reassurance, the adoration from time to time. I really admired people like Hatty – well-rounded individuals who always had a good thing to say about others and who didn’t need constant affirmation. Unlike me, who needed it like air.
We bashed out the final few details for the picnic. Hatty’s farmer friend from down the road was supplying us with hay bales for seating – which would ultimately end up as a playground for the children – and Hatty was baking a massive batch of scones. A local supplier was providing a few jars of jam.
I had my job: bunting. Make the bunting, buy the bunting, whatever I wanted. I had really liked the idea of making it with Anabel as a little project this week, but I still hadn’t got around to it. I didn’t have the patience, and I was running out of time. I double-clicked on Amazon on my phone when Hatty was out of the room and received an email seconds later to say the bunting was on its way.
‘Gazebo,’ Hatty said, polishing off the last of her croissant. ‘Do you have one?’
‘I do. It was one of the first things we bought when we moved here.’
‘Good – you never know, it could pee it down, although the weather report says it’s going to be hot. So I guess it could double up as a bit of shade, especially for mums with little ones,’ Hatty said, adding to her list.
My goodness, this woman thought of everything. I could barely handle bunting!
‘Have you seen much of Verity lately?’ she asked quietly, still looking at her list.
‘Oh, I…’ I was taken aback. Hatty and I had that conversation a while back about why Verity had been at the Mother’s Day service, but since then we hadn’t mentioned her.
‘Well, to be honest. I haven’t seen much of her,’ I said, but I thought about our confrontation the other day. Then there was the conversation I had overheard outside the school when I had been waiting for Hatty, how angry Verity had sounded. But I hadn’t shared it with Hatty at the time. Maybe now was the right time. ‘I did hear her on the phone after the PTA meeting. She was running past the school. When you went back in, she had stopped just around the corner from where I’d been stood. She sounded very angry at whoever she was talking to.’
‘Oh, you didn’t say anything before,’ Hatty said.
‘No, because you came straight back out and then we just started walking. I wondered if it was anything to add to our theory of what brought her here. She was talking about a woman called Rachel. She sounded annoyed that this woman was getting more attention that she was. I thought,’ I said, bringing my theory out in the open, ‘that maybe Rachel was her sister, or another author from her publishers.’
‘Hmm, interesting, isn’t it? Just getting snippets into people’s lives. She really doesn’t give very much away at all, does she? She’s sort of half in, half out, isn’t she?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, it’s like she has as opposed to wants to be here, and that reluctancy shows. But at the same time, she seems to have struck up an unlikely friendship with the most popular woman in the village. Evie.’
I shrunk backwards at the mention of the burgeoning friendship that had been affecting my own relationship with Evie for months now. ‘Yes, I suppose she is.’
‘So, she does stick out like a sore thumb in that respect – you can’t exist in a village like this and hide yourself away to the extent that she has.’
‘No, you’re right,’ I said, feeling triumphant again that I wasn’t the only one who had sensed all this about Verity.
‘I don’t think she will last much longer, if I’m honest,’ Hatty said.
‘No?’ I said, curious as to where this theory of Hatty’s had come from.
‘I mean, I’ve lived here for fifteen years and not in all that time have I met anyone like Verity here.’
I nodded. This was good. If I was feeling braver, I would tell Hatty about how rude Verity had been to me the other day, but that would mean disclosing all the details of my own past, and I wasn’t ready for Hatty to see me in that light. Not until I could prove myself to be a worthy member of the community. Then she would be able to see it was all in the past and a big mistake at that.
The conversation petered out as quickly as it had begun. There really wasn’t much I could discuss with Hatty without exposing my past. We would both be struggling for anything to really say about Verity, as she was such an enigma. And Evie had not been forthcoming with anything helpful or interesting about her either. In fact, during the barbeque, when there was the faintest chance of me getting to know a little more about Verity, it was Evie who had swooped in and moved her on – under the guise that she hadn’t had anything to eat. Who knew if that was a genuine caring act or a tactic to keep me away from Verity because Evie wanted her all to herself? I hated thinking that way about Evie, but I was no longer sure about anything.
I left Hatty’s feeling a little less stressed about the situation. It was obvious Verity’s presence had piqued the interest of others and not just me, because Hatty’s opinion counted for a lot in this village and she must have influenced others besides me with her thoughts.
It was only over a week until the picnic in the park, and if Evie was coming, then she might convince Verity to come and that would be another opportunity for me to observe her in the wild when she was around others, because that was when her behaviour differed. From afar this time, especially so if I were going to talk to Evie. I didn’t need Verity dropping me in it and blabbing to her all about my past misdemeanours.
Sabrina had been and cleaned the house whilst I had been out. There was a slight scent of lemon and lavender in the air, and it felt pleasant to come home to a clean house that I hadn’t had to do myself. My stomach began to rumble, and I realised it was coming up for midday. I had gladly accepted a croissant from Hatty, but that had been all I’d had today, bar my smoothie first thing.
I put a piece of sourdough bread on to toast and whisked two eggs ready to scramble.
I dropped a knob of butter in a saucepan and carried on whisking my eggs.
Then my phone rang, which startled me. I grabbed it from the side and saw Evie’s name on the screen. I felt a swell of happiness. She can’t have helped noticing my avoidance of her these last few days, and I felt bad now because I should have checked in with her about Frank. It had been a few days now and I suppose she had felt my absence. I swiped to answer.
‘Hiya,’ I said. There was a pause on the other end. I waited. This village was renowned for bad reception and quite often someone would call, and the line would stay quiet for a few moments. I anticipated Evie’s voice to come crackling through any second.
And it did. But it wasn’t her voice as it would be if she were holding the phone to her mouth. It was Evie’s voice, but far away. I laughed. ‘Oi, you silly sausage!’ I shouted into the phone. ‘You’ve called me by mistake.’ But I knew she wouldn’t hear me. I knew I should just hang up the call and then text her to say she had pocket-called me, and I was almost about to do so when another voice filtered through in the background.
Verity’s.
I clung on to the phone and held it tightly to my ear so I could try to hear what they were saying. There was lots of movement, and it was hard to know if Evie had her phone in her pocket or if it was in a handbag. Either way, it sounded as though they were walking and talking. I sat down, barely daring to breathe in case any slight sound I made might give me away.
I listened carefully, trying to pick out one or two words but it was impossible to hear, it was too muffled and there was a constant swish of material against the phone as Evie walked, drowning out her words.
I sat for a few minutes listening to the muffled voices and then suddenly the swishing stopped. They had stopped walking.
‘I don’t want to inconvenience you,’ came Verity’s voice, still muffled, but I could just about make it out.
‘Well, you are,’ Evie said. Her voice was stern and hard. ‘And it’s adding to the stress I am already under.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Verity said.
‘You’ve nothing to be sorry about. This isn’t your fault. Let me make another phone call, see what I can do.’
‘If you could, I would appreciate it,’ Verity said.
There was a loud muffle and a bang that made me pull the phone away from my ear. Then Evie’s voice, clear and loud, coming through my phone.
‘Hello, hello, Miranda?’
Shit, shit, shit. I hung up. Panic seized me. Evie would look at how long she had been on the call and know I had been listening in the whole time. It had been almost five minutes. Shit, shit, shit. I stood up and began frantically pacing.
My phone rang again. Evie’s name on the screen. Shit. I didn’t know what to do. If I didn’t pick up, she would know I was faking as I had just been active on the call.
I thought quickly and swiped to answer.
‘Ah, there you are?’ I said brightly.
‘Hi,’ Evie sounded breathless. ‘Sorry, I think I called you by mistake.’
‘Yes, you did.’ I tried to laugh, but it came out nervous and jittery.
‘Did you hear just a load of pocket noise?’ She laughed.
‘To be honest, I wouldn’t know. I tried to call out to you, then the doorbell rang. I’ve been at the front door with a delivery guy. I left you on the kitchen side.’ It was a good enough lie for Evie not to suspect that I had been standing listening in on her for the last few minutes.
‘Oh right, okay. No worries. Sorry for the accidental call.’
‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘How’s Frank?’
‘Frank?’ Evie said, as though she were considering his name for a moment. ‘He’s fine. Yes, he’s doing very well. He should be out of hospital in a few days.’
I felt in that moment that something didn’t feel right. The way Evie had questioned her stepfather’s name, it was as though she had completely forgotten that he’d had a heart attack and almost died a few days ago.
‘Have the hospital staff been looking after him well?’ I said flatly. I suddenly felt as though I needed to quiz her more. She had neglected to tell me she had been heading to the hospital with someone else, which I already suspected had been Verity.
‘Oh yes, he’s a real ladies’ man as well, so he’s been charming the pants off the nurses.’
‘I had a cousin who worked at the John Radcliffe. Is that where he is?’ I asked, and there was a beat, a beat too long, before Evie replied.
‘Yes. Look, I have to go, but can I pop round later after the school run? I feel I’ve hardly seen you lately!’
‘Sure,’ I said sweetly. ‘After school, it is. The girls can have a play and we can have a good catch-up.’
‘Great. See you then.’
We hung up, and I immediately googled the number for John Radcliffe Hospital. I spoke to the reception and asked what room Frank Pollard was staying in for a family visit later.
I hung up and squeezed the phone tightly in my hand. As I had suspected. There was and never had been a Frank Pollard staying in the John Radcliffe Hospital.
30
Evie waved enthusiastically at me as I walked through the playground just before three thirty. She was clearly trying hard. Did she feel weird about the phone call earlier? I arrived next to Evie, and she stepped away from the group of mums she had been chatting with. She took out a packet of Lotus Biscoff and shook them at me.
‘Your favourite. I was in town today, went to the pound shop. I stocked up, so there will always be loads whenever you come to me as well.’
Oh, good Lord. She really was trying. ‘Yummy! Lucky me!’
‘Thanks for having me over – it feels like it’s been forever. I really need a coffee and a catch-up.’
Do you, Evie? Do you? I thought. Is there something you need to confess, get off your chest maybe?
‘Well, it will be nice to have you over,’ I said. ‘Ah, there’s the bell.’ I was keen to get home. My heart was racing and my palms were getting sweaty. I knew I was feeling stressed out about everything with Evie and Verity, and I just wished that I knew what was going on. But I was terrified to ask, because really, what could it possibly be? Evie was still speaking to me, and as far as she was concerned, we were still good friends. But she didn’t know that I knew how much time she had been spending with Verity. Which was entirely her choice, of course, but she hadn’t always been honest about it, and well, it just felt off, but I couldn’t begin to imagine why. I mean, if Evie had become fed up with me, surely she would just stop making any effort at all? But she was still here. I just wish I had some more info on Verity, something that I could say to Evie to warn her away from her, but I had nothing. Except the way she had spoken to me outside my car when she confronted me about Betty, but I couldn’t tell Evie that. It would all sound a little too tit for tat. I would have to bide my time. Perhaps I could get Verity drunk again? Evie had some sort of sixth sense that Verity could turn a little sour after a drink or two. Perhaps she would spill everything out to me after a few glasses of wine.
The girls skipped ahead; their heads stuck together all the way home.
‘Thick as thieves, aren’t they?’ Evie said. ‘They are best friends, aren’t they?’ She continued as they raced through the side gate into the back garden. I opened the front door and let Evie and me through. She slipped her trainers off and followed me through to the kitchen.
‘Yes, they are pretty tight,’ I said.
‘Young friendships are so memorable. I always remember a girl from school. I was so close to her. Sara Chipping, her name was. I hope they remember each other and this precious time,’ Evie said thoughtfully.
I looked at her with a furrowed brow. ‘You don’t think they will still be friends when they are older, then?’
Evie looked at me and shook her head quickly. ‘No, that’s not what I meant. I’m sure they will. Sometimes things change though, don’t they? When they move up to secondary school and college, you know.’
‘Well, I have a feeling that those two will stay firm friends for life.’
Evie looked at me. Her eyes were shiny. Were those tears welling? ‘I hope so,’ she said.
She strode over to the patio doors that opened up to the garden and unlocked the door. The girls would be looking for drinks and snacks soon. When she turned back around, her face was brighter, no shiny eyes. I wanted to ask, did she have plans to move? Was this what this was all about? But I was too terrified to hear the answer. I thought about the conversation I had overheard at the weekend between Anabel and Juno in the bathroom. Juno had told Anabel a secret and told her not to tell me. I felt my gut drop and panic began to swill around in it. I knew Evie had been a little distant recently, but I didn’t want to lose her. Maybe this was her way of trying to break the news to me slowly.
I took a deep breath and moved over to the coffee machine. Why was I overthinking everything? Evie was perfectly settled here. She would be a fool to move and take her daughter out of that brilliant school.
I made Evie her coffee how she liked it, and we sat down at the table. Evie took out the Lotus Biscoff and opened them. Even with my stomach churning, I still took one and nibbled on it. They reminded me of every café I had ever been to.
Evie took a deep breath. ‘Look, Miranda—’
‘Mummy, Juno and I are really hungry. Can we eat those donuts in the bread bin?’
I turned towards Anabel and Juno in the doorway.
Evie rubbed one hand across her face and tried to smile at the girls, but she was clearly put out by the interruption.
I looked at Evie, but she kept her smile up for me as well.
‘Is that okay?’ I asked. ‘Will a greasy jam doughnut ruin Juno’s appetite for dinner?’
‘There is no end to Juno’s appetite – it won’t spoil her dinner,’ Evie said.
‘Okay then,’ I said to Anabel. ‘And there are smoothies in the fridge. Can you take them outside with you?’
‘We will, we’re in the Wendy house,’ Anabel said and there were a few awkward moments as the girls packed themselves off with the doughnuts and smoothies. Then they were out of earshot again.
