The Things You Didn't See(24)
Janet fell silent, and Holly knew why. This story was common folklore: the farmer and his wife, driving along Innocence Lane, had hit a tree with their car. Just yards from the farm, they had been killed and the story went that their daughter could hear their screams as they died. It was their ghosts that were said to haunt the area.
‘That were a terrible time for Maya. So, there she was, all alone with the farm to run. Soon after that, she married Hector.’ Janet paused, rubbed the butter between her fingers and worked it into the flour. ‘When you live in a place like this and you’ve lost your kin, you rely on folk near you. We’ve gathered together at the farm when there’s been a leccy strike or flood warnin’, or just because there was snow on the way.’
‘And you never wanted to move on, work somewhere else?’
‘I have my son and the cottage. That’s enough for me,’ she said firmly. But then she glanced at the door, as if to check no one was listening.
‘It’s a funny thing,’ Holly said cautiously, ‘tragedy striking the farm a second time. Her parents dying in that car accident and then this. Did Mrs Hawke seem . . . ?’
‘What, suicidal?’ Janet’s grey eyes flicked at Holly, narrowed. ‘Friday weren’t a normal day, that’s for sure. It was a shoot – we only have ’em about eight times a year, and there’s always a lot to do. I make the lunch, and of course the men have their hot toddy in the mornin’ and their Sloe Orgasm in the afternoon.’
‘Their what?’
Janet smiled, and the years fell away in that moment. ‘It’s sloe gin mixed with a bit of fizz.’
‘Sounds nice,’ observed Holly.
‘Hmm, well, usually it is. I can’t say Friday was much fun though, with that snooty headmaster Godwin. You must remember him?’ Holly nodded. ‘There was a man from the docks too – Mr Feakes, who seemed very nice and all, but it’s added pressure when there’s guests. And to top it off, they had that reporter there too – Alfie Avon – takin’ pictures and gettin’ in everyone’s way.’
‘Why was he there?’
‘Oh, Godwin had this notion that a piece in the paper, all about the farm and how it works and that, would go down well with the locals. Get ’em on side, like. Also, a picture of Mr Feakes havin’ fun makes him look like a hypocrite if he bulldozes it all over, don’t it? He’s canny, is Godwin.’
Holly thought so too. The whole shoot was just a PR exercise for Save Our Countryside. ‘So did it work?’
‘After a fashion,’ Janet said, considering. ‘Hector even let ’em kill the low-flyin’ birds, which ain’t the done thing, but he wanted to keep ’em happy and they weren’t used to handlin’ guns. Not like Hector and Ash are.’ She looked as if she might have said something wrong. ‘They have licences, of course.’
‘But what about Maya?’
‘Well, she wasn’t happy on Friday, I’ll say that much. A shoot’s an expensive thing to put on, and Hector was footin’ the bill. The farm’s not exactly a gold mine. Cass was there too, and she seemed upset about somethin’. The day just seemed to turn rotten. Who knows what pushed Maya into makin’ that bad decision?’
‘What bad decision, Miss Cley?’
She frowned, and leaned forward as if divulging a secret. ‘The day ended with her sayin’ she were gonna sell to the Port. It caused a right to-do. We was all shocked since she never planned on sellin’ the farm, not afore then. She can be a bit impulsive, fly off the handle sometimes. But then she’s had a lot to put up with, losin’ her parents like she did. Such a tragedy. You have to make allowances, don’t you?’
Holly noticed that Janet seemed to be struggling with all that had happened, as much as Cassandra. Perhaps she too had her doubts about what had happened. ‘What if Maya didn’t shoot herself, Miss Cley? Could someone else have wanted to harm her?’
‘Oh no!’ Janet sounded shocked, and Holly felt she’d overstepped an invisible line. The woman seemed to pull herself in. ‘Her family have been in Kenley for years and are well respected. Her dad was Master of the Hunt afore the accident, and her mum was president of the WI, as much part of this area as the pheasants and partridges. She shot herself in a moment of weakness. Maybe she felt wretched about all this nonsense with the land, and that pushed her over the edge. I told you she could be impulsive. But she’ll be okay, won’t she?’
‘We don’t know yet. We hope so.’
‘For all our sakes! Ash is so upset about it, I could hear him cryin’ after he went to bed last night. Poor boy, he always was sensitive.’
‘I remember he was like that at school. The other boys weren’t always kind to him.’
Janet’s face fell and her mouth nipped small. She was cutting the dough into shapes now, apparently concentrating hard, though Holly noticed that she reshaped and recut the same dough three times.
‘Kids can be cruel, and there’s always gossip in a village. Ash suffered on account of havin’ no dad.’ Janet began to pummel the scone mixture. ‘Godwin didn’t help, makin’ him stand in the corner every time he done summat wrong.’
‘I remember. It wasn’t fair how Ash was treated.’
Janet looked mollified. ‘He were never one for books – kids like him don’t belong in a stuffy schoolroom. Since Hector had his stroke, Ash practically runs that farm on his own. Think a halfwit could do that? Teachers know nothin’. But Hector allus believed in Ash, and I won’t forget that.’