A Sweet Murder (14 page)

She held the
plastic covered recipe book out to Lucinda. Lucinda’s eyes widened
as she freed her hand from Jamie’s and took it. “Is this what I
think it is? The original recipe book?”

“
It
looks like it. Did you know it existed?” Grace asked.

Lucinda pressed
her lips together and shook her head. Jamie gave her a quizzical
look and said, “What is it? I can tell when you’re lying, Lucy.
There’s no need for secrets anymore.”

“
You
don’t have to say anything in front of me,” Grace said with
concern.

Lucinda sighed
and said, “I did know about it but I didn’t think it really
existed. Della told me about it. She said Mum had shown her it one
day and told her not to tell anyone else. Della said Mum had told
her about it because she loved and trusted Della more than
me.”

“
I
never said that!” Connie exploded.

Jamie patted
Lucinda’s hand. “Don’t get upset, she can’t hurt you any
more.”

Lucinda gave
Jamie a little smile. “I know, but it’s hard to let go, to stop
thinking about all the hateful things she used to say to me. I knew
Mum liked Della more than me, I didn’t need reminding all the
time.”

Connie looked as
if that was news to her.

“
Why
did you think that?” Grace asked.

“
Della was the golden girl, still is. She’s the youngest and
got spoilt by Mum, she got everything she ever wanted. She loved
working in the factory, in the inventing area. She thought she was
better than anyone else, and she used to let people know it. I
never wanted to work for the family. I tried to speak to Mum many
times about it but she wouldn’t listen.”

Connie folded
her arms and said, “She was being stubborn, I knew what was best
for her.”

Lucinda went on,
“When Della told me about this book I thought she was telling me
another one of her lies. I told her to prove it but she couldn’t
produce the book. When I asked her about it she said Mum had put it
somewhere safe but that she’d find it one day. I didn’t care either
way. Please take it back, I don’t want anything to do with
it.”

Jamie caught
Lucinda’s hand as she moved it towards Grace. He said, “Perhaps you
should take it, just to stop Della getting her grubby hands on
it.”

Connie prodded
Jamie on the back, her finger sank through his shirt. “How dare he
talk about my Della like that! After all I’ve done for
him.”

Grace needed to
ask more questions. She took the book back and said, “Jamie, how
long have you worked for Flamingo Sweets?”

Jamie gave a
bitter laugh. “On and off since I was a lad. I only worked there so
I could be close to Lucy.” He turned to Lucinda and gave her a
tender look. “It was love at first sight. I used to see her walking
to that posh school of hers when she was young.”

Lucinda laughed.
“He used to whistle at me. My friends thought he was so
common.”

“
But
you fell for my good looks and charm,” Jamie added.

“
I
did. I knew Mum would have a fit if she knew I stopped to talk to
you on the way to school, but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t care
what anyone thought. Nobody knew about our relationship. It was my
idea for Jamie to ask Mum for a Saturday job. She said no at first
but I convinced her to take him on, I told her she didn’t have to
pay him much.”

“
I
would have worked for free to be near you. I started doing stuff in
the shop and factory. When I passed my test I went out on
deliveries. I had other jobs as well because Mrs Flamingo still
wasn’t paying much.”

“
I
paid more than he was worth! It makes my blood boil to think he’s
been sneaking around behind my back! The pair of them!
Pah!”

“
I’m
not the only reason you stayed at Flamingo’s though, am I?” Lucinda
said.

Jamie frowned.
“No.” He sighed heavily. “What are we going to do about her, Lucy?
Will she be all right when we go?”

Grace’s scalp
prickled. Who were they talking about? And, more importantly, where
were they going?

Chapter 30

Grace paused.
She didn’t feel comfortable firing questions at them. Connie didn’t
care, she walked around the table to face the couple. “Where are
they going? Are they running away? Grace, don’t just sit there, ask
them!”

A sudden thought
came to Grace. She said, “I went to the original shop when I was
young, I went with my family. I remember seeing your mum, and I saw
another woman, she was wearing glasses. I saw an article online
about your mum, when she’d passed away, and that same woman was in
the photograph. Is she a member of your family? Do you think she’d
like to see this book?”

Jamie and
Lucinda looked at each other. Lucinda gave Jamie a slight nod and
said, “Tell her about Anna, and then I’ll tell her about the other
thing. It doesn’t matter who knows now.”

Jamie turned to
Grace. “That woman is Anna, my sister. She’s older than me and not
very bright.”

“
You
could have said that a better way,” Lucinda gently admonished
him.

Jamie shrugged.
“Well, it’s true. She’s kind-hearted but doesn’t know when people
are taking advantage of her. When I got that Saturday job at
Flamingo’s shop she used to tag along with me. She’d help me clean
up and easy stuff like that. Lucy’s mum said she could do a few
hours at the shop. I was surprised, she wasn’t often kind. Sorry,
Lucy, but you know how I felt about your mum, she was a
cold-hearted ...” He shook his head and pressed his lips together
as if trying to keep his words in.

“
The
feeling’s mutual,” Connie said coldly.

“
Anyway, Anna loved working there. I’m sure Connie would have
paid her in sweets if she could have got away with it. I haven’t
seen Anna much since Connie’s funeral, we’ve been busy.” Jamie
looked at Lucinda. “Actually, we haven’t seen her for quite a
while. If all the shop fittings are in that locker has the shop
closed down? When did we last speak to her?”

Lucinda said, “I
spoke to her on the phone last week. She was her usual happy self,
she didn’t say anything about the shop closing. I wonder if she’s
working in the factory. Oh, Jamie! We’ve been so wrapped up in our
own problems that we haven’t given Anna a second thought! I’ll give
her a ring now.”

“
No,
Lucy, we’ll ring her later when we get settled in. She can come and
live with us if she wants to. Please don’t look at me like that, I
know I’m being hard but we have to put ourselves first, we have to
go ahead with our plans. I’m sure Anna will be okay for a little
while longer.”

Connie pointed
to Jamie. “What’s he up to? What are these plans he’s talking
about?”

Jamie put his
arm around Lucinda and pulled her closer. Grace could see the love
between them. She said, “It must have been hard keeping your
relationship a secret.”

Jamie released
Lucinda. “It was but we’re having a fresh start now.” He looked at
his watch. “We should be setting off.”

Lucinda said,
“Let me explain it to her, she was kind enough to offer us the
recipe book.”

“
Okay, as long as she doesn’t go running to the police,” Jamie
added.

For the second
time that day Grace felt wary. Were Lucinda and Jamie going to
confess to the murder of Connie? It was obvious that they were
planning to go somewhere.

Lucinda said, “I
never wanted to work for the family company but I put up with it
for Mum’s sake. I could just about cope with it until I found out
how much Mum was paying Della to mess about with sweets in the
factory. Jamie was furious, he said I should confront Mum. I
couldn’t, I was too mad. I wish I had though. I did something else,
something I’m ashamed of. For the last year I’ve been, what’s the
best term? Fiddling? Yes, I’ll go with that, I’ve been fiddling the
books. I deal with all the vending machine rentals and I’ve been
charging more than I put down in the accounting
records.”

Jamie leant
forward and slapped his hand on the table. “She took what she was
entitled to! She should have taken more!”

Lucinda shook
her head. “I shouldn’t have taken any, I should have confronted
Mum. Anyway, the accountant that we had was old and he never
checked the books properly. We got a new accountant and he noticed
straight away. He started to ask questions, he knew what I was up
to. I was so worried that he was going to tell Mum. I didn’t want
her to feel ashamed of me.”

Lucinda looked
down at the table. Grace glanced at Connie, the strawberries on her
dress had faded. Connie said quietly, “Why didn’t she come to me?
We could have talked about it.”

Jamie carried on
with the facts. “I couldn’t bear to see Lucy so worried. I knew
what she was up to, I didn’t blame her. I told her I would take the
blame if Connie ever found out. She already had a low opinion of
me. I had some money saved up, I told Lucy it was time to make a
fresh start.”

Lucinda looked
up. “I had to do something before the accountant told
Mum.”

“
What did you do?” Grace asked, dreading the
answer.

“
We
planned to run away, leave everything behind. I went to see Mum at
home, to say goodbye for the last time. I said I was going away for
a few days. The truth was that we were running away.”

Connie said, “I
remember that goodbye, she gave me a long hug. I thought that was
strange at the time because we never hugged.”

Lucinda’s eyes
filled with tears. “That was the last time I ever saw her, she died
that night.”

Chapter 31

Jamie said,
“Come on, love, dry your tears. I’ll tell Grace what happened next.
We ran away that night, we planned to start a new life. We switched
our phones off so we didn’t know about Connie’s death until the day
after. Vincent phoned us. We came back immediately and didn’t tell
anyone where we’d been. Or what we’d done.” Jamie looked at
Lucinda. “Shall I tell her?”

Lucinda wiped a
tear away. “I’ll tell her, I like saying it. The day that I said
goodbye to Mum was the day that Jamie and I got
married.”

Grace heard a
gasp from Connie, she had turned a grey colour. Grace hoped she
wasn’t going to freeze.

Lucinda said, “I
wanted to invite all the family but I knew Mum wouldn’t go. And, to
be honest, I didn’t want Della to be there either. We drove up to
Scotland to get married in an old castle. It was a beautiful
ceremony and I don’t regret it for a moment. The only thing I
regret was being so far away from Mum when she died. If she’d been
at our wedding ... maybe things would have been different. She
wouldn’t have been in the bath that night.”

Lucinda began to
cry again. Jamie pulled her close. Lucinda spoke through her tears,
“We had our disagreements but I loved Mum. I admired her strength.
I knew she would have come round to liking Jamie
eventually.”

Connie moved
round to Lucinda and put an arm around her, it hovered above her
back. “You should have spoken to me.” She sighed. “I should have
listened more.”

Jamie planted a
kiss on Lucinda’s head. “We really have to go.”

Grace handed
Lucinda a tissue and said, “Where are you going? If you don’t mind
me asking again.”

Lucinda wiped
her cheeks and smiled. “I don’t mind you asking. We’re running away
again! We’ve got a house sorted out in Brighton, it’s one of our
favourite places. We’ve got enough money saved. Actually, thanks to
a family member, we’ve got more than enough! It seems the
accountant was about to go to the police and tell them about my
activities but he’s been silenced and we’ve been given money to
disappear. Jamie thinks I should wait for my share of the will
money but I don’t feel like I deserve it, not after what I’ve
done.”

Jamie said,
“This isn’t your fault! Your mum should have respected your
decision to leave the business. And don’t worry what the vending
machine owners are saying about you, let the rest of your family
sort that out, they get paid enough to deal with problems.” He
stood up and helped Lucinda to her feet. Grace noticed the slight
swelling of her tummy.

Lucinda caught
her look and placed a hand on her tummy. She nodded and said, “If
it’s a girl I’m going to call her Constance.”

“
Over my dead body!” Jamie said.

Connie laughed.
“I don’t blame him! It’s an awful name.” She paused and looked at
Jamie. “He really loves her, doesn’t he? I think he’ll take good
care of her.”

“
You’ll come round to the name,” Lucinda told Jamie. She
turned her attention to Grace. “Be careful if you meet Della, she’s
got a nasty streak in her. When I heard that Mum had died my first
thought was that Della had done it. She’d do anything to get her
own way. I’d heard her talking on the phone several times about a
new product that she was creating. She said that she’d get the
money out of Mum somehow to make sure the product would go
ahead.”

Jamie’s eyes
narrowed. “I wish I could disagree with you about Della being
capable of murder but I’ve seen her in a rage. Come on, Lucy, we
really have to go.”