Fourteen
Penny’s mobile rang again when they were about five minutes outside Llanelen. She answered it, made a few noises to indicate she was listening, and then rang off.
“Victoria just wanted me to know that Gareth has just arrived.”
The rector made a noncommittal sound and then commented, “I’m not sure what that means—whether it’s good or bad. Bronwyn won’t tell me what’s going on with you two, so I’m afraid I really don’t know what to say.”
Penny gave a little laugh that sounded more like a snort.
“Well, I don’t know what there is to tell you, really. We were sort of together, but not really, if you know what I mean, but now we’re not. Victoria just wanted me to know he was there, in case I felt awkward. Oh! I’d better let Eirlys know I’m delayed. If we can go straight to your house, I can easily walk to the building from there.”
The rector nodded, and a few minutes later they pulled into his driveway. Bronwyn came out to meet them, Robbie at her heels.
“Whatever’s happened?” she asked. “There’s an awful lot of commotion over at the spa—police cars and everything. I hope nobody’s been injured.”
“I’d better get over there,” Penny said. “Thomas will fill you in on what we know so far,” she said to Bronwyn. “Oh, and Thomas, thank you so much for this morning. I really appreciate it.”
“That’s all right, my dear. Good luck with whatever it is you’ve got to be dealing with.”
Penny bent down to give Robbie a little pat and then set off toward the stone building, which, in the space of a morning, had been transformed from a renovation project to a crime scene. Police cars with lights flashing and radio chatter crackling blocked access to the area, and uniformed police officers, backed up by yellow crime-scene tape, prevented the growing crowd of onlookers from getting too close.
At the edge of the perimeter, just outside the yellow tape, Victoria was reaching for her mobile when Penny hurried up to her.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here,” Victoria said. “This is unreal. They’d just begun work”—she pointed to a pile of boards with nails sticking out of them, rusted pipes, the cistern from an old toilet, and a broken chair—“when one of the men apparently found a pile of bones in the ductwork. And we were just getting started!”
“That’s exactly what I said!” replied Penny. “I guess Gareth is inside, is he? And we’re not allowed to go in?”
“That’s right.”
“Do they know if the remains are human?”
“I didn’t see them, but apparently from the look of them it’s pretty obvious. Oh, and there’s more, and you’re really not going to like it.”
“You mean I’m not going to like it any more than I like that there’s a dead body in the ductwork of our new building?”
Victoria looked around and then lowered her voice.
“There are two skulls, the workman said. One he thought was human and the other was much smaller.”
“Oh, no!” said Penny. “A child?”
Victoria shook her head. “It’s not that shape. He thinks it might be a dog or cat.”
Penny gasped. “You’re right. I don’t like it.”
She glanced at her watch. “Right, well, you stay here and you can tell me everything that happens. If I hurry, I can just about make it back to the salon.”
“You don’t have to worry about the salon,” Victoria assured her. “I had a word with Eirlys, and she’s happy to carry on.”
“I’m sure she is,” Penny agreed, “but today’s Thursday, so Mrs. Lloyd’ll be coming in for her appointment. I want to take care of her myself so I can talk to her.”
“Ah,” said Victoria, getting it. “Pick her brain, you mean.”
Penny shuddered.
“I hate that expression! But you were right when you suggested that Mrs. Lloyd would be a good source of information. I’ll ask her today what she can remember about this building—she’s got a memory like a steel trap that goes back a long way, and she was well aware of just about everything that went on.”
Victoria nodded and Penny walked quickly back to the salon.
Eirlys, who was setting out bottles of nail varnish on the worktable, jumped when Penny walked through the door.
“Oh, Penny! We’ve just heard the news about the discovery of the dead bodies in the new spa. Really shakes you up, when something that awful can happen here.”
Penny nodded as she set down her handbag.
“Now, Eirlys, you’re not to worry yourself over this. I’m sure it happened a long time ago—before you were even born, probably—so you’re as safe as houses. No one’s going to hurt you, I promise. Now, Mrs. Lloyd will be coming in soon, and I’m going to do her nails myself today. So I’d like you to take your break now. Did you have lunch?”
Eirlys nodded.
“Victoria came in and closed the shop over the lunchtime.”
“Well, then, why don’t you text a friend and see if you can meet up for coffee for an hour or so.” She checked the appointments book. “Then, when you come back, we’ll finish up for the afternoon. The discovery at the new building could very well affect us all over the next few days.”
With an obliging nod, Eirlys went through to the back and collected her bag. As she passed through the salon on the way to the door, she gave Penny a worried look.
“Do you think this business at the spa will mean we can’t open? I know you and Victoria wanted the place open by Christmas. Will this delay things, do you think?”
“It might, for a day or two, but I’m sure Inspector Davies will have it all sorted quickly, and really, once the body has been taken away, there’s nothing to stop us from getting on with the renovations, is there?”
“No, I guess not,” said Eirlys as she opened the door. “But clients might not want to come there because of this. They might find it too weird and creepy.”
Penny gave a light, ironic laugh.
“Oh, I think you’ll find it will work quite the opposite way, Eirlys. You know what people are like. They’ll want to come to the spa because of what happened there.”
As Eirlys was about to leave, Mrs. Lloyd burst in, her eyes radiating intense excitement.
“Oh, Eirlys, love, are you leaving?”
“Yes, Mrs. Lloyd, but I’ve left out a few bottles of nail varnish that I think you’ll like, for you to choose from.”
“Oh, that’s lovely, dear. So thoughtful of you.Thank you so much.” She set down her bag and eased herself into the client’s chair. “Now, then, Penny,” she said eagerly, when Eirlys had closed the door quietly behind her, “you must tell me everything about what’s going on at the new site this morning. I hear a body’s been discovered! Who could it possibly be? Not anyone we know, surely!”
“I’m afraid I really don’t know too much about it,” Penny said as she picked up Mrs. Lloyd’s hand and began to shape her nails. “Victoria is there now, and I expect after she’s spoken to the police she’ll be able to tell us a bit more, so we’ll just have to wait to hear from her.” Mrs. Lloyd pinched her lips together but said nothing.
“And of course, your niece Morwyn will be there for the Daily Post, so I expect she’ll be asking all the right questions and will know more than anybody. She’ll have to, won’t she, if she’s going to write about it.”
Mrs. Lloyd nodded.
Penny got up from the table and returned a few minutes later with the soaking bowl, which she offered to Mrs. Lloyd.
Mrs. Lloyd dipped her fingers in the soaking bowl, and this time, perhaps because her mind was elsewhere, did not complain the water was too hot.
“Mrs. Lloyd, I’d like to ask you about something,” Penny began. “You’ve lived in this town all your life and you know it better than just about anybody. I wondered if you’d tell me what you can remember about our building. The new spa.”
Mrs. Lloyd gave her a shrewd look and then chuckled.
“Have you heard of horses and barn doors, Penny? The time to be asking me about the building was before you bought it, not after!”
“Yes, you’re right as usual, Mrs. Lloyd,” Penny said contritely. “But tell me everything you can remember about it. What it’s been used for and who owned it. And when.”
“Well, let me see.” Mrs. Lloyd thought for a moment.
“When my mother was a girl, and that’s going back a ways, it was some kind of inn or hostelry. It even had stables, I think. And then, during the war they used to billet soldiers there, because they took them up into the hills for training. Then, in the 1950s, I think it was a youth hostel, and in the 1960s and ’70s it was filled with hippies and squatters, and I think it’s pretty much been empty since then. Oh, people have talked from time to time about fixing it up, but nothing ever came of that, until you and Victoria decided to take it on.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing, by the way? Did you get some good advice?” She mulled that over and then answered the question herself. “Well, apparently not or you wouldn’t have bought a building with a dead body in it, would you?”
She picked up each of the nail polishes Eirlys had set out for her and, after a bit of wavering back and forth, settled on a rich burgundy.
Penny dried Mrs. Lloyd’s hands and, unwrapping a sterile packet of clippers, started trimming her cuticles.
“I wonder who it is,” Mrs. Lloyd mused. “Or was. It’s sad that, isn’t it?”
Penny looked up at her, the clippers poised in mid-air. “What is?”
“Well, when people go missing. Sometimes their relatives wait in vain for word, but the bodies are never found. Or maybe they’re found years later. Maybe even after a parent has died. Very sad, that, if it’s a young person.” Penny nodded and they sat in silence for a moment until Mrs. Lloyd was ready to continue.
“But sometimes people just disappear, and no one knows they’re gone and no one misses them. People who are estranged from their families and have no friends. They’re dead, but no one knows they’re dead. They might just as well have moved to another city, or even moved to another country, for that matter. Who knows? Who cares? No one.”
Penny felt a chill and shuddered.
“Yes, it’s getting cooler now,” Mrs. Lloyd went on. “Autumn is almost here, and it’ll be Christmas before we know it.” She sniffed and held her arm out to admire her nails, as she always did.
“Looks nice. I guess I do tend to favor the burgundies, especially with autumn closing in. I had that awful pink, that time, do you remember? It looked like a strawberry milkshake! This is much more suitable. I don’t know how you let me choose that pink!”
She sighed and watched as Penny went on with her work.
“Well, I’ve been wondering how you’re getting on with fixing up Emma’s cottage. You must miss her. Emma wasn’t the soft lady everyone thought she was, you know. She had quite a head for business and investments, and you didn’t want to argue with her. She always liked to have the last word, Emma did.”
Penny nodded. “Yes, and she was usually right. She knew a lot about a lot of things. As for the cottage, I’m afraid I’ve been very slow with it. Cleared out a few things, but not her bedroom, yet.”
She gave a little gasp. “Oh, no. I promised Bronwyn things for the jumble sale, and I haven’t even started the bedroom. I’ll have to get to that this weekend.”
She finished applying Mrs. Lloyd’s topcoat.
“There you go! All done.”
Just as Mrs. Lloyd was about to reply, the door opened and her face lit up.
“Oh, hello!” she said. “Look, Penny, it’s that nice policeman of yours. He’ll have some news for us, no doubt. I’d better just sit here if you don’t mind, while my nails dry. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to them.”