bring back distressing memories.
‘Black for me, please,’ Miranda said. ‘So you knew the Gilpins too, Tash? Before the girl was murdered, I mean?’
‘Well.’ Tash nibbled at her lower lip, as if regretting having said too much. ‘We’ve tried to become part of the local scene.’
‘It’s taken ten years to make our neighbours realise that we don’t want the place bulldozed to make room for a leisure centre or hypermarket,’ her husband said. ‘Even if only for selfish reasons, there’s no way we’d ever want to spoil the valley.’
‘And Barrie Gilpin,’ Daniel said, dragging the conversation back. ‘You came across him?’
‘An oddball,’ Simon said.
Tash frowned. ‘That’s unfair, darling. He was different, that’s all.’
‘Oh yeah? I remember you saying…’
‘Look, I admit I found it difficult when you were away and there was no one else around here but Barrie. He could be scary.’
‘He was a voyeur. He made you feel uncomfortable.’
Tash coloured. ‘Even so, I didn’t dislike him, not at all. He was — well, naive. Child-like. I felt sorry for him. That’s why I was happy for him to work here.’
‘He worked for you?’ Daniel asked. ‘Doing what?’
‘This and that,’ Simon said. ‘Painting and decorating. Helping Tom to clear out the pond every now and then. You could call it cheap labour, but it suited us and it suited him.’
Tash shook her head. ‘You could say the murder was my fault.’
Daniel stared at her. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Listen, the truth is that Barrie Gilpin was pretty much unemployable, but I persuaded Simon to find him work to do. Big mistake. If he hadn’t been hanging around here when Gabrielle Anders came calling, she’d be alive to this day.’
‘Gabrielle was a friend of mine.’ Tash gave a little shiver. They had moved from the dining area into the sitting room that adjoined the tower and were washing down a splendid meal with strong coffee. ‘Even now, I hate to think about what happened to her — up on the fellside.’
‘Sorry if I’m raking up bad memories,’ Daniel said. ‘It’s just that I don’t know the full story and from the fragments I’ve heard, I’m bound to be curious.’
Simon produced bottles of Drambuie and Irish Mist. When Miranda said that she was driving, he laughed and said, ‘Don’t worry. You won’t find any speed traps or lurking panda cars in Brackdale. The police are putting up cameras on all the main roads, the bastards. One more way to take money from us. But you’re safe in the valley.’
‘No thanks,’ she said. ‘I need my wits about me if I’m to negotiate all the bends and narrow lanes on the way home. I’ve already developed a habit of catching my wing mirror against the dry stone walls.’
‘You’ll keep us company, Daniel?’
Daniel hadn’t tried to keep pace with his host’s consumption of booze during the meal. Even so, he could feel his eyelids drooping. But alcohol might loosen tongues.
‘Sure.’
As he filled each glass to the brim, Simon said, ‘Tash hadn’t seen Gaby for years until she showed up here.’
‘Gabrielle.’ His wife corrected him firmly. ‘She always wanted to be called by her full name.’
‘Sorry, darling. Well, Gabrielle had been living abroad and then she came back to England on holiday. She didn’t give us any advance warning at all, even though…’
‘Darling, that was just her way,’ his wife interrupted. ‘She loved to do things on the spur of the moment. I suppose that was one of the things I liked about her. Poor Gabrielle, she was so much fun, always.’
‘It was a pleasant surprise when she turned up,’ Simon said with a grin. ‘I was working at home one afternoon. Tash had driven up to Ennerdale for a day’s painting. The doorbell rang and I found this gorgeous lady standing outside. She told me she used to know Tash back in Leeds.’
‘We both shared the same dreams,’ Tash said. ‘We fancied ourselves as actresses. Failing that, as models. Magazine front covers, television, you name it. Of course it never happened. We both did plenty of photo-shoots, but the big break never came.’
Miranda said, ‘So you moved to Cumbria?’
‘Gabrielle and I both drifted out of the business and we drifted apart as well. We were both sick of city life. I fancied moving to the countryside, Gabrielle decided to emigrate. Last time I heard from her, she was leaving for America. She wasn’t good at keeping in touch, I didn’t have an address or phone number for her. To be honest, I’d almost forgotten about her. So I hardly expected to come home one day and find her telling Simon all the embarrassing stories about the way I used to fluff my lines whenever I had an audition, even for the simplest voiceover.’
‘Just think,’ Simon said lazily, ‘if your acting career had taken off, you could have a part in a soap instead of living out here in the middle of nowhere.’
‘I know which I prefer,’ Tash said. ‘It was a wonderful surprise to see Gabrielle again. And so heartbreaking that she died such a cruel death.’
‘Did she stay with you?’
Tash took another sip from her glass. ‘We offered, but she’d booked into The Moon under Water for a few days and she didn’t want to put us to any trouble. Or so she said. I did wonder if she liked having Joe Dowling follow her round with his tongue hanging out. When you’ve lived in Brackdale a while, Miranda, you’ll find out what he’s like. Anyway, Gabrielle was just bumming around, stopping off in the Lakes on her way further north. She said she’d seen more of America than her native country and she wanted to put that right. Later on, I couldn’t help thinking, if only she hadn’t looked me up on the off-chance…’
‘You can’t blame yourself,’ Simon said.
‘But Barrie met her through me. You can’t deny that.’
Her husband shrugged. ‘He didn’t have a history of violence. Nobody could have foreseen the murder.’
‘How did you come to introduce Barrie to Gabrielle?’ Daniel asked.
‘We’d asked him to varnish the pergola. He’d finished for the afternoon just as I came home from Ennerdale. When I drove into the courtyard, he was filling the bins. He always liked to chat and we were having a word when Simon came out with Gabrielle. When I saw her, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was so much to catch up on, but of course I introduced Barrie before the three of us went back inside. His jaw dropped at the sight of her. I could see at once that he was smitten, but it never occurred to me that there might be any harm in it.’
‘He used to watch you,’ Simon said. ‘I guess he fancied Gabrielle just as much. I suppose there was a resemblance. Two tall, glamorous blondes, both totally out of reach so far as he was concerned.’
‘Perhaps he didn’t realise that Gabrielle was out of reach,’ Miranda suggested.
‘In his own funny way, he was rather sweet.’ Tash nibbled at her lower lip, casting her mind back. ‘Always trying to do little kindnesses for me. Trouble was, he was so clumsy that he usually made a mess of things. He made sure he bumped into her the very next morning. When he offered to show Gabrielle round Brackdale, it sounded like a ham-fisted chat-up line. She turned him down nicely, but I could tell he was upset. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t take no for an answer.’
‘It’s a fault of our sex,’ Simon said lightly, giving Jean Allardyce an affable nod as she returned to clear the coffee cups. ‘Let’s not spend the whole evening discussing the murder. Too depressing. Take it from me, Daniel, Tarn Cottage is a bargain, even with all the work it must need. I saw the price the agents were quoting and I’d have put a bid in myself, if it hadn’t been for the memory of Barrie Gilpin.’
‘So you believe he was guilty?’ Daniel asked.
Simon drained his glass. ‘He was the obvious suspect.’
‘The obvious suspect isn’t always the right one.’
A dismissive wave of the hand. ‘Don’t let it worry you. By the time you want to consider selling the cottage, his name will be long forgotten and there won’t be any need to factor a discount into the price.’
Tash said quietly, ‘You’d like to think that Barrie didn’t kill Gabrielle?’
‘I’m not convinced he was capable of it,’ Daniel said.
