My heart is banging against my ribs and I feel sick, wondering what I’m going to find. Neither of us says a word.
We emerge at the junction onto the high street and the first thing I notice, looking along the road, is a queue of people outside one of the shops. My heart drops like a stone.
‘Bloody hell, Jason’s right,’ says Paloma. ‘Something’s happening at Rowena’s old ice-cream parlour.’ She looks both ways as if to cross the road, but I pull her back.
‘Don’t go over there. Not yet.’
‘Okay.’
We draw level with the long queue of people waiting outside, chattering and laughing and reading the special offer in big bold letters splashed across the window: Super-healthy dining, 50% off!
And that’s when I see the brand-new sign in quirky colourful text above the shop front.
Paloma and I gasp in horror at exactly the same time.
The old ice-cream parlour has indeed been let again. And the names above the window make my heart drop like a stone.
Lucy & Olivia’s Clean Food Café.
Chapter 17
‘Oh my God! She wouldn’t,’ breathes Paloma, while I just stare at the café front, my legs feeling like jelly, as the horrible truth slowly sinks in.
Lucy has set this café up deliberately to hamper my chances of success. What other explanation can there be?
‘My God, she kept that under wraps, all right! What a cow!’ explodes Paloma. ‘Right, I’m going over there to tell her exactly what I think of her, the scheming, two-faced, pathetic little bitch!’
‘No!’ I grab her arm and she turns, stopped in her vengeful mission by the look of pure shock on my face. I’m struck temporarily dumb. I can’t believe that even Lucy could stoop this low – could act with such breathtaking maliciousness.
But her name is right there, above the window alongside Olivia’s, so incredibly, it must all be true. I shake my head slowly in disbelief. Maybe I’m in the middle of a nightmare and I’ll wake up soon.
One thing’s for sure, though – we definitely shouldn’t be waltzing over there right now, kicking up a fuss.
Paloma takes a deep calming breath. ‘You’re right. We need to think about this logically, instead of diving straight in, on the attack, and making things worse.’
I swallow down a feeling of nausea. I can’t think calmly. Not yet. Not while my head is still spinning with shock. How could Lucy be so cold-bloodedly devious, pretending to support me in my new endeavour while all the time plotting my downfall with Olivia behind my back? I’ve had my doubts, but I allowed Paloma to talk me into trusting Lucy.
More fool me!
I should have realised, better than anyone, the depths Lucy Slater is capable of sinking to.
I trail back along the high street with Paloma in silence.
‘I can’t believe she and Olivia kept their café plans a secret until today,’ says Paloma when we arrive back at the café. ‘I mean, I’m certain no one in the village knew what they were planning to do. News travels like wildfire here, but there wasn’t a peep, was there?’
I shake my head, rattling the key in the lock in frustration as it sticks.
‘Here, let me.’ Gently, Paloma takes over and we step back over the threshold.
I glance around the empty café, trying to push down the wave of panic rising up inside me. What if Lucy has ruined my plan to save Honey Cottage?
Paloma heaves a sigh. ‘I suppose it was all designed to have maximum negative impact on you,’ she murmurs. ‘What an evil bloody witch! There must be something we can do, though.’ She flumps in a seat and stares into space.
‘And what is that disgusting smell?’ I shout, all my bottled-up anger at Lucy suddenly bursting out. ‘Even I can smell it now!’
‘Drains,’ says Paloma absently.
I frown, shaking my head slowly. I’m certain it’s not the drains, but what— ?
And then it comes to me in a flash.
The curtains!
Getting up, I push back my chair so abruptly, it topples over.
I go to the nearest window and grab a length of fabric, bringing it to my nose and sniffing hard. There’s definitely an odour of rotting fish there, but maybe that’s just because the whole place smells of it now.
Paloma joins me and bends to lift the curtain up from the bottom. Sniffing the hem, she makes a revolted face and passes it to me.
I breathe in the horrible stench and recoil. ‘What the … ?’
‘Hang on, I’ve got nail scissors in my bag.’ Quickly, Paloma starts snipping at the thread, releasing the hemmed fabric, and that’s when Lucy’s dastardly deed is revealed.
‘Oh my God, it’s kippers.’ She pulls more of the stitching away and we stare at the disgusting slivers of slippery yellow flesh sticking to the fabric. ‘I can’t believe this.’
She must have painstakingly sewn the fish into the curtain hems!
I stare at Paloma. I want to laugh but it’s just too horrible.
I picture Lucy slicing the fish and carefully stitching it into the hems, and the premeditated nature of it makes me feel sick to my stomach. Does she really hate me that much? I was starting to agree with Paloma that Lucy had changed towards me. But we were wrong. So very wrong …
‘Jeez,’ breathes Paloma, her eyes glazed with disbelief. ‘No wonder she wanted to put the curtains up herself at the very last minute. She must have planned for the stink to sabotage opening day and drive away any customers you might actually have.’
I try to swallow but my mouth is dry as dust. ‘And you thought I was being paranoid,’ I whisper.
Paloma shakes her head. ‘It’s incredible. I mean, what the hell does she hope to gain from opening a café the same day as you? I’d never have believed it before now, but … she’s done it all deliberately to hurt you, hasn’t she?’ She turns, her face aghast. ‘What have you ever done to
