Needing to give Joanne an answer, I said, ‘I feel a little lost, is all. I’m sure you heard I was arrested last night after John Ramsey crashed his car.’
Joanne gasped, her jaw dropping open. ‘No, I had no idea. Why did they arrest you?’
Now I had to tell her the truth of it, taking a few moments to describe the circumstances that led me to be outside her husband’s printing business last night, spotting John’s car and the need I felt to look in it. Amazingly for me, I managed to not reveal my breaking and entering crime, leaving her to believe the police thought it was me because they saw me vanish into the shadows by the car on the carpark CCTV camera.
‘But they let you go?’ Joanne sought to confirm.
‘I have a good lawyer.’ I didn’t expand on my statement.
Joanne looked down at the large tub of topical corticosteroid cream in her left hand. The size of a half-litre tub of ice cream, it looked new but the plastic tab that would indicate it had never been opened was broken off. Nurse Growler continued to eye Joanne with suspicion. If Joanne had a plan to defy the doctors and apply the cream she held anyway, she would have to subdue the guard dog nurse they left behind first.
Joanne twisted around to look at Nurse Growler. Her lips twitched as if she wanted to say something, but ultimately decided against it.
Doing my best to help the situation while staying completely neutral, I said, ‘The doctors think he will regain consciousness soon. Maybe he will be home in a day or so and you can continue his treatment then.’
Discontent, but accepting that she had no choice, Joanne nodded her head. It was a sad little motion that came without words. Still holding the tub of cream, she crossed the room to kiss Derek on the top of his head – one of the few places his skin wasn’t breaking out – then left the room.
I had to chase after her to catch up.
Still playing sleuth, I asked what I hoped would sound like an innocent question. ‘Where’s Tamara today?’
Joanne was fishing in her bag, her hand chasing keys around until she found them. ‘Tamara had other things to do,’ she replied a little snippily.
‘More important than visiting her father?’ I hadn’t meant for my response to sound so judgemental, but that was how it came out.
Joanne frowned at me. ‘We are not all rich wedding planners, Felicity.’
Automatically, I apologised, ‘I’m sorry, Joanne. That came out wrong.’
Joanne, barrelled on as if I hadn’t spoken, in many ways reminding me that it was Derek I was friends with and not her. ‘Tamara went to work today. The printing business won’t run itself, and with John gone,’ she stopped talking to take a shuddering breath. ‘Well, we need to keep the ship afloat. There are orders to meet and someone has to keep the staff employed.’
Should I tell her about the man I heard talking last night? The question argued back and forth in my head as we made our way back toward the front entrance to the hospital. In the end, I ran out of time as Joanne pointed her key fob at a sleek black Audi.
Stopping so abruptly I carried on a pace before I realised she was no longer with me, I turned to face her.
‘I appreciate you coming to visit Derek today, Felicity, and I know you need to meet with us again to set diary dates for cake tasting and dress fitting among other things. But can it wait a week, please? I think Tamara and I both need to focus our efforts on Derek and the business.’
There was no way I could impose myself on them. If they wanted to push back my meetings, they were my clients after all, not the other way around.
Mindy was coming back across the carpark, Buster tugging at her arm the whole time. She shot me a wave when she saw me look her way.
Joanne backed toward her car, saying, ‘I really must go.’
I turned my head to ask her to call me when she and Tamara were ready to discuss the wedding plans again, but she was already closing the car door.
I watched her pull away, wondering how she might cope if Derek’s condition continued to worsen. It was a horrible thought, but of course, that was what had driven Tamara and Tarquin to bring their wedding plans forward. I only hoped I could deliver what they wanted in the reduced timescale and had to question if Derek would even be able to attend.
But here’s a thing about being a sleuth - not that I knew it yet – you might see a clue at any point but not know what it was until much later. I had just seen something on Joanne’s car which at this point meant nothing at all.
Reeling Buster in when she got to me, Mindy asked. ‘Did you learn anything, Auntie?’
I shook my head. ‘No, I don’t think so. Derek … that’s my friend,’ I explained, ‘is still unconscious.’ Her question caused me to think about what it was that I was trying to achieve. ‘Let’s get in the car,’ I suggested, wanting to keep our conversation private because I had decided to tell Mindy a little more about last night.
‘Where to?’ Mindy asked, her finger poised over the big red start button.
It was a great question. My list of suspects for John Ramsey’s murder had zero entries. Like the chief inspector
