Tina took a minute to peer outside. She hadn’t expected a Monday morning to be busy at the grotto but, surprisingly, there was a steady flow of mums and toddlers – nothing like the queues of the weekend, but a good little gathering nonetheless. Davina, wearing a Santa’s hat and taking money at the table, smiled sweetly and made polite conversation. Opening the window a crack to get some air, the savvy Londoner trained her ears to pick up the conversation below.
‘I’m ever so sorry but the card machine isn’t working today, so if you’ve got cash, that would be great. If you need change, I have loads here, and if you have none on you, there is a machine inside Bercow’s the newsagents, just up the hill on the right.’
Tina’s jaw dropped in disbelief. The card machine was working just fine, she had been using it herself for check-outs earlier. Glancing at her watch, she was happy to see she still had plenty of time. Time that she would bide until she had gathered enough evidence to ensure Santa’s Little Helper was sent packing, reindeer and all, back to Liarland and beyond.
CHAPTER 45
Lucas walked slowly up the West Cliffs path, taking in the beauty of the scenery around him. Seagulls and other coastal birds whipped around in the light breeze, shouting their appreciation at such a glorious day. Despite the bright sunshine that lit up the sea to a topaz blue way below, he shivered. Winter had most definitely reached Cockleberry Bay. Taking in a big breath of sea air he slowly blew it out, causing misty plumes to multiply, as if he were smoking an expensive Cuban cigar. The view from where he was standing – the sea, the horizon and the magnificent rolling sky – put everything into perspective. His problems, he realised, were just small blips in a humungous universe.
Despite the bench glistening with traces of the morning frost, Lucas sat down. As he watched a solitary fishing boat heading through the waves, he became almost hypnotised by the sight and fell deep into thought. The last time he had been on this bench, he had felt like that boat, but with no anchor. He had been in a desperate state. His mother had just died. He knew he could never be with Rosa. He felt that he didn’t belong anywhere. It had seemed a strange coincidence that Alec Burton, the counsellor, had been up here on that very day and said a few wise words to him that had hit home. He couldn’t even remember what they were now; that’s how good a counsellor he was. But whatever the big man had said, Lucas had felt so much better when he walked back down the hill. At last he felt as if he had a reason to live, to be. The conversation, Lucas recalled, had kind of led him into Davina’s arms, which, to be fair, hadn’t been such a bad thing at the time. A welcome distraction from the many raw emotions that had come hand-in-hand with his grief.
After a few moments, Lucas looked down the path to see the stocky figure of Danny Green jogging up the hill.
‘All right?’ Danny said tentatively, tearing off his Wet Ham beanie hat. ‘Jesus, I need to get fitter. I’m sweating my bollocks off here. Do you fancy a fag?’
Lucas took one that Danny had already pre-rolled. As they sat side by side smoking on the bench, Lucas broke the silence.
‘No bullshit required here, Dan. I’m sorry, mate.’ He let out a big sigh, then took an even bigger drag on his cigarette.
‘About what, me trying to kill the inspector or me insinuating your bird is cheating?’
‘Both.’ Lucas laughed. ‘We should write a bloody sitcom.’
‘Would be easier than running a hotel, I reckon.’ Danny blew out a stream of smoke. ‘Look, it could have been the fish, but I guess we will never know. I would never have done it on purpose, mate; you know that.’
‘It could have been worse; she actually could have died.’
Danny laughed. ‘She was a big girl – quite a challenge to drag down the stairs and bury on the beach, I’d say.’ He then had a fleeting vision of ‘Lily’ bouncing on top of him, nearly suffocating him with her voluptuous bosoms.
‘Fuck me – can you imagine?’ Lucas said.
Danny was imagining a lot and suddenly felt bad about talking about the woman in that disrespectful way. They had satisfied each other’s needs, that was all. So, what harm? For a second Danny toyed with the idea of telling Lucas what he had done, but knowing he was on sticky ground already, thought better of it. Sleeping with a guest was a sackable offence. If he confessed that he’d shagged her not once, but twice, and (despite his good intentions the second time), who could predict how Lucas would react? Also, there was no guarantee it would go in their favour. Anna Wallace owed them nothing and a lie from her could quite possibly put her own job on the line.
‘So, I’m not sacked then?’ Danny asked nonchalantly.
‘Mate, the Ship would go down without you and your mum. I was angry. Sorry again. You’d better tell me what you know about Davina as well.’
‘Ah, her. Well, I don’t like to be the bringer of bad news, but I saw a text on her phone from Santa.’
‘Our Santa?’
‘I assume so, and they were talking about giving each other presents of a different kind. I’m sorry, mate.’
‘How did you get to see it?’
‘She left her phone for a short while on the bar. I wasn’t snooping, honest – it just flashed up and then she came down and grabbed it. I kind of sensed there could be something going on with her and northern boy.’
‘Northern?’
‘Yeah, he’s a cocky cunt; avoids me like the plague, but I overheard him talking in the bog the other day. Sounds like he’s from Manchester.’
‘OK,’ Luke said slowly, ‘now my blood is beginning to boil. There’s only one person who would need to hide their accent down here.’
‘I don’t get it, mate.’ Danny trod on his cigarette, then picked it up and put the dead butt in his pocket.
‘You don’t need to get anything. Dan. All you need to know is that he hurt Rosa.’
‘Our Rosa?’ Danny asked.
Lucas nodded. ‘Yeah. Our Rosa. He’s a cheating scumbag.’
Danny stood up and wrapped his scarf back around his neck. His voice was level. ‘Then all you need to do is turn off the outside cameras as soon as you get back.’
CHAPTER 46
‘Jingle Bells, jingle bells, jingle all the…’
The second Ned’s Gift Cockleberry Bay Christmas Carol-oke concert rehearsal was in full swing, with Gladys manfully thumping out the tune on the upright piano in the hall. Rosa had changed rehearsals to a Monday night this week; people hadn’t been that happy with having to come out in the cold on a Sunday night, as it broke up their weekends.
‘Mrs Treborick, you know you don’t bring in your Indian bells until the second chorus,’ Felix Carlisle boomed, causing everyone to stop mid-verse. Titch and Rosa – who had quickly handed over the job of choir master to him – burst out laughing. ‘And you two need to concentrate,’ he said sternly, looking in their direction. ‘It’s like teaching at a kindergarten,’ he directed at the pair, who started to ring their instruments in fast succession to annoy him further. ‘We are so not going to win at this rate,’ he huffed, then added in a stage whisper, ‘and I am doing this for free!’