Death In The Closet (Edward Crisp Mysteries Book 3) Page 2

  ‘How do you mean, made contact?’

  ‘I commented on a few of the Observer’s posts about local news items and Fiona often replied. She’s really lovely, actually. Then I sent her a few private messages and we got talking, and she offered me an unpaid internship in between my college hours. Tonight is my first assignment!’ He puffed himself up to look as tall as he could, once again grabbing his lanyard and thrusting it forward for us all to see.

  ‘Well, I think it’s wonderful, my love. I’m so proud of you!’ Mum exclaimed, as she rushed forward and embraced him in a hug.

  ‘What are you hoping to find out, exactly?’ As I said this, I noticed an irrational pang of jealousy inside me and immediately felt guilty. Of course, like Mum, I was proud of Noah; he’d overcome so much already and constantly put himself out there in the world with no doubts or care for what anyone else thought. But when I was his age, I barely left the comfort of my bedroom and my own private library. Hell, I’d only just developed much beyond that in the last year. Lost in my thoughts, it took me a moment to realise that Noah had started answering my question.

  ‘Fiona and I have a list of things to look out for,’ he said as he pulled out his phone. Noah records absolutely everything in his Notes app; he’s used it constantly throughout the murder cases we’ve been involved in and it must make for very interesting reading. But maybe not for the eyes of Beachy Head United. ‘The club’s alleged financial difficulties, rumours of a management restructure, the identity of the gay player… and, you might be able to help me with this one, talk of tension between the players. Wasn’t there an incident between some players at the training session today?’

  How on earth had Fiona Turtle heard about that so quickly? It was a private training session, and we were the only members of the public there. I doubted Patrick or Kat would have said anything, so that left someone from the club itself. But the Chalk Gap observer would soon have far more to report on than squabbles between the players. In fact, it would happen later that night.

  3

  ‘No way. No. way. Oh wow, is this really happening? Patrick, look at these name plates. Chloe Stone. Danny Higgins. Ellie Marsden. Kieron Juniper. As if they’ve sat us with the two biggest power couples in all of East Sussex. I can’t see them yet, can you? Oh my god, I’m so under-dressed. As if I’m going to be sitting with Chloe Stone looking like this.’

  I’d arrived at the celebration reception with Patrick and his girlfriend, Becky Lau, who was a Science teacher at our school. You would never know that from her behaviour at this moment, though; she was a full-on celebrity obsessed superfan.

  ‘Relax, baby, they’re just people,’ Patrick reassured her. ‘I’ve told you, when I was at school with Kieron’s older brother, he was just a normal kid. He’s an ordinary guy, from an ordinary family.’

  ‘Don’t get me started on that,’ she retorted. ‘How you’ve never wangled us an introduction to him and Ellie before now, I don’t know. I wouldn’t need to be so nervous if I’d met them already.’

  Patrick and I shared an eye roll. ‘I said before baby, he probably wouldn’t even remember me, he was barely knee high.’

  To be fair, any anxiety Becky had about sitting with celebrities, I had tenfold. Sure, I barely knew who these people were; funnily enough, I had little interest in either football or celebrity gossip. But I’d cultivated my social circle - now that I finally had one - carefully to only include people I was completely comfortable with. I even hated the thought of the old boys in the pub judging me when I visited Mum and Dad. I dreaded to think what bona fide famous people–actual good-looking, successful people - would make of me.

  ‘Wow, look at everyone, they all look gorgeous!’ Becky continued, as if to make my point. ‘Hello magazine would have a field day here. Patrick, do you think anyone will notice if I take a few photos? My Instagram followers will love this.’

  ‘I told you, baby, we had to agree. No photos, no videos, no disclosure of anything we see here. Edward and I both had to sign something, you know that.’

  ‘I can’t wait to see what Chloe Stone is wearing, I bet it’s something stunning. I was in love with the dress she wore at the Soap Awards last year. Her and Danny Higgins will look so good together, they always do.’ I smiled politely as she continued to twitter on. ‘Mind you, Ellie Marsden will look beautiful, too. She’s a more natural beauty, though, as opposed to Chloe’s look, which I guess is a bit more superficial.’

  Patrick managed to get a word in as she finally stopped for breath. ‘Baby, just be careful what you say, you never know who’s listening.’

  ‘What, who, where?’ she said as she whipped her head round to see if anyone was approaching the table. ‘If Chloe heard me criticising her, I’d be mortified.’

  I followed Becky’s gaze round the room and noticed the grandness of everything: the chandeliers, the immaculately dressed servers pouring champagne, the ridiculously unidentifiable ‘nibbles’ on each table. It looked like a really expensive wedding, one where the amount of money spent far exceeds the level of taste. There must have been every colour of the rainbow on display in the outfits I could see, and that was just the men’s suits.

  It was then I noticed something that stood out among everything else. Something that didn’t quite belong. Or should I say, someone. The lady I spotted had a bright red flower in her hair, and thick-framed glasses of the same colour. Her dress was white with red polka dots, along with a necklace of large white beads around her neck and a red woollen cardigan over her shoulders. Finally, as she moved closer, I saw a badge on her dress saying ‘vintage vixen.’ She stood out a mile among the fashion conscious, expensively dressed women, but it didn’t look like she cared.

  It was only as she neared our table I spotted who was behind her: Noah. Which meant that this ‘vintage vixen’ must be Fiona Turtle.

  ‘Edward, it must be years!’ she said in a high pitch squeal before she even reached me, a little too loudly than socially expected, so much so that people turned to look. No wonder she and Noah got on.

  Speaking of Noah, he of course couldn’t have someone talking louder than him. ‘Edward, Edward, look who it is! I didn’t realise you two knew each other.’

  Ignoring the dirty looks from several people around us, I introduced Fiona to Patrick and Becky. As I did this, I noticed her eyeing up the nameplates of the empty seats on our table; no doubt the real reason she was so keen to come over.

  ‘Ah, you’ve got Beaumont, our guest of honour, sat with you. They’ll be announcing him in soon. But no sign of Kieron or Danny and their lady friends yet?’ she asked, trying and failing to sound as casual as she could. But she didn’t give us time to answer. ‘Noah mentioned their little scuffle with Ricky Roberts earlier. I wondered if that’s why they’re missing. You were there, weren’t you? What was it that happened?’

  I suppressed a smile. Subtle she was not, in either journalistic approach or dress sense. And Noah hadn’t even told her about it; in fact, he’d heard it from her. I made a mental note not to trust her. But, all the same, there was something about her I couldn’t help but like.

  ‘My Patrick was there, he told me all about it!’ Becky said with excitement. ‘Chloe hates bad publicity, doesn’t she? I bet they’ve had an argument about it and that’s why they’re late.’

  Fiona’s eyes lit up. ‘Becky, isn’t it? Why don’t we pop to the ladies’ and you can tell me all about it?’ She linked Becky’s arm and led her away. But she hadn’t counted on Noah.

  ‘Oh, is this investigative journalism?’ he called after them. ‘I’ll come with you.’

  I pulled Noah back and explained the difference between ladies’ and gentlemen’s toilets and why he couldn’t go with them.

  Patrick looked worried. ‘I hope Becky’s okay, she’s really naïve about people like Fiona. She’ll be telling her our life stories.’

  ‘Oh, Fiona has no interest in ordinary, boring people like you. She only wants to know about celebrities.�
�

  ‘And Becky only knows what she’s read on Twitter and the gossip columns, she’ll be fine,’ I reassured him quickly, hoping to distract him from the bluntness of Noah’s comment.

  I needn’t have distracted him, as we soon had our attention drawn elsewhere.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ a vaguely familiar, gruff South London voice boomed across the room. ‘I’ve been given the last minute honour of a very special responsibility.’

  ‘For the first time in your life!’ heckled one voice.

  ‘Can you even tie your shoelaces, Roberts?’

  Ricky Roberts, of course. I looked across the room to see the man himself, microphone in hand, circling the centre of the room with a swagger and a cocky grin on his face. ‘Yeah, alright lads, course I can tie my shoelaces. I can also turn up on time, unlike our precious Captain, which is why you’re stuck with me.’

  Kieron Juniper was definitely AWOL then; They obviously meant it to be him introducing the club’s newest signing. And there was no sign of Danny Higgins, or either of their girlfriends. I’d not paid much attention to Fiona Turtle’s stirring of trouble, but it was seeming something might be wrong.

  As I considered this, I saw Kat making her way towards our table; she’d obviously waited with Beaumont until his grand introduction. Beaumont’s mum, our village GP Dr Beverley Albright, had been called away to an emergency appointment so Kat was now pulling double duty representing their family and the school. She’d almost made it to our table; I could see she looked relieved to escape the attention of Roberts on the microphone.

  Except she hadn’t quite. ‘Well, well, well, who do we have here? Ladies and gentlemen, the beautiful woman you can see standing across the room is Kat Parker, our brand new signing’s glamorous auntie. And yes, I agree, she looks far too young to be Beaumont’s auntie.’

  That’s because she isn’t, I thought to myself as I rolled my eyes. Her cousin’s son would be her first cousin, once removed. How did he even know her name, though? And what was this, an attempt to impress her? His teammates seemed to think so.

  ‘Go on, Roberts!’ one heckling voice shouted.

  ‘Bet you wish you’d got a haircut, you scruffy sod!’ said another.

  ‘Just my luck, it’s due tomorrow. You never know when you’re gonna run into a beautiful lady.’

  This guy was something else. I cringed for Kat as he continued.

  ‘Kat is also the Head Teacher of Chalk Gap Academy, the school which has done such a fine job of educating Beaumont. A local treasure, the Beyoncé of the teaching world.’

  I saw Kat’s embarrassment at his cringeworthy words; she would hate that. It was hard to tell if he was being genuine or sarcastic; he sounded insincere with everything he said. But she would definitely hate the cliched racial comparison. ‘And speaking of Beaumont, let’s talk about the reason we’re all here.’

  As Roberts talked a little about Beaumont’s history, Kat sat downed next to me. ‘Can you believe him, Ed? Especially the Beyoncé thing, what an idiot.’

  I smiled at Kat calling me ‘Ed’: the only person who could get away with calling me that. Mainly because I daren’t ever tell her otherwise. If Ricky Roberts thought she would be an easy notch on his bedpost, he was in for a shock.

  ‘This is what Roberts is like,’ Patrick whispered from my other side. ‘He’s after Kat to get one over on the newest member of the team. What better way to wind young Beaumont up than say he’s pulled his auntie?’

  ‘That’s right, it’s all about power with him, he’s done this kind of thing to lots of players,’ I heard a voice across the table as Fiona returned with Becky and took one of the empty seats next to her. ‘What? It doesn’t seem like they’re coming anytime soon, so these seats are free.’

  ‘Shush everyone, it’s time!’ Noah said, as he took one of the other empty seats.

  ‘And without further ado, let me introduce the man of the moment. Our latest signing, and the future of our club… ladies and gentlemen, may I present, Beaumont Albright!’

  The entire room rose to its feet and applauded as the eighteen-year-old appeared in a sharp turquoise suit and pink tie, a nervous smile on his face. I heard a couple of wolf whistles and wondered if they were from female admirers or sarcastic teammates. A table of older men in grey suits and glasses of whiskey in front of them looked very pleased with themselves; they were probably the club’s management and Directors’ board. A plump, short, middle-aged lady in a trouser suit cheered loudly as I wondered who she was: not a relative of Kat’s family, as far as I knew.

  ‘He’s dreamed of this as long as I can remember,’ Kat said. ‘I’m so proud of him.’

  I glanced across the table and shared a look with Fiona Turtle. I imagined she was thinking the same as me, hoping that this football club would look after this young man, and not chew him up and spit him out.

  ‘And now, main man,’ Roberts continued on the microphone with a smirk on his face, ‘let’s not keep your audience waiting any longer, shall we? Time for you to say a few words.’

  I saw momentary panic flash across Beaumont’s face as Roberts held the microphone out. This clearly hadn’t been planned, and the older man was trying to catch him out. But before Beaumont could step forward, the plump lady leapt from her chair and shot forward.

  ‘Jackie Luton, Beaumont’s agent,’ Fiona whispered across the table. ‘Most of the club’s agent, actually.’

  Before she could reach the microphone, another woman entered the room, pushing Beaumont out of her way in the doorway. Roberts looked confused, and Jackie Luton looked horrified as she stalked towards them.

  ‘Ellie Marsden!’ Fiona and Becky chorused in excitement at our table.

  ‘Kieron Juniper’s girlfriend?’ I asked out loud.

  ‘We’re going to get a scoop!’ Noah called out as Fiona took her phone from her handbag and started recording.

  By this time, Ellie had reached the centre of the room and ripped the microphone out of Ricky Roberts’ hand. I saw her face properly for the first time; she’d been crying, her make-up was running, and she’d clearly had a few drinks. She looked around the room, suddenly scared, as if realising what she’d done and that she didn’t actually know what to say.

  ‘Come on, love, give me that,’ Jackie Luton said gently to her, reaching her hand out. There was a moment’s silence as Ellie considered her.

  ‘You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You’d all like that.’ She glared across at the management table. ‘I bet you knew already, didn’t you? I bet you all knew and kept it quiet, for the sake of your club.’

  ‘Knew what?’ said Roberts, with mischief on his face.

  ‘What he really is, what he’s been all along,’ she spat out with absolute venom. ‘What he’s used me to cover up this whole time.’

  ‘Ellie, no!’ two loud voices shouted from the doorway. We all looked to see Chloe Stone and Danny Higgins standing there. Kieron himself was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘No, it’s too late,’ she snapped back at them. ‘I’m not keeping it a secret for him after what he’s done to me, no way.’

  ‘Kieron been playing away, has he?’ Roberts said with a cruel laugh.

  ‘I don’t know, probably,’ she answered through the microphone. ‘But if he has, it’s not with a girl. I’ve just found out that Kieron, this club’s beloved Kieron, has been hiding in the closet.’

  The room fell into stunned silence.

  ‘Yes, that’s right,’ she went on. ‘Kieron Juniper is gay.’

  4

  Nothing happened for a few seconds. I could tell that Ellie’s actions weren’t planned; she’d dropped her bombshell to the whole room and now had no idea what to do next.

  I should have guessed who’d break the silence.

  ‘Edward, Kieron Juniper can’t be gay, can he? Ellie is his girlfriend, wouldn’t she mind?’

  There were several sniggers from players sitting near us, with one of them muttering, ‘I’d say it looks like she
minds, little buddy.’

  ‘So, it’s his royal highness, King Juniper batting for the other side, is it?’ Roberts sneered. ‘He’s the reason we’ve had all those press rumours about one of us being on the wrong bus. It was our skipper all along.’

  Meanwhile, Jackie Luton took charge of the floor show. ‘Nothing to see here folks, just a drunk girlfriend talking rubbish she won’t even remember in the morning,’ she barked as loud as she could. Everyone looked away quickly, obeying a command she hadn’t even given. This woman didn’t need a microphone to be heard.

  ‘Danny, get her out of here, now,’ I heard her say to Danny Higgins, though this was much quieter and not meant for everyone’s ears.

  ‘Come on, hun, let’s get some fresh air,’ Chloe Stone said gently, putting her arms round her while Danny took the microphone off her.

  Ellie, who hadn’t spoken for several moments, didn’t like this. ‘Chloe, what are you doing? Don’t try and shut me up. You’re the one who told me!’

  ‘So it came from your missus, did it, Danny? What are we gonna find out next, are you his secret boyfriend?’

  ‘Say that again. I dare you,’ Danny said, squaring up to Roberts.

  ‘It all makes sense now,’ Roberts continued with glee. ‘I’m curious though… which one of you is the woman?’

  Several players jumped out of their seats now, making a beeline for the two just in time as Danny hurled himself towards Roberts.

  Jackie Luton stepped forward and immediately took charge. ‘Lads, get Danny out of here. Roberts, take young Beaumont to the bar and get him the most expensive drink you can. On you. As an apology for your part in spoiling his big night.’

  ‘MY part? I’m not the one who -’

  ‘Roberts,’ she repeated firmly, not taking her eyes off him.

  ‘Yes, boss,’ Roberts sighed. ‘Come on, youngster, let’s see what you’re made of then.’

  As Roberts led Beaumont to the bar and Danny had safely been escorted away, Jackie turned to the women.