Page 92 of The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery

‘And you, Maddie. Leaving your dad when you were sitting your exams. I’ve always felt bad about that. I mean, I tolerated him for years. I could have hung on for a few more weeks.’

In an instant, Maddie’s arms are around her.

‘I was glad you left him,’ Maddie says. ‘I’d been wanting you to do it for ages.’

Louise pulls away. ‘You didn’t like having me around?’

‘No, not that. I loved having you around.’

‘I love having you around, too. I don’t know what I’ll do, Maddie, without you here. It just won’t be the same.’

Maddie wipes her cheek with the back of her hand. ‘You’ll be fine, Louise. You’ll be so busy running the business that you won’t even notice I’m gone.’

Louise shakes her head. ‘Oh, I will notice. I really will. But why were you glad I left your dad?’

‘Don’t get me wrong, I love Dad, but he’s not nice to his partners. Even as a teenager, I could see he wasn’t good for you. I was pleased when you bit the bullet and went. And I got the grades I needed anyway.’

And now the positions are reversed, Louise thinks. From the little she’s seen of it, Maddie’s relationship with Theo reminds her very much of her relationship with Graham, but she doesn’t say this. Instead, she says, ‘I let Sheila down. I let my colleagues down – I left so suddenly that they all had to work extra hard to cover my work as well as their own. I just hope I can make this place work or I’ll be letting the whole of Applethwaite down.’

‘Of course you can,’ Elizabeth says. ‘I have every confidence in you.’

‘We all do, Louise,’ Hazel adds. ‘The whole village is behind you.’

‘Except for whoever sent that,’ Louise points at the dog that Jack is still holding.

‘Bet it was the Geriatric Mean Girls. I’ve never liked that Miss Anderson.’ Maddie takes the dog from Jack. ‘Perhaps she put this little fellow there.’

Louise shakes her head. ‘No, it’s not her style. I think this is a disgruntled reader who’s found out where I live and wants to put the kibosh on the bookshop. They knocked over the A board with the announcement on, broke Maddie’s autumnal flower pots, and then there was this horrible pool of fake blood on the doorstep.’

‘Ah,’ says Maddie. ‘The fake blood was me. I meant to come back and clean it up, but I got sidetracked. Then when I did come back, it had gone.’

‘You put fake blood on my doorstep?’

‘Not deliberately. It was for the Crime Scene. I was going to have it dripping from the knife, but I dropped the bottle and it smashed. I picked up the glass so no one cut themselves and came inside for a cloth, but then Theo rang.’

‘I wish you’d told me. My imagination was working overtime on that one.’ Louise stands up, takes the toy off Maddie and carries it into the kitchen. She throws it into the bin, then has second thoughts and retrieves it, pulling the knife out because it looks like quite a good one and kitchen knives are always useful and the paint will probably clean off.

When she goes back, the party seems to be breaking up. Jack and his father are hugging Maddie goodbye.

‘Fancy a nightcap back at mine, Richard?’ Elizabeth says hopefully.

‘Thank you, but not tonight, Elizabetta,’ he says.

Her mother’s smile falters and she looks away.

‘Come on, Babbo. I’ll walk you home,’ Jack says. ‘Goodnight, Luisa. Elizabeth.’ He gives a small nod to her mother. ‘And Maddie. I’ve loved working with you.’

‘I’ve loved working with you too, Jack,’ Maddie says. ‘I think we make quite a team. Perhaps we can catch up for a drink sometime. When we’re both in London.’

‘Yeah, I’d like that.’

Maddie puts her arms round Jack and gives him a brief hug. ‘Go on, bugger off. I hate goodbyes,’ she says.

Louise feels a hand on her shoulder and turns to see Hazel and Heather.

‘That was a very enjoyable evening,’ says Hazel. ‘So much better than that Murder Mystery event we went to in Leeds.’

‘Waste of money that was!’ Heather adds.