‘A murder mystery evening on the site? Why didn’t you think of this years ago?’ Chris McIvor, head of FastStream’s distribution, said. ‘The board are loving it, as am I.’
‘Well, my divine sister-in-law, Anna, can take the credit for the theme,’ Jonathan said. ‘As soon as she found out about Tom Sykes’ body in the vat, she couldn’t resist putting something together.’
‘Ah yes,’ Chris replied. ‘I guess every heritage business needs its own ghost, and Carter’s is no exception.’ He took a sip from the glass of sparkling dry cider he’d been cradling for a while. ‘Tell me, was the mystery ever solved?’
Jonathan shook his head. ‘In all probability, Sykes just got carried away testing the product and toppled in. It’s the kind of thing that, back before health and safety laws, wouldn’t have been a total surprise. But there are some accounts that suggest a row between Sykes and my great grandfather’s right hand man, Ernest Shallcross, shortly before the accident.’ Jonathan took a swig from his own glass. ‘Of course, I shouldn’t be telling you this, really. You’ll find it all out soon enough when the entertainment starts.’ Although, Jonathan pondered, in years to come, perhaps the Cider Farm Blackmailer would be added to the list of myths and legends surrounding his family’s business. The police had phoned Caroline this morning to arrange a formal interview with her in a day or two, and Stone had been charged with possession of class A drugs, blackmail and assault with intent to wound. He was out on bail, which worried Caroline, but he’d been told to stay far away from Little Somerby, or he’d be put in custody.
On cue, two actors dressed in Edwardian style clothes came noisily across the courtyard where the assembled clients and partygoers were enjoying a pre-dinner drink.
‘You’re costing this firm money, Sykes!’ The older, more smartly dressed of the two expostulated, gesturing wildly towards the barn door. ‘We can’t afford another one of your mistakes. The last one cost us a third of the crop.’
‘You won’t get far without me,’ the other man said. ‘You know it and Samuel Carter knows it. You can bellyache all you want, Mr Shallcross, but that’s the truth of it. And we all know about your little secret, too, don’t we?’
‘Don’t threaten me, Sykes,’ the first man replied ominously. ‘The firm does not live and die with you.’ He strolled off, leaving the actor playing Sykes to lurch in his wake.
There was an anticipatory silence amongst the group in the courtyard, which Jonathan allowed to linger for a moment or two. Then he stepped forward. Cradling a champagne flute of sparkling cider, dressed in a smart, midnight blue suit with a white shirt unbuttoned at the neck, Jonathan looked as though he’d just stepped off the pages of some high end fashion magazine. However, under the jacket and the crisp white shirt was a freshly dressed wound that still throbbed slightly. But, ever the operator and with a showman’s instinctive love of a crowd, Jonathan didn’t betray any vulnerability as he waited for the crowd to settle.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ he glanced around at the fifty or so party guests. ‘It gives me great pleasure to welcome you here to Carter’s Cider tonight. This evening is a thank you for all of your support over the past twelve months, and should serve as a reminder as to why you’re doing business with us in the first place.’ He smiled and the guests laughed politely. ‘Over the course of the evening, a story will unfold; a tragic tale of double crossings, excess booze and what happens when you don’t know your way around as well as you think you do!’ His eyes roved the crowd of guests for a moment until they came to rest on Caroline, who was standing with Anna and Matthew. ‘Sometimes you need to take chances,’ he said softly, ‘and sometimes you need to take risks to find out the truth.’ He seemed to struggle to find the right words as he regarded his immediate family, especially when his gaze moved to the pencil drawing in the frame on the raffle prize table nearby. ‘It would be remiss of me not to pay tribute to someone else tonight; my father, Jack Carter. As you all know, he died very recently, but it is partly his vision, and partly that of my brother Matthew, that has brought us to this point. He was a man who knew everything there was to know about apples, and the business of cider making, but he was also so much more than that. And he would have loved being here tonight among you all. That’s why the portrait sitting on that table was commissioned; in time, we hope to get a proper painting done to hang in the main building as a reminder of just what a man we lost this year. But, this is also a time for celebration.’ His thoughtful expression changed and his mouth turned upwards into a breath taking grin. ‘This evening would not have been possible without the tireless work of two very important women. My brother’s lovely wife, Anna, whose hard work in researching the family history revealed a great deal of the story of the Carter family’s ghost, and Caroline Hemingway, whose restaurant has provided some truly excellent food for this evening. Keep your eyes peeled and your ears open, and you might be able to solve a mystery that has haunted this site for nearly one hundred years, and have a wonderful night’s food and drink at the same time.’
To a thunder of applause, Jonathan stepped down and walked over to join Caroline, Matthew and Anna. As he did so, Matthew clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Good job, Jonno,’ he said.
‘Thanks,’ Jonathan replied. ‘I aim to please.’
‘You’re not bad at public speaking,’ Caroline said, cradling her own glass of sparkling cider. ‘Even though The Cider Kitchen belongs to Carter’s and not me.’
Jonathan’s face softened as he saw the pride in Caroline’s eyes. ‘It certainly wouldn’t have been the success it is under anyone else’s management.’ He turned to his brother and Anna. ‘Do you mind if we head on over to the restaurant? I need to talk to Caroline about a few things.’
Matthew smiled. ‘Be our guest,’ he said.
Anna looked after Caroline and Jonathan as they left. ‘Do you think he’s finally going to get his act together now?’ she asked.
‘I bloody hope so!’ Matthew said. ‘Although I have to admit to being more than a little bit wary. I know this Paul Stone character has been dealt with, but she did pay him an awful lot of money before Jonathan found out.’
Anna shook her head. ‘She was terrified, Matthew. She’s not like you, with a network of people to fall back on when she needed them. She had nowhere else to turn, no one else to trust. Yes, she did the wrong thing, but can you honestly say, in her position, you’d have done anything differently?’
Matthew looked down at his wife. ‘You see the good in everyone, don’t you?’ he said gruffly. ‘Even when they might not deserve it.’
‘I just believe in giving people another chance,’ Anna said softly. ‘After all, it didn’t do us any harm, did it?’
Matthew shook his head. ‘For which I am eternally grateful.’ His face lightened. ‘And who’d have thought those archives of ours would have given us so much entertainment?’
‘It’s amazing what a little bit of research can do,’ Anna replied, nestling into Matthew’s arm that he’d slid round her shoulders. ‘And it was fun to put my academic training to good use again.’ Sometimes, it was easy to forget that, before Matthew, she’d had a career as an academic librarian, and an altogether different life, with a different man.
‘So how much of it was actually true, then?’ Matthew asked. After running the initial idea past her, he’d left Anna pretty much to her own devices as far as this evening had been concerned.
Anna paused for a moment. ‘Well, a man called Sykes, who was one of the tasters back in your great grandfather’s day was found floating face down in the vats in 1913,’ she said. ‘And it was well documented that he didn’t get on with Shallcross. Whether that was because Sykes was getting too close to Samuel Carter’s daughter Jane, and Shallcross was stepping in to prevent that, who can say. Your great grandfather and Shallcross were close friends, and Shallcross would rightly have been protective of Samuel’s daughter. As you know from the letters, there may well have been something going on between Jane and Tom Sykes; I never really got to the bottom of Elsie’s letters to your great aunt. There could have been another child in your dad’s generation somewhere, but he or she wouldn’t have taken Jane’s name if given up as a baby.’
‘Perhaps it’s for the best we don’t know for sure,’ Matthew said. ‘I’ve had enough trouble delegating to Jonno this year. Imagine if there’d been a third branch of the family to consider! And as for the body in the vat, if I remember correctly, the verdict on the death was misadventure in the end, wasn’t it?’ Matthew asked.
‘Yup,’ Anna said. ‘But for dramatic purposes, we had to have a bit of suspense. And as far as I know, Shallcross wasn’t embezzling from your great grandfather, although there were several anomalies in the books that couldn’t quite be explained away.’
‘Perhaps I can shed some light on that,’ Matthew replied. ‘My great grandfather was rather fond of racehorses, and one of the earliest versions of a sponsorship deal was on a horse that was stabled over at Kings Lyndon. I suspect there must have been a certain amount of funds redistributed for the stabling and having the odd flutter.’
‘It’s a miracle this business made it to the fourth generation!’ Anna snorted. ‘Did the horse ever win?’
Matthew’s face split into a wide grin. ‘Not that I ever heard of, but then my great grandmother was pretty fearsome by all accounts – I daresay he kept the winnings to himself!’ He drew his wife closer. ‘However true the story was, though, well done. It’s all going really well, and I think we’ve made a few inroads with potential new suppliers as well as keeping the old ones on side.’
‘I hope so,’ Anna said. She leaned into Matthew’s embrace. ‘In a few weeks’ time I’m going to be rather caught up with the new little person, so it’s good to do something a bit different now, while I can.’
A shadow crossed Matthew’s face, which was not unnoticed by Anna. ‘What is it?’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Matthew said. ‘Perhaps it’s the booze, but I can’t help thinking about Dad.’ He swallowed. ‘He’d have loved this idea.’ Matthew glanced at the pencil portrait. ‘Caroline really captured him in that picture.’
Anna raised a hand to Matthew’s cheek. ‘He’d have had a whale of a time.’ She paused, and looked deeply into Matthew’s eyes. ‘You know, I’ve been thinking.’
‘About what?’
‘Well, I know we don’t know quite what we’re having yet, but how would you feel, if it’s a boy, about naming him after your dad? Another Jack in the family?’
Matthew couldn’t speak for a moment, and his voice, when it came, was rather on the husky side. ‘I think I’d love that,’ he said gently. ‘And I think Dad would have been honoured.’ He pulled Anna to him in a warm, slightly shaky embrace. ‘I love you, Anna Carter.’
‘And I love you,’ Anna replied. Lost in the moment, they didn’t notice Meredith whipping a bottle of the sparkling cider wine from the bar to share with her boyfriend Flynn on top of the vats in the barn.