The Windmill Café. Poppy Blake

to get rid of all this pent-up energy. If I don’t do something soon I think I might explode!’

      ‘Come on, I’ll take you over to the climbing wall,’ said Matt. ‘Freddie, can you hold the fort here, please?’

      ‘Sure.’

      ‘Actually, Rosie had the same idea this morning. Would you mind if she joins us?’

      ‘I don’t mind at all.’

      When Rosie appeared at the kitchen door, Nadia flicked the sides of her auburn bob behind her ears and attempted a smile. Rosie could see how agitated she was, her hands constantly restless, her eyes jumping from one thing to another and a spasm of sympathy shot into her chest, coupled with a generous helping of apprehension if Matt was expecting her to join Nadia on the climbing wall. She had never been top of the leader board when it came to heights, or ropes, or anything remotely connected with climbing for that matter; Georgina had been the tomboy of the family.

      ‘Here, take these.’

      Matt handed each of them an Ultimate Adventures fleece and they followed him to the store room to collect the safety equipment before tramping through to a small clearing at the rear of the office where the climbing wall was situated. Rosie tipped her chin upwards to look at the top and it was so high she almost fell over backwards.

      ‘Looks daunting, doesn’t it?’ said Nadia, vocalizing Rosie precise thoughts.

      ‘Terrifying!’

      ‘Do you think it’s too late for us to back out?’

      ‘Erm…’

      Rosie glanced at Matt who was emptying a huge rucksack of gear. ‘Sorry, girls, forgotten your elbow guards. Be back in a minute.’

      Matt gave Rosie a meaningful stare and an imperceptible nod in Nadia’s direction. It was a couple of seconds before she realized what he meant. She tried to shake her head at him but he had already turned his back and sprinted off back to the storeroom. However, if they were to have any chance of finding out who spiked Suki’s throat spray and why, she had to grasp the opportunity to ask questions of their suspects whenever it presented itself. She had no idea how to broach the subject of Suki’s chance to shoot for stardom, other than to launch straight in.

      ‘So, how do you feel about Suki’s record deal?’

      Nadia stared at her for a moment and Rosie thought she was going to tell her to mind her own business, but instead her shoulders slumped. She indicated a wooden bench fashioned from what looked like a railway sleeper and started to fiddle with the silver chains at her neck, her eyes fixed on an indeterminate point in the canopy of trees above their heads.

      ‘Suki’s my best friend and I’m happy for her. She’s worked so hard for her big break – we both did. The music business is a tough industry to make any progress in. If you’d seen some of the places we were booked to perform in you’d appreciate how much a recording deal means to Suki. Sure, I would be lying if I said I didn’t wish it had been me, who wouldn’t? But I’m not jealous, I’m really not. If I’m brutally honest, she’s a much better vocalist than I am. And even if I was jealous, I would never have sabotaged her chances by poisoning her! The contract doesn’t transfer to me in the event of her sudden unavailability or anything like that!’

      Nadia’s face flushed with indignation as she re-tucked her copper-streaked bob behind her ears. Her outfit that day was a lemon, scoop-necked T-shirt embroidered with sunflowers and tight black designer jeans. Rosie knew that Nadia relished displaying her impressive cleavage and had shaped her wardrobe to reflect that – but in the middle of a deserted patch of woodland, she looked out-of-place and out-of-sorts and Rosie felt sorry for her.

      ‘Okay, ready to go now,’ announced Matt, handing out the elbow guards.

      ‘You know, I think I might have been a little hasty when I said I wanted to do something to take my mind of things.’

      ‘Nothing worthwhile is ever easy,’ said Matt, his dark blond hair standing up in tufts, looking like he’d just left his surfboard behind in the storeroom.

      ‘That’s exactly what Suki says before we go on stage. We both suffer from nerves before a gig; Suki more often than me, to be honest. She’s always coming out with crazy mantras, and she sticks rigorously to her little pre-show rituals – if she can’t find her throat spray, all hell breaks loose. Performers often have little routines before they go on stage – you know the sort of thing – if she has three sprays before a concert it’ll go well; if she forgets, or she’s run out, or only sprayed twice, it will be a complete disaster and we’ll never get a repeat booking. Actually, looking at this climbing wall I could do with a couple of squirts of the magic stuff myself!’

      ‘Mm, me too,’ murmured Rosie.

      Suddenly Nadia’s eyes narrowed at Matt and Rosie. ‘I know what people are thinking – that I was so jealous of Suki’s record deal that I put something in her spray so she couldn’t sing for everyone on Sunday night. That’s what you think too, isn’t it?’

      ‘Well, you did go to Suki’s lodge to change into one of her dresses, so you did have access to…’ began Matt.

      ‘We all went to Suki’s lodge before the party – except for that idiot of a boyfriend of hers. Trust him to be in the clear! If I had to pick a person responsible for this it would be Felix!’

      Nadia ripped off her helmet and knee guards and flung them to the ground, ready to take flight until Matt asked softly ‘I take it you know William and Suki are having an affair?’ and her indignant demeanour deflated as if a needle had been stabbed in a balloon. She crumpled back down onto the bench, twisting one of the silver chains at her throat. A succession of emotions floated across her expression – shock, outrage, acquiescence.

      ‘Yes, I knew,’ she whispered, tears trickling down her cheeks.

      ‘And had you spoken to either of them about your suspicions?’ asked Rosie, taking a seat beside Nadia. She reached for her hand and was unsurprised to find her fingers were trembling and freezing cold.

      ‘No. To be honest, I was hoping it would fizzle out, but if anything, they seemed to grow closer. I knew William was going to dump me. Actually, I was surprised he didn’t do it before we came up to Norfolk.’

      ‘How did you feel about your best friend and your boyfriend being in a relationship?’

      ‘Matt!’

      Rosie recognized the hurt in Nadia’s eyes and her heart squeezed with empathy. After what had happened with Harry and Heidi she understood exactly how Nadia felt. Taking a few moments to shove her emotions back into their box, Nadia’s habitual spark emerged from the shadows of her pain and she met Matt’s eyes with a challenge.

      ‘How do you think I felt? Angry, worthless, sad. I loved him. I still do. But I did not try to poison my best friend! If you want to know who did, maybe you should look at the other person scorned! I’m not staying here any longer to be accused of something I had nothing to do with!’ Nadia stalked from the clearing, every muscle in her body clenched in anger.

      ‘Matt, why did you have to bring up the affair?’

      ‘Rosie, someone poisoned Suki, and that same person couldn’t have cared less about the effect their actions would have on the Windmill Café’s future, or yours! And before you say anything else, think about it. Nadia not only had the opportunity to tamper with Suki’s throat spray when she changed her outfit, but also a reason for wanting her to suffer discomfort and either cancel her performance or sing badly. There’s not only the motive of professional jealousy, which, I might add, was instigated by William, but Suki has also stolen her boyfriend who she’s just confessed she still loves.’

      Rosie watched Matt stride off towards his office to catch up with Nadia. Would she have spiked Heidi’s drink if she had been presented with the opportunity? Of course not, it was Harry she held responsible for the termination of their relationship, not Heidi. Matt was way off course.