The Cherry Tree Lane Mystery

Chapter 16

Later on Tuesday evening, when Mary returned to her little apartment to shower she reflected on the busy first day as a Nanny. The shift at the Popp Inn hadn't been overly strenuous but by the time Mary had finished her afternoon shift picking up the children, supervising homework and preparing an evening meal she was both utterly exhausted and deeply satisfied with a good honest day's work. Mary sent an email to her mother and sister to tell them about the day and update them on the latest with the homicide. She had downplayed the fact that the police were looking at some of the locals for suspects. Mary knew that would only serve to cause them anxiety. As far as her run went, Mary realized that she would have to forego it today, Mary had two things on her mind for the evening, dinner and then early to bed to study the Henley album before getting a good nights sleep.

Dressed warmly for the chilly early morning and ready for her day Mary headed over to the main house to start work and once again just caught Alex getting into his car for work. A warm greeting from Alex, and most pleasantly a thank you for the work Mary did with the children the day before. It's always nice to be thanked, so a good start to the day. To her surprise Cleo was still home. She was wearing a funky mini dress and leather jacket while Mary in comparison was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt that was now damp at the back from her wet hair. "I don't have to go in early today. I have a replacement on for me this morning as part of my bereavement leave. Come and have a cup of tea with me" she said "We can have a briefing about how it went for you yesterday," Mary relayed the events of the day, leaving out the story about Georgia's secret tea set in her wardrobe, and one or two tiny misdemeanours by Ari that were not worth mentioning.

"Remy phoned me last night" said Chloe "He told me that he wanted to do some drawings of you and Georgia and Ari, for the mural. I have some hesitations about it,"

"He mentioned it to me" Mary said in return surprised. "I'll go along with whatever you think,"

"Look, I know that Remy has befriended you Mary. That's very typical of him, he is very friendly with all the young women in the neighbourhood," She paused. Where was this going, Mary wondered, was this Cleo's catty side coming out? "I just think" she continued "that you should be cautious of him. He was Elena's boyfriend and considering she has just passed away I think his behaviour, flirting with you is a bit forward and inappropriate. Mary, I don't want you to get hurt. "

"Well that's interesting because although Remy and I are just friends, nobody else has said anything else about Remy being Elena's boyfriend." Mary responded keeping her voice as calm and even as possible.

"Oh no, trust me, they were definitely together. He didn't advertise it, but she was very open about it with me."

"When did she mention this to you?" asked Mary.

"Oh the first time it was two or three months ago. She saw him nearly every day and didn't mention it was over, so I assumed it was still ongoing when she died. When I mentioned this to the police, they seemed surprised. I wonder why Remy is being secretive about his relationship with Elena?"

"Yes, I wonder," Mary answered. Her mind was in turmoil from the new information which seemed to be in conflict with everything she already had come to understand about Remy. Chloe was definitely right about one thing, he had been flirting with her a little, there was definitely chemistry between them. So why would he lie and cover up about having a relationship with Elena?

"I suppose you'll ask him about it. I wonder what he'll say, probably lie about it to cover himself. I think it puts him in a very precarious position as a key suspect,"

"You think that Remy might have killed Elena?" Mary asked disbelieving.

"I hope not. I hope it was a random stranger. But think of the domestic violence statistics Mary. It is not unlikely that she was killed by someone she was intimate with. I think it is very suspicious. I heard that Remy's tarpaulin was used to cover her body. I think that is also very interesting,"