The Cherry Tree Lane Mystery

Chapter Twenty Six

Cleo and Mary were still on chilly terms. She'd kept Mary at a distance and not once shown the familiarity she had when she first approached Mary to ask her to take on the fill-in Nanny job. Mary wondered sometimes if she'd regretted it because she just didn't seem to like her. On the other hand Mary admitted, she did have a tendency to be over-sensitive. She would have to wait it out and see, she decided. If she didn't want me to work for her any more it would be a shame for the children, she thought. Mary had come to care for them a great deal, even within a week and she would miss them. Mary wouldn't miss Cleo at all she realized, nor Alex much either, mainly because he was never there. He was an even greater workaholic than Cleo was.

When Cleo finally came home from work she was subdued and she surprised Mary by asking her to sit down. Mary wondered what was up but she didn't keep her guessing for long. Mary was pleasantly surprised that Cleo was trying to find a way to apologize.

"I was out of line the other day. I said that Remy was in a relationship with Elena. I was stretching the truth,"

"Okay" Mary replied. Honestly, she was embarrassed for her.

"They were good friends and I might have misinterpreted Elena's words and actions. Alex has told me that he was always under the impression that Remy and Elena were only friends. He should know. He knows Remy better than I do. Alex is upset with me for misleading you," She looked genuinely chastened.

"That's okay Cleo. Have you spoken to Remy?"

"No. I will speak to him next chance I get"

"He was pretty distraught because the police were questioning him about whether he was the father of Elena's baby,"

"Yes. I will apologize to him,"

"Thank you. I'm sure he will appreciate that,"

"I know that Alex told him to go ahead and do the drawings of the children for the mural. Hopefully that will go someway to compensating him for what I said."

"Yes, he did the drawings yesterday and again today. I haven't seen them. He's going to start painting tomorrow,"

She mumbled something under her breath about going to say goodbye to the children, so Mary turned around and headed to the kitchen to put the kettle on. Then she was back again. "By the way Mary, the children have the day off from the holiday scheme on Friday. Normally they would just go for one morning to the Oxford office. This time for a treat, he said they can visit the big office in London. You'd just need to pick them up at lunch-time and then bring them home, if you can manage it."

"The children told me already. I can manage it."

"Fine. I'll see you later," With that Cleo turned and left again and no, Mary didn't blow her a kiss goodbye.

When Mary got back to "The Popp Inn" on Monday morning there was plenty of work to be done, meals to be prepared and rooms to be turned over. All of the new guests had arrived and the place was buzzing. The decision to hire some of the teenagers from Cherry Tree Lane had been made a real difference in relieving some of the pressure. Mary saw a familiar face. "Johann, you're back so soon." Johann winked at Mary. "We meet again. Keep an eye out for that article on you Mary, its going to be published in tomorrow's edition."

"It's going to be old news now."

"Not exactly, I've made some additions to it since the death of Samantha Barrett."

"One tragedy on top of another" I sighed.

"Do you think there's a connection, you know between the two deaths?" He asked Mary.

"I'm hardly an expert, just a local nanny. What do you think?" Mary hoped her evasive tactics were working.

"I think there's definitely a mystery here. I was kind of hoping some of the locals would have an insight as to what the connection might be between the two women,"

"As far as I know, they didn't know one another. You know I've only lived here for just under a fortnight you are probably asking the wrong person. Why don't you chat with Janine about it?"

"I want to. She just seems to be so busy. Who else knew Elena and might have known something about Samantha Barrett?" he asked me.

"I can think of someone to send you to but I'll have to call in a favour in return," he replied.

"Anything. What can I do?"

"You helped a lot with the publicity for the Popp Inn. I want to see the momentum going so I'm thinking of setting up a website for Janine. Can you help promote it?"

"I can do that. We can run another story to coincide with that. Who are you going to send me to?"

"I'm going to give you a name but that's all and I'm not promising he'll have much to say. Remy McIntosh is the caretaker of Whitehaven Manor. He was also friends with Elena,"

"Was he a boyfriend?"

"No. He wasn't her boyfriend. He doesn't know of anyone she was seeing. Nobody seems to have a clue about that,"

"Actually. I might know something about that." He replied.

"Oh yes?"' Mary asked trying to sound disinterested but desperate to hear what he had to say.

"I interviewed her brother. He said that she had just broken an engagement when they came to England. The fiance was named Mikhail. He hasn't seen him since he left Romania and he assumed that he was still there until he heard about Elena's pregnancy. Now he thinks that Mikhail may have tracked her down. "

"Does her brother thinks that Mikhail must be the father of the child?"

"He said it was the only logical explanation he had for it."

Actually, Mary had started to form another possible explanation but she wasn't going to tell Johann that. Mary needed to work on her theory and if she was going to share it with anyone it would have to be Hodge and Crowe first, Johann second.

By the time she had crawled into bed that night Mary was utterly exhausted. There had literally been no time to stop and breathe.