Sangria and secrets, p.1
Sangria and Secrets, page 1
SANGRIA AND SECRETS
PERIDALE CAFE
BOOK 31
AGATHA FROST
PINK TREE PUBLISHING
CONTENTS
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Also by Agatha Frost
Before you read…
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
BONUS! Sangria Recipes
Thank You!
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Also by Agatha Frost
Published by Pink Tree Publishing Limited in 2024
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Copyright © Pink Tree Publishing Limited.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For questions and comments about this book, please contact pinktreepublishing@gmail.com
www.pinktreepublishing.com
www.agathafrost.com
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ALSO BY AGATHA FROST
Peridale Cafe
33. Cruffins and Confessions (coming soon)
32. Lemon Drizzle and Loathing (coming soon)
31. Sangria and Secrets
30. Mince Pies and Madness
29. Pumpkins and Peril
28. Eton Mess and Enemies
27. Banana Bread and Betrayal
26. Carrot Cake and Concern
25. Marshmallows and Memories
24. Popcorn and Panic
23. Raspberry Lemonade and Ruin
22. Scones and Scandal
21. Profiteroles and Poison
20. Cocktails and Cowardice
19. Brownies and Bloodshed
18. Cheesecake and Confusion
17. Vegetables and Vengeance
16. Red Velvet and Revenge
15. Wedding Cake and Woes
14. Champagne and Catastrophes
13. Ice Cream and Incidents
12. Blueberry Muffins and Misfortune
11. Cupcakes and Casualties
10. Gingerbread and Ghosts
9. Birthday Cake and Bodies
8. Fruit Cake and Fear
7. Macarons and Mayhem
6. Espresso and Evil
5. Shortbread and Sorrow
4. Chocolate Cake and Chaos
3. Doughnuts and Deception
2. Lemonade and Lies
1. Pancakes and Corpses
Claire’s Candles
1. Vanilla Bean Vengeance
2. Black Cherry Betrayal
3. Coconut Milk Casualty
4. Rose Petal Revenge
5. Fresh Linen Fraud
6. Toffee Apple Torment
7. Candy Cane Conspiracies
8. Wildflower Worries
9. Frosted Plum Fears
Other
The Agatha Frost Winter Anthology
Peridale Cafe Book 1-10
Peridale Cafe Book 11-20
Claire’s Candles Book 1-3
BEFORE YOU READ…
Hello everyone, and welcome to another Peridale Cafe book! Except this time, we’ll be leaving the cafe and heading back to Savega in Spain. For those of you who may remember, Savega is where Julia’s Great-Aunt Minnie runs the La Casa hotel!
And if you don’t, I don’t blame you. 2020 was a long time ago! Savega, Minnie, and La Casa were first (and last) seen in the 20th Peridale Cafe book, Cocktails and Cowardice, which you can read on Amazon.
If you want a little refresher (contains spoilers for Cocktails and Cowardice), read ahead…
Julia and Barker, and Dot and Percy, travel to Savega for their joint honeymoon in Savega. Things start off well with a lovely family reunion with Minnie, but things aren’t all they seem. The quaint Spanish town has been overrun with shops selling knock-off goods, and a mysterious figure known as The Buyer has taken over the town. And if that isn’t bad enough, Dot and Percy are soon taken by The Buyer and held captive in a villa deep in the valley. Julia and Barker, along with the Spanish police raced against the clock, digging through the clues to uncover the identity of The Buyer to save Dot and Percy from meeting a sticky end.
Now, several years later, they’re ready to return… everything will work out just fine this time… won’t it?
(Stay tuned at the end for two BONUS Sangria recipes!)
1
The first morning of spring bathed Julia’s Café in a refreshing sunlight, casting aside the shadowy remnants of a long and bitter winter. Julia South-Brown, perched at her usual table by the counter, pondered the future of the land behind the café that had become the village’s battlefield. Her new red, shiny suitcase, packed for the upcoming week abroad, stood guard beside her. On the table, a steaming cup of her favourite peppermint and liquorice tea sat next to the ballot sheet detailing the potential futures of the field—all four options whispered promises of change.
She sipped the minty sweet tea as her pen traced every option on the ballot sheet: the simplicity of leaving it be, the promise of a public garden, the vibrant vision of an outdoor market. Yet, it was the image of children’s laughter in a play park—something the village hadn’t had since Julia’s childhood—that made her pen hover over the checkbox. She could hear Olivia laughing from the swings on a not-too-distant summer afternoon.
That’s what the fight against the developers had been for.
Her daughter’s future.
Months of battles with James Jacobson over the fate of this land weighed in her memory, but now its destiny lay in Peridale’s hands. They had Julia’s step-mother—though they were almost the same age—Katie to thank for this second chance. More specifically, the centuries-old loophole and the tangled Wellington-Howarth family tree that had led Katie to becoming the land’s rightful heir.
And while Katie manned the café for the next week, she’d be encouraging people to cast their votes in the box next to the charity tin on the counter. In typical Katie fashion, she’d bedazzled the box in glittery pink paper.
Putting down her tea, Julia leaned back in her chair and peered through the beaded curtain into the café’s small kitchen. Barker and Katie had been deep in conversation about something altogether more serious for as long as Julia had been weighing the ballot options with her tea.
“… and I know it might seem like a maze with no exits, Katie,” said Barker, Julia’s husband—his voice still held a tinge of the soft authority from his detective inspector days. “I promise, I’m not giving up. Your mother is out there somewhere. We will find her.”
Katie let out a small sigh, lacking in her usual girlish optimism. “I believe in you, Barker. It’s just… with Father dead, I thought maybe she’d have come looking for me by now.”
An empathic ache twinged in Julia’s chest; Katie’s journey to find her birth mother—one that had started with the recent ringing in of the new year—had been arduous and fraught with dead ends. Whoever or wherever she was, the mysterious Mrs Wellington listed in Katie’s birth certificate over four decades ago had yet to reveal herself from the mists of time.
Glancing down at the options again, Julia patted the pocket of her vintage floral dress, feeling the outline of her passport. Maybe the week in Spain would give Barker new ideas for how to approach the tricky case. She knew he was looking forward to having more time to work on his latest book. A week soaking up the Spanish sun was just what they needed. Between Barker’s hunt for Katie’s mother, his overflowing PI caseload, and drafts for his third novel, there hadn’t been many romantic evenings together since the crack of New Year’s Eve’s fireworks.
And the holiday wasn’t just a chance to reconnect with her husband, but also with her eccentric Aunt Minnie. Great-Aunt Minnie, to be exact. They’d exchanged birthday and Christmas cards along with a few letters here and there, but Julia hadn’t been back to her aunt’s hotel since her ill-fated honeymoon two-and-a-half years ago.
The bell above the door announced Percy as he barrelled in, pulling Julia from her pen tapping. Urgency eclipsed his usual jovial grin, his round cheeks rosy and red bowtie askew.
“Julia! Don’t suppose you have a moment?”
Behind him, the airport minibus—pre-booked by Julia’s gran weeks ago—screeched to a halt.
&n
“That’s just it,” he said, beckoning Julia to the door. “Your gran… she… she’s said she isn’t coming.”
Julia had feared something like this might happen.
“Ah.”
“Nothing I’ve said is changing her mind.” Nibbling his lip, he glanced through the window and across the green to their cottage. “Ethel’s trying now, but I’m afraid my Dorothy is only getting more wound up. Would you—”
“Of course. Is this about what happened last time?”
Percy offered a solemn nod, and a chill not even the thoughts of the Spanish sun could soothe skated down Julia’s spine. She abandoned the list—there would be time to decide when they returned. For now, she had to make sure her gran wasn’t giving up the chance to face her demons.
Surviving a harrowing kidnapping during their joint honeymoon at Minnie’s hotel had etched deep scars.
But what was that old saying?
Lightning wouldn’t strike in the same place twice.
2
Dot peeked through the lace curtains at the minibus across the green. The memories of her last visit to Savega continued their taunting dance, flooding her with a paralysing dread.
They almost hadn’t made it out alive.
“Dorothy?” Ethel called, rapping her knuckles on the other side of the locked bedroom door. “Please tell me you’re packing in there.”
“I… I’m… thinking about it.” Dot stared at the half-empty suitcase on her bed. “Please, Ethel, just… leave me be.”
Dot let the curtain flutter back into place and sank into the floral armchair by the window, her heart hammering. She couldn’t bear to look at the minibus anymore. How could they tempt fate after the horrors of their last experience? And how had she allowed Minnie’s invitation, promising the ‘fantastic relaunch of La Casa Hotel’, to sweep her away?
She clenched her eyes tight as glimpses of their days held captive flashed through her mind—the sweltering villa hidden deep in the valley with barred windows, the scratchy rope binding their wrists, Percy’s pained groans after she sliced open his leg on that window during their escape.
She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. How could she have agreed to this trip? And not just agreed—she’d planned the whole thing. What had she been thinking? That she’d feel peachy on the day? That their therapy two years ago had rid her of the cobwebs? She’d spent months painting a rosy picture of tapas under strings of lights, sangria by the sea, siestas, and endless games of cards by the pool.
Wishful thinking.
A gentler knock at the door pulled Dot from her thoughts, and when she didn’t answer, the handle rattled.
“Go away, Ethel. I told you, I—”
“It’s me, Gran,” Julia’s soft voice called through the door. “Let me in.”
Dot pushed herself from the armchair and crossed the room with some reluctance. That’s where Percy had run off to—to fetch the cavalry. But there was nothing anyone could say to change her mind. She let Julia in and returned to the armchair by the window.
“Looks like you’ve almost finished packing,” Julia said, as optimistic as ever. “Want to talk about it?”
Dot shook her head, unable to put her fears into words as Ethel and Percy followed Julia in. Their dogs, Lady and Bruce, were close behind. Bruce stayed by Percy’s feet, but Lady trotted over with her usual elegance. Standing on her hind legs, the white-haired Maltese rested two paws on the chair arm and stared at Dot with her ‘treat time?’ eyes.
“I cannot leave,” Dot said, stroking Lady’s soft ears. “Someone needs to stay behind for the dogs.”
“You know Evelyn volunteered to house sit. She’s downstairs at this very moment.” Ethel shook her head—she made no attempt to hide that she thought Dot was being silly. “The minibus you booked is waiting.”
Dot shrank further into her chair. Percy’s face softened with understanding as he sat on the ottoman and took her hands in his. He was the only one who understood what they’d been through, and yet even he was excited for a second round in Savega.
“We’ll be in Minnie’s lovely hotel, surrounded by family.”
“And friend,” Ethel cut in.
“And friend,” Percy corrected. “No one can hurt us there. We don’t even have to leave the room if you don’t want to.”
Dot could stay trapped in her room at home, thank you very much, and at least she’d have the comforts of Peridale to stop her from going insane.
“You’ve talked Savega up so much,” Ethel said, verging on begging now. “The food, the winding streets, the little shops near the marina. And the beach—you said there was nothing better than strolling along the shore at sunset.”
“Tickets are in the bureau downstairs,” she said, fiddling with her brooch. “I’m not stopping anyone else. In fact, I want you all to go. Give me some peace and quiet for a change.”
“I’m excited to experience it with you,” Ethel said. “For your many, many faults, it won’t be nearly as fun without you. Will it, Percy?”
“Not one bit.”
A ghost of a smile flickered across Dot’s lips, but the dread snatched the excitement away just as fast.
“This was never going to be easy,” Julia said, squatting next to Lady. “But we’ll all be with you. Every step of the way.”
Dot let out a shaky breath, glancing between their supportive faces. The sound of laughter drifted in through the open window, drawing her back to the curtains. Her other granddaughter, Sue, and Sue’s husband, Neil, were with their young twins, loading suitcases into the minivan. Was Dot really going to let fear stop her from sharing their joy?
“This holiday doesn’t have to be something to dread,” Julia assured, joining her at the window. “It can be an opportunity.”
“An opportunity?”
“A chance for closure,” she said. “To replace those dark memories with new, happy ones. To walk those winding streets and see that valley again without fear holding you back. You escaped that place and survived.”
Ethel slid her arm around Dot’s shoulders. “And I wasn’t with you last time, was I? I’ll show them what’s for if anyone tries anything.”
“And break a hip in the process?”
“Oi!” Ethel squeezed her shoulder. “You’re much, much older than I, Dorothy. And I’m being serious. I know we’ve had our quarrels, but that’s all behind us now. You’re as good as family to me, and family looks after each other.”
“We’re all in this together,” Julia added.
Percy gave Dot’s hand an affectionate pat. “Plus, think of all those new outfits you’ve bought. Such fashionable ensembles longing for their chance to shine under the Spanish sun. You shouldn’t deny Savega the chance to see your exquisite taste, my love.”
Dot couldn’t help but chuckle. Trust her husband to make her laugh when she was feeling her worst. She drew a balancing breath as she let the fear wash over her. She turned from the window to see the outstretched hands of Ethel and Percy. Their compassion shone in their eyes, bolstering her courage. Gripping their hands, Dot rose from her chair on unsteady legs.
“Fine, but I’ll need your help packing my case if we don’t want that minibus to leave without us.”
“Already on it, my love,” Percy announced, hurrying to the wardrobe. “Ethel, shoes are under the bed. Julia, you go to Barker and get your cases in the van and tell the driver to wait for us.”
“You won’t be the last,” Julia said, checking her watch. “Jessie and Olivia haven’t turned up yet. I’ll find them.”
Julia left, and they had Dot’s case packed and sealed within minutes. After dragging it down the stairs between them, it joined Percy and Ethel’s, waiting by the door. Evelyn, as promised, was cross-legged in a bright sangria red kaftan on the sofa.
“Look after them, won’t you?”
“Like they’re my own children,” Evelyn said, crouching to let Bruce’s excited tongue lap at her chin. “I sense we’re going to have the best time. How about a tarot reading for the road to settle your nerves?”
Dot sighed. She’d never been one for Evelyn’s mysticisms.
