Chapter Text
Valerie Mallory closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again. She sighed. There were still just as many boxes surrounding her. Shaking her head, she gave in and unsealed another, this time labelled ‘KITCHEN’ in her husband’s bold handwriting.
It was full of books.
“They’re not even recipe books”, she complained to Jerome, her tabby cat dæmon, as he sniffed them delicately.
“That’s the third box so far he mislabelled”, Jerome pointed out. “Do you think he did it on purpose?”
Valerie shook her head. “No, I know Gerry. He’s lazy, but he’s not malicious. I expect he sealed them all up first and then remembered I’d told him to label them, so he wrote on them at random and hoped for the best. If he had any sense, he’d have asked Hortensia for help.”
“It’s too bad he was called to the station”, said Jerome. “Otherwise she could at least have helped me sniff out the right boxes now.”
“Yes, Kembleford’s murderers might have waited until we’d settled in”, Valerie said dryly. “I just hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. I really thought a village would be quieter.”
She unloaded the books an armful at a time, placing them in piles on the nearest bookshelf for proper arrangement later. That was one good thing about this new house: it had plenty of bookcases.
“Now, what’s the betting this is something else entirely?” she said, kneeling to unseal a box labelled ‘BOOKS’.
Jerome sniffed it appraisingly. “It smells like the kitchen back home”, he said wistfully. “With extra cardboard, of course.”
“This is home now”, Valerie reminded him. “I promise it’ll feel more like it once we’re unpacked and have our familiar things around us.” She opened the lid and looked inside. “Aha! That’s more like it.”
“Books?” Jerome asked doubtfully.
“Even better!” Valerie reached in and pulled out their teapot. “This means we can finally have a tea break.”
“Well, this is it.” Violet Goodfellow took a deep breath, looking down at the French Lop rabbit dæmon at her side.
He sat up on his haunches and twitched his nose at her. “I still think we should’ve waited until Daniel could call round with us. What if she’s mean?”
“Don’t be silly.” Violet smiled brightly. “Remember, a new neighbour is just a friend we haven’t met yet.” Her smile faltered. “At least, I hope so.” Awkwardly shifting the casserole dish in her arms, she freed a hand and knocked on the door.
The woman who opened it was a few inches taller than Violet, with dark hair pinned up neatly at the nape of her neck and slightly intimidating eyebrows. Her green cardigan brought out the colour of her eyes, and a tabby cat dæmon wound around her ankles. He stretched forward to sniff delicately at Gabriel, who twitched his nose in return.
“Can I help you?” she asked politely, her voice carrying more than a trace of a northern accent. Her sharp eyes seemed to be assessing Violet, who widened her smile a notch.
“Hello, I’m Violet Goodfellow, the sergeant’s wife”, she said, “And this is Gabriel.” She nodded towards her dæmon. “We thought we’d drop by and welcome you to Kembleford.”
“Valerie Mallory, and this is Jerome.” Mrs Mallory bent down and stroked a hand over the cat, who held up his head and tail proudly. As she straightened again, her eyes drifted to the dish in Violet’s hands, and Violet abruptly remembered the other reason for her visit.
“Oh, I almost forgot! Daniel said you’d moved here all the way from Durham. And I thought what with the long journey and all the unpacking to do, you might not feel much like cooking, so I’ve brought you a casserole. Just in case you’d like it, of course; I’ll understand if not.” She held it out hopefully, trying not to let her nervousness show. This was the real test, after all.
Valerie’s reserved expression relaxed. “Oh, that’s very sweet of you”, she said, taking the dish with a grateful smile. “Would you like to come in?” She took a step back, tilting her head in question as Violet looked past her into the house. “I apologise for the chaos. We’re still in the middle of unpacking, but I hope we’ll have everything organised soon.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that”, Violet assured her, eager for the chance to get to know her better. “I remember the muddles when Daniel and I moved house, and that was just from one part of the village to another. We were expecting our second and needed a bigger place, but you’d’ve thought we had ten children, the number of boxes it took.”
Valerie hummed sympathetically, leading the way through a living room cluttered with boxes into the currently rather bare kitchen. “Our two haven’t taken the move well, so I sent them out to explore the village and hopefully make some new friends”, she said, putting the casserole down on a worktop. “And with Gerry at work, it’s just been me here to unpack everything. I’m sure you know what it’s like, being married to a policeman.”
Violet smiled wryly. “All too well. Daniel does his best, but the job always has to come first. I imagine your husband’s the same.” She hesitated, then added hopefully, “I’ll be happy to help in any way I can while you’re getting settled.”
“She means it”, Gabriel piped up. “Helping people is one of Violet’s favourite things, so don’t hold back!”
Valerie raised her eyebrows, an amused smile teasing the corners of her mouth. “Well, you’ve been a godsend already with this”, she said, resting a hand on the casserole dish, “So I might just take you up on that. But first...” Her smile widened, and she picked up a pair of mugs. “The good news is, I’d just found the tea things when you got here, so I can make us both a drink. And if Jerome can find the right box, we might even be able to offer you biscuits.”
Her eyes sparkled, and Violet beamed back, feeling a warm thrill of excitement. She had a feeling the two of them were going to be the best of friends.