Small Town Christmas (Some Very English Murders Book 6) (8 page)

“I’m still worried.”

“Of course. I know.”

Penny said, “What led the police to choose the suspects
that they have done? Or are they looking at more people that I don’t know
about?”

“Who have you heard is on the list?”

“Me, obviously. Jared Boot, Linda Osmond and Haydn, some
bloke whose name I don’t know.”

“Haydn McGinty,” Cath said. “He pops up here from time to
time because he has a lot of property in Upper Glenfield.”

“So I hear. Is that his job?”

“No. It’s a sideline for him. He’s in some kind of project
management role for a regional utilities company.”

“Would this be the same company that Clive used to work
for?”

Cath nodded. “Yes. Clive was his line manager.”

“Ah. They didn’t get on, did they?”

“Now you see why the police are interested in Haydn,” Cath
said. “From what I hear, there were ongoing complaints and counter-complaints
between them throughout their work history. And it obviously didn’t stop when
Clive retired.”

“He likes a good feud, doesn’t he?” Penny said. “That
Clive. He’s the same with his sister.”

“He was,” Cath agreed. “And with Jared.”

“That’s the one I don’t get,” Penny said.

“They’ve had public rows too. Clive was a bully and you
know Jared, so you know how easily cowed he can be. He’s pretty vulnerable.
He’s no fighter. He never wanted to press charges though. Basically, when Clive
retired, he felt useless. He needed things to do. So he tried to take over the
town website and Reg Harris immediately slapped him down. You can’t make old
Reg do anything he doesn’t want to do. That man is made from old Spitfires. So
then, Clive went to Jared to pressure him, tell him what was wrong, what needed
changing, all the usual Clive stuff.”

“Oh. Jared never told me any of that.”
But then, he
wouldn’t
, Penny thought.
He wanted to impress me so he’s not going to
confess anything that makes him look weak.

“It got messy and came to police attention; that’s why
Jared is on the list. Also, he was out that night.”

“He was at the meeting,” Penny said, nodding.

“More than that. This is between me and you, but you guys
are on the list because you are all recognisable on cctv around the town. You
were all out, alone, that night, at the time of the murder. Any of you could
have pushed him off that ladder.”

“I was walking my dog!”

“I know. But you stuck to lonely places, and there are gaps
in what we can track. Gaps we can’t account for. It’s the same with Jared; he
was out running. We can see that. He was out for a long time. And Linda. She
didn’t go straight home. We see her car go past the market area, and then we
lose track of it, but she didn’t go home, so where was she? Finally, Haydn. He
is seen walking towards his car, somewhat erratically. He’s stumbling and he’s
dragging his feet. He gets in his car, stalls it, drives off … but he doesn’t
get home to Lincoln that night.”

“Maybe he stopped at the house he’s doing up.”

“No one saw him enter there. His car doesn’t appear on the
security camera that’s set up outside the shop at the bottom of the street. He
also says he didn’t go to that house anyway; he claims he drove a little way,
realised he was drunk, parked up, and slept in his car.”

“In this weather?” Penny said. “He would have frozen to
death!”

Cath nodded. “So you all have a motive and you were all out
there that night.”

“Oh. Oh, dear.”

They lapsed into silence for a moment until Penny blurted
out the thing that had been bothering her almost as much as the idea she might
be responsible.

“Cath, why do the police think it’s anything other than an
accident?”

“They did some experiments, the techie boffins. Because of
the frost, there were scuffs on parts of the pavement and walls, and the police
were able to isolate the area pretty quickly and preserve the evidence. They
know that someone else was there, and there are marks on the base of the
ladder. Someone was wearing gloves. Clive wasn’t.”

“That’s why they took my gloves!”

“Yes. And the way that Clive was hanging in the lights tells
the police something about how he fell, and how the ladder hit the ground. They
did some clever and frankly disturbing computer simulations, which was at least
better than the other option.”

“What was that?”

“Sending someone up a ladder to test it all out. Like we
used to.”

“Right. Ouch.”

“So they know he was pushed,” Cath said. “What we need to
know, though, is did the person who pushed the ladder intend to kill him?”

“Is that important?” Penny asked.

“Oh, definitely.” Cath looked very serious. “Do we have an
opportunist on our hands, or was this a targeted attack? If it’s targeted, it
should be easier to solve.”

“What if it part of something larger, though?” Penny said,
and shivered.

What if this was the start of something else…

Penny expected to wake up with a sore head on Saturday
morning, and she was not disappointed. Kali had absolutely no sympathy
whatsoever. It was a grey day, but dry and windless, and the dog was keen to
get out and have a good run. Penny fortified herself with a great deal of
coffee, and sallied out into the world. In spite of her bleary eyes and foggy
thinking, having a prancing and happy dog by her side did help to cheer her up.
And she liked the fact that she was wearing Drew’s hat and gloves.

She took the long way around town, heading first to the
north and then around the town to the east, following a footpath that ran
between some houses and the flat fields. Most of the agricultural land was
lying fallow now, but she was surprised to find herself walking alongside a
vast, flat expanse of bright green growth. What on earth would start growing
just as the winter clamped down on them all? It looked like particularly
luscious grass, but in regimented rows, so it was clearly a crop. She made a
mental note to ask Drew about it.

Kali, with her thick-set Rottweiler body, was not very good
at climbing over stiles. She tried, because she trusted Penny and would do
anything for her, but she was clumsy and heavy. This restricted Penny and she
tended to follow familiar, well-worn paths. She had been caught out too many
times by a promising start only to be turned back within a few hundred yards by
an impassable fence and stile.

So they ended up approaching the slipe again, although they
came at the meadow from the far eastern side. There was a quiet patch of grass
which was empty of people and dogs, and Penny let Kali off for a good
run-around.

“Yoohoo!”

Kali stopped running and turned to face the source of the
calling voice. Penny glanced up and saw two people, a tall female figure and a
lean man. She didn’t go towards them, but instead she went straight to her dog,
clipping her back onto the lead. The woman was waving her hands and approaching
in a manner that seemed expressly designed to unnerve the most placid of dogs.
The man trailed behind.

Some people had no sense at all.

It was Linda, and with her was Edwin from the rambling
group.

Penny plastered a polite smile onto her face, but said,
“Please don’t wave like that. You are startling my dog.”

“He needs better training, then!” Linda barked, looking
with distaste at Kali.

Kali was looking back at Linda with much the same
expression.

“She,” Penny said. “Not he. Her name’s Kali.”

Linda ignored her. “We need to talk to you about the
footpaths, don’t we, Edwin?”

Penny’s eyes met Edwin’s. He smiled but his eyes were
scowling, and she knew that his annoyance was aimed at Linda.

“Hi Edwin. How are you?” Penny asked.

He was given no time to answer. “I’m talking about the
footpath that runs from the industrial estate to the fields,” Linda said loudly.
“It’s been used for generations and we need to get it open once more.”

Edwin shrugged helplessly.

Penny frowned. “Good luck,” she said.

“And it’s exactly that type of defeatist attitude which
would have lost us the war!” Linda exclaimed. “Now then. I hate to speak ill of
the dead, and of course he was my brother I suppose, but he was one of the
prime objectors and I think now is the time for us to move on regarding this
issue. There’s nothing to be gained from shilly-shallying.”

Penny gaped at Linda. “Are you talking about Clive
Holdsworth?”

“Of course I am,” Linda said in surprise. “What did you
think I meant? Goodness me, do keep up. The utility company that he used to
work for owns the land, you know. And when we applied to have the path
officially recognised, he put in a call to someone he knew, and got it blocked.
He had retired and he still meddled. Utter rubbish. He did it to spite me. Terrible
man. Now he’s out of the way … I mean, obviously, great tragedy and all that …
but, well, now is the time to get on with the footpath.”

Penny was still staring. Could anyone be so callous?

Obviously, yes – they could.

Would Linda have pushed her brother off a ladder so that
she could get a footpath re-opened?

Surely not. That was deeply unrealistic petty spite.

Even so, Penny took a step back.

Linda took it as an invitation to step forward. She loomed
into Penny’s personal space. “So, we’re starting a campaign and I’m delighted
that the ramblers’ club is fully on board with this.”

Edwin grunted. He looked about as enthusiastic as a
Michelin-starred chef in a fast food restaurant.

“And of course, we need someone to help design the
promotional literature,” Linda said. “We need posters, adverts, forms, flyers
and newsletters. That’s what we think you could do to show your support.”

The woman was unstoppable,
Penny thought. Dreadful
in every way, but goodness, she had an admirable drive and commitment.

“I am afraid I’m currently already over-committed,” Penny
said in a stilted and formal way.

“Oh, we don’t want you to do anything complicated. We’ve
kept it well within your skill-set,” Linda said blithely.

Did the woman intend to be so insulting? Penny couldn’t
work it out. “No, Linda,” she said more firmly. “I’ve got my own business to
run and it’s really busy at the moment with the run-up to Christmas. Then there
are my commitments to the Christmas Planning Committee.”

“But you’re not responsible for health and safety any
longer, so I know you have some free time there.”

“Not really. I’m singing with the local choir and we’re
doing lots of evening practise. No, sorry; I have no time. But I wish you all
the best with it.”

Linda just could not hear the refusal. She said, “Oh, the
carol concert! And you’ll be going door-to-door as well, won’t you? It’s
marvellous. I mean, singing outside in the cold air, you’ll all destroy your
throats and your voices yet you still carry on. How wonderful. I used to sing,
you know.”

“Why don’t you come?” Penny said. She thought,
if you do
something for me, I’ll do something for you
. “Just turn up tomorrow night
at the Academy. We use the gymnasium there. We often pop to a pub together
afterwards, too. I walk, but they open up the school car park for people.”

“No, dear,” Linda said, looking down her nose. “I used to
sing in a theatre, you know. It was
technically
an amateur outfit but I
had offers, you know. Real offers. I don’t think this is my thing. However, I
look forward to hearing you singing out and about. I’ll drop off our specifications
for the flyers at your house later today. River Street, isn’t it? What number
do you live at?”

“I don’t have the time,” Penny insisted.

“We’re all busy. I appreciate that. But you’re part of this
community now … aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Penny said wearily.

Edwin finally spoke. “You can’t fight her, you know.”

“So I’m beginning to see.”

“A few flyers, nothing more,” Linda chirped, ignoring what
passed between them. “The other stuff can all be based on the design you come
up with for the flyer. I have sketched out some ideas to start you off. That’s
why I need to know where you live.”

Unwillingly, Penny told her. It was the only way to make
her shut up and go away. Linda was all smiles and glee then. She patted Penny
on the arm until Kali’s rumbling made her stop and retreat.

Still relatively unfazed, she bid them both good day, and
skipped off to hunt down another poor victim.

Edwin waited until Linda was out of earshot. He then let
off a string of cursing which petered out to an embarrassed apology.

“I’m sorry,” he said, rather pink in the face. “It’s just
that she absolutely riles me up and I cannot say anything against her, because
if I start to challenge her, if I say anything at all, I am afraid I won’t be
able to stop, and I will say or do something I’ll regret.”

“I know what you mean,” Penny said. “I couldn’t say no,
could I?”

“Not if you value your life,” he said.

There was an awkward silence.

“I apologise again,” Edwin said with a cough. “That was
rather poor taste.”

“It’s fine,” Penny replied. “Even under these
circumstances. I understand.”

“Well,” he said, “I’m off, and I’ll be taking the back
streets to get home rather than run the risk of encountering the steamroller of
the Fens again. Good luck.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

True to her word, the
irritating Linda dropped off a folder full of images, notes and ideas. Penny listened
to Linda give her a few more nuggets of unwelcome advice and managed to
restrain herself from answering. She waved Linda away, and took the folder
through to the kitchen to skim through it all.