Small Town Shock (Some Very English Murders Book 1) (22 page)
Read Small Town Shock (Some Very English Murders Book 1) Online
Authors: Issy Brooke
“Now then,” she replied, grinning. How Lincolnshire was
she? “How is the business going?” she asked, as he fell into step alongside
her.
He laughed. “Depends on who you listen to. I was in the
mini-market last week, and I overheard Agatha telling everyone within earshot
that it was such a shame my blacksmithing business has failed. They were all
clicking their tongues and saying I seemed like such a nice young man, how
tragic.”
“But it hasn’t failed. You’ve changed direction, that’s
all. Did you set them right?”
“No, there’s no point. I’m doing something dangerously
different and I am something to be feared.”
She rolled her eyes on his behalf.
He nodded. “Yup. It’s easier for you because you’re an
incomer so everyone expects you to be a little unreliable and odd. You can get
away with anything, really. Me, I’m bound by history and heritage and all that
malarky.”
“I never thought of it that way. Does your family all live
in Upper Glenfield?” she asked.
“Yes, and all my uncles and aunts and cousins are here or
in the nearby villages, except for Uncle Jim who moved to Bristol and set up a
micro-brewery with a man called Lawrence who wears the most extraordinary
dresses. I was the only one from here who went to their wedding.”
“Oh.”
“And my brother Ross, he lives in Lincoln and does
something terribly sciencey. Mum and dad live south of here, on a smallholding.
And yourself? You’ve never mentioned your own family.”
Penny’s pace slowed. “My mum and dad are currently on the
Orient Express somewhere. They are getting old quite disgracefully and I think
it’s wonderful. I get random postcards from them, from time to time. I have a
sister, Ariadne, but we don’t get on.”
“That sounds quite final.”
“Well, we don’t. She has issues but she won’t accept help
so that’s that.”
Drew opened his mouth and then closed it again, and she was
grateful that he didn’t pursue the matter. They continued on for a few yards.
Penny tipped her head back to let the sun warm her skin.
“Uh-oh. Up ahead, just past the phone box,” Drew said,
startling Penny out of her sun-worship.
She strained her eyes, expecting to see a rare bird or
something. But it was Warren, just coming around the corner, carrying his
camera with the long, intimidating zoom lens. When he saw them together, he
stopped, and openly stared, his fleshy face unfriendly and flat. Penny and Drew
walked past. She couldn’t resist greeting him cheerily, but Warren did not
respond.
“What is his issue?” she asked when they were out of
earshot. “It’s like he thinks every woman in the world should be grateful for
his attention and he gets annoyed when they are not.”
“That’s exactly his issue,” Drew said. “I don’t think it’s
any more complicated than that.”
“Sad, really. What relationships and love make people do.”
“You’re thinking about David Hart again, aren’t you?”
“I am.” Penny kicked at the ground with her sandals as they
passed the market area and came to the crossroads in the centre of town. “It
seems such a waste of a life. Not just David’s. I mean Eleanor’s.”
When the police had gone to the house, they had found
Eleanor sitting on her sofa, staring blankly into space. It was as if she knew
what was coming, Cath had told Penny afterwards. Eleanor had broken down and
confessed to being driven by jealousy and spite – and anger at David, not at
Mary.
David had been seeing Eleanor, behind her husband’s back,
off and on for many years. Eventually he had grown tired of her and finished
with her for good. But when he’d taken up with Mary, she’d seen it as a
deliberate blow against herself. She’d known his habits and his routines.
Finding him out alone in the fields was easy.
Had she meant to kill him? She said that she hadn’t. She’d
been told that a Taser couldn’t kill.
But it could, and it did.
And now she was in a women’s prison. Penny didn’t know of
anyone who had been to visit her. Thomas had moved away immediately; the
rumours said he was in a bedsit in Lincoln. Their marital home was still up for
sale, the grass outside now unkempt and long, the pristine lawn ruined through
lack of care.
“People do get stuck in a way of thinking,” Drew said, “and
the longer they go on, the harder it is for them to change, I suppose.”
They stood still and silent for a moment.
Drew shook himself. “Anyway. Let’s go on a picnic.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow. Bring Kali.”
“Will you teach me about plants and things?”
“Of course. I’ll show you which ones you can eat.”
“Oh,” she said with a laugh. “So I don’t need to bring a
picnic, then? We can just eat our way around the hedgerows of Upper Glenfield.”
“Sure. Just bring some salad cream. That’s the one thing
that doesn’t grow locally.”
There was an awkward moment when Penny wondered if Drew was
going to hug her or something more, but their eyes met and he laughed, and
stepped backwards. Her stomach fluttered and she chided herself for wanting
something while at the same time, not wanting it at all.
Things were fine as they were.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said hastily, starting down
the street to her cottage.
“I’ll call at ten.”
“Great.”
She didn’t look back but she felt strangely warm in the pit
of her belly as she strode down the pavement. She was almost humming to herself
as she flung the cottage door open.
“Hello, Kali! What have you been up to, hey?” she said,
bending to scratch the happy dog behind the ears.
“Oh. That’s what you’ve been up to.”
Her new strappy sandals, an impulse purchase from a
boutique shop in Lincoln, lay in shreds across the hallway carpet.
She stood up straight and glared at the dog for a moment.
“Oh well. Walking boots will be a better choice tomorrow,
anyway. Come on. Shall we go walkies?”
They went.
The End…
…for now.
Out now:
Small Town
Secrets
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http://amzn.to/1ys54BJ
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This is the bit you don’t need to read, but if you enjoyed
the book you might want to find out more.
I’ve got a website at
http://www.issybrooke.com
where I have more information about the characters, about Lincolnshire, and the
fictional town of Glenfield - including a map. It’s a work in progress.
The dog in this story, Kali, is based on our own rescue
dog, a Rottie cross called Stella. That’s her on the cover of this book. She’s
a stressed out and reactive thing, and we’re still working through her issues.
I wish it was as easy as Penny found it … you can read more about dogs on my
website, too. And look at photos. Everyone loves photos of dogs, right?
There are more books coming in this series (I wrote a heap
all at once). So you can check out what Penny gets up to next in
Small Town Secrets
. Does she get any further
with Drew? Will Francine re-appear? Is Cath a new friend? Is Warren a new
enemy? Buy here:
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Thank you for reading.
Issy.