Curious Campers

by Anne Lown

  “Harvey, it’s Jenny, open up. I know you’re in there.”

  She called through a number of times before straightening her body and letting the flap fall back into place. She was about to turn away when a movement caught in the edge of her vision.

  “What do you want?”

  Harvey stood at the side of his house. He was still dressed in his outdoor clothing, so she guessed he hadn’t yet ventured inside.

  “I need to speak to you. I want to listen to what you’ve got to say.”

  He peered over his shoulder, then glanced back at them and nodded. “All right.”

  He walked towards them and opened his front door. Jenny followed him inside with Jason at her rear, who closed the door behind him, making sure it was secure. The three of them stood in the living room. It was clear Jenny was going to have to coax Harvey to talk. The man didn’t appear ready to give anything up easily.

  “Why were you in the woods?”

  He shrugged. “I saw you all walking that way, so I decided to follow. If you’d have turned around you would’ve seen me.”

  “But why follow us? What did you hope to achieve?”

  “My knives. I knew someone had them and I wanted them back.”

  Jenny considered what he was saying. “What about Adam? Why was he there?”

  Harvey undid his coat and slid out of it. He sat on his sofa before answering her question. Jenny wasn’t sure if he was trying to play for time, maybe to come up with something he’d not been prepared for. She waited.

  He glanced up at her. “You can take a seat.”

  The pair of them followed his suggestion and chose the separate armchairs. Jenny was still waiting. She wasn’t going to leave his home without some real answers if she could get them.

  Harvey looked from one to the other. “I’ve known Adam a while. He delivers my post, and I sometimes see him on the mail centre floor at the end of his shift. He knew about the break-in because I told him. I hoped he might hear something on his walk.”

  Jenny nodded. It was true he did most of the deliveries to Harvey’s address. “And did he?”

  Now it was Harvey’s turn to nod. “He said Tom had been scoping the place out the whole time I went away. I went around to his house after the second knife went missing, but he wasn’t home. Your Scott was there, though.”

  She bristled. He wasn’t her Scott anymore, but people still seemed to lump them together. “You didn’t go into the woods? That would be the same evening Dan found the one buried in the clump of trees. He said he was followed, he was sure of it.”

  “Well, it wasn’t me.” His body posture became rigid, his stare fixed on her face. Harvey was behaving defensively. Maybe he was telling the truth.

  “And you say Scott was there, at Tom’s house that night?”

  Harvey nodded again.

  Jason had been listening, his head turning from one to the other as the conversation developed. Now it was his time to ask, “Why would someone take your knives and kill a person with them?”

  Jenny stared at him; even that was clear to her. “To implicate him or to get him in trouble.” Then she remembered. It was Dan she’d been talking to about the deaths, not Jason. “Both knives were from Africa. Chantal has South African heritage. Harvey was having an affair with her. If the police found that out along with the weapons belonging to him, he’d be their prime suspect.”

  Jason’s expression was blank. “But why kill the dealer?”

  Jenny sighed. “Ed was his competition. Maybe he wanted to take over his patch—that’s if he wasn’t having an affair with Chantal, too.”

  Harvey grimaced. It was an unfair thing to say about the woman, especially considering her disabled status, but she didn’t seem to have any trouble attracting the men. Jenny’s cheeks flushed. Maybe she was just a tiny bit jealous.

  “If that’s the case,” Jason went on, “who killed Tom and why?”

  “Probably the same reason, but they didn’t use my knife.” Harvey spread his hands out in front of him, palms up. He’d clearly been thinking it over.

  “No,” Jenny said, “they used Dan’s. They found it at the camp when Ed was killed. They were diverting attention away to the campers instead.”

  She thought back over everything they had been saying. It was a jumbled mess, and she was sure she was missing a vital piece of the puzzle. Why would Tom have tried to deflect suspicion away from himself in such a manner that he’d tie himself down and make himself out to be a rescued victim? She pressed her lips together and squinted. All this thinking was giving her a headache. She rubbed at the side of her head and winced.

  “Do you happen to have a headache tablet I can have?”

  “Sure,” Harvey said, “in the cupboard to the right of the sink in the kitchen.”

  Jenny excused herself and left the two men alone. She strolled into the kitchen and searched for the meds where she’d been told they were. A clean glass sat on the draining board. She picked it up and filled it with water from the tap. Jenny gulped mouthfuls to rinse the tablets down her throat; it had never been one of her best experiences. She sighed once done and placed the glass in the sink.

  Her eyes widened. Something caught one of the chairs around the kitchen table and knocked it. It scraped on the floor from being pushed a small distance. There was someone else in the room. She whirled around and gripped her hands onto the rim of the sink, using the kitchen unit to support herself. “How did you get in?”

  Adam held up a key. He wasn’t smiling, there was no maniacal grin on his face. Instead he appeared beaten and broken. “I didn’t do it,” he said, “I found a knife in the boot of my car underneath the carpet. I didn’t put it there.”

  “But you took them, didn’t you?” Somehow Jenny was sure of this fact. Maybe he was the piece of the puzzle she’d been missing.

  Adam pulled out a chair and slumped onto it. The man seemed exhausted. He leant one elbow on the table and rested his chin on his hand, closed his eyes, and exhaled. Jenny watched, unsure what to make of his behaviour.

  “Did you kill Ed?”

  For a moment Adam didn’t respond. Then he opened his eyes and stared straight at her. “No.”

  “And Tom, what about him?”

  “No.”

  “So who did? Les?”

  As expected, Adam nodded. She could’ve taken the affirmative at face value, but suddenly everything seemed clear. Adam had been playing her. Grooming her, even. Was that what he’d done to the colleague before her?

  “How did the other guy break his foot, the one before me?”

  Adam avoided her gaze. He didn’t actually have to tell her, the man hadn’t hurt himself escaping from a dog, that had been coercion, but it had obviously gone wrong. Jenny tutted. Was that what her fate would’ve been if she’d continued to resist? A broken bone or two?

  “Tell me. Why did Les kill Ed? Did he know him?”

  “Nope. He waited outside Tom’s place and saw someone leave. He thought he was following Tom, but he wasn’t. When the man went into the woods, he followed him and attacked. Getting caught in the trap had been a stroke of luck, but it was so dark he hadn’t known for sure who it was.”

  Jenny shuddered. It was inconceivable to her Les could do such a thing without being certain. She glanced at the door, wondering how long she could be missing from the living room before someone came searching for her. She returned her attention to Adam. “Why are you telling me all this?”

  He shrugged. Then rubbed both of his hands over his face. “I’m tired. The whole thing’s been a strain, I want out. I didn’t get involved to hurt people. When Tom started stealing our customers, Les just flipped. He seemed to think he was some bigtime gangster and going on about taking back his turf. I was only in it for the money. Not that I could really spend it. Pulling up in a brand-new car I can’t afford would’ve brought too much attention.” He stared up at her. “You believe me?”

  Jenny didn’t know what to say. She’d never
had anyone confess to her before about a crime they’d committed. It was a whole new experience. “You’ll have to give yourself up. I can call George, he’ll be quick and be right over.”

  She reached into her jacket pocket and felt for her mobile. At that moment she was grateful she hadn’t felt welcome in Harvey’s home or she would have already taken her jacket off. The only thing was it wasn’t a push-button phone, it had a display screen, and she couldn’t be certain of what she was doing without looking at it. For all she knew she could’ve been opening the weather app instead of dialling a number.

  Adam stood. “I can’t do that. Les has got to be the one to take the fall. It was all him, you know it was.”

  “So he was the one who found Tom and put the stone on his chest? Surely Tom wouldn’t have known who Les was and would’ve panicked and freed himself? After all, he’d used a special knot to tie himself down. So he knew how to get out of it.”

  Jenny gazed up at Adam’s face. His features had hardened; he didn’t appear to be her nice concerned colleague anymore.

  He bared his teeth. “You think you’re smart, don’t you? Worked it all out with your loser boyfriend in there. Yeah, I know it all. You forget how much you’ve blabbed in the last six months. Pathetic, that’s what you are.”

  She flinched, drawing herself back against the sink. It was a side to him she’d never seen before.

  “So easy to scare. Les thought you’d refuse to deliver the packets, but I knew better. Didn’t see me, did you? Hanging out the back of your house. Taking pictures of you doing the drop? Even your mate Nick was easy to intimidate. Some friend. He dropped Harvey right in it.”

  Jenny couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She’d accused innocent people of getting up to all sorts of things. One thing she did know for sure, though, was someone’s behaviour she’d known for years. She licked her lips and forced herself to be brave.

  “There’s only one thing wrong with your whole scenario. Les didn’t hurt anyone. He didn’t cut Ed’s throat and he didn’t put a stone on Tom’s chest. He didn’t beat Nick up either. You want to know how I know?”

  Adam stopped advancing towards her. He’d been getting closer since he’d got up from the chair. “Go on then. Astound me.”

  She smiled. “Les can’t bear strange body fluids. He’s a clean freak to the extent he’s phobic about it. He couldn’t have sliced someone with a knife or put a dirty rock on Tom’s chest. He freaked out from you cutting him in the woods. He wouldn’t even touch Scott when he’d just fought with Ed and had a nosebleed, so there is no way he could’ve beaten up Nick either. He lied to me about that. It was all you.”

  Jenny glanced towards the kitchen door. It had been slowly swinging open the whole time she’d been talking. In the opening stood Harvey, and he had a knife in his hand. She breathed a sigh of relief. Someone had come looking for her after all.

  Jason appeared in the gap behind Harvey. “Police are on their way, they shouldn’t be long.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Jenny sipped a large brandy from Harvey’s alcohol cabinet. It wasn’t her drink of choice, but wine wasn’t something he usually kept in stock. Her knees buckled once the police arrived. She hadn’t realised the toll standing alone in the kitchen with a killer would have on her. Jason kept asking her if she was all right. It was getting on her nerves; she’d preferred him when he hadn’t given a damn.

  Harvey sat by her side. Adam had been carted off to the station in Bishop and was unlikely to be seen again in the near future. DS George was no longer present in the house, either. He’d been standing over her and staring. He’d asked her again and again the same questions but hadn’t written anything down. She’d have to go into the station and give another statement. Jenny glanced to her side, trying to make out what Harvey thought of what she’d said, but his expression was neutral.

  “Just tell me one more time,” Nick said. “How did you know it was Adam?” He’d come straight over once he’d heard the news of there being an arrest. It appeared word got around the village quick with police cars turning up at the door and leaving their lights strobing.

  She sighed. It was getting tedious, and she was tired from all the running about in the woods. “He’s been dealing weed to customers while doing his job. He was in it with Les as a partnership; one sourced the product and the other one distributed it. He’d come to know Tom was doing something similar and had built up customers. Scott said Tom had a lot of friends who were always coming by.”

  Nick sat back in an armchair and contemplated the information. She could see he was searching for holes in her story, he was pedantic like that.

  “Anyone want a cuppa? That all right with you?” Jason put the question to Harvey who just nodded.

  “I’d love a coffee,” she said, “something to give me some energy.” Even lifting the glass to her lips was like shifting a weight. Jenny leant forward and put the glass on the low table in front of her, making sure to place it on a coaster to avoid their host’s wrath.

  She looked at Nick. Something was stirring in his mind. “Why don’t you just say it?”

  “You said someone burnt his sofa. Was that true?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve no idea. It could have been anyone’s, but he was pretty convincing at being scared. He really had me fooled.” There was no point being ashamed of being taken in. Adam had been the one grooming her, and he’d started it the first day they’d worked together. He’d gained her trust and made her feel they were friends. It was going to be hard to trust another colleague after this.

  Jason returned with a mug in each hand and gave one to Jenny. The steaming liquid burnt her lips. She blew on it, trying to cool it down. She glanced at Nick over the top of the rim. He wasn’t his normal self. The poor man had been frightened, too. Adam had heard their conversation on the mail centre floor. He was the person the manager, Arun, had caught eavesdropping, and Adam wanted to put a stop to Nick finding out too much. Adam had broken in and taken the first knife. When he’d seen Dan and Shane make off with it instead of the police finding it, he’d had to go back to steal another. Luckily, he’d taken a key on the first break-in and could enter with no one the wiser. People in the street were used to seeing him in his uniform and at everyone’s door so he was almost invisible.

  Then there was Dan’s knife at Tom’s murder scene. He’d wanted to implicate him to bring Harvey’s first knife back into play. A search of the two men would have found it, and Harvey would have been a suspect. The second knife he’d taken had been rattling around in his car boot. He’d not found a use for it yet, but she wouldn’t have been surprised if it had turned up in someone’s home. He’d broken in to hers and left the blood in the bath. Jenny had noticed Les was not being genuine, but it was because he’d realised what was going on. It was probably pure luck that he’d ended up with a flesh wound in the woods and not something more serious.

  “Hey, are you awake?” Jason clicked his fingers in front of her face.

  “What?”

  “You zoned out there for a minute. Penny for them?”

  Jenny laughed. “You sound like an old man.” A smile forced itself onto her lips. “I think I want to go home.”

  Despite the exhaustion taking over her body, she felt a lightness she hadn’t had for a while. It was like the burden of the last ten months had melted away. She reached out her hand and took hold of the one Jason was offering her. He helped heave her to her feet.

  “Thanks for the coffee,” she said, nodding towards Harvey.

  He nodded back, not saying a word.

  “You ready?” Jason held her now discarded jacket for her and helped her put it on.

  Maybe spending all that time in Scott’s company having fun had done him some good after all.

  *******

  Thank you for reading Curious Campers. I sincerely hope you enjoyed this novel which is the second of the Chapel End Mysteries Series.

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  Other Books in the Chapel End Mysteries Series

  WOULD THEY MISS ME? (Chapel End Mysteries, Novella)

  She needs someone to save her…but who?

  Annalise hasn’t been safe since Frank moved into the family home. She’d hidden his dirty secret long enough, but he’s not the only one in her community who’s up to no good. Broken emotionally by her mother’s refusal to believe her torment, she can take no more. Annalise needs to tell someone about the abuse or leave the village forever. When she finds a book at the community hall she’s shocked to see what it contains. Would this be the leverage she needs to change her life, or will it put her in more danger?

  Jason is Annalise’s one true friend. An outcast like herself, he’s the only person with whom she feels safe. She hasn’t told him about her suffering or her intention to leave him behind because she knows it would break his heart.

  Can Annalise expose the truth and bring an end to her suffering? Who does she tell? The false sense of security all around makes it hard to decide, but one thing is for sure, time is running out.

  Will she make the right decision before it’s too late?

  http://getbook.at/WouldTheyMissMe

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  PARCELS OF DOOM (Chapel End Mysteries, #1)