Connie suddenly shrieked, and her hands flew to her heart. “Sable! My heart! I’m having a heart attack.”
Sable yelled, “No! Connie!”
Connie screamed as loud as she could. A dog started barking next door.
Adrian hissed, “Shut up! Or I’ll shoot you now.”
Connie screamed even louder. Lights came on in the houses around them. Doors started to open.
A man called out from the other side of the fence, “Hello? Is someone there?”
Adrian swore and looked towards the fence. He opened his mouth to answer.
Connie took that moment to scramble out of the mud. She rushed at Adrian and knocked him to the ground. She threw her full weight on top of him and heard the breath whooshing from his lungs.
Sable followed her lead. She grabbed the gun from a startled Adrian and pointed it at him.
“Hello?” the neighbour called again. “What’s going on in there?”
Sable cried out, “Call the police! Quickly!” She looked at Connie. “You can get up now. He’s not going anywhere.”
Connie winced. “I don’t think I can get up. My back’s gone.”
Adrian gasped, “Get off! I can’t breathe.”
“Good,” Sable said. “You don’t deserve to breathe.”
The police arrived five minutes later by which time a crowd of concerned neighbours had made their way into Rachel’s garden. Two burly men helped Connie to her feet for which she was extremely grateful.
DI Saffron McCue walked into the garden with some uniformed officers. She took in the scene, looked at Connie and Sable, and said, “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
Chapter 14
The next morning, Connie yawned as she sat next to Sable in a garden chair. Connie said, “I thought Saffy was never going to let us go.”
“We’re lucky she knows us. Any other police officer would have thrown us into prison for interfering in police business. Along with those other laws Saffy said we’d broken.” Sable raised her face to the sun. “Isn’t it a lovely day? It’s almost making me forget about this whole ghastly business.”
Connie stared into the distance. “You can put it all behind you now. I’ve decided I’m going into the private investigating business on my own. Saffy gave me a lot of information last night about what I need to do. She’s even given me the name of some other investigators I can talk to. And she’s advised me again to go to self-defence classes.”
“That was thoughtful of her. Did she try to talk you out of proceeding with this idiotic scheme of yours?”
Connie looked back at Sable and smiled. “Yes. But I told her I was going ahead. My Clive would have understood. He would have encouraged me to do it. Have you told your Ian yet?”
“I have. And I’ve told him something else too.”
“What?”
Sable broke into a huge smile. “I told him I’m going to be your business partner. Someone has to keep an eye on you.”
“Sable!” Connie reached over and squeezed her sister-in-law’s arm. “Really? Are you sure about this?”
“What else am I going to do with my retirement? Join a book club? I’ve been so exhausted these last few days that I haven’t needed those sleeping tablets the doctor gave me. It’s a good kind of exhausted. As if I’ve done something worthwhile.” Her eyes welled up. “I have to do something with my spare time. I’m so lonely without Ian. You’ve been through this, Connie. When does it start to get easier?”
They both looked at Ian Butterworth’s headstone in front of them. It was next to Clive Butterworth’s headstone.
Connie said, “It hasn’t even been a year for you yet. It doesn’t get any easier; you just learn to deal with it better.” She chuckled and looked up into the clear blue sky. “What must those two be thinking of us?”
“They’ll think we’re courageous women setting out on an adventure together. They’d be proud of us.” Sable got to her feet and folded her seat up. “Come on, Connie Butterworth. We’ve got a lot to do. We’re going to have the best private investigating business around these parts. There’ll be a lot of paperwork. And we should think about renting an office. There are self-defence lessons to organise too. I think I might like those.”
Connie laughed. “I think I may live to regret this.” She moved towards Clive’s headstone, kissed her hand and placed her hand on the stone. “Bye for now, Clive. We’ll come back later and tell you what we’ve been up to.”
Connie folded up her chair and walked with Sable out of the cemetery.
Sable said, “We need a company name.”
“I’ve already thought of one. How about ‘Butterworth Investigations’?”
Sable nodded. “I like it. That’ll look good on our website. And on our business cards. And our stationery.”
Connie said, “I’m so glad you’ve decided to be my partner. Having you at my side makes me braver. I wonder what our second case is going to be?”
A note from the author
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Playing At Murder
A Butterworth Mystery
(Book 1)
By
GILLIAN LARKIN
www.gillianlarkin.co.uk
Copyright 2017 by Gillian Larkin
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, electronically or mechanically without permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.
Playing At Murder (A Butterworth Mystery Book 1) Page 6
