Small Town Christmas (Some Very English Murders Book 6)

by Issy Brooke

  “Er… are you sure? Won’t you be jeopardising your job?”

  “Only if we mess it up. So let’s be sure to get it right.”

  “I’m confused. Get what right?”

  Cath smiled, and there was an evil glint in her eyes now. “Give me the pump back, and let’s get in my car. We’re going to drive up to Lincoln, and pay this Haydn a visit…”

  * * * *

  Penny was experiencing a heady mixture of trepidation and excitement as she sat in the passenger seat of Cath’s car. She was glad she had bought some sensible new boots to replace what the police took away to examine, because the footwell was a sea of litter and discarded wrappers.

  “You are a slob,” Penny said, keeping her hands on her lap. She didn’t want to touch anything.

  Cath was driving fast through the unlit country roads. She tossed her head and laughed. “I am far too busy to do any cleaning,” she said. “I’m a career woman and a mother and a wife. When I’m on my death bed, looking back over my life, I’m going to be very satisfied that I spent my time doing things like this. I am sure I won’t be regretting my lack of cleaning.”

  “You’ve got a point,” Penny said. “But I swear there’s something living down here. Something just brushed against my ankle.”

  “You are joking.” She paused, then said, “Are you joking?”

  “No, not entirely. There’s half a packet of crisps down there that’s twitching.”

  Their bickering lasted for the full half hour’s journey to Lincoln, which was a far preferable way of spending the time than using it to worry about what they were doing.

  But the worry flooded back when Cath pulled up at the end of a suburban street and killed the car engine.

  “What’s the plan?” Penny asked. She wanted to say “are you sure?” but she didn’t want to be the party-pooper.

  “Don’t panic,” Cath said. “I want to look in his shed or garage and see whether his bike is missing a pump.”

  “Is that it?”

  “Yes. See? Nice and straightforward. I’m just having a look for anything suspicious.”

  “Hmm.”

  They got out. The residential area was quiet. Most of the curtains were closed, and the houses were decked out in Christmas lights. “The thing is,” Cath said as they progressed along the pavement, “with all these decorations, we don’t look out of place. Everyone expects strangers to gawp at their displays. We can go slowly and stare, and it is fine.”

  “I still feel dodgy,” Penny said. “I’ve done this before and it has never ended well for me.”

  “Hush, what could possible go wrong?” Cath said. “Ahh, there it is. That’s his house.”

  “Oh yeah, great, the only one on this street that doesn’t have any Christmas lights on it,” Penny pointed out.

  “That’s a talking point in itself. I can’t see any lights on in the rooms, can you?”

  “No, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t home. And before you ask, no, I’m not going to knock on the front door.”

  “You could pretend you are out carol singing,” Cath said.

  “Nope.”

  “Worth a thought.”

  They were outside his house now. It was a semi-detached house, and had a driveway leading up to a garage. There was a passage between the house and the garage that led to the back garden.

  “It just looks like a normal house,” Penny said.

  “You sound disappointed. Did you hope for a signed confession taped to his front door?”

  “It would make things easier. You know, he might be at one of his other houses. He said he was staying in Upper Glenfield while he finished some stuff off.”

  “That would be excellent,” Cath said. “But we don’t know for sure. Okay, we’ll go slowly and quietly. Ready?”

  “Ready for what? Oh – wait!”

  Cath’s “slowly” was a fevered dash along the driveway and into the passageway that ran to the back. Penny launched herself to follow and she caught up with Cath as they reached the far end.

  But as Cath stepped out into the patio area at the back of the house, she was suddenly outlined by a flash of bright light as she triggered some motion sensors. She whirled around and cannoned straight into Penny. Cath clutched at Penny’s arms.

  “Turn, go, run, go, leg it!” she hissed, forcing Penny to stumble backwards.

  Penny hit the garage wall and Cath burst past her, but she still clung to Penny’s arm and dragged her along. They pelted down the driveway and turned left, towards where they had parked the car, but they had only got a few steps when they heard a door open.

  Cath flung herself to the pavement and hauled Penny down too. They crouched behind a privet hedge. Penny strained to hear something, anything, but her own heartbeat was drowning everything else out.

  After a few minutes, Cath stood up cautiously and peered over the hedge. “He’s gone back inside,” she whispered. “Let’s go.”

  Penny got to her feet with difficulty and brushed the grit from her knees. “That was a close one,” she said. “So much for your plan.”

  “It’s a start,” Cath said. “Come on. Let’s go and see if Jared is home.”

  “Really? After all that, and you still want more?”

  “Get in,” Cath said, and opened her car door.

  * * * *

  They could see a chink of light around the curtains hanging in Jared’s front room. He lived in a small terraced house, one of the type that had just one window at the front. Access to the back was through a shared passageway. Penny and Cath hovered behind the row of parked cars on the other side of the street.

  “Well, that’s that,” Penny said.

  “I can’t believe you’re giving up so easily!”

  “I’m finding it really unsettling that it’s you who is leading me into trouble,” Penny said. “This is the wrong way around.”

  “You’ve obviously rubbed off on me,” Cath said. “Let’s watch for a little while.”

  “What for?”

  “He might – oh! Get down!” Cath pulled on Penny’s arm and they sank to the ground next to Cath’s car. Penny peered through the smeary windows of the car. Jared came out of his house in jogging bottoms and a sweatshirt, and headed off at a brisk pace, his injury obviously cleared up. He had left his lights on in the house.

  Cath popped up on her knees next to Penny and watched him go. “Exactly what I was hoping for,” she said. “Being all sporty and that, I thought he might go for a run or a jog or a bike ride or whatever unnatural activity it is he does.”

  “Don’t you police have to stay fit?” Penny said.

  “Yes; at least we have a reason to run. Normal folks doing it for fun, that’s just odd.” Cath stood up. “He’s out of sight. Let’s see what he’s got in his shed.”

  Penny stifled her feeling of foreboding and followed along behind her friend.

  Cath walked with confidence and strode down the passageway. Penny scurried to catch up. “Okay,” she whispered. “So we saw Jared go out – but he might not be alone in there, you know. He’s left the lights on.”

  “Does he have any friends?”

  “I’m one of his friends, I think.”

  “And how many times have you been to his house?” Cath asked.

  “Um, well, none.”

  “No. He’s a secretive sort of man. Right … he has a shed, look.”

  Cath pointed at a sturdily-built wooden building at the bottom of his long, thin garden. The yard itself was nothing more than a concrete path that ran in a straight line, bordered on the right by a close-cropped lawn that showed big bare patches of soil, and on the left by a herbaceous border. Winter was not its best look. The few remaining shrubs were lanky and leafless, and the half-dead stems had a twisted and sinister air about them.

  “I need to check the security of his shed,” Cath said, not bothering to lower her voice.

  “Do you?”

  “I do. It’s one of the things we do, as the police,�
� she said. “That way, we can advise the householder on how to stay safe. Come on!”

  Penny shook her head but she obeyed.

  Cath peered in through the small shed window. “It’s too dark.” She tried to shine her torch to illuminate the inside but most of the light was reflected by the glass and simply dazzled them both. While she was doing that, Penny went to the door, and looked at the thick padlock.

  The thick, expensive padlock.

  The thick, expensive padlock which was hanging open on the hasp. Penny picked it up, away from the metal ring in the door, and laughed quietly. She slipped inside and threw herself at the window, slamming her hands onto the glass.

  Cath screamed and dropped her torch, and within moments she was standing at the open door of the shed, shining the light directly into Penny’s face. Penny had expected immediate retaliation and already had one eye closed to save her night vision.

  “Very funny,” Cath said.

  “I know, it was, wasn’t it?”

  “Huh. One point to you,” Cath had to concede. She lowered the beam of searing light, and swung it around the interior of the shed. “Oh, now then. What do we have here?”

  “I can tell you what we don’t have,” Penny said helpfully, “and that’s bikes. I can’t see any bicycles at all in here. It’s more of a potting shed.”

  Cath peered up and down, and shone the torch into corners, as if a bike could hide there like a spider. “You’re right. But he does have a bike, doesn’t he?”

  “He does; at least one. Probably more, you know what these bike nuts are like. But I reckon he keeps them all inside.”

  “Why? Do they not like the cold or something?” Cath said.

  “Security. Some bikes cost more than cars.”

  “Madness,” Cath said. “But as his friendly neighbourhood bobby, I approve of his security decision. Even if it does make this a wasted journey. There’s nothing in here at all.”

  “You’re wrong there, too,” Penny said slowly. She walked along the middle of the floor and studied the bench that ran against the wall. “He likes his plants, doesn’t he?”

  “The garden’s a mess,” Cath said.

  “I don’t know; it looks like a working garden that’s fallow for the winter,” Penny replied. She picked up a pot with a small, stunted plant in it, and brought it close to her face to smell it.

  “Ugh, that is horrible,” she complained, and thrust it towards Cath. “What is it?”

  “You’re asking me? You’ve seen my horticultural success. I can grow nettles, broken bottles and plastic bags. Once, I did grow a daffodil but it turned out to be some kind of mushroom in the end.”

  “I can’t even begin to understand that,” Penny said. She broke one side-shoot away from the main plant. “He’s got a lot of plants, but you know what? They are all the same; they are all this one particular plant. And it smells bad, and it looks pretty grim.”

  Cath reached out with a plastic bag she had produced from her pocket. “Pop it in there,” she said. “I’ll take it for analysis.”

  Penny dropped the shoot into the bag, but she felt reluctant. “The lab will take ages,” she complained.

  “I’m not taking it to the lab. I’ve got a much quicker method. Your Drew. Come on; our work here is done. Let’s get home.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Thursday had been a long and hectic day, and Penny felt her age on Friday. I have done as much as I can do, she thought. She looked through her online orders and double-checked that all the right gifts had gone to the right people at the right time. She was past her final posting day now, and she replied apologetically to the last few emails that straggled into her inbox.

  Her own shopping was also complete. She dressed in comfortable lounge-around-the-house clothes, and spent the morning wrapping the presents. She took a great deal of pride in a well-wrapped parcel, neatly finished with ribbons and tags.

  But Kali needed a walk, and the two attacks preyed on Penny’s mind.

  Someone was out to get her. Someone had driven a car at her; someone had tried to hit her over the head.

  She went from feeling sick with fear, to red-hot fury, and back to fear again; the cycle of emotions spun around, minute to minute.

  Kali pressed against her leg. She looked down at the big, trusting eyes. Kali wagged her tail, her hindquarters swaying.

  Penny sighed. She couldn’t stay in the area. She had to leave until the police caught the person responsible. She hoped, in a funny way, that it was the same person that had killed Clive that was now pursuing her. It made things neater, easier. If they caught Clive’s murdered but that person was not the one who was after Penny, then what was she going to do? Stay away from Upper Glenfield for ever? That was probably what they wanted. In which case, she could not let them win.

  Maybe she could be a decoy, she thought, and work with the police to lure the attacker in to some situation where they would be caught. It would be dramatic and cinematic and she’d be a local hero. She ran through a few fantasy scenarios in her mind.

  But Kali’s need to go for a walk was insistent. She had duties. She had to get out there.

  Get out in the unsafe community where she couldn’t trust anyone.

  Her mouth went dry. She picked up the phone, and finally called her sister.

  * * * *

  Ariadne was delighted to help. Penny told her she needed to walk Kali but that she felt a little ill. Ariadne came around instantly, bringing mince pies and her children, Destiny and Wolf. All three of them chattered excitedly about the forthcoming festivities. Ariadne was looking brighter and happier than she had done in many months.

  “I was worried that you might be a little afraid of Christmas,” Penny said quietly, once Wolf and Destiny had disappeared off with Kali for a long walk.

  Ariadne curled her feet up on the sofa and hugged a cushion, but she tipped her head up and met Penny’s gaze. “I thought I was going to be afraid, too,” she said. “After what he did, and now it’s our first Christmas alone. But we’re not alone, are we? Me and the kids, I mean. We’re not alone. We’ve got you, and all your friends, and all the people that I’m getting to know. It’s going to be all right.” She smiled warmly, and it lit up her angular face. “You’ll come over for Christmas dinner, won’t you?”

  Penny wanted to hug a cushion, too. She hadn’t told Ariadne about the latest attack, even now. She thought she should, but it was such a relief to see her sister relaxed and positive that she didn’t want to give her a new thing to worry about.

  “Are you all right?” Ariadne asked.

  “Yes, fine. I’m just exhausted from the craft business, and feeling a bit under the weather, that’s all. Thanks for coming over. Kali needed to get out.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. We haven’t had a good chat for ages, with you being so busy. And the kids love walking the dog. We’re all looking forward to the Christmas market tomorrow.”

  “Even Destiny? I thought she was at the age where she was too cool for all that. I remember her attitude to bonfire night.”

  “This is different,” Ariadne said. “She gets presents, remember? Yeah, we’re all going down and I’ve said that they can both have one mulled wine each. Just one! It’s a big thing for them. You’re going with Drew, is that right?”

  No, I should go away and hide and miss out on all this, Penny thought miserably. She forced a smile. “I’m supposed to be the stand-in Santa in case Jared can’t make it,” she said. “But I am … well, I mean, I don’t feel well. Perhaps I should pull out. Find another stand-in.”

  “A stand-in for the stand-in?”

  Penny gave Ariadne a meaningful look. If her sister would agree to take Penny’s place, Penny could go and book into a hotel somewhere far away.

  Ariadne cottoned on quickly to the insinuation. “Absolutely not. No. I am so looking forward to a nice family Christmas – me, the kids, you, Drew. I’ve bought a new outfit for the market tomorrow. I’ve got those hand-war
mer things for Destiny and Wolf. I’ve bought you and me some novelty reindeer antlers to wear. Yes, we will wear them and we’re going to forget all our worries and we’re going to have fun.”

  “But I’m ill. I can’t go.”

  Ariadne had a stern look on her face. It was the same look their mother would adopt when they had been small girls, trying to blag a day off school. “No, you are not. You’re just tired. Get a good night’s sleep tonight.”

  “But if I’m ill tomorrow, won’t you stand in for me?”

  “Nope. Because you’re not going to be ill. You will be at the Christmas market. With us.” Ariadne’s eyes were shining and Penny realised that she was close to tears. “This will be the first good Christmas we’ve ever had together.”

  * * * *

  Drew came around on Saturday afternoon. He walked Kali while Penny got ready to go out. She was plagued by doubts. She had spoken with Cath earlier on the phone, and Cath had also sounded strained and worried.

  “I can’t tell you what to do,” she had said. “I can totally understand your position. We have laid on extra policing; we can do that, because of the murder. It’s not for you, as such, but all the officers have been made aware of the situation. You’ve got my number. If you leave, I will support that decision. If you stay, I understand. And if you do go to the market, I’ll meet you when you get there and I’ll give you a pager, too. All you need to do is press the button to alert us that something is wrong.”

  “Does it have a GPS locator on it?”

  “Of course,” Cath said, and Penny was surprised, but slightly reassured.

  * * * *

  She decided to stay.

  Once Kali was settled, and Penny was wrapped up in layers of clothing to brave the cold, it was time to leave. Penny walked close to Drew and he put a protective arm around her shoulders.