False Accusations_Nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide...
Page 26
‘Poor Paula,’ he said sympathetically. ‘I tried to keep it a secret from you as long as possible, but it was inevitable that you would hear with all the neighbours from Willowgrove coming to see you. It must have been a terrible shock to you. She was the last person that anyone would suspect.’
‘Yes,’ she said. She said no more. He wasn’t the kind of man to cross-question her, but he was quick and perceptive and might sense something if she went into any explanations. No one but Inspector O’Reilly, and possibly Sergeant Dawkins, knew of her role in pinpointing Paula as the murderer and she decided that it was going to remain that way. Ted had been an almost daily visitor to the hospital, but he had not mentioned Paula to her for ages — probably thought it might upset her.
‘So, nothing to do with The Wind in the Willows after all!’ he stated, smiling. ‘No Mole, no Water Rat, no Gaoler, no Toad, no Otter, no Weasel — and the Gaoler’s Daughter was eventually found innocent of any crime. And, I hear, is on the road to stardom.’
‘That’s right,’ said Flora. ‘A happy ending,’ she added. And hoped that her words would prove to be true.
***
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NOTE TO THE READER
Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking the time to read my novel. I hope that you enjoyed False Accusations and that you found the story interesting and the puzzle difficult to unravel!
I wonder whether you would be interested to know where the idea came for this new series. Well, every writer of what used to be called ‘detective stories’, who has an amateur sleuth for a main character, from Agatha Christie with her Miss Marple right down to myself with my Reverend Mother Aquinas, must come to a moment of saying despairingly, though, perhaps sotto voce, ‘It’s absolutely impossible for this woman to fall across yet another dead body.’
And then I was given a marvellous idea!
When I was a head teacher in Kent we, the head teachers of South Ashford, had a club, a sort of ‘support and confidence’ affair, whereby we sustained each other through arduous times. It had a serious side, but also a social side and the highlight was the strawberry tea in June when Kent fields were filled with delicious and extraordinarily cheap strawberries and head teachers arrived at a designated meeting spot, carrying bottles of white wine. Even after all of our group had retired, the strawberry tea went on, thanks to one dedicated cook and generously hospitable member — I even came over from Ireland! — and it was just as I was sinking my teeth into one of Cath’s delicious strawberry meringues that Judith started to tell everyone about her voluntary work, as a ‘designated appropriate adult’ for deprived youngsters of low intelligence where she would act as a parent or guardian for them at police stations and in magistrate courts.
And I suddenly thought, and said to everyone: What a marvellous idea for a ‘Miss Marple’! And so my Flora Morgan, retired headteacher, was created.
And, of course, it was perfect. This ‘designated appropriate adult’ would have a right to stick her nose into everything, would be able to attend police meetings, would be on good terms with the legal aid solicitor, would have the confidence of the accused person, would be appraised of all the details of the murder.
But at that stage I was having four or five books published a year: my Burren Mysteries, my Jane Austen as a young girl series, my London Murder Mysteries, etc. all crowding into my working hours and the idea was put away at the back of my mind, though Flora, the retired headteacher, lingered and took shape in odd moments of leisure.
But now, on a flood of nostalgia for beautiful Kent, for its hot summers and snowy winters, its apple orchards and its old hop gardens, its fields full of strawberries and its ancient bluebell-filled woodlands, the idea has resurfaced and Rosie was born; autistic, and as strangely beautiful as a fairy child.
Self-accused of murder.
And, of course, irresistibly to my amateur sleuth, Flora Morgan, retired headteacher, Rosie had once been a pupil of hers. This gentle, helpless girl had to be saved from herself and the real murderer uncovered.
So, I hope that you enjoy the book and I would love to hear from you if you have any thoughts, or any questions. I’m not a great person for Facebook or Twitter, but I do have a guestbook on my website, www.coraharrison.com and always reply to questions and comments.
And, of course, like all authors, I am thrilled to read reviews on Amazon and Goodreads!
With best wishes,
Cora Harrison
Published by Sapere Books.
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Copyright © Cora Harrison, 2018
Cora Harrison has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events, other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 9781912546343