Death in the Cotswolds

by Rebecca Tope

  ‘I knew Eddie didn’t approve, but I had no idea he took it so personally. I still can’t believe he decided he had to take it upon himself to destroy it completely. He was always rather pleasant to my face, when I saw him around.’

  ‘What were you doing in his car at the Horse Fair?’ Thea asked her.

  Caroline giggled with threatened hysteria. ‘That, oddly enough, was nothing at all to do with the Masons. He wanted Xavier to do him a patio in his new house. He was giving me a drawing of it. I do some of the admin for the business, you see,’ she added vaguely.

  Something reminded me of another niggling loose end. ‘And what about Gaynor and Oliver?’ I demanded. ‘Why was that such a secret?’

  ‘Secret? I don’t think it was a secret. They were just pals, as far as I know.’

  ‘But what was in it for him? Why did he drive her around when he was working?’

  Caroline gave me a severe look. ‘You have never appreciated Gaynor, have you? You always thought she was a pathetic little mouse with nothing to offer anybody. But Oliver thought she was good company. He encouraged her to join my Lodge, as well, of course. He liked her stories of her childhood in Wales, and she made no demands on him.’

  ‘But she wanted to. She wanted to be in a proper relationship with him. She asked me to do a divination…’ I trailed off helplessly. ‘And when I told him she was dead, he didn’t seem to care at all.’

  ‘He cared,’ said Caroline. ‘We all cared.’

  I looked at Phil. ‘Didn’t you suspect it was him, right from the start?’ I wanted to know. ‘Right from when we found the stuff in the attic?’

  ‘He was on the list,’ Phil nodded. ‘But the timing was all wrong. And there were none of his prints on anything.’

  Then there was a knock on the door, and I opened it to Xavier Johnson. Small, smiling, he had a boyish, rather pixie-like manner. ‘Come for Caroline,’ he said. ‘I hear there’s been a bit of bother.’

  She was at my side before I could turn round. ‘Thanks for being so quick,’ she said. ‘I’m ready to go.’

  ‘Won’t you come in for a minute?’ I remembered to say.

  Caroline gave me a look. Then she tucked her hand through Xavier’s arm in an old-fashioned gesture and steered him out into the street.

  Thea left Greenhaven the next day, giving up on the impossible task of finding homes for all Helen’s things. Phil had delivered his injured dog to his sister at Painswick, where he would get some dedicated nursing.

  ‘Where next?’ I asked her, remembering the house-sitting work.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ she said. ‘But I have just seen that somebody’s advertising for a sitter in Blockley, next March. Sounds like my sort of thing.’

  ‘Blockley’s nice,’ I said non-committally. ‘Maybe I’ll come and see you while you’re there. Meanwhile, be nice to Phil, won’t you?’

  ‘Yes, Mary,’ she said with a disarming grin. ‘I’ll be very nice to Phil.’

  About the Author

  REBECCA TOPE lives on a smallholding in Herefordshire, with a full complement of livestock, but manages to travel the world and enjoy civilisation from time to time as well. Most of her varied experiences and activities find their way into her books, sooner or later. Her own cocker spaniel, Beulah, is the model for Hepzibah, but is unfortunately ageing much more rapidly.

  www.rebeccatope.com

  By Rebecca Tope

  A Cotswold Killing

  A Cotswold Ordeal

  Death in the Cotswolds

  A Cotswold Mystery

  Blood in the Cotswolds

  Slaughter in the Cotswolds

  Fear in the Cotswolds

  A Grave in the Cotswolds

  Deception in the Cotswolds

  Grave Concerns

  The Sting of Death

  A Market for Murder

  Copyright

  Allison & Busby Limited

  13 Charlotte Mews

  London W1T 4EJ

  www.allisonandbusby.com

  Copyright © 2006 by REBECCA TOPE

  First published in hardback by Allison & Busby Ltd in 2006.

  Published in paperback by Allison & Busby Ltd in 2008.

  This ebook edition first published in 2010.

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978–0–7490–0977–9