The rictus grin he flashed at Belinda sent a chill up Libby's spine as she went on, thinking aloud. "Liam's probably been stealing from you for years, building up funds for his new herd. With that, the proceeds from blackmail, and the Pathway's psychic scams, he had a substantial income."
Libby turned back to the rector. "You realised Liam was making a small fortune, and you failed to kill him on the first few tries, so you dreamed up your crazy scheme to kidnap Belinda and demand a ransom from Mike. You hoped the money would keep Liam off your back until you put your plan to kill him into operation. When the murder plan worked, you couldn't resist going ahead with the kidnapping."
The rector snickered. "No point wasting a good plan."
It was Max's turn to ask Belinda a question. "How did he trap you here?"
Belinda sank on the steps, hugging Sarah close. "He used my aunt's phone. She trusted him, of course. Who wouldn't trust the rector? He'd been worming his way into her life for months, visiting, pretending to help. He even talked to Mike and me about finding a suitable home for Aunt Antonia when the dementia got too bad. I was on my way to a shopping trip when I had a text from my aunt's phone, begging me to hurry over. I didn't even bother to let Mike know. I wasn't worried, as Aunt Antonia often panicked and sent for me, and it was usually because she couldn't work the TV, or she'd lost her reading glasses. When I arrived, he was here." She jerked her head towards the rector. "He made me coffee. Next thing I knew, I was locked in the stables."
Sarah, pale but composed, took up the tale. "He drugged you, Mum. Then he took your phone and used it to message me. The message said you'd been kidnapped, and I had to keep quiet and come over here. It said you wouldn't be harmed as long as I told nobody."
Tears sprang into Sarah's eyes. "I panicked. I should have said something to Robert, but I was too scared." Her shoulders shook. "I rang him. He's on his way, now, but I don't know how I'll face him. Will he ever forgive me?"
As he answered, Max's words beat a path to Libby's heart. "Of course he'll forgive you. That's what being a couple is all about. You make mistakes, admit them, and forgive each other." Libby watched his kind, familiar face as he comforted Sarah, and her lips trembled. She had to swallow a sob, suddenly scared she was close to losing Max. She'd taken him for granted. Instead of telling him the truth, explaining her worries and fears about marriage, she'd pushed him away. She'd been cold and difficult towards him. What a fool she'd been. It would serve her right if he'd turned away to find comfort with the warm, sympathetic Kate Stephenson.
The look Max shot the rector would have frozen a stone. "I guess Mike wasn't paying up fast enough, so you thought you'd turn the screw." Libby recalled Mike's desperate expression. If only he'd told someone he was being blackmailed instead of keeping it to himself.
Max held up one hand. "I believe I can hear the police." He beamed cheerfully at the rector. "You'll be going away for a good, long time."
Champagne
"At last, an evening to ourselves." Max put his feet up on his coffee table, a glass of wine in one hand. Bear lay across the floor while Shipley rolled happily in a patch of evening sunlight.
As she curled up in one of Max's oldest, most comfortable armchairs, Libby's stomach seemed to be tied in knots. She couldn't even touch the glass of New Zealand Pinot Noir. "Max, we need to talk." He stiffened, and Libby struggled to read the expression in his eyes as she confessed, "I saw a key, like Liam's, fall out of Kate Stephenson's bag."
She knew she was blushing, ashamed to have kept it from him, allowing jealousy of Kate Stephenson to interfere with their murder investigation. After the rector's arrest, a police search found gold keys and locked boxes, like Liam's, at the Papadopoulos couple's house. The pair had talked freely, desperate to distance themselves from Liam's murder. Apparently, all the conspirators had copies of Liam's passwords in identical boxes. The day Libby met the couple at Mike's farm, they'd been hoping to access his files on the farm computer.
"I didn't tell you about the key because…" she fiddled with a strand of her hair. "Because I wanted to solve the case myself." Her voice sounded very small. "I was jealous when you spent all evening talking to Kate at that horrible quiz."
Max looked surprised. "Jealous? But, I don't give a fig for Kate Stephenson. You told me you were worried about Mandy seeing her, so I kept an eye on her. We knew each other, years ago, so I used that as an excuse. You seemed to have your hands full." He hesitated. "To be honest, I was glad to talk to her about Debbie. I don't often get the chance to talk about my daughter with someone from the old days."
Libby's chest contracted. Max rarely referred to the guilt he felt over Debbie's riding accident. "Do you speak with Joe about his sister?"
He shook his head. "Not much. Don't really know how to start, after all these years. We're not good at these emotional things, Joe and I."
He gave a crooked grin and Libby's heart missed a beat. Max always seemed to be the strong one. So clever and capable; so sure of himself. He'd helped Libby through the bad times uncovering her husband's fraud, but tonight the man looked sad and vulnerable.
Maybe she'd taken Max's support for granted, not noticing that sometimes he needed her, too. She moved from the chair to sit beside him.
He took a deep breath. "Libby, I've been wondering. Are we making a mistake, going into business together? I think I might have talked you into it against your will, and it's seemed, lately, as though you're having second thoughts. I wish you'd tell me the truth. Would you be happier sticking with your cakes and chocolates?"
Libby took a moment to think. "This isn't about business, is it?"
"Not really."
She leaned closer, breathing in Max's familiar male smell. "I need to apologise—"
He turned to look into her eyes, and she put her finger against his lips. "No, I have to say this now. I've taken you for granted over the past couple of years. I've let my history with Trevor frighten me, and backed away whenever you mentioned marriage. I've been scared, you see. Going into business is one thing, but being a proper couple is another."
His face was very close as he murmured,"Do you want to be that? A proper couple?"
She smiled. "When I saw you with Kate Stephenson, I was so jealous I could have scratched her eyes out, but it gave me the shock I needed. I can't expect you to wait any longer for me to decide what I want."
Max's eyes opened wider. He'd stopped breathing, and Libby knew their future now rested in her hands. Was she ready to commit, even if it meant giving up some independence and moving out of her beloved cottage?
It took less than a split second to decide. She slipped from the chair and knelt on the floor, her heart hammering against her ribs. "Max Ramshore, will you marry me?"
***
Libby could hardly wait for the next supper night with their friends.
"Everything's changing," Mandy grinned. "You two getting married, Reginald going back to America…"
"You better come visit, young lady," Reginald interrupted. "Bring that musician boyfriend."
Libby stared at Mandy and she blushed. "Didn't I mention? I went to London on the train, to see Steve. We're not exactly back together, but I'm going to see him again soon."
"And that," said Max, as he slid the cork from a bottle of champagne, with only the gentlest of pops, "is worth another celebration."
Robert and Sarah, sitting so close Mandy had cackled and advised them to get a room, toasted each other. Robert said, "Sarah's never to leave my sight again without telling me where she's going."
Sarah and Libby exchanged a glance and Sarah winked. That state of affairs wasn't going to last long. Robert's new wife, none the worse for being drugged and locked up in an old stable full of mice and spiders, was tougher than she looked.
"By the way," Robert continued, "we're thinking of moving down to Somerset. Sarah's dad's handing over the running of the farm to Tim, and we're going to live nearby to lend a hand. I can work from anywhere and I fancy a tas
te of country life. It seems to have suited you, Mum."
Libby could hardly believe her luck. Life still had plenty of challenges: the new cafe in town was putting Frank's bakery in danger, and her semi-official role with the police could lead in many directions. Most of all, she missed her daughter Ali, far away on the other side of the world, but with Max at her side, she felt she could deal with anything that came her way. Robert living nearby would be the icing on the cake.
Joe and Claire were quiet, and Libby wondered if they felt side-lined by all the celebrations. She'd been planning to thank Claire for finding a new, trustworthy phobia therapist for Mandy. Kate Stephenson was under police investigation for the scam she'd used on Belinda, along with the Papadopoulos couple. Libby still shivered when she thought of Xavier and his wife. They might not have killed anyone, but they'd preyed mercilessly on vulnerable people across the world, making a small fortune from their heartless cons.
She cleared her throat, but before she could speak, Joe rose. "I want to make a toast." He stared at Libby through clear blue eyes. His smile was lopsided, like Max's. "Since you came to Exham, Mrs Forest, you've turned the place upside down. We were a quiet little backwater and you've transformed us all. Dad's been like a new man since you met, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have in the family."
Max took Libby's hand as Joe raised his glass. "To my new stepmother."
Thank you
Thank you for reading Murder at the Bridge. I hope you had fun with Libby, Max and the other inhabitants of Exham on Sea. If you enjoyed the story, please let other readers know, by adding a short review on Amazon. Just click here...
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Libby Forest, the heroine of the Exham on Sea Mysteries, doesn't spend much time with her feet up. When she isn't hot on the trail of villains she's busy in the kitchen, seeking ways to make cooking easier and quicker.
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Acknowledgements
I've had fun writing this, the fifth Exham on Sea mystery, but it takes more than an author to publish a book. A great many people have helped in the development of this book and I want to take the opportunity to say a really big thank you.
My 'Inner Circle' of readers and reviewers helped immeasurably with reading, revising and editing the book, as did Wendy Janes, my kind, efficient and knowledgeable editor.
I'm especially grateful to Nancy Dillow, Pippa Dunbar, Barbara Jensen, Alan Nixon, Pam Knox, Mary Robinson, Michelle Saunders, Susan Schuman, Robert Simon, Eileen Smith,and Frank Wright for their time, trouble, eagle eyes and kind support.
I do, however, claim any errors remaining in the story. They are entirely my own work.
Many readers have been kind enough to post reviews and comments on the Exham on Sea stories on Amazon, my website or their own blogs. Reviews are really helpful to any author as they encourage Amazon to show the books to more people who might enjoy them. My sincere thanks go to anyone who's left a review for one of my books.
As ever, a big thank you goes to my husband. Dave provides the wonderful photographs gracing the covers of the Exham on Sea books, along with plenty of tea, sympathy and kind encouragement.
Finally, a word of caution about psychic scams. During my research I've been shocked to find how many exist, alongside plenty of other frauds designed to cheat people out of their hard-earned money. To me, psychic scams seem to be among the worst, because they're designed to frighten and prey on people who already feel vulnerable. Please, please, never fall for one, either online or in the real world. If you live in the UK, you can report online scams by contacting Action Fraud http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud at the National Fraud and Cyber Crime Reporting Centre, or by calling your local police.
The Exham on Sea Mysteries
The Exham on Sea Mystery series in order:
Murder at the Lighthouse
Murder on the Levels
Murder on the Tor
Murder at the Cathedral
The Thatcham Hall Mysteries
Secrets, lies, murders and mysteries abound at Thatcham Hall, a fictional grand country house set in the green, rolling hills of 19th century Victorian England, where the Thatcham Hall Mysteries take place.
Download An Independent Woman
Philomena, a determined orphan from the slums of Victorian London, tumbles from one disastrous plan to another, haunted by terrifying dreams of a man with cold green eyes.
Impatient with the social conventions she encounters in the great English country house, Thatcham Hall, she meets and crosses swords with the handsome, widowed Lord Thatcham, complicating life still further by falling for a man with secrets of his own.
Download Danger at Thatcham Hall
Ambitious lawyer Nelson Roberts, embittered by war and jilted by his fiancée, trusts no one. He jumps at the chance to make a name for himself by solving the mysterious thefts and violence at Thatcham Hall, a country house in Victorian England.
Olivia Martin, headstrong and talented, dreams of a career as a musician and will do anything it takes to avoid a looming miserable fate as a governess.
The pair stumble on a body. Is the farm-hand's death a simple accident, or something more sinister? Who attacked the livestock at the Hall and why are the villagers so reluctant to talk? Can Nelson and Olivia overcome their differences and join forces to unravel the web of evil that imperils the Hall?
About the author
One day, Frances Evesham walked on a beach in peaceful Somerset and came upon a unique nine-legged Victorian lighthouse. Her first cozy crime story, Murder at the Lighthouse, was born.
Now, she writes mystery stories: the Exham on Sea contemporary cozy crime series set in a small Somerset seaside town, and the Thatcham Hall Mysteries, 19th Century historical mystery romances set in Victorian England.
She collects poison recipes and cooks with a glass of wine in one hand and a bunch of chillies in the other, her head full of ingenious ways to dispatch her victims - in fiction, of course.
She's been a speech therapist and a road sweeper, and worked in the criminal courts seeing crime from all points of view: victim, prosecution and defence. It taught her more about motive, means and opportunity than she could ever have imagined.
Copyright
The characters and events described in the Exham on Sea Mysteries are all entirely fictitious. Some landmarks may strike fellow residents of Somerset, and particularly of Burnham on Sea, as familiar, although liberties have been taken with a few locations.
Copyright ©Frances Evesham 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews.
Murder at the Bridge: An Exham on Sea Cosy Murder Mystery (Exham on Sea Mysteries Book 5) Page 13
