SLAY PAIRS WITH ROSE (The Kelly's Deli Cozy Murder Mysteries Book 3)
Page 14
In that millisecond before Maya threw herself at Fiona, Erin launched herself sideways and stabbed her elbow hard into Maya’s side. As Maya doubled up in pain, Erin took a firm hold of the sleeve on Maya’s outstretched arm, stepped quickly to one side and kicked Maya’s shin out from under her so that Maya fell face forwards on the floor. Erin kept tight hold of her arm as she fell and twisted her wrist hard enough to make her release the knife, which fell clattering onto the floor.
“No!” Maya screamed, as she tried to twist up from the floor so that she could follow Fiona, who was running for her life across the kitchen and out of the back door. Erin had other ideas and twisted Maya’s arm even tighter while kneeling on her back.
Maya was writhing around on the floor and crying out in pain, barely aware that Erin had already kicked the knife out of her reach.
Erin was focusing so much on keeping Maya on the ground that it took a moment to recognize Prisha, Matt and Constable Harris as they stormed into her kitchen.
She looked directly up at Matt, as he crouched down, blocking the brilliant afternoon sunlight that was streaming in through the window onto her face.
“Matt. Good to see you. Did I ever tell you that I was a member of the judo team at university? You never know when it might come in handy. Would you mind giving me a hand? Maya is ready to have a chat with Constable Harris now.”
Chapter Sixteen
The promised thunderstorms had swept across Hampshire and the south of England during the week, bringing heavy rain and a marked drop in temperature.
When Erin opened the kitchen door late on Sunday morning, the air felt cool and fresh compared to the oppressive heat of the previous Sunday.
What a week!
Grabbing her tea, Erin slipped outside onto the patio and settled back to relax for five minutes and watch the village green and life in Kingsmede on a quiet Sunday. With one very special new addition.
Directly opposite her bench, parked neatly in the lane, was a brand new, sparkling white, delivery van, complete with an excellent refrigeration unit for her food and air conditioning in the front. All courtesy of a traumatized Harry Wilson, in exchange for her not pressing charges about the vandalism.
To be fair, it had taken a lot of persuasion from Matt, Carol and Prisha to persuade her to part with her dad’s old van, but when the garage came back with an estimate for the repairs, plus the cost of urgent work needed on the clutch and exhaust, the decision had suddenly become a lot easier.
It was strange how the change to cooler air and a new van, seemed to signal a fresh start in Erin’s life.
Today was the first day that her feet had finally managed to come back down to earth with a bump after the trauma of earlier in the weeks when her lovely Monday lunch party for Fiona and her friends has descended into total chaos with police cars jamming the lane.
Fiona’s mum, Rebecca, and Kate had arrived just in time to see Maya being handcuffed and dragged, screaming and kicking, into the back of a police car, which drove off at speed. Maya really shouldn’t have kicked Sergeant Murphy, though. That was out of order.
The whole incident had been captured on video by Zoe the photojournalist, who had the exclusive lead on the local news story of the month. All of Kingsmede had heard about the poor dead girl in the freezer and here was her killer being brought to justice.
A traumatised Fiona was able to explain exactly what had happened to Constable Harris, but it was Erin who filled in the background details later that day at the police station when she made her statement.
One thing was clear. Any idea of sitting down to a civilized meal went flying out of the window when the Constable declared that the deli kitchen was a crime scene.
Matt had saved the day by opening up the bookshop kitchen and persuading the police team that it would be a shame if all of Erin’s food went to waste. With everyone working together, it only took ten minutes to set up a temporary dining room in the empty bookshop. It gave the shocked women something to do other than weep over Maya’s betrayal. Eating and talking, talking and eating. Fiona’s mother was the first to break down and share the truth about who Emma’s father was. That had opened the floodgates to the real reason why Emma had acted the way she did.
No more secrets for the Hanson family.
Ethan drove Adam and Fiona’s father to the deli and the tears had been genuine on all sides.
By five that evening, all of the antipasti, salmon and several large portions of panna cotta had been enjoyed, with the leftover lemon cake carried away by Ethan and Adam.
The only person who was not made welcome was Harry Wilson, who had been released on bail a few hours later, and turned up demanding to know what Maya had said and why Fiona had not returned any of his calls. He didn’t like the answers.
Matt, Adam, and Ethan had a conversation with Harry outside in the lane, standing next to Erin’s vandalized van. She didn’t know what was said, but Ethan came back with a promise that she could have any replacement van she wanted, and Ethan would personally make sure that Harry paid. No arguments.
“That is one fine delivery van,” Prisha said as she joined Erin on the patio. “I still think that you should have pressed charges and made Harry squirm for the damage he caused. Worm!”
“Oh, I think he got the message,” Erin smiled. “Ethan and Harry were good friends once, but according to Matt, Ethan didn’t hold back. At one point, Adam had to interrupt before it got physical.”
“Shame. I would have liked someone to punch that hoodlum’s nose.” Prisha nodded. “Harry must have known that Maya has something to do with his wife’s death. I suppose he did it to try and protect her, but sheesh! Talk about double standards.”
“The way I see it, this was a one-off event, so what would be the point in prosecuting him?” Erin replied. “This way I get what I want, and did I mention the five-star insurance and servicing package for the next ten years?”
“Come on,” Prisha snorted. “The man is a millionaire!”
“The woman he loves has been arrested and charged with manslaughter, Prisha. Constable Harris popped in to see me yesterday. Emma’s death really was an accident. You were right. Emma was drunk when she went into the freezer, she slipped and knocked herself out. The dry ice killed her. Maya just locked her inside. Her solicitor is putting forward a diminished responsibility defence, but who knows when she’ll be released from prison?”
“The man is hardly blameless, is he? He played a part in this nightmare. I mean, Harry let Emma dominate him for years. Let him lose sleep.”
“Here’s a suggestion,” Erin laughed. “Let’s forget about Harry Wilson’s problems and focus on our own challenges. Starting with feeding our lunch guests!”
Erin looked past Prisha down the lane, where Zoe and her parents had just stepped out of their car and were chatting with Ethan and Fiona’s family. Fiona’s father still looked pale and exhausted, but Erin could not bring herself to blame him for his past mistakes. The whole Hanson family needed time to recover from the lost opportunity that they had been given to make amends.
Kate, Adam and Rebecca had already gone home to their day jobs to rebuild their lives, but they had taken time to stop at the deli, buy two cool bags of picnic food and thank Erin before they left. She would miss them.
“Hope that I’m not too late,” Matt asked as he stepped through the gate that separated the small patios at the back of the adjoining shops. “But I thought you might appreciate these blossoms before they fade.” He was carrying a stunning bouquet of pink-red roses and flowers which Erin recognized immediately from their powerful scent as coming from Rosa’s garden.
Erin inhaled the rich perfume and the cares of the week and her busy morning slipped away into the past. “They’re perfect. Thank you, Matt.”
“My pleasure,” he replied with a wink. “Although, I do have a confession to make. There was another reason why I was in that part of Kingsmede this morning.”
There was something in M
att’s voice that made Erin look up from the roses and notice the smile on his face.
“Rachel’s cottage? Erin grinned. “He didn’t!”
“He did. You know Uncle Lucien far too well. I sent some photos and Rosa already knows the full history of the property. End result? He made an offer yesterday and he has just phoned to tell me that it has been accepted.”
“What was accepted?” Prisha asked as she came onto the terrace carrying a plate of bruschetta. “What have I missed?”
“Lucien Reynolds has just bought Rachel Ellis’s cottage,” Erin replied.
“Well of course he has! How else is he going to stay close to Rosa? I have a strong feeling that you have not made the last wedding cake for a local bride, Erin Kelly.”
“Lucien would be a very lucky man,” Matt nodded.
“Hold that thought,” Erin replied as she waved to her guests. “I think that announcement calls for a celebration, don’t you? Let’s get this party started.”
THANK YOU!
Thank you for reading Slay Pairs with Rose!
I hope that you enjoyed this third book in a new series set in the Hampshire village of Kingsmede. I love sharing this special world and the people who live there with cozy mystery readers.
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OTHER BOOKS IN THE KELLY’S DELI COZY MYSTERY SERIES.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © Sophie Brent 2021
Front Cover design. April Anderton at indiecovermarket.com
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All characters appearing in this book are fictitious and have no existence outside the imagination of the author. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All of the incidents are pure invention.
Note: An earlier version of this book was previously published under the title: Murder and Morello.
For questions and comments about this book, please contact the author at SophieBrent.com