Читать книгу Exham-on-Sea Murder Mysteries 4-6 - Frances Evesham - Страница 11

Libby spent the next morning with Mandy, working at the bakery. In the shop, she had no spare time to think of Max, or worry about Angela, or Giles Temple’s murder. Mandy was unusually quiet. Libby supposed she was brooding about the quarrel with Steve.

Frank, the baker, had converted half the shop to a display space for chocolates, and his girth was expanding as a result. ‘The wife’s sending me out running every evening.’ He heaved a sigh. ‘I can resist bread and cakes, all except your squishy chocolate log…’

He centred a slice on a plate. ‘But those chocs’ll be the death of me. Still,’ his long face lightened. ‘My daily shuffle gets me out of the house for a bit of peace.’

He finished the last morsel and wiped his mouth. ‘Delicious. Ah well. No peace for the wicked. They’ll be coming in for their lunch time sandwiches, any minute now, wanting to talk about this affair over at the cathedral. I’ll be off.’

Frank, unique in Exham on Sea, hated gossip. Mandy once suggested he’d been bullied in childhood. ‘Impossible. He’s six feet tall with shoulders like bill-boards,’ Libby objected.

‘Maybe he grew after leaving school.’ Frank made himself scarce whenever the door opened, leaving Libby, Mandy or one of his new part-timers in charge.

Along with bread, cakes and chocolates, the shop functioned as a branch of the local Exham grapevine, and sure enough, the shop soon buzzed with theories about the murder in the cathedral.

‘I made a delivery there, just the day before he was found.’ Gladys, the owner of the flower shop, panted with excitement. ‘Imagine, it could have been me, lying dead on the floor.’

‘Never been caught in a library, though, have you,’ jeered one of the paper boys, paying for a pair of Belgian buns with a crumpled note, ‘Have to be able to read.’

‘I hope you won’t be eating both those buns for your lunch,’ Mandy snapped. ‘All that sugar – you won’t be able to walk. And don’t lean your bike against the window. There’s a sign there, you know. Maybe it’s you who can’t read.’

Libby shot a glance at Mandy. She was cranky today.

Gladys handed over a twenty pound note in payment for a waist-watching salad and glowered at the boy as she waited for change. ‘Getting back to the cathedral. I was talking to the Bishop’s wife, the other day. You know, the Bishop of Bath and Wells.’

She peeped under her lashes at the queue of customers, checking that they were listening and were suitably impressed. ‘She told me the man who died, Giles something, was researching old stories from the past, about ghosts and the supernatural and such like. She said it wasn’t a very suitable subject for a cathedral library, and I for one, agree.’

‘Maybe it was a ghost that did him in,’ suggested a young man. New to Libby, he wore the estate agent uniform of short gelled hair, shiny pointed shoes and a vivid pink shirt. Exham was full of estate agents. House prices were rumoured to be due to rocket, now a new nuclear power station was being built nearby, at Hinckley Point.

The doorbell chimed and local solicitor, Samantha Watson, entered. Samantha, who was engaged to be married to the pompous Chief Inspector Arnold, disliked Libby as an interfering newcomer to Exham and only graced the bakery with her presence when she had a spicy police titbit to share.

‘Pillow talk from her fiancé,’ Max called it. Libby waited, expectant. Samantha’s tips had been useful in the past, though Libby would die rather than admit it. The solicitor already thought far too well of herself.

She inspected Mandy from head to toe. ‘What an original necklace, dear, and on such a heavy chain. A Celtic cross, isn’t it? Did you know, the murderer used a chain to kill his victim in the cathedral library?’

Mandy rose to the bait before Libby could intervene. ‘We did, as it happens.’

‘Chief Inspector Arnold told me the chain was made of forged steel. Incredibly strong. But, that’s not all…’

‘Go on,’ said Gladys, as Samantha produced a dramatic pause.

‘Well, I’m not sure I ought to tell you. Police business, you know. In fact, I think perhaps I should wait. There’s going to be a press conference in half an hour. I’ll just say this – don’t miss it. You’ll hear something very interesting if you watch the local news.’

The paper boy tore off a slab of bun and spoke with his mouth full. ‘That Inspector—’

‘Chief Inspector,’ Samantha corrected.

The boy licked his lips. ‘Whatever. He’d better not come after our Dan.’

‘Dan who?’

‘My brother, Dan. He was at school with those lads who had a cannabis farm, and he reckons the cops are out to get him.’

Samantha looked smug. ‘Those boys were lucky. They were given suspended sentences. Maybe your Dan should have been in court with them.’ She glanced sideways at Libby. ‘I worked on the case, you know.’

The boy wiped his mouth on a grubby sleeve, elbowed the door, and cycled away. Gladys huffed. ‘Rude, that boy, like all his family. Thinks the world owes him a living.’

Samantha turned back to Mandy. ‘Anyway, dear, perhaps you should rethink your jewellery. You don’t want to be a suspect in a murder case, do you? It wouldn’t be easy to persuade the judge to let you off lightly.’