A COTSWOLD MYSTERY an absolutely gripping cozy crime mystery full of twists (The Cotswold Cozy Mysteries Book 4) by REBECCA TOPE

Author:REBECCA TOPE [TOPE, REBECCA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books cozy mysteries and crime
Published: 2024-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Thea made a large omelette with salad and bread for their supper, and afterwards they slumped together on the sofa, debating whether to search for something congenial on one of the plethora of TV channels. ‘We’ve earned some mindless entertainment after today,’ said Thea. ‘It seems to have gone on for ever.’

‘It has been an amazingly long day,’ Jessica agreed. ‘I can’t believe it was only this morning that I was at that post-mortem.’

‘It’s taken me most of that time to really believe there was a murder next door,’ Thea mused. ‘I think I just wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened, to start with. To let other people sort it out and leave me out of it.’

‘Well, you could do that. You’re not really involved. We could try to carry on as normal, whatever that is.’

Thea shook her head. ‘They won’t let us,’ she said.

‘Who won’t?’

‘All these people who keep coming to the door and phoning us. We’ve got to stay and watch out for Granny — or I have — and while I’m in this house, I’m involved. No escape possible. Besides, I was talking about how I felt at first. Since then I’ve been hooked. Now I really want to know the whole story.’

Jessica grinned. ‘That’s a relief,’ she said. ‘I thought I’d have to do it all on my own.’

Thea narrowed her eyes. ‘Do what?’ she asked, with a wholly false innocence.

‘What do you think?’ replied the girl.

But their banter was a variant on whistling in the dark, and they both knew it. Together they went around the house, firmly closing every window, and employing every bolt and lock on doors back and front. Jessica switched the buzzer on, and checked that the connecting door to the cottage was definitely locked.

‘Nobody can get in now,’ said Thea. ‘Not without smashing a window and waking the entire street.’

‘I still feel a bit wobbly,’ Jessica confessed, as she climbed into bed. ‘I keep hearing funny noises out there.’

Thea listened to the night sounds of Blockley. ‘I can hear a car quite far away,’ she reported. ‘And some sort of animal, even fainter. And water pipes gurgling in the roof. Nothing to worry about. Go to sleep. There’s nothing to worry about.’

And within minutes, Jessica had done as instructed. Thea lay awake for a little while longer, relishing the warm weight of the spaniel against her feet, and steadfastly refusing to face the knowledge that there were only two more nights to go before she and the dog were on their own again.

* * *

Tuesday morning dawned cloudy and cool. Thea woke first, her mind instantly informing her that she was in a strange house, sharing a room with her daughter and her dog, responsible — sort of — for an old woman next door and trying to navigate the shoals of a relationship. The last to occur was the one she gave her attention to for the next five minutes, before Jessica was stirred by the spaniel. Hepzie

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