A COTSWOLD ORDEAL an absolutely gripping cozy crime mystery full of twists by REBECCA TOPE

Author:REBECCA TOPE [TOPE, REBECCA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books cozy mysteries and crime
Published: 2024-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Thursday

They had only been there a few seconds, she concluded. The dog hadn’t even noticed yet. Jocelyn’s eyes were bulging, and her fingers plucked feebly at the shirtsleeve clamped between her chin and chest. Her captor’s head was only half visible above and behind hers, his eyes on Thea, glittering with tension. He wore a hot-looking woollen balaclava.

‘Who are you? What do you think you’re doing?’ Thea sat up, acutely aware of her state of undress. She put a hand on the spaniel, pressing her into the bedclothes. ‘Stay, Hepzie. Stay there,’ she ordered.

‘We’ve told you to go,’ the man said, his voice rather high and clear. ‘What do we have to do to persuade you?’

‘We?’

‘You’re in the way here. We don’t want trouble. It’s nothing personal. Just pack your things and go, will you?’

‘No trouble?’ Thea laughed scornfully. ‘What about Nick Franklyn?’

‘Never mind Nick Franklyn.’

‘What about the pony and rabbits and guinea pigs? I’m being paid to look after them. I’m staying another week. Let Joss go, will you. Stop playing idiotic games.’ Joss’s eyes bulged even further, but Thea was into her stride. There was no discernible knife or gun, and the man’s voice did not suggest an intention to harm. He was tense but not psychotic. And he was young enough to be her son.

‘I’m telling you, you’ve got to leave this place. It’s not safe for you. Do yourselves a favour, you silly cows.’ His arm was loosening visibly. Thea tried to see his eyes more clearly, already aware that she would want to identify them again. They were brown, thickly-lashed and clear. And something familiar about his words snagged at her.

‘You’ve been talking to Flora, haven’t you?’ she said, out of the blue. ‘She called us silly cows as well. She daubed that writing on the wall. You must be her boyfriend.’ The sudden transparency came as a bracing wave of relief. ‘How did you get in?’

Jocelyn began to splutter. She, like Thea, seemed to be more indignant than frightened. ‘He climbed through my bedroom window,’ she said thickly. ‘Bloody cheek.’

‘Let her go!’ Thea ordered, in the voice every son would recognise. ‘Just do as you’re told, will you.’

It worked brilliantly. It was as if she’d activated some trigger that controlled him against his own will. Or perhaps he had simply realised that he couldn’t go on standing there with his captive in an armlock for much longer. Jocelyn pulled free, and turned angrily to face him.

‘Why aren’t we safe here?’ Thea asked, staring intently at his face. ‘What are you planning to do?’

He averted his gaze, a failed attacker, an embarrassed intruder. Thea pressed her advantage. ‘What’s this all about anyway?’

‘Mind your own business,’ he growled. ‘You’re in the way, that’s all.’

‘Did you kill Nick Franklyn?’ Thea asked, almost casually. ‘Because I think Flora thinks you did. I think she was totally paralysed by that belief, when we told her Nick was dead.’

‘Me?’ The shock seemed genuine. ‘Of course I didn’t. He was on our side.

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