A Pantomime of Peril: A British Cozy Murder Mystery (A Cotswold Antique Mystery Book 3) by Victoria Tait

Author:Victoria Tait [Tait, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kanga Press
Published: 2025-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

Keya took the visitor’s pass the duty sergeant at the front desk handed her and slipped the blue nylon lanyard over her head. It still seemed strange not to have an official police ID or to be able to walk freely in and out of the station. But things changed, and life moved on.

Taking a new role as a crime scene manager, while challenging, and she’d venture boring at first, had been a positive move. It had enabled her to balance her work at the cafe and her life in general. Although she seldom took proper time off.

Her thoughts drifted to images of sandy beaches, clear blue water, and the sun on her face.

“Everyone’s in Inspector Lockwood’s team room,” the duty sergeant told her, as he buzzed the door open and she entered a corridor in the main part of the police station.

Inspector Lynn’s team room was on the ground floor. It was the one where Keya had worked with another inspector for several years before Lynn’s arrival and her own shift in career.

“Excellent, we’re all here,” Lynn said, looking up from her desk in the far corner as Keya entered. “Pull up a pew.”

By which Keya knew Lynn meant she should grab a chair. She found a spare one and carried it over, adding to the semi-circle in front of Lynn’s desk, and joining Sujin, Warren, and Thomas.

“You don’t mind Trainee Constable Wimsey joining us, do you?” Lynn directed her question at Sujin, and then looked at Keya. “I thought, as he actually witnessed the death, it would be good for him to understand what happened and the procedure we have to follow in such cases.”

“Excellent idea,” agreed Sujin.

Keya smiled at Thomas, who shifted self-consciously on the black, high-backed office chair he’d wheeled in front of Inspector Lynn’s desk.

Beside him, Warren grinned.

“I have the results of the post-mortem,” Sujin began. “As we all suspected, and as Dr Peter diagnosed, Wickham died of cardiac arrest. The pathologist believes this was brought on by heat exhaustion. Contributory factors included his pre-existing hypertension and mild coronary artery disease. His medication of beta-blockers and diuretics would have increased his vulnerability to heat and dehydration.”

Keya interrupted. “Even if he didn’t take them that day? I found his plastic pill box on the floor, behind a table in the small backstage room he was using. His two pills for Friday were still in it.”

“Missing a single dose wouldn’t have had much effect on his death, one way or the other,” Sujin replied.

“Even if, as Joan said, he didn’t take his tablets regularly?” Warren questioned.

“There’s no evidence of that,” Keya said. “The pill compartments from earlier in the week were empty.”

“But to answer your question,” Sujin continued, “as beta-blockers actually slow the heart rate over time, someone who’s taking them regularly is less able to respond quickly to stress, including that caused by heat.”

“There was plenty of other stress. Mostly caused by Wickham,” murmured Thomas.

“And that could all have contributed to his death. His behaviour during

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