Beaches and Bodies (A Westford Bay B&B British Cozy Mystery - Book One) by Nic Roberts

Author:Nic Roberts [Roberts, Nic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-09-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Ally returned to the B&B with a bit of a spring in her step. Seeing the detective had put her in a good mood, and she was full of optimism when it came to her varnishing project. She checked her emails and phone messages to see if she had any more bookings and noted them down in her records. Guests were beginning to book for the summer, and a few days were almost fully booked already. Ally beamed at her notes. She could hardly believe her good fortune.

She thought of getting started on the patio but decided that she would take a trip to the café for something to eat first and to talk to Fran.

“Guess who I saw in Biddleton today?” she asked with a cheeky smile on her face as she approached the counter. “I’ll give you one clue. He was wearing a burgundy jumper!”

“I have no idea,” Fran answered with an equally sly twinkle in her eye. “But from the look on your face, I’d say it was someone you were happy to see?”

Ally nodded.

“Detective Ardent.”

“Seb?” Fran asked. “Out of uniform? Off duty? What are the odds?”

“He was having his key cut.” Ally pushed the loose curls from her face. “He took my bags and loaded them into the car. I didn’t know men still did that.”

Fran laughed.

“A possible crush?”

“Oh, stop! It’s just a little harmless fun. I think he’s only being polite. Besides, he’s an officer.”

“So?”

Ally sighed at her friend.

“Women love a man in uniform. I’m almost certain there’s a long list of them having their bags taken to the car. I’m probably just being silly, but it’s nice to get treated like a lady once in a while.”

“I think you’d be surprised,” Fran said, wiping her hands on a towel. “Our Seb isn’t like that. He’s a rare handsome gem and quite picky with it too. Would you like a sandwich while I have the tuna out?”

Ally nodded enthusiastically.

“Oh, yes, please! I’m absolutely starving.”

“As I can imagine,” Fran teased. “Falling in love can do that to you. Did you manage to get any more information out of him about the case?”

Ally gave her friend a playful warning point and then lowered her voice and leaned across the counter.

“Well, actually, he was pretty tight-lipped about it all, but have you heard of Amber Crawley?”

“Amber Crawley?”

Ally nodded.

“Do you know her?”

“Hmm, no. Not personally,” Fran spread her freshly made tuna and sweetcorn filling onto the bread. “I mean, she was someone I saw around the village sometimes. She lives out of town, so I’ve never really gotten to know her. Why?”

“Unfortunately, that’s who they found on the beach the other day.”

Fran’s eyes widened at the news, and Ally leaned closer, looking around the café before she continued.

“Do you know of anyone in Westford that would want her dead?”

She cleared her throat as a customer came up beside her, pulled a napkin from the metal box, and walked away again.

Fran cut the sandwich into two halves, put it on a plate, and pushed it towards her, waving away Ally’s offer of money.

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