DEADLY CRIMES a British crime mystery full of twists by MICHAEL HAMBLING

Author:MICHAEL HAMBLING [HAMBLING, MICHAEL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books Mystery, Crime Thriller, Suspense Fiction
Published: 2024-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16: Midwinter Tide

Monday Evening, Week 2

The trouble with redbrick church buildings, thought Jimmy Melsom, is that they just don’t look the part. A few scraps of litter were blowing about in the wind and graffiti was scrawled across the end of a terrace wall opposite the church. Suddenly the sun came out, and the grass in front of the church sparkled. The brickwork seemed to glow as the sunlight caught it. Melsom stepped out of the car, keen to get this over before the rain started again.

The vicarage was the first building after the Oakfield Parish Church. Melsom rang the bell, which was rather ornate for the plain house. A middle-aged man wearing a dog collar came to the door. He was in the middle of a conversation with someone inside the house, but managed a smile. Melsom held open his warrant card.

‘Come in, Officer. Sorry to be so rude. I’ve just come back from the shops and seem to have forgotten the single most important item that my wife asked me to get. Old age, I suppose. By next week I expect I’ll be wandering round in my pyjamas, dribbling.’ He laughed.

Melsom was shown into a neat sitting room and asked if he wanted a cup of tea. He declined. He had drunk enough tea during his visits that day to fill his bladder several times over. He explained the purpose of his visit.

‘That was me,’ the minister said. ‘I’m Paul Benfield. I was the curate then, and was offered the position of vicar when my predecessor retired ten years ago. Ruth and I were newly married, and we ran the local youth group for quite a few years. We took them away somewhere every year, and I think we were in Studland about five times. We switched to a scout campsite in the New Forest after that. It had better facilities. Ruth will remember. I’ll get her.’

He left the room and came back with a petite, neatly dressed woman who was drying her hands on a towel.

‘There was one year in particular that the locals remember for a variety of reasons,’ said Melsom. ‘One of them told us that you had a more troublesome group than usual. Is that right?’

The couple glanced at each other. ‘Yes,’ replied Benfield. ‘That was the last year we were there. The farmer was not happy with the behaviour of a couple of the lads, and I couldn’t blame him. It’s not as though they were really bad, because then I would have brought them back early. But they were uncooperative and sullen. And we were aware that they were sneaking off without permission. They were seen in parts of the farm that we’d clearly explained were off limits.’

‘The trouble was that they just didn’t see the need to follow rules,’ Ruth added. ‘We’d forbid something, they’d accept, then we’d find out later that they’d gone and done it anyway.’

‘Is there any chance you can remember their names?’

‘I’m not sure I’d want to, Officer, even if I could.

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