Dark Peak by Adam J. Wright

Author:Adam J. Wright [Wright, Adam J.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Published: 2017-07-17T04:00:00+00:00

18

Flower Girls

After leaving Farley’s house, Elly found a cafe in Bakewell and ordered a baked potato, a salad, and a cup of coffee. She placed the photocopy of the letter on the table along with the receipt she’d written on earlier and a pen she borrowed from the waitress.

She read the flower poem again, the pen poised over the back of the receipt.

Two bluebells lie in the willow’s shade

Does anybody care?

The two bluebells obviously referred to the Hatton sisters, Mary and Evie. On the receipt, Elly wrote, the words “bluebells” and, next to it, “Hatton Sisters.”

The next victim of the Blackden Edge Murderer was Olivia Walker. So it was logical to assume the next part of the poem referred to her.

Don’t look in the woods or in the glade

The pimpernel’s not there

Elly wasn’t sure if there was a flower called a pimpernel but the poem seemed to paraphrase a quote from the book The Scarlet Pimpernel. Elly had read the book as a child and knew the quote but checked on her phone to ensure she was remembering it correctly.

They seek him here, they seek him there

Those Frenchies seek him everywhere

Is he in heaven or is he in hell?

That damned elusive Pimpernel

After checking the quote, she typed “pimpernel flower” into the search engine. There was a wildflower called a Scarlet Pimpernel. So the killer was taunting the police, saying Olivia was as elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel and that they’d never find her. She wrote the word “Scarlet Pimpernel” on the receipt and Olivia’s name next to it.

The next two lines obviously referred to Josie Wagner and mentioned the heart locket that was a secret known only to the police and the killer.

A cuckoo flower that meets its doom

Loses its heart of gold

Elly wrote on the receipt again. The words “Cuckoo flower” and “Josie Wagner” joined the list she was building.

A forget-me-not that never blooms

Might hide and then grow old

Elly put Sarah Walker’s name next to “forget-me-not.” She supposed the “never blooms” part of the poem meant Sarah would never bloom into womanhood. As she thought that, her fingers tightened on the pen. The line about hiding and growing old didn’t seem to make sense. She’d have expected it to say “never grow old.” Maybe the wrong word had been written in the poem, “then” instead of “never.”

For whom the bell tolls at year end

Only the daisies know

This was why Farley knew Lindsey Grofield belonged on the list with the other girls, despite not being taken from Blackden Edge. For whom the bell tolls at year end obviously referred to New Year’s Eve, when she went missing.

The last two lines of the poem were simply a taunt.

The question you should ask, my friend

Where do the flowers grow?

Elly looked at her new list of flowers next to the girls’ names. Why had the killer chosen these particular flowers for each girl? Was it random or was there some kind of reasoning behind it? She knew next to nothing about flowers, especially wild ones.

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