MURDER WITH MERCY a completely unputdownable cozy mystery by VERONICA HELEY

Author:VERONICA HELEY [HELEY, VERONICA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books cozy mysteries and crime
Published: 2024-05-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Freddie looked at Ellie in despair. ‘I should have had it out in the open. I should have got her antidepressants.’ He straightened up. ‘I should have got the sleeping pills for her.’

‘She didn’t ask you to do so, did she?’

He shook his head.

‘She didn’t want you to bear any guilt in this. She arranged that you would be away.’

He was silent for a while. Eventually, he nodded. ‘I hear what you’re saying, and of course you’re right. I still wonder if May helped her, thinking that perhaps I’d turn to her when Anita had gone.’

‘I don’t think it’s so much a question of your turning to her, as of her trying to . . .’ Ellie hesitated. It had just occurred to her that it might never have entered May’s head that Freddie would turn to her on the rebound. Perhaps she was only being kind-hearted and helpful.

Freddie said, ‘You should hear what my sister called May. “Avaricious, man-eating, husband-stealing whore.” I didn’t know what to say.’

‘Did she say all that on the phone to May? Or to her face?’

A reluctant grin. ‘May came round to see that I’d eaten my breakfast, but I was hardly up and in my right mind. Must confess, had a tot or two of spirits when visiting Evan, and then had one or two more last night, what with my sister going on at me and, well, everything. I ought to have told my sister to shut up and not talk to May like that, but I didn’t. I’m ashamed that I didn’t. May didn’t deserve that. At least, I don’t think she did. What I mean is, if she did help Anita to die . . . I’ve asked myself how I’d feel about it if she did, and it’s odd. I don’t feel anything. Nothing at all.’

Shock? Yes.

Ellie said, ‘Your sister is a harridan. Evan has a fertile imagination. It may well have crossed May’s mind that you could do with a shoulder to cry on, but it may be no more than kindness on her part. It’s up to you to decide whether or not you want her to step further into your life.’

‘No, I don’t. She’s a nice enough woman in her way but I’ve never thought of her like that. She’s not my type. And what’s more . . .’ He looked pleadingly at Ellie.

She sighed. ‘What’s more, you now find her embarrassing and wonder how you can get rid of her. You’d like to give her the sack, but what reason could you give? Unless, of course, you find out that it was she who provided your wife with the means to end her life.’

He reddened. ‘Yes.’

‘That’s why you want me to discover what happened.’

‘Yes. Will you?’

Ellie didn’t know how to refuse him, for refuse him she must. She turned her head to the door. Was that Thomas calling for her? Rose must not go climbing those stairs again. Then she must get Mikey on his own and shake the truth out of him and .

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