Murder at Abbeymead Farm by Merryn Allingham

Author:Merryn Allingham [Allingham, Merryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781837903023
Published: 2023-05-15T16:00:00+00:00

18

Jack hadn’t gone down on his knees and offered a ring, but it was clear to Flora that he’d had marriage in mind. Their marriage. She might have known that Kate’s wedding, along with Alice’s unsubtle hints, would lead eventually to the big question. It wasn’t a question she wanted to answer. Preferably ever. She was contented with her life as it was. Kate had said she was happy simply being engaged but had been persuaded, dragooned, Flora didn’t know which, to walk up the aisle a second time. That wasn’t going to happen to her. For Jack’s sake, it would be far better if he dropped the idea. She would make a terrible wife.

It was late when he’d walked her back to the cottage, but he hadn’t suggested staying and Flora had been glad – she’d wanted to be alone. The rest of the evening had passed without mishap, it was true, but ever since that veiled suggestion, it was plain they’d both been on edge.

She was still feeling flustered when she wheeled Betty from her shelter the next morning to ride to the All’s Well. Closing the garden gate behind her, she saw Alice’s stout figure labouring along the lane.

‘What is it?’ she asked, as her friend puffed herself to a stop. Alice wouldn’t have come so far out of her way before a long day in the Priory kitchen, unless it was important. ‘Something’s happened?’

‘I’ll say it has.’ Alice breathed heavily. ‘My, I can’t run like I used to.’

It was difficult to imagine a time when Alice could run.

‘Cross country champion, I was,’ she announced, taking Flora aback. She really shouldn’t be so quick with her assumptions. ‘Nearly got into the county team, but that was a few years ago.’ The older woman’s breath was still coming in small spurts. ‘I’m goin’ to have to sit down, my love.’

‘Come into the house for a while.’

It was frustrating. Flora had set her alarm earlier than usual, intending to tackle the monthly accounts before she welcomed her first customer, but Alice’s heaving chest and a complexion alternating between pale and bright red was a warning.

Offering her arm in support, she trundled Betty on one side and Alice on the other.

‘My goodness, did you take an axe to the tree?’ Her friend had glimpsed the massacre on the lawn. Jack and Charlie had cleared as much of the debris as possible, but there was no disguising the parlous condition of what was left. ‘That rowan was some lovely. What made you do that?’

‘It had a disease,’ Flora invented hastily. ‘But I’ve got someone dealing with it.’

Once they were through the front door, she settled Alice in the sitting room and brought her a glass of water. ‘I could make tea,’ she offered, hoping she wouldn’t need to.

‘I’d love a cuppa, my love, but I can’t. I haven’t the time. Nor you, for that matter.’

Flora was relieved. ‘When you can breathe again, tell me—’

‘It’s about that man. You’d have heard it elsewhere, I guess, though maybe not soon enough.

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