Murder in an English Castle: A completely gripping and addictive cozy murder mystery (A Flora Steele Mystery Book 10) by Merryn Allingham

Author:Merryn Allingham [Allingham, Merryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

‘No wonder that poor girl is having nightmares,’ Flora said, as she and Jack drove back to Abbeymead that evening. ‘She thinks she may be a killer. And not just any old killer, but someone who ended the life of a man she was supposed to love.’

‘Supposed is probably a good word. I think it’s pretty clear what love there was existed entirely on Alex Vicary’s side. It’s feasible, I guess, that Diane is the killer – inadvertently, perhaps, but still murder. She was in a rage. She wanted to be free. She could have lashed out, hardly conscious of what she was doing.’

Flora retied the ribbon holding back her hair and looked blankly through the windscreen. ‘I genuinely have no idea,’ she said, ‘and neither does Diane, but she’s riven with guilt that she might have done something dreadful. I had to dissuade her from walking into Lewes police station right there and then to give herself up. She could be completely innocent.’

‘So, why the nightmares?’

‘It might be guilt. She’s transferring the guilt she feels over not loving Alex enough into an action she never committed. Imagining that she’s guilty could be the punishment she needs to inflict on herself.’

She felt Jack give her a sideways glance. ‘No, I’m not setting up as a psychologist, I promise. But it does make sense.’

‘It would make even more sense if she had done it, which is beginning to look possible.’

‘If she’d been the only one on that wall, and the only one with a motive, I’d agree, but she wasn’t. There were others, all with some kind of grudge against Alex. The fact that Diane feels so bad suggests it’s remorse at work rather than truth.’

Jack pulled a face as the Austin turned off the main road towards the village. ‘I’ll look forward to Ridley’s call telling me he’s arrested a Diane Croft and has her safely tucked away in the cells.’

‘It won’t happen,’ Flora prophesised. ‘Even the inspector would work out that it was guilt talking. What will happen, though, is a brilliant dessert. No cheese and biscuits tonight.’

‘Made by you?’

‘Please! Made by’ – she turned her head to look at the peach Melba nestling on the back seat – ‘Heavenly Bites.’

She reached across to take hold of the decorative box. ‘See?’

Jack took his eyes off the steering wheel for a moment. ‘Oh! That looks – decidedly good. I vote we only eat dessert tonight.’

‘We can’t do that. Aunt Violet would never allow it. She always made me eat my first course, every bit of it, before I was allowed anything sweet. Maybe we could do simple tonight – stick with poached eggs?’

‘In which case, I’ll do the honours.’

Flora would have protested, but opening the cottage front door, she found a thick envelope sitting on the mat. It had a foreign stamp and she knew immediately what the envelope contained. Scooping it up, she danced with it into the kitchen.

‘It’s from Italy,’ she said, tearing the missive open. ‘From Venice… from the Cipriani.

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