Murder on the Menu (The Shilpa Solanki Mysteries) by Marissa De Luna

Author:Marissa De Luna [De Luna, Marissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Published: 2022-07-24T16:00:00+00:00

Martin checked his watch. Caroline would be arriving any moment now to talk about the wretched diary.

It was something Martin could have done without. His family were here to celebrate his birthday and somehow Roy, despite being dead, had still managed to ruin it. Martin shook the thought away and instead reflected on his recent conversation with Isabella. Just yesterday his daughter and her boys were over for lunch.

‘Isabella,’ Martin had said, his arms outstretched as she came over to him. She was the person who had kept him going. The person who had made him want to live again. Her flight had got in two days ago, and she had rented her family a cottage close to his house. Martin had considered asking Annabel if they could all stay at Arden Copse. There was certainly enough room, but then he thought better of it. He hardly knew Annabel, and he didn’t want any favours from her. Even though thirty per cent of Arden Copse should have been his daughter’s.

‘Hey, Dad,’ Isabella had said, embracing him. ‘How you holding up? They finalised a date for the funeral?’

Martin had let go of his daughter. He put an arm around her shoulders as they walked to the edge of the garden. It was blustery but sunny. The wind was whipping up the water below, and the large tractor that ferried people from the beach to Burgh Island stood stationary on the sand, waiting patiently for the tide to go out. ‘You loved that when you were a kid,’ Martin had said, pointing to the large machine.

‘I remember,’ Isabella had said.

‘You loved Arden Copse too.’

‘It was a long time ago, and we stopped going after a while,’ Isabella had said.

‘You used to chase Caroline through the copse, and you had fun in the pool. I should have put one in here, but we didn’t really have the space.’

‘I like our house the way it is. We didn’t need a pool; we had the sea on our doorstep. The kids love it as well. They’re in the kitchen with Mum.’

‘And it’s good you’re all here for the funeral. It’s next week now that the inquest has been concluded.’ Father and daughter turned back towards the house. Martin was glad that his daughter was home. For the first time in decades, he felt free. Roy was no longer around to criticise him with his long stares and knowing smiles. A weight had been lifted off his shoulders. It was a terrible thought, but his brother should have died years ago.

Martin’s grandchildren hadn’t known their uncle well, and it was by his design. Roy hadn’t softened with age. Instead his remarks had become more sinister, more pointed. ‘Doesn’t your mother take you to the hairdressers?’ he had asked a four-year-old Tom. The little boy didn’t know what to say. Isabella had bristled next to him while Roy had looked from Tom to her and smiled with that ‘just joking’ smirk he always gave when he knew he had hurt someone’s feelings.

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