Pious Poison by Penelope Cress & Steve Higgs

Author:Penelope Cress & Steve Higgs [Cress, Penelope & Higgs, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

Something Fishy

Never had the familiar sight of Bob McGuire and his ferry chugging into port been so welcome. Fortunately, the channel was as calm as a mirror. I wasn’t sure I could have taken a choppy crossing. There had been enough drama for one day.

Frederico and I barely spoke on our journey back to the island. For an intelligent man, he was very tenacious in thought. He centred the small amount of conversation we had on my sister and his quest to win her back. He sounded like a broken record.

We bid farewell outside the ‘Cat and Fiddle’ and I rode ‘Cilla’ back home. When I reached Cliff View, I stopped to take a breath before entering the house. The sun was settling herself in her bed for the night, and the world around me was finally calm. The trees were still, and there were no signs of the storm that had battered the island for the last twenty-four hours. Birds were sharing their evensong, and all other creatures listened in a joint communion of thanksgiving. It was as if Mother Nature had opened the windows to let some air in. Everything was pure again.

Except it wasn’t. I knew Helen Linden had been murdered. I knew it so deep in my core there was no shaking it. I had to speak to more people who knew her, and I needed to speak with Judith.

It was getting late and my body ached to get back inside the warmth of the vicarage, to see my family and feel at home.

A welcome fluffy form was sitting on the doorstep.

“Hey there, Hugo. You're the only man I want in my life right now. Here, give me a hug.” I bent down to scoop him up, only to send him darting off to the back of the house and the graveyard beyond. “Great! Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I straightened up and put my key in the latch.

There was a sudden and unmistakable sound of smashing glass.

My fish!

I walked in to find a dazed Luke standing in the middle of the hallway with blood dripping from his right hand.

“I’m so sorry, Aunt Jess. I was just looking at your collection… erm, I was holding one up to look at the colours in the light. It was so cool. Blues and greens and... and, then I heard you at the door and, well, I must have tripped on the way back to the sideboard because I fell and it shattered when I hit the ground. I’m so sorry.”

“Luke, It’s no big deal. You’ve hurt yourself. Come to the kitchen. I hope it wasn’t the speckled fish with the black eyes, that’s my favourite.” I cast Luke a quick glance from the corner of my eye and his anguished look confirmed that it was. “It’s okay. Don’t worry. It only cost me a few pence at the Stepney ‘Bring ‘n’ Buy’.”

Alerted by the sounds of glass and chaos, Mum and Rosie soon joined us in the kitchen, and I handed Luke over to his mother to nurse him.

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