The Beast of Bodmin by Mark Edmondson

Author:Mark Edmondson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: crime thriller;female detective;heroine;Cornwall;innocent suspect;big cat;lesbianism;police procedural
Publisher: The Conrad Press
Published: 2018-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

That evening, Jo and Danny made their way to the King’s Head in St Breward. During the meeting that afternoon, the detectives agreed to turn Lester’s missing panther over to uniform so they could concentrate on looking for the murderer. Although a panther being on the loose and three people being killed seemed as though there would be an obvious connection, they decided to believe Lester in the fact that his animal was tame, and that it wouldn’t be capable of killing and eating three bodies whole in just two nights. The detectives wanted to put all their focus on the man from the CCTV footage.

DCI Collis had asked Jo and Danny to talk to some of the locals, so they decided to use an hour in the pub to find out if anybody had any useful information for them.

They sat at the table in front of the fireplace. Jo had a glass of wine; Danny had a bottle of lager. She presumed he was only going to have the one as he’d driven them there. The pub was busier than usual. Jo wondered if the news of the recent murders was having the reverse effect of keeping people indoors and bringing them all out to the pub to discuss with each other the different possibilities of what was happening.

Everyone knew about the three murders. Everyone knew about the footage of the panther that the walkers had filmed. But so far the news of a pet panther escaping had been kept under wraps. Jo wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to hide this information. But DCI Collis decided to keep it from the public for one more night and give the marksmen, who were working through the night, a chance to catch the animal.

There was a sense of excitement in the pub that Jo thought was subconsciously tactless of the villagers. But she also understood that in a small village like St Breward something like this brings the locals together. She knew that people were upset at the recent events, especially after losing Lucy who was well known in the village. Jo just felt as though the locals were talking about the events with a little more excitement than they should be. They were obviously discussing whether the murderer was another serial killer like the Bodmin Butcher, or the panther from the footage.

‘Who’s the best person to speak to?’ Danny asked.

‘Dorothy is probably the best bet; the landlady.’

‘Where is she?’

‘I haven’t seen her yet. She must be upstairs.’

‘I’ll go and ask,’ Danny said.

He walked over to the bar and spoke to Marcus, the young barman. Jo could see him nod before going through to the back. Danny then came back to the table.

A few moments later, Dorothy came walking over to them.

Jo could see that she was holding back tears, obviously upset at losing Lucy. Jo hadn’t spoken to her since Lucy had died.

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