The Case of the Absent Heirs by Cathy Ace

Author:Cathy Ace [Ace, Cathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: British traditional mystery, cozy village mystery, female sleuths, FICTION / Crime, FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
ISBN: 9781990550065
Publisher: Four Tails Publishing Ltd.
Published: 2022-12-20T08:00:00+00:00

THURSDAY 22ND DECEMBER

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Carol was cross with herself that she’d tempted fate by planning to pretend to receive an emergency call about work so that she could escape to Aberystwyth, because when she’d heard from Mavis the previous night about the attacks upon herself, Christine, and the poor security guard in Ebbw Vale, she really had gone into overdrive, texting with Christine, phoning Annie, and explaining to her mother about how she was needed.

Unfortunately, Carol’s mother had been aghast when she’d heard of all the ills that had befallen Mavis, Christine, and the entire village of Anwen-by-Wye, and immediately, and loudly, explained how she was adamant that no child of hers – she only had the one – would do anything as foolhardy as go halfway across the country to try to talk to a man who obviously came from a family of psychopaths.

Carol hadn’t known how to work through that one, so she’d smiled, and had trotted off meekly to pack in the room that had been hers until she’d left the farm aged eighteen, where, she, her husband and Albert had all been squeezed overnight into what she was sure had once been a bigger space.

By leaving the farm before it was light, Carol knew she wouldn’t be able to completely avoid either of her parents, but she also knew they’d be too busy with their husbandry responsibilities to pay her too much attention; she didn’t want her visit to end on a sour note, because her mother and father had put on a wonderful spread for a dozen members of her extended family, and she, David, and Albert – though mainly Albert – had been fussed over, cwtched, and spoiled more than she could have imagined.

Waving as David drove them off along the track that led to the road, Carol sighed with relief, and the journey across country until they reached Aberaeron, from which point on they were on the lovely coast road, was relatively smooth. They stopped at a pub in Llanrhystud to use the car park, because the pub itself hadn’t opened yet. It offered a chance for Carol to properly attend to Albert, who had screamed until David had given in and played a Tom Jones CD. Then, eventually, they’d headed toward Aberystwyth itself.

The town had been known during Victorian times as the ‘Biarritz of Wales’; the arrival of the railway, its location between north and south Wales, and its stunning views of Cardigan Bay had led to the construction of an impressive pier, a pavilion, and even a funicular railway – all to offer those working- and middle-class families fortunate enough to be able to stay in one of its many sea-front hotels a wonderful holiday. Now it wasn’t just a tourist destination, but also home to Aberystwyth University. And that was where Carol had discovered that Marty Robertson – a man who’d legally changed his name from Martyn Jeffries six months earlier – was a lecturer in metallurgy.

David drove carefully along the

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