The Gospel Makers by Anthea Fraser

Author:Anthea Fraser [Fraser, Anthea]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2015-08-17T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

‘Ken? Bring the car round, will you? I want to see Miss Preston again.’

‘Right, Guv.’ Jackson raised his eyebrows. He couldn’t imagine what more the housekeeper could tell them, but no doubt Spiderman knew what he was doing.

‘Something else come up, has it?’ he asked, as they drove along Carrington Street.

‘It’s about the Ark,’ Webb said briefly.

‘The Noah’s Ark? That we found in the house?’

‘The very same. You said yourself it was an odd thing for an old lady to have. I want to know how long she’s had it and where it came from.’

Light began to dawn. ‘You think she might have been in touch with that lot the DI was looking into?’

‘That, my lad, is what I intend to find out.’

This time it was the owner of the bungalow who opened the door.

‘If you’re looking for my sister she’s in the back garden,’ she told them. ‘You can go round the side of the house.’

Webb thanked her and in single file they made their way through the narrow side-gate. The back garden was ablaze with multi-coloured chrysanthemums and dahlias and edged with bright-berried shrubs. In the centre of a paved area stood an old-fashioned sundial, and at the far end Webb could see a small pond with an artificial heron standing beside it. The effect was of a stately home garden in miniature, charming, but over-fussy for his taste.

Miss Preston, clad in cord trousers, sweater and boots, turned in surprise at their approach. ‘Good morning, Chief Inspector. I wasn’t expecting another visit!’

‘No, ma’am, nor was I, but there are a few more questions, I’m afraid.’

‘Then let’s sit on the bench in the sunshine,’ she suggested, leading the way to an old garden seat under an apple tree. ‘Now,’ as they all settled themselves, ‘fire away!’

‘First, I forgot to ask you what Mrs Kershaw died of?’

‘Oh, it was her heart — she’d been on tablets for years. She didn’t have an attack, as far as we know, just went peacefully in her sleep.’

‘I see.’ It seemed innocuous enough but he’d check with her GP. ‘The other thing I was wondering was whether she had any friends who came to visit her?’

‘Well, if you could call them friends. There were some young people who kept popping round. I thought she’d get tired of them for ever looking in, but she was always glad to see them. I suppose she’d missed the company of young people over the years.’

‘Were they children of friends?’ Webb asked, though he thought he knew the answer.

‘Oh no, nothing like that. The girl called one day collecting for charity, and while I was looking in my purse, she remarked on an old tree that was leaning over the path. She said it looked dangerous, and she had a friend who’d be willing to cut it down for us if we liked.

‘I went to ask Mrs Kershaw, and she told me to take the girl in to see her. Lucy, her name was. So it was

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