The Swan Dress Murders (Cozy Craft Mystery Book 4) by Millie Ravensworth

Author:Millie Ravensworth [Ravensworth, Millie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

25

By torchlight, the party of four investigators made their way down the winding woodland path to the lake.

“Look, just to clarify,” Denise said, “I don’t have anything against vegetarianism or veganism.”

“And yet you spoke about veganism in the same breath and in the same tone as — what was it? — artisan soap making and new age hippy mums and whatever,” said Aubrey.

“I…” Izzy heard Denise half-laugh, half-huff in the darkness. “I don’t have to justify myself to you… Aubrey, is it? I take it you’re a veggie then?”

“I think about what I eat,” he said.

She did laugh at that, but in recognition rather than derision. “Yes, there. That’s my problem with all that malarkey — if I do have a problem with it, which I don’t. There are people who jump on faddy bandwagons without thinking about it.”

“I’m not jumping on a bandwagon,” he said.

“Some people,” she countered firmly. “Some people read an article on the internet and the next thing you know they’re drinking glasses of their own wee or doing complicated yoga poses to expose bits of their bodies to the sun where the sun was never meant to shi—”

Denise was interrupted by a loud honking sound, Aubrey gave a yell of surprise, and something furious and white flapped out of the darkness across their path.

“Blooming heck!” exclaimed Aubrey.

Monica shone her head torch on them. “Did one of you lot just walk into a nesting swan?”

“Might have done,” said Aubrey, panting.

“We’re at the lake edge,” said Izzy. “Watch where you’re treading. The concrete they removed is round this way.”

Monica looked over the water. Torchlight reflected in sharp ribbons.

“If someone did kill Cat and took her over there, they’d have needed a boat to get to the island.”

“We saw a rowing boat out there that morning, didn’t we?” said Izzy. “Just floating by the island.”

“But if someone took her out there, they’d need a boat to get back to shore.”

Izzy thought about this. “Or they just got wet?”

“Two boats,” said Aubrey. “A person rows one out, towing the other.”

“In this made-up scenario, are we saying that Cat was alive at this point?” said Denise.

“I don’t know,” said Izzy.

“I mean, if I were Cat, I’d be kind of wondering. Hey, why are we rowing out to this island in the middle of the night? And why do we need two boats?”

“So, she was dead before,” said Monica.

“Someone killed her up at the lodges and carried her down here? In the dark?”

“She wasn’t exactly a big woman,” Izzy pointed out.

“I could carry her, easy,” said Monica.

“But the two boat thing…” said Izzy. “That sounds like the killer had this whole thing planned.”

“Pre-meditated,” said Denise.

“Someone planned to kill her,” said Aubrey.

“Or,” said Izzy. “She wasn’t dead when she came down here. There were definitely footprints in the cement.”

“The killer’s footprints?” suggested Monica.

“Here,” said Izzy and carefully crept down the grassy bank to where the lumps of dried concrete were gathered on the foreshore. “Footprints. Here.”

She shone her light at the deep sloppy hole in the dried block of concrete.

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