A Terrible Village Poisoning by Hannah Hendy

Author:Hannah Hendy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2023-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

They reached the house just as it was getting dark and the sky was turning to shades of red and orange. Usually, Margery would have liked to stop and enjoy the sight, but today they were too frightened and panicked to admire the view. They entered the house and Clementine made sure the latch was locked on the front door. Only then did Margery feel like she could catch her breath as they collapsed against it.

‘Where have you been?’ Gloria asked as they entered the kitchen. Everyone else was there already, sitting at the big kitchen table, which had been set for dinner. Everybody turned to stare as Margery and Clementine joined them, shattering the calm atmosphere around the dinner table as they fell through the kitchen door. Karen put down the serving spoon she had been holding and looked up at them expectantly.

‘Are you okay?’ Seren asked. Rose was looking between them, her brow furrowed.

‘No,’ Margery managed to say. ‘Emily,’ she spluttered, ‘Emily from the hotel.’

‘She’s out there picking plants on the bloody cliffs!’ Clementine managed to blurt out. The entire kitchen fell silent, mouths hanging open. Margery could not tell if they were gawping at the information or Clementine, who had maybe sworn twice in the forty-something years they had known each other. ‘Out in the fields behind the hotel. And she had a gun! She pointed it right at us.’

‘Really?’ Ceri-Ann cried, looking at the pair of them intently, as though she were more concerned by their sweaty appearance than anything. They must have looked a state, Margery thought. They had run as fast as they could the entire way home, only stopping so Clementine could use her asthma inhaler a couple of times. ‘Should we call the police or something? What if it was her on that camera with the flowers?’

Margery passed her the number Detective Penfold had given them. Ceri-Ann took the piece of card and began to dial the number on her phone, leaving the table to make the call. Margery and Clementine slumped down at the table. The others stared at them. Margery took a glass of water and gulped it down, hoping it would help reduce the flush she could feel in her cheeks. Clementine gazed off into the distance, deep in thought. The big bowls of spaghetti and meatballs steamed in the middle of the table, forgotten.

‘What happened?’ Rose asked, her mouth open so wide Margery could almost see her back fillings. ‘Did she shoot at you? Good God!’

‘Well…no,’ Margery admitted. The gun alone had panicked them, but now they were back in the safety of the house it all seemed a bit silly. She wondered for a moment if she should stop Ceri-Ann from ringing Detective Penfold before they embarrassed themselves, but it had seemed too suspicious.

‘Did the police visit about the person with the gun?’ Margery asked desperately.

‘Yes, they said that there are lots of farmers in the area, and the public footpath goes past my house. And there’s no proof whoever it was actually did anything.

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