CRIME IN THE SALON a fiercely addictive mystery by CATHERINE MOLONEY

Author:CATHERINE MOLONEY [MOLONEY, CATHERINE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books Mystery, Crime Thriller, Suspense
Published: 2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7: Ancient History

Later that evening as they enjoyed another Lotus Garden takeaway, Markham did in fact have some progress to report to Olivia.

‘We’ve come across a school connection,’ he told her over their chicken chow mein.

She was instantly riveted. ‘Not Hope, surely?’

‘No. Holy Martyrs Secondary in Old Carton.’ He didn’t miss his partner’s look of disappointment, but was privately relieved that it wasn’t Olivia’s school.

‘So how does it fit in to your hairdressing investigation then?’

‘You remember those cold cases I told you about?’

She nodded, laying down her chopsticks the better to concentrate.

‘Ethel Taylor and Jeanette O’Donnell,’ Markham recapped, ‘aged ninety and sixty-seven respectively. Lived round the corner from each other. The original investigators ruled out burglary but couldn’t establish a motive.’

‘Yes, I’m with you now, Gil . . . They both went to Andrew Coxley’s salon, right?’

‘Yes . . . Ethel was quite religious about it whereas Jeanette was more hit and miss.’

‘I think you said they were widows . . . and Jeanette was a successful academic?’

‘Well remembered, Liv.’

She glowed. ‘Didn’t they end up deserting Coxley’s salon for the other hairdresser?’

‘Right again. That was after Des O’Grady from Cutting Edge said he could do their hair at home.’

‘Sounds like Coxley missed a trick there,’ she mused.

‘It probably wasn’t that big a deal . . . just two elderly ladies . . . he had plenty of other customers on the books.’

She nibbled a prawn cracker. ‘Okay, but where does Holy Martyrs come into it?’

‘Ethel Taylor’s son Preston was a pupil there and died on a school trip—’ Markham began.

‘But that was an accident, wasn’t it . . . some kind of hypoglycaemic episode on an outward-bound expedition . . . nothing sinister?’

‘Uh-huh . . . But there’d been another tragedy the previous year involving the same school.’

‘What kind of tragedy?’

He smiled at her impatience. ‘It happened on a field trip to Colomendy. A seventeen-year-old boy called Gerry Beck disappeared during the night. After an extensive search, they found his body in an abandoned well a couple of miles away from the residential activity centre. It was fenced off with warning signs saying Danger, but somehow he ended up at the bottom of the shaft in six feet of water.’

‘That’s the kind of thing kids do,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Go exploring where they shouldn’t.’

‘The inquest brought in a verdict of accidental death.’ Markham frowned. ‘In the circumstances, that was pretty much the only option since there were no signs of a struggle . . . The PM indicated that Gerry went in head first, knocked himself out and drowned in a matter of seconds.’

‘Was he drunk . . . or on drugs?’ Olivia asked.

‘They found a six pack of Strongbow along with packets of crisps and biscuits, so it looked like he’d planned a midnight picnic or something of the sort.’

She was puzzled. ‘On his own?’

‘There’s the rub,’ Markham said slowly. ‘Apparently Gerry was the type who’d take the lead in any fun that might be going down . .

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