Death at Eden's End by Jo Allen

Author:Jo Allen [Allen, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781789543056
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 2019-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

14

Jude’s sergeant arrived first, pulling up outside Becca’s cottage and sitting waiting, as if she were too scared to approach the front door on her own. Hearing the car, Becca tweaked the curtains, only to let them fall when she saw the woman’s blonde head, her face lit by the screen of her phone as she checked messages in the fading winter light, casting a furtive glance over her shoulder like someone afraid of being followed.

Becca was a gregarious soul, but it had been a tough few days, made tougher by the need to catch up on the time Violet’s death had cost her. The last thing she wanted was to make polite conversation with a stranger when she’d barely had time to take off her work clothes and slip on a more comfortable pair of shoes. Letting the curtain drop, she turned her attention to setting a match to the kindling in the open fireplace. If Jude was determined to come along and make her uncomfortable, then at least she could take the chill off the cottage before he got there.

That done, she went to put the kettle on. The kitchen was at the back of the house, but the road through the village was quiet and she recognised the low rumble of Jude’s Mercedes. It came to a stop outside, followed by the opening and closing of car doors and the sound of voices as Jude and his sergeant came up the path.

Nevertheless, she waited until they rang the doorbell before she moved to answer it, revealing the two of them standing there, with the woman on the step and Jude a little further back, scanning the lengthening shadows as they encroached on the path. She knew what he was looking for – any sign of her cat, Holmes. The man and the animal shared a deep understanding that excluded her, and she resented it, but this time Jude was doomed to disappointment. Holmes was asleep on her bed and unlikely to stir.

‘Jude.’ She put on her best polite expression and saved her smile for the sergeant. Jude had squandered too much of her goodwill over the years for her to waste any more. Until his inflexible conscience, his inability to cut some slack for a friend, had got in the way she’d thought she’d marry him. She’d been the one who’d ended it, but it was his fault. ‘Come on in.’

Thank God, he’d decided to go for the formal approach, or largely so, keeping his smile under control. Nevertheless, used to feeling the full, warm force of that unconditional smile, she felt slightly cheated by its absence. ‘Hi, Becca. Sorry about this. It shouldn’t take long. It’s just admin, really, but there are a couple of things we need to tie up.’ There was a barely perceptible pause. ‘I don’t think you’ve met the newest member of my team. This is DS Ashleigh O’Halloran.’

‘Sorry to cut into your valuable free time, Ms Reid.’ Ashleigh O’Halloran, offering her

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