Holy Homicide by Penelope Cress & Steve Higgs

Author:Penelope Cress & Steve Higgs [Cress, Penelope & Higgs, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-03T16:00:00+00:00

I Don't Like Mondays

I took my aunt back to the Cat and Fiddle, but Dominic and Freya had already gone. The pub was offering a spiced gin and tonic special infused with cardamom, so I bought us both two tall glasses. We sat in silence, nursing our exotic drinks, unable to make eye contact. Cindy pushed around the ice with her slice of lime and sighed heavily. Her face was puffy from the wind, rain and tears and her normally immaculate straight grey hair was wild and knotted. I hated to think about what I looked like, but our appearance was the least of our problems. Cindy finally broke the silence.

“Darling child, you know your father loved you so very much, don’t you?”

“Aunt Cindy, how did I not know something was wrong with their marriage? If my father was doing all that, how did I not know? Mum must have suffered so much.”

“Jess, I understand it’s hard to comprehend. Your father was like Jekyll and Hyde, I suppose. He led two different lives. He really adored your mother. She was on a pedestal. She was his queen. And part of a queen’s role is to accept her husband’s mistresses.”

I was not sure I would ever think that this situation was okay, but it was forty years ago. If my mother accepted his behaviour, then who was I to question their relationship, even if it led to such a tragic outcome. It did explain why we packed up and moved away so quickly. I suppose it also explained why none of us returned to the Island for my father’s funeral, nor for the casting of the ashes into the sea. My mother would have been very reluctant to come back here.

“So, did you go to my father’s funeral?” I asked.

“Of course, he had quite the send-off. As I said, the Wards were a big deal around here. They sent their only son off in style. Your mother sold the house and never returned.”

"And the rest of the estate? You mentioned the Wards owned most of the harbour front.”

“After your father’s death, his parents sold off their property. The Somerstones bought a fair bit. I believe your grandparents went to live in Portugal. They had a huge villa there, I understand. They cut all contact with you and your mother. I think they blamed Beverley for not keeping their son in check, but Michael was not a man who could be tamed.”

It was true. I never saw my grandparents on my father’s side ever again. I suppose I should have found that strange, but we were making a new life. I was thirteen and was more concerned with leaving my friends behind. My small family, my mother and sisters, were more than enough. We were happy and surrounded by love. I never felt that anything was missing — sadly, not even my father.

I left Cindy to walk back to her cottage on the edge of the harbour and made my way back up to Cliff View.

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