Murder On Friday Street (Friday Street Murder Mysteries Book 1) by Russell Cooper

Author:Russell Cooper [Cooper, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Balloon Press
Published: 2023-09-20T16:00:00+00:00

<><><>

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Verity

I like Colin Beard. He’s a solid copper, a good detective, but the Service’s takeover crushed his investigation. I could feel his authenticity when we chatted in the Stephan Langton pub. He’s a bear of a man who carries the weight of disappointment in not finding Randolph Vine’s killer. I appreciate that.

It’s late, nearly midnight, and the sky is a dark blanket of twinkling stars. Living free and wild in my campervan has been revolutionary for me. For decades, I lived on my wits in military-aroused countries, keeping my head down and ears open for morsels of intelligence. Although I loved it, my life of constant near-death experiences and shredded nerves eventually ended. So I moved on, or rather, I came home to a desk job where I bossed Cedric and Ambrose around. They pretended to hate it, but I knew deep down they had a soft spot for me.

Charlie, who l liked instantly, is sitting on the steps of my campervan and asks me what I’m thinking about. I top up her glass with some of Cedric and Ambrose’s violent elderflower wine and then squeeze in next to her. I tell her that she looked satisfied with Beard’s account of her father at the pond and afterwards around the dinner table.

‘He took the right approach,’ says Charlie. ‘I think Colin must have been frustrated for a long time about not being allowed to sink his teeth into the case. When we crack this whole bloody thing open, we’ll visit him and tell him our findings. So let’s keep our fingers crossed that it wasn’t a mugging gone wrong!’

I gaze at the stars and take in the peacefulness of Tanglefoot Farm’s surroundings. Cedric and Ambrose renovated this place and are the only two men on earth who could have made it more old-fashioned.

What do we want the internet for? They said to Charlie.

My thoughts dart between our evening with Beard and the afternoon re-engaging with Vladimir’s world. He’s like a missing tooth when you can’t stop yourself from running your tongue over the raggedy edges. Charlie delights in showing me the wedding photo from inside the house. I had no idea my Russian husband would still have my picture on the wall.

For me, it was a step-by-step, carefully orchestrated extraction from an undercover operation—for him, it was the tragic loss of his wife in a car accident. And now the silly old Soviet goose prefers Eastbourne to London. What’s he doing there? I tell myself to stop thinking about him.

‘More elderflower?’ I ask.

Charlie lifts her glass, and the glug, glug momentarily drowns out the crickets’ nighttime chorus as we sit and look into the endless sky. Cedric and Ambrose retired to their bedrooms after our return from the pub to colour-coordinate their new collection from their tailor. Life for them is beset with non-existent stressful bumps in a smooth road—lives of bliss.

After our fish pie and chips, Colin told us about his interview with Kevin Hall, which came about because of fabric caught under Randolph’s fingernails.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.