Stranger in the Village (The Malvern Mysteries) by Kate Wells

Author:Kate Wells [Wells, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Published: 2024-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

Jude was allowed to collect Lucy from the station later that afternoon. She looked as though she hadn’t slept at all during her short spell at His Majesty’s pleasure. Her long hair, which had been neatly plaited last time Jude had seen her, was escaping in loose tufts that hung around her face and there were dark marks beneath her eyes. She said nothing but gave a small smile when she spotted Jude.

‘Come on,’ said Jude. ‘Let’s get you home.’

Instead of talking about Des Smith, police and knives, Jude spent the drive back filling her in on the misadventures of the two new puppies.

‘As you can imagine, Noah has already got Ned under his thumb, but Alfie is another kettle of fish altogether. We can’t leave him alone for a second or he’s found something to chew or climb into. I had to get Sebbie’s old travel cot from the attic and put him in it overnight just to keep him out of trouble. Not a bad set-up, although I still got up every few hours to let him out for a wee.’

‘How’s Sebbie?’ Lucy asked quietly.

‘He missed you. But we told him you had to help out at work for the night and he was fine with that. Noah was brilliant, he gave him a bath.’

Jude stopped. With a stab of something she couldn’t pin down, she remembered what she’d been doing whilst bath-time was in full flow upstairs. She couldn’t pretend that she hadn’t enjoyed the feeling of being looked after, and of the kiss itself, but those feelings came hashed up with plenty of other, less palatable ones. The guilt of cheating on her husband was something she knew she shouldn’t feel, just as she knew Adam wouldn’t want her to remain celibate for the rest of her life. It had been over three years since she’d been made a widow and yet Adam’s presence in her life was still real and visceral, and did not fit well with her kissing someone else. And then there was the issue of timing. She had been through an intense patch of high stress which made her less than equipped to start a new relationship, if that was even what Marco was offering.

Besides, she needed to focus all her efforts on keeping the farm in the black as well as looking after Lucy and Sebbie.

No, the more she thought about it, the more she knew she had to go and see Marco and tell him that, as far as things went for her, friendship was all that was on offer.

‘Jude?’ Lucy asked.

‘Sorry. I was just thinking about Adam.’

Lucy reached across the handbrake and squeezed Jude’s hand. ‘Between us, we’ve had a bit of a rubbish run of things, haven’t we?’

Jude squeezed back. She knew she’d have to tell Lucy about the kiss soon, but she wasn’t sure how to because that was her other guilt: whilst Jude had been locked in an embrace, Lucy had been locked in a cell.

When they pulled up in the yard, Noah came straight out of the big shed.

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