The Ullswater Undertaking by Rebecca Tope (read dune .TXT) 📕

slowed down and kept a careful watch for any careless drivers or panicked sheep that could require a sudden application of the brakes.

She got back at five forty-five, to find Christopher frying sausages while the deep fat fryer sizzled with chips. ‘Ooh, calories!’ she rejoiced. ‘Wonderful!’

Robin sat in his little chair while they ate. ‘He’s been in that thing all day,’ Simmy worried. ‘Do you think it’ll damage his posture?’

‘Probably not. I fed the squirrel for you. It was very grateful. We won’t have any muesli left at this rate. Apparently it doesn’t like carrots, though.’

‘Thanks. Maybe it’ll be ready to go back into the wild in a few days.’

‘The sooner the better. We haven’t space in our lives for another baby just at the moment.’

‘I thought we were getting a puppy this summer.’

He looked up in surprise. ‘Oh? I thought you were still vetoing that idea.’

‘I thought perhaps a golden retriever …’ she said shyly. ‘It’d be nice for Robin. It could be my wedding present to you.’

‘Hallelujah!’ he cried. Then he said, ‘I’ve earned it, actually. After you’d gone today I had a look at the database, checking to see what else Hilda Armitage had bought, before and after those papers. She wasn’t anything like a regular at the auctions, but she did get hold of another couple of collections, like the one you found. I asked Jack if he remembered her. He’s very sharp, you know, in spite of seeming so inconspicuous. He knows everybody, and remembers most of what they buy – and sell. He had a think and said he’d seen Oliver and Hilda in a huddle over old papers and stuff, quite a few times. And he told me that Oliver went to Hilda’s funeral, but Josephine didn’t, which seems a bit odd, given that she left Josie the house.’

‘It’s new information. Were all three of them working on some sort of historical project, do you think? Maybe Petrock as well. So – could they have fallen out somehow and divided into two camps?’ She shook her head. ‘That doesn’t seem to work, does it? Or if it does, we need a lot more to go on.’

Christopher plucked the baby from his bondage and lifted him high in the air. Robin blinked. Simmy bit back the urge to tell Chris to be careful. ‘I still can’t quite believe he’s real,’ the new father marvelled. ‘And now I can have a dog as well. It’s a miracle.’

Simmy just smiled, then remembered to say, ‘My father knows Petrock. Says he’d never be capable of killing anyone.’

He shifted the baby so he was lying along his father’s forearm, and then gently rocked him as the conversation went on. ‘Really? I’d have said of all the Armitages, he’s probably the most likely.’

She sighed. ‘We’re still just guessing. So why were you all so boot-faced after that meeting today? I’ve never seen such a glum lot. Was it just about Josephine, or what?’

‘Mostly that, but Fiona said something that annoyed Oliver, and when Jack stuck up for her, he got a bollocking as well. Pattie said the atmosphere was so horrible she was considering looking for another job, and I got caught in the crossfire.’

‘What did Fiona say?’

‘I didn’t catch all of it, but she seemed to be suggesting that Josephine had brought it on herself somehow. I think she said something like, “You’d think getting that house would have been enough for her.” Oliver went very red and told her she ought to know better. Then she started accusing him of cowardice in sending her to Josie’s house instead of going himself. Oliver said that had been me, not him, but I wasn’t standing for that. He’d told us what to do, over the phone. There was almost a suggestion in Fiona’s mind, apparently, that he knew what she would find.’

‘I suppose that isn’t too surprising. I mean – not that Josie had been murdered, but that there was something wrong.’

‘It was all pretty toxic for a few minutes. I felt much the same as Pattie about it.’

She switched subjects yet again. ‘Why do you think Petrock’s the chief suspect?’

‘How about this: if Hilda had a big secret – as we know she did – then him writing her life story is going to unearth it, right? And probably make a big deal of it. Maybe somebody’s very worried about that and wants to stop him. And knowing that, he takes pre-emptive action and silences that person – who might very well have been Josephine. Do you follow?’

‘Gosh!’ she sat back, full of admiration for his lucidity. ‘Put like that, it all seems to slot into a perfectly credible picture. I expect Ben’s got there already and has it all mapped out on a flowchart. Even so – I’m impressed.’ Christopher smirked, and Simmy went on, ‘But why would Josephine be worried about the secret?’

‘Good question. Something to do with Richmond, maybe? He might have a whole lot of seething resentment that she could have helped him deal with. She might even have been helping him get some kind of revenge.’

She was struck by a thought. ‘Something Ben said a day or two ago – whether it’s the opposite of what we’re all assuming. Maybe Josephine was making threats to someone, not just by knowing a secret, but by actively making it dangerous for them in some way. She might have been seen as a real risk to their well-being – reputation, finances, whatever. What if she knew Petrock was going to deliberately lie in his book and told him she’d expose the truth? That would fit.’

It was exhilarating, she discovered, airing bold theories like this to a partner who knew the characters involved and was fully engaged with the whole story. ‘Wow!’ she breathed. ‘I’d forgotten what fun this can be.’

‘Fun?’ He cocked an eyebrow at her. ‘Wasn’t it you I heard telling Ben and Bonnie that it really wasn’t a game – I think when my