A Body in the Village Hall by Dee MacDonald (non fiction books to read TXT) 📕

seagull, a fish in its beak, painted on each side of the inglenook fireplace. Kate thought he’d done a good job. It was loved by the tourists but not so popular with the older locals who preferred their pubs to be darker and grimier, like The Tinners.

As he served the drinks Des said, ‘What a business about poor old Fenella, eh?’ He paused while they murmured agreement. ‘Mind you, I’ve a good idea who did it.’

‘You do?’ asked Angie, while Kate held her breath.

‘Yeah, Kevin Barry. He’s back in the village again after all them years in jail.’

‘What was he in jail for?’ Angie asked.

‘Ah, I keep forgettin’ you’ve only been here for a short time.’ He then repeated almost word for word the story Kate had heard earlier.

‘He was up there, supposedly workin’ for her, for a couple of years or so, and they did some partyin’, I can tell you!’ He’d finished polishing one glass and had stretched out to replace it on the shelf above the bar. ‘They were drunk as skunks half the time and the other half they were stoned out their minds!’ He reached across to the tray of freshly washed glasses to pick up another one to polish. ‘Once poor old Seymour came home and found them both out for the count in bed. He went ballistic!’

Again, Kate wondered how Fenella had found enough hours in the day for all these affairs. ‘I daresay he did,’ she murmured.

‘Then, to cap it all, one day around ten years or so ago,’ Des continued, ‘this Kevin, stoned and pissed, takes Fenella’s Land Rover and drives down towards the village and ploughs into poor little Lucy Grey on her way to post a letter.’

‘Oh my God!’ Angie exclaimed.

‘He got done for drivin’ under the influence of just about everythin’ you can think of and for killin’ poor little Lucy. Her mother’s never recovered.’ He paused while he put the money in the till. ‘He went to jail but apparently got out early for good behaviour. Good behaviour! That’s a bloody first!’

‘So why would he come back here?’ Kate asked.

‘I’ll tell you why he came back here, because he’s got a long-suffering girlfriend, that’s why. Jess Davey – so he’s probably moved in with her. Nobody else’d have him, would they? And don’t it seem funny that a couple of days after he comes back Fenella gets murdered? I reckon he went to see Fenella, wanting his job back, and she sent him away with a flea in his ear so he decided to have his revenge. Stands to reason it must be him.’

‘Well, if he’s guilty he’ll probably be miles away by now,’ Angie remarked, draining her gin.

Des waved his finger and gave a knowing smile. ‘Now, here’s the thing: Kevin’s still around! Saw him today, strollin’ in and out the shops up in Middle Tee, like he owned the bloomin’ place! Scrawny guy, he is, don’t look like he could say boo to a goose!’

‘And she seemed to be quite a tall lady,’ Kate remarked thoughtfully.

Des tapped his nose. ‘Makes no difference cos it’s the surprise element, see! She weren’t expectin’ it! You’ll be needin’ a refill, Angie?’

‘Definitely,’ Angie agreed.

‘But why would he come to the WI of all places?’ Kate asked. ‘Why didn’t he just finish her off up at Pendorian Manor? Surely, if she lives by herself most of the time, that would be the obvious place?’

Des shrugged. ‘Well, I hear Seymour’s back at the moment and they got staff, you know.’ He handed them a couple of menus. ‘Lasagne’s good.’

As they sipped their drinks and studied the menu Des said, ‘Of course it could have been Seymour.’

‘The husband?’

‘Yeah, poor long-suffering bastard.’ Des shook his head in mock despair. ‘He don’t want her, but he don’t want anyone else to have her either. Don’t forget he’s payin’ for all her shenanigans. I hear that him and Kevin was havin’ a drink in The Tinners that evenin’ too, so they was all around. Could be any of them!’

Could one woman really antagonise so many people?

‘I’d hate to be that dishy detective trying to work it all out,’ Angie said, taking a large slurp of her drink. ‘Where do you reckon he’s from, Des?’

‘He told me once he was from California. Don’t know what brought him over here,’ Des said, ‘but he’s been in this area for probably around five years now.’

Kate decided not to mention the fact that the dishy detective had seemed to know a fair bit about her. But perhaps that was understandable since she’d been one of the first on the scene. And not in a million years would she admit to Angie that she thought he was dishy too.

Four

When Kate consulted her list the following morning she saw that her first patient was Maureen Grey. Maureen Grey? Yes, of course, this was the mother of Lucy, the girl who was killed by Kevin Barry ten years ago. She wondered briefly if Maureen knew of Kevin’s return to the area.

Kate picked up Maureen’s notes and headed out into the waiting room. ‘Maureen Grey!’ she called. Maureen stood up. She was around Kate’s height of five feet eight, but thin and pale with rapidly greying hair. Kate could see that she’d been pretty once with her heart-shaped face and large blue eyes. She wore a shapeless beige coat and plainly wasn’t at all interested in her appearance.

Kate led Maureen back into the treatment room. ‘Hi! I’m Kate, the new practice nurse here, so we haven’t met before. What can I do for you?’ Kate smiled but Maureen’s face remained impassive. As Maureen sat down in the chair beside the desk, Kate was struck by how exhausted Maureen looked, her blue eyes sad and dull. And no wonder; she couldn’t imagine how she’d be able to go on living if anything so dreadful happened to either Tom or Jack, her two lovely sons.

‘I’m supposed to have my blood pressure checked because of