Death on the Lake by Jo Allen (early reader books TXT) 📗

wall, picking up bits of rock and weighing them in his hand, evaluating them and the spaces he wanted to fill. ‘It’s a dying art,’ Jude said, as she started the engine and drove along the narrow lane towards Howtown, ‘dry stone walling. Young Mr Helmsley is a bit of a craftsman. If I knew more about it I could have had a chat with him about it.’

‘He wasn’t very forthcoming, was he?’

‘Did you think not? I think he pretty much told us everything he had to say. I don’t know if he’s capable of hiding anything, although he’s one of those people that are naturally suspicious of the police.’

‘Probably with reason. I bet he drove back from the pub on Saturday night, and I bet he didn’t restrict himself to a tidy half pint.’

“I’m sure you’re right. Fortunately the only person he’s likely to do any damage to on this road is himself.’

‘For what it’s worth, I believe him.’

‘Yes. And let’s face it, there’s no suggestion at this stage that what happened to Summer wasn’t an accident.’

‘True. But I do wonder why she chose to go swimming of that particular piece of shoreline when it would have been so easy to go from somewhere else.’

‘I know. That niggles at me, too. I’d like to check up on her phone records. That’s one thing we can do. I’ll get young Chris onto that when I get back to the office. And you’d better head on up and break the news to the Neilsons. It’ll be interesting to see how those two lads react.’ But as he stopped at the pier at Howtown to let her out before he headed back to Penrith, Jude knew that unless the post-mortem or the crime scene assessment showed any signs of foul play, Summer’s death would be deemed an accident and go unresolved. And he, like Ashleigh, would find that profoundly unsatisfactory.

Eight

The hubbub on the lake path had died down, but there was a brooding sense of doom hanging over Waterside Lodge. It wasn’t over.

‘What do you think’s going on, Miranda?’ Will asked. His face had a pallor about it, and his usual chirpy attitude was subdued. The twins were only eighteen, Miranda reminded herself as she watched Ashleigh O’Halloran’s car drawing up at the front of the house, and death was very shocking at that age. At any age.

‘Come to arrest us, I bet.’ Ollie was the type who became morose when things got him down. ‘Hey, look on the bright side. It’s that sexy blonde detective. I’d quite like to be handcuffed to her.’

‘Ollie. That’s totally inappropriate.’ Miranda moved to reach the door before Ollie could say anything else to antagonise the woman. She herself had no fear of the police and it was always her policy to be polite to everyone, to keep on their right side. You never knew when you’d need a helping of good will, or who might unexpectedly turn out to be your guardian angel. ‘Good morning, Sergeant O’Halloran,’ she called, and checked her watch. Yes, it was still just morning, a couple of minutes to noon. ‘Is there any news?’

The detective closed and locked her car and approached the door before she answered. Miranda read that as a precursor of bad news. ‘I’m afraid so. We found Summer in the lake, just below Kailpot Crag.’

There was no need to ask if she was dead. ‘Oh, God. I’m so very sorry.’ For no particular reason, Miranda remembered Elizabeth. ‘Do we know what happened?’

‘It looks like an accident,’ Ashleigh O’Halloran said. She took a look over Miranda’s shoulder to where Ollie and Will lurked in the hallway, neither of them daring to come forward but yet not having the grace to step back. They were like that, always egging one another on until there was trouble. ‘Of course we have to investigate it thoroughly to be sure, and there will be a post-mortem and so on, but that’s certainly what it seems like at present.’

‘It’s such a tragic start to the summer. The boys will be devastated.’ But she thought they’d get over it pretty quickly, because neither of them had really cared about Summer and the world was too rich and exciting a place for them, with too many distractions.

‘I’m sure they will. We’d like to talk to them both again, at some stage.’

From behind there was a whisper and a snigger. The detective shot a reproachful glance over Miranda’s shoulder and her fingers tapped on the notebook that stuck out of her jacket pocket, as if to indicate that everything they said or did was noted. The snigger stopped.

‘I’m sure that’ll be fine. Although,’ said Miranda with a weary sigh, ‘I don’t know that any of us can tell you anything new.’

‘It’s really just to go over the statements and make sure that there’s nothing else you can tell us. There may be some further questions now we know where she was found. I’ll send someone down to do that later on this afternoon, if that’s all right.’

‘Oh…you won’t be doing that yourself?’

‘No. I’ll be up in Howtown.’

Miranda’s positivity sagged a little. The spectre of death weighed on her, but she’d thought talking to Ashleigh O’Halloran in private might have eased her. If she couldn’t tell her about Elizabeth she might at least have been able to glean some kind of reassurance that Summer’s death really was accidental, and that the shadow she felt upon her heart was a pale one from the present, not the dark one from the past. ‘Thank you for your help. And for coming to tell us. I do appreciate that you’re very busy.’

Fear. Fear was the worst thing. As she watched Ashleigh O’Halloran get back into her car and drive away, Miranda shivered. In her pocket, her phone pinged with a text. Flight just landed. Back by four o’clock.

That was something. At least with Robert home she had nothing to be afraid of, and there would be plenty of