A Body in Seaview Grange by Dee MacDonald (jenna bush book club TXT) 📗

‘Funny thing that it’s always you what finds them,’ said Gloria nastily. There was a murmur of disapproval from the others as they turned to stare at Gloria. ‘Well,’ she continued, in defence mode, ‘I suppose it’s coincidence.’

Sharon stopped weeping. ‘How dare you, Gloria Pratt! What a thing to say! You know I have everyone’s keys. How many times have I let myself into your place to do your cleaning or deliver a parcel? How many times?’ Her voice was rising to a crescendo.

‘Yes, well,’ said Gloria, backing down.

Ollie put an arm round his wife. ‘Calm yourself, love.’

‘Sod off!’ snapped Gloria, roughly pushing his arm away. ‘Somebody here is guilty of trying to finish us all off!’ With that she strode into Flat 3 and slammed the door behind her.

Ollie looked round at all the stunned faces and, for the first time, Kate felt sorry for him. ‘Sorry about that,’ he said. ‘She gets a bit upset.’

Ignoring this understatement, Kate said, ‘You should all go and brew yourselves a nice cup of tea. I’m sure Sharon will let you know just as soon as we hear from the hospital. Have you a notice board anywhere?’

‘Yes, in the residents’ lounge,’ Sharon said. ‘I’ll put a note up there the moment we hear from the hospital.’ She turned to Kate. ‘You’ll let me know, won’t you, if you hear anything before I do?’

‘Of course I will,’ Kate said, looking round at all the anxious faces. They weren’t to know that the Reverend had brought this on himself, and she wasn’t about to tell them. She checked to make sure she still had Sharon’s number. She knew too that she must contact the police in light of what appeared to be a suicide note. And which might, or might not, solve the case. She called the police station.

Kate accompanied Sharon, still visibly upset, back to The Stables.

‘They all think I’ve got something to do with it,’ she said, dabbing her eyes as she opened the door. ‘I’m the one with the keys, I’m the one who finds them.’ She deposited the keys and her bright pink mobile phone on the table.

‘Sharon,’ Kate said as they entered the kitchen, ‘Edgar Ellis tried to take his own life and you, hopefully, have saved him.’

Sharon nodded as she filled the kettle. ‘They all drive me barmy but I’d never hurt any of them,’ she said.

‘I know you wouldn’t. Sit down and let me make the tea.’ Kate pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and Sharon sat down shakily.

‘It’s just that I keep finding them,’ she said.

‘Just as well you do,’ Kate said firmly as she poured boiling water into the pot. ‘At least Edina had a chance and Edgar will hopefully be fine once they pump him out.’

‘Do you suppose he really did kill Edina?’ Sharon asked.

‘Difficult to say. Milk? Sugar?’

Sharon nodded. ‘What did he mean by saying that if it wasn’t for him she’d still be alive? The police will want to interview him, won’t they?’

‘I think he blamed himself for not checking on Edina more often,’ Kate replied. ‘He mentioned it to me once.’

‘They’ll be questioning us all again, I guess. I’m going to think twice before I let myself into any of them flats again, I can tell you! Next thing you know I’ll find that old bat Cornelius hanging from a hook in his ceiling! Isn’t that what bats do?’

Kate giggled. ‘Has he got a hook in his ceiling?’

‘Not that I’ve noticed.’ They caught each other’s eye and burst out laughing in a release of emotion.

‘That’s better,’ said Kate. ‘Now, relax! Old Edgar will probably survive and then he can explain why he did what he did.’

‘Well, he scared the daylights out of me.’ Sharon sipped her tea. ‘But I’m OK now.’

As Kate walked back to her car she thought about Sharon. She came across as a caring type of person and, furthermore, if she’d been the killer, then surely she wouldn’t have been so anxious to save Edgar’s life? Because, if he were dead – having left what could be construed as an admission of killing – then no one would suspect her.

When Kate rang the hospital for the fourth time that evening she was informed that the vicar had come round and was on the road to recovery. He’d be kept in overnight for observation, and the police were already at his bedside. She rang Sharon straight away to impart the news.

An hour later, just as Kate was hoping to have an early night, Bill Robson knocked on the door.

‘I’m sorry to call so late,’ he said, not sounding sorry at all, ‘but I’ve been up to Seaview to have a look at this suicide note.’

‘I left it on the table,’ Kate said, as she reluctantly let him in. ‘I gave the empty foils and the half-bottle of Scotch to the paramedics so they’d know how much he’d taken. Sharon found the note, which was under the bottle. But I didn’t touch anything else.’

‘Yes, quite,’ said Robson. ‘Thank you for phoning us so promptly. Could you just run through what happened from the time you arrived up there?’ He got his recorder out just as Woody arrived at the door.

Woody squeezed Kate’s arm. ‘What’s this I hear?’ he asked gently.

‘Mrs Palmer is about to make a statement,’ said Robson sternly.

‘OK, don’t mind me – I’ll make myself a coffee,’ Woody said, smiling at Kate. ‘And earwig from the kitchen.’

Kate recounted everything she could recall from the time she dropped the Potter sisters off at their doorway, following a frantic Sharon upstairs, phoning for an ambulance and trying in vain to bring Edgar Ellis round. She said that, as it was a suspected suicide, she’d thought there might be a note. And there it was.

‘He appears to be taking the blame for Miss Martinelli’s death,’ Robson remarked as he switched the recorder off. ‘So we may have our man.’

Kate didn’t think that