A Body in the Village Hall by Dee MacDonald (best business books of all time .txt) 📗

‘We’ve got to prove him innocent – you cannot let him take the blame just because he deserted you all those years ago! He was Lucy’s dad, he is Jasmine’s dad, and why should Jasmine grow up thinking her dad’s a murderer?’

‘I think she’s right, Maureen,’ Delyse said as she walked towards the door. ‘Let me see where I put the tickets.’

Jasmine continued to build her house – seemingly oblivious to the conversation – but then looked up and said, ‘Where are you going, Auntie Maureen?’

Maureen wiped her eyes. ‘I promise I’ll be back very soon, Jasmine. I’ll come up to see you often. Promise.’

Kate was touched and surprised by this other deep bond that seemed to have developed overnight between Maureen and the little girl. Perhaps Maureen had finally found an outlet for her bottled-up maternal love.

Delyse came back into the room and, without further ado, handed several tickets to Kate. ‘One of these shows part of his debit-card number too. He must have kept his return one separate. I just don’t ever want to see that man again,’ she said, ‘but neither do I want him to get life for something he didn’t do, particularly for Jasmine’s sake.’

Kate took the tickets, studied them for a moment, noted the date and the last four digits of the banks card and inserted them carefully into her bag alongside the note. ‘Thank you.’

Then a little childish voice piped up, ‘Isn’t Daddy coming back again?’

It was Maureen who spoke. ‘I’m sure your daddy will always come back to see you. And I’m sure he’ll be back soon.’

Delyse cleared her throat. ‘Sometimes, Jasmine, mummies and daddies can’t always be together, but I’m sure your daddy will always be with you whenever he can.’

‘That’s OK,’ said Jasmine with a wisdom beyond her years, ‘because everyone in my class has a daddy they only see sometimes.’

Delyse rolled her eyes. ‘That’s twenty-first century Britain for you!’ she said, and Maureen smiled faintly.

‘Maureen, just one more thing. Did you leave a note on my pillow the night you left?’

Maureen stared at her with an astonished expression. ‘A note? What are you talking about?’

‘Just a thought,’ Kate said, ‘because somebody did.’

‘Well, it certainly wasn’t me,’ Maureen said.

‘I thought not, but you still need to come with me to clear your name and Billy’s.’

‘OK,’ Maureen said, standing up wearily, ‘I’ll come back with you to Cornwall.’

‘So how did you get here?’ Kate asked.

‘On the train from Bodmin of course,’ Maureen replied. ‘I got a lift in a delivery truck from Tinworthy. It had been unloading washing machines at the electrical store and the driver lived in Bodmin. I knew him by sight, reckoned he’d be safe enough.’

‘No flies on you, Maureen,’ Kate said.

There was little conversation between them on either the Tube or the train back to Windsor.

Maureen had never been to Windsor before. ‘Will I see the castle?’

‘Yes, from a distance,’ Kate replied.

There was an almost childlike innocence about Maureen. ‘Is this where they play rugby?’ she asked as the train pulled into Twickenham and, ‘Will we be near the airport?’ as a jet roared overhead. It was almost four o’clock before they got back to Shirley’s house. Kate refused the offer of a meal although she was, by this time, very hungry.

‘We’ll stop and have something to eat on the way home,’ she told Maureen as they bade farewell to Shirley.

‘Jasmine’s a very bright little girl,’ Maureen remarked as they joined the manic traffic on the M4.

‘You two got on well, didn’t you? Does she look like Billy?’

‘Yes, a little bit. She’s almost the same age as Lucy was when…’

‘It must have been hard for you to meet her then?’

‘No,’ Maureen said, ‘it wasn’t. I don’t know why but we just hit it off straight away. She’s a lovely kid – more like her mother than Billy, thank God. Delyse is a lovely person too.’

‘She seemed nice,’ Kate agreed, ‘and very attractive.’

‘She’s from Jamaica, you know,’ Maureen said, ‘but she came over here when she was a little girl, not much older than Jasmine is now. I’ll never understand why someone who looks like her could have fancied Billy in the first place. I mean, he’s not bad-looking but she could have had anybody.’

Kate laughed. ‘He must have something.’

‘He has a way with him,’ said Maureen, but omitted to mention what that might be.

‘Incidentally, Maureen, do you have a computer? A laptop, iPad, anything like that?’

‘No,’ she replied, ‘I don’t. I should get one I suppose but I’m not very interested. And I wouldn’t have a clue how to use it. Why do you ask?’

‘It could transform your life, put you in touch with people, order your stuff online.’

Maureen sniffed. ‘Don’t think I’ll bother.’

‘OK, just wondered.’ That was proof enough for Kate that Maureen hadn’t put the note on her pillow. ‘Now I’m not a big fan of motorway service places,’ Kate said as they approached the Swindon area, ‘so would you mind if we took an exit somewhere and found a nice pub? It’s my treat.’

It took a little time to find a suitable pub and, once they were parked, Kate picked up her bag and double-checked to make sure that the note and the tickets were still safely in there. Whoever had deposited that note on her pillow was still at large, but she was now confident it wasn’t Maureen.

Twenty-Four

Kate finally got home at half past ten, having stopped off for an hour to eat, and then taking Maureen home to make sure she was all right.

‘I’m contacting the police tomorrow,’ she told Maureen as they parted company. ‘I’ve several things to tell them.’

She wasn’t at all sure if Woody would be on duty on a Sunday. Probably not, but she planned to phone him anyway because this information couldn’t wait.

There was no sign of Angie, who was presumably in The Greedy Gull with Luke. Kate felt exhausted. She’d had two frantic days, continuously stressed and apprehensive. But it was all worth it to