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

When Kate got home she kicked off her shoes and made herself a cup of coffee. She’d leave the wine for later.

‘You’re looking very morose,’ Angie commented when she came in.

‘Oh, we’ve had an unexpected death,’ Kate said as she gulped her coffee.

‘Surely people are popping off all the time?’

‘Hmm. This one seems just a little suspicious to me.’

Angie stopped in her tracks and turned to glare at her sister. ‘Don’t tell me you’re super-sleuthing again! Haven’t you done enough detective work since we got here? Not everyone who pops their clogs is a murder victim, for God’s sake!’

‘It’s just that this woman was convinced someone wanted to kill her. Someone had pushed a note through her door recently, threatening her because they didn’t much like her singing. She’d already fallen down the stairs and now there’s a chance she’s been poisoned.’

Angie rolled her eyes heavenwards. ‘Perhaps she wasn’t looking where she was going? Perhaps she ate something dodgy?’

‘I’m not at all sure about that,’ Kate replied.

After an early supper it was still light enough to give the dog a short walk which gave Kate an excuse to call on Woody. He might of course be out, but it was worth a chance, she thought, as she crossed the old stone bridge over the River Pol. Then she had to call back Barney, who was already running up towards the path leading to Penhallion cliff. ‘We’re not going up there tonight!’ she shouted at him and, looking dejected, the dog turned back and followed her along the lane to Woody’s cottage.

‘Hey, I was just about to call you,’ Woody said, opening the door with his mobile in his hand. ‘Wondered if you fancied going out for a drink?’ He stood back to let her in. ‘Or we could have a drink here?’

‘That would be great,’ Kate said, heading into the sitting room, ‘because I really need to talk to you about something.’ The dog promptly settled himself in front of the stove.

Woody raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘And what might that be?’ he asked as he followed them in. ‘Wine? Gin? Scotch?’

‘Wine would be lovely,’ Kate replied, taking off her coat and collapsing onto the settee. ‘I’ve had quite a day!’

A couple of minutes later Woody reappeared with a bottle of Malbec and two glasses. ‘Relax!’ he ordered, handing her a glass. ‘Get yourself on the outside of that!’

Kate took a grateful sip. ‘I just want to get your opinion on something.’

‘Like what?’ He sat down next to her and put his arm round her shoulders.

‘Remember I told you about Edina Martinelli up at Seaview Grange? The woman who broke her ankle after falling down the stairs and was convinced that someone was trying to kill her?’

He nodded. ‘What’s she done now?’

‘She’s died. This afternoon. And the hospital think it might be something to do with the medication we prescribed her. What if she was poisoned by her drugs?’

Woody took a deep breath. ‘Are they going to do an autopsy?’

‘Yes, they are, so Dr Ross said.’

‘Well, you’ll find out the results sooner or later. But she probably just ate something dodgy.’

‘Eating something dodgy rarely has such dramatic results,’ Kate said. ‘She was convinced someone wanted to kill her after getting that note, and then she had that fall down the stairs. What if someone was trying to kill her? What if she was poisoned?’

‘Oh Kate,’ he said. ‘It’s highly unlikely she was poisoned. Most likely she tripped down the stairs in the first place because she wasn’t looking where she was going and blamed it on the vacuum cleaner or whatever. And people do die from severe food poisoning every day.’

‘I have a feeling about this,’ Kate said, ‘because it’s all too much of a coincidence. And apparently, she got on the other residents’ nerves because of her endless singing. And, according to some of them, her voice had gone long ago.’

‘Maybe so, but murder’s a bit extreme, wouldn’t you say?’

Kate ignored him. ‘And then there was the stepson I told you about – remember?’

‘Yes, yes, but don’t take it all so seriously. You’ll know soon enough when the autopsy results come through.’ Woody gulped some wine. ‘Why did I ever get involved with such a darned persistent woman?’

Kate laughed, feeling relaxed for the first time that day. ‘I don’t know why, but I’m really glad you did!’

Five

Two days after Edina’s final departure from Seaview Grange, Kate was asked to attend to the newly replaced knee of the Reverend Edgar Ellis who lived in Flat 6.

‘We know how much you like making house calls,’ Denise said.

Even so, with the rain coming in horizontally, as it frequently did in North Cornwall, it would have been a relief to have a day in the treatment room, tending to the medical problems of the more mobile inhabitants of Higher, Middle and Lower Tinworthy. Still, it was an ideal opportunity to meet more of the residents of Seaview Grange.

Kate hummed to herself as she drove, windscreen wipers going frantically, up – via the rarefied heights of Higher Tinworthy – and parked outside the windswept Grange. She thought of the last time she’d been up here when poor Edina had been taken away in the ambulance.

Kate wandered into the large hallway and there were the two well-nourished Pratts and the lugubrious Cornelius Crow chatting to Sharon again. They stopped and turned when they saw Kate.

‘I’ve come to see the Reverend Edgar Ellis in Flat 6,’ Kate said.

‘Oh, him!’ Gloria Pratt said dismissively.

‘Upstairs, door on the right,’ said Sharon. ‘He’ll still be in shock, I expect, poor old soul. He’s shut himself away the last couple of days since Edina was taken because he was besotted with her, wasn’t he?’ She looked at the others, who nodded.

As Kate made her way upstairs, she could hear that animated conversation had resumed in the hallway. ‘What do you really think happened to Edina Martinelli, Mr Crow?’ The voice belonged to Gloria Pratt. ‘Do you honestly think