About to refuse, Libby changed her mind when Simon joined the appeal. “The least we can do is offer you some of our lunch.”
The heady smell of still-warm pastries made Libby’s stomach growl. “Just an Eccles cake, then.”
A smile still hovered over her face as she drove back to Exham. Mandy was taking the afternoon shift at the bakery, so Libby had the rest of the day free. She collected Shipley, a friendly, noisy springer spaniel, from her indolent friend Marina, and let him loose on the beach.
“Hi, Libby.” Her sunny mood evaporated in a flash.
“Max.”
“Still mad at me? How many times do I have to say I’m sorry? I had to leave town at short notice.” Max threw a stick for his dog, Bear, the owner of four vast paws and the shaggiest coat Libby had ever seen. Bear loped steadily along the sand to fetch it, while Shipley raced back and forth, barking, ineffective, and wild with excitement.
Max didn’t look sorry. In fact, he’d gained a light tan, that made his Scandinavian eyes gleam brighter and his thick silver hair shimmer. He was grinning, expecting to be forgiven. Libby exaggerated her shrug. “It’s quite all right. You don’t have to tell me when you go away. Anyway, it wasn’t you I missed. It was Bear.”
Max threw the stick again. “I couldn’t leave him with you. He’s too big for your cottage, so I sent him off to have a little holiday with a farmer friend of mine.”
“Well, I’m glad he’s back.” Of course, Max was right. Bear had stayed at her cottage before, and the carpets had never been the same, but Libby loved the giant animal more than home furnishings.
Max pulled a box from the pocket of his waxed jacket. “I brought you a present. A peace offering.”
Libby narrowed her eyes, suspicious. “What is it?”
“OK, if you don’t want it...”
“Of course, I want it. I never refuse presents.” Libby unfolded layers of tissue paper inside the little blue box. “A fridge magnet. How nice.”
“Look what it says. World’s Greatest Cook. That’s you.”
She tried not to laugh. “You think flattery will get you anywhere. My son gave me one just like it, years ago, when he was about twelve.”
“I may be childish, but am I forgiven?”
Why be grumpy while the sun’s shining? “Maybe. My book came out, by the way. Baking at the Beach is now available world-wide. I’m just waiting for my own copies to arrive.”
“No. Really? Why didn’t you tell me? Wait, because I wasn’t here. Now I really do feel bad.”
“Good. Then I forgive you.”
“To make up, I’ll buy your first hardback copy.”
Libby snorted. “Can’t imagine you baking cakes, somehow.” She found a length of driftwood and called to the spaniel. “Shipley, here’s a stick, just for you. Bear, leave it alone.” She held the sheepdog back, fondling the giant ears.
They’d already wandered past the nine-legged lighthouse, where Libby had discovered Susie Bennett’s body last year. Exham on Sea disappeared from view, hidden by sand dunes, as they rounded the bend. Max cleared his throat. “Libby, there’s something I need to...” He broke off and rolled his eyes, as his phone trilled. “Sorry.” He stiffened. “What? How many?” A sharp intake of breath. “I’ll be there.”
“What’s the matter?”
“There’s been an accident. The cycling club, out on the Levels.”
That couldn’t be right. Everyone was fine when Libby left. “What sort of accident? A road crash?”
“Apparently not.”
“Then what? Wait!” Max was already pounding back along the beach, dogs galloping behind. Libby followed, scrambling awkwardly across the sand. Panting, she struggled up the steps from the beach to the road.
Max threw open the door of his Land Rover to let the dogs pile in. “That was Claire, Joe’s wife, on the phone. She’s meeting us at the scene.”
“Is it serious?”
“Claire doesn’t know. They’re out at the wildlife reserve.”
Earlier, Libby had exchanged a distant, formal nod with Joe, Max’s son, down on the Levels. Their relationship was tricky. A detective sergeant in the local police force, he had as little time for Libby as he had for his father.
An ambulance left as Max and Libby arrived at the river. “There he is.” Joe lay on the grass, face chalk-white, eyes closed. A paramedic nearby saw Max and came over, squatting beside Joe. “Looks like a touch of food poisoning, sir. Half the club have keeled over.”
“Food poisoning? Could it cause all this?” Max waved a hand at a scene of disaster. A few hardy cyclists hadn’t actually passed out, but lay with their backs propped against tree trunks, clutching silvery blankets and shivering. Over by the stream, Simon Logan bent double, wiping his mouth. Had everyone been poisoned? Libby’s own stomach lurched and she swallowed saliva. The sandwiches? No, surely not...
The young paramedic struggled to her feet. “Poison is poison. We’ll get people to hospital, then we’ll know more.”
The officer in charge, Chief Inspector Arnold, nodded to Max. “Sorry to see that lad of yours is involved, Max, but we need to treat this as a crime scene.” He peered at Libby. “Ah, Mrs Forest. I gather most of the cyclists bought their sandwiches at Frank’s bakery?”
The knot in Libby’s stomach tightened. “Well―yes, they did.” She licked dry lips. “I brought the food out here...”
Max broke in. “Don’t say any more.”
Libby gulped. “You mean...”
“Don’t say anything that might incriminate you. Or the bakery.”
Libby’s breath caught in her throat. “Do I need a lawyer?”
The Chief Inspector’s face was inscrutable. “We’ll talk to you properly, later. There’s no need to worry, Mrs Forest, until we find out exactly what happened here.”
Libby shivered. “The people in the first ambulance. Are they OK?”
“I’m afraid not. Kevin Batty and Vince Lane are dead.”
The Exham on Sea mysteries include a cast of local characters, including Mandy the teenage Goth, Frank the baker and Detective Sergeant Joe Ramshore, Max's estranged son. The green fields, rolling hills and sandy beaches of the West Country provide the perfect setting for crime, intrigue and mystery.
For lovers of Agatha Christie novels, Midsomer Murders, lovable pets and cake, the series offers a continuing supply of quick crime stories, each one short enough to read in one sitting, as Libby solves a mixture of intriguing mysteries and uncovers the secrets of the small town's past.
Next in the series: Download Murder on the Levels here.
The Exham on Sea Mysteries:
Contemporary Cosy Crime Fiction
Murder at the Lighthouse 2015
Murder on the Levels 2016
The Thatcham Hall Mysteries:
Victorian Fiction
An Independent Woman 2014
Danger at Thatcham Hall 2015
Free Kindle Ebook: True Crime
Murder Most Victorian 2015
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The Thatcham Hall Mysteries
Secrets, lies, murders and mysteries abound at Thatcham Hall, a fictional grand country house set in the green, rolling hills of Victorian England.
An Independent Woman
Philomena, a determined orphan from the slums of Victorian London, tumbles from one disastrous plan to another, haunted by terrifying dreams of a man with cold green eyes.
Impatient with the social conventions she encounters in the great English country house, Thatcham Hall, she meets and crosses swords with the handsome, widowed Lord Thatcham, complicating life still further by falling for a man with secrets of his own.
CLICK HERE to start reading An Independent Woman now.
Danger at Thatcham Hall
Ambitious lawyer Nelson Roberts, embittered by war and jilted by his fianc
ée, trusts no one. He jumps at the chance to make a name for himself by solving the mysterious thefts and violence at Thatcham Hall, a country house in Victorian England.
Olivia Martin, headstrong and talented, dreams of a career as a musician and will do anything it takes to avoid a looming miserable fate as a governess.
The pair stumble on a body. Is the farm-hand’s death a simple accident, or something more sinister? Who attacked the livestock at the Hall and why are the villagers so reluctant to talk? Can Nelson and Olivia overcome their differences and join forces to unravel the web of evil that imperils the Hall.
CLICK HERE to start reading Danger at Thatcham Hall now.
Free Kindle: Murder Most Victorian
True Crime in Victorian England.
Love true crime from the Victorian era? Here’s a free collection of true murder and crime stories from the 19th century, ready to download for your Kindle. It won’t cost you a farthing.
Find out more here
Author's Note
The characters and events described in the Exham on Sea Mysteries are all entirely fictitious. Some landmarks and places of interest may strike my neighbours and fellow residents of Somerset, and particularly of Burnham on Sea, as familiar. I’ve taken some liberties with a few locations.
Copyright ©Frances Evesham 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews.
Murder at the Lighthouse: An Exham on Sea Cosy Mystery (Exham on Sea Cosy Crime Mysteries Book 1) Page 12