by Rebecca Tope
‘Not much of a party, really,’ Justine observed. ‘More like a wake. Or a post-mortem.’
Den plunged in, aware of violating something fragile. ‘We were talking about Penn – wondering why it all happened the way it did.’
Justine met his eyes for several seconds and he glimpsed a deep abiding agony in them before looking away.
‘You should ask Sheena,’ she said. ‘She understands.’
Everyone looked at her then. Drew was the first to speak. ‘She’s going to stick by him then, is she?’
‘Oh yes,’ Justine blurted bitterly. ‘Yes indeedy.’
‘Justine.’ Karen leant forward. ‘Did Penn really kidnap you?’
Exhaustedly, Justine nodded. ‘That’s really what did it, in the end.’ Meeting Den Cooper’s eyes again, she spoke directly to him. ‘She was a match, you see,’ she muttered, so indistinctly that he misheard her.
‘A smash?’ he repeated in puzzlement.
‘A match. Tissue type. Penn and Sarah were the same.’
Roma made a gurgling sound of disbelief.
‘That’s right, Mother. You needn’t have worried about getting yourself tested, after all. Penn had the test, but then buggered off to Poland before the results came through. I couldn’t contact her. Nobody had the address. And Sarah only had a few weeks left.’
‘But why didn’t you ever say?’
‘Because by the time the results arrived, you’d convinced me that it wasn’t worth all the pain and misery and false hopes that the whole process would have let us in for. I agreed with you, Mother, and you still won’t let me tell you that. You were so convinced you knew what I was thinking and feeling, you wouldn’t listen to anything I tried to say.’
‘But, Penn. How could you ever forgive her?’
‘She punished herself so much that in the end she was in a worse mess than I was. We comforted each other. But then there was Georgia and I realised what Penn was really like.’
‘Which was what?’ asked Den.
‘A coward. Always running away, lying to herself, me, everybody. She knew she’d never be able to face a bone marrow transplant, so she left the country. But she had the test because she was afraid of my reaction if she didn’t. I didn’t find out for ages that she was having an affair with Philip. They must have been so careful to make sure I wasn’t around.’
Den remembered the ‘J’ in Renton’s letter, who had to be out of the way before they could use the house.
Justine went on, ignoring his slight intake of breath. ‘She spent her whole life dodging unpleasantness, until she had everyone else thinking they must be crazy.’
‘So you killed her?’ suggested Den reluctantly. ‘Was it you?’
Justine smiled and shook her head. ‘No. Philip did it. I knew right away, as soon as I heard she was dead. I think he did it for Georgia, mainly, in the end. Penn’s cowardice killed that little girl – I believe she kicked the ladder away when she heard someone coming up. She thought it was me. And then she made up that stupid plan of abducting me. I could have died in that hovel for all she cared.’
‘Well, no,’ Roma corrected her coldly. And she recounted her conversation with Carlos. ‘Penn would never have deliberately killed anybody.’
‘She and Renton made a fine pair, didn’t they,’ said Drew.
‘I don’t think any of us comes out of it very well,’ said Roma sadly. Laurie reached over and gripped her hand. She clung to him like somebody drowning. Den and Maggs caught each other’s eye, locked in a long gaze.
‘Come on,’ Drew said to his wife. ‘Time to go home.’
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The geography in this story is a mix of reality and invention that sometimes requires challenging feats of logistics. Pitcombe, Bradbourne and North Staverton must be on the extreme westerly side of Somerset for it to work. This, we must therefore assume, is the case.
When the idea of bringing Drew and Den together first arose, in 2001, it also became regrettably apparent that their names are uncomfortably similar. So Den is often referred to as Cooper, in the hope of avoiding undue confusion.
This reissue, nearly ten years later, highlights many subtle changes, both in the world and in my style of writing. But I find the tone has remained largely unaltered in subsequent novels, and I have very much enjoyed revisiting Roma Millan in particular.
There have been some revisions made along the way. In the original hardback version, I found some instances where people not merely travelled like lightning, but were literally in two places at once. I hope I have ironed all these out now. Never, before or since, have I attempted to portray so many different viewpoints in one book. It has produced a hectic, headlong story that I hope will entertain, amuse and horrify.
About the Author
REBECCA TOPE lives on a smallholding in Herefordshire, with a full complement of livestock, but manages to travel the world and enjoy civilisation from time to time as well. Most of her varied experiences and activities find their way into her books, sooner or later. She is also the author of the Thea Osborne Cotswold series.
www.rebeccatope.com
By Rebecca Tope
A Cotswold Killing
A Cotswold Ordeal
Death in the Cotswolds
A Cotswold Mystery
Blood in the Cotswolds
Slaughter in the Cotswolds
Fear in the Cotswolds
A Grave in the Cotswolds
Deception in the Cotswolds
Grave Concerns
The Sting of Death
A Market for Murder
Copyright
Allison & Busby Limited
13 Charlotte Mews
London W1T 4EJ
www.allisonandbusby.com
Hardcover first published in Great Britain in 2002.
Paperback edition published 2011.
This ebook edition first published in 2011.
Copyright © 2002 by REBECCA TOPE
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–1005–8