The Snow Day Murders (Edward Crisp Mysteries Book 2)

by Peter Boon

  Claire, Kimmy and I had barely stepped into the pub when I had Mum and Noah bombarding me trying to find out what was going on. But I had to tell Pedro first, before I spoke to anyone else. It was the right thing to do.

  The exception I’d made was to confide in Kimmy and Claire; I didn’t imagine breaking news of this kind would be something I’d be good at, particularly as I didn’t know Pedro very well, so I’d told them first and they’d come along to help break the news to him. But I had to get past Mum and Noah first.

  ‘I’m sorry, guys, I just need to speak to someone.’ I spied Pedro sat by the fireplace with Patrick, who I guessed had swapped with Alfie so he could go back to guarding the crime scene with Dylan; Pedro must have wondered where I’d got to, but luckily their seats weren’t in view of the back windows.

  Mum followed my gaze across the pub and I saw the penny drop. ‘Wait a minute, that must mean that it’s…’

  I nodded quietly. ‘Please, Mum, he has to know first. Just let me speak to him.’

  ‘Of course, love, of course. I can be tactful, you know.’ She stopped to look indignant before putting her sympathetic face back on. ‘I just can’t believe it. Poor Patrick. He’s not even been seeing her that long.’

  ‘Mum, no! It’s not Becky -’

  ‘That would make no sense, Linda,’ Noah interrupted. ‘Think about it. The whole mystery revolves around the affair accusation. If there’s a second body, it’s going to be linked to that. Look who Patrick is sat with.’

  ‘Oh my god, you’re right! So it’s -’

  Both of you, please,’ I said, waving my arms and shushing them desperately.

  ‘Edward, shall we…’ Claire gestured tactfully over to Pedro, suggesting we should get a move on. But it was too late. He was coming over.

  ‘Please,’ I whispered again. ‘Let me do this right. And we need to use the flat too.’

  ‘Yes, love, yes, of course. The poor man,’ Mum replied in hushed tones.

  ‘Edward, my friend, where have you been all this time?’ He stopped and saw all of our faces. ‘Wait, what is wrong? What is going on?’

  Claire stepped forward and took charge. ‘Pedro, we need to speak to you. But shall we go upstairs to Linda’s flat?’

  ‘Oh, for god’s sake, just tell him.’ We all turned to see Gloria behind us in the doorway, before she stepped forward menacingly. ‘It won’t be a surprise anyway, he probably killed her.’

  He looked puzzled. ‘Who, Frances? I didn’t, I have an alibi, Edward knows this and will tell the police.’

  ‘Still acting dumb, are we?’ she said mockingly with an evil-looking grin on her face. ‘No, not Frances, you idiot -’

  ‘Gloria, enough!’ Claire bellowed, the usually quietly spoken lady surprising all of us.

  ‘Yes, just shut up,’ Kimmy added.

  ‘What is she talking about?’ Pedro asked, looking around at everyone. Claire and Kimmy bowed their heads, Mum looked away, Noah attempted a sympathetic half-smile. Just Gloria met his eyes, looking straight at him defiantly. I saw the confusion on his face change to outright horror as he realised.

  ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,’ he uttered to himself in a deadly low, quiet, manic tone as he put his hands over his mouth and rocked on the spot. ‘Not my Cherry, not my Cherry, not my Cherry.’

  ‘Yes, your Cherry,’ Gloria raged at him. ‘As you well know, seeing as you killed her in jealous rage. And poor Frances Flowers too.’

  He looked at her in distraught disbelief. ‘No, no, don’t say that, I couldn’t… not my Cherry, I couldn’t, I couldn’t.’

  ‘Oh, but you could kill Frances Flowers, is that what you’re saying?’ she retorted with a sneer.

  ‘No, I didn’t kill anyone, I already said, I was with Claire at the B&B, Edward knows this.’ He looked at me desperately.

  ‘Oh don’t worry, I already know those two are friends with you behind my back!’ She shot a deathly look at Claire and Kimmy as she said that. ‘Got Claire to lie for you, have you?’

  ‘No he has not!’ Claire said, stepping towards her. ‘Now, stop this, Gloria, right now. You can’t behave like this. He’s just found out his wife is dead. Two of our friends are dead.’

  ‘One of our friends and one little tramp!’ Gloria shouted spitefully.

  ‘How dare you, how dare you!’ Pedro leapt forward but luckily Patrick grabbed him.

  ‘What are you going to do, kill me as well?’ she sniped back.

  ‘Right you, that’s enough!’ Mum said, finally stepping forward. I was surprised she’d let this go on as long as it had, but I suspect she was enjoying the drama. ‘He’s just found Cherry’s died. She’s lying out there in the cold, for god’s sake, have some respect!’

  Gloria moved towards Mum, meeting her glare. ‘Oh that’s rich coming from you. Don’t pretend you’re not enjoying the gossip, you nosy old cow.’

  Mum looked at her for a split second, in obvious disbelief, before taking a step back. And then she slapped her right across the face. ‘Now get out and leave us all alone.’

  Gloria looked livid as she rubbed her hand across her cheek. ‘You’ll pay for this, Linda Crisp. As soon as the police get here, I’m going to have them arrest you.’ She next turned her attention to her ex-husband. ‘And you, you’ve got what you deserve. Even if you do have an alibi and didn’t physically kill either of them, you as good as did with your stupid jealous tantrum. Reverend Flowers is a good man. I swear, if you’ve caused that man to do anything -’

  I didn’t get chance at the time to reflect on how odd that remark was, as she was interrupted.

  ‘Excuse me, did you mention the police? Because that’s me.’ PC Wood was stood behind her with a shy smile on his face. ‘Edward, I’ve got word from DI Appleby that we should keep the suspects under supervision in the church hall, until he can get through to formally question them. So I’m sorry, everyone, you’re going to have to come with me.’

  19

  ‘Suspects? This is outrageous, you can’t keep us here. It’s not like we can go anywhere anyway, have you seen how deep that snow is outside? Bloody idiots!’

  Gloria had reacted as well as you might predict about being classed as a suspect and kept in the freezing cold church hall. PC Wood had made the announcement much less diplomatically than I might have, so I’d tried to diffuse the situation by explaining that our ‘suspects’ were merely derived from the list of people who were present in the square during the incident this morning with Pedro and Reverend Flowers.

  Pedro had come along without fuss, saying that he’d do anything to clear his name and get justice for Cherry. Similarly, Claire and Kimmy were happy to help with the enquiries and also got to stay with Pedro to make sure he was okay. We’d picked up Everest Brown from his burger van outside, though I still needed to speak to him to see if he had any bearing on the case. Neither Reverend or Jacob Flowers were present yet, but we had one more person present this morning who had insisted she was a suspect.

  ‘Honestly, Edward, you can’t be excluding me just because I’m your mother. I was there this morning, so it’s only fair I’m treated as a suspect like everyone else.’ Nothing to do with being able to get the latest gossip first hand, I thought.

  Otherwise, we were just missing Reverend and Jacob Flowers. I’d left PC Wood supervising the group (with Noah’s help) and I was on my way to the Vicarage - just down the path from the church hall, but still a difficult trek in the thick snow - to see if I could find either of them. As I passed the church, I noticed the door open and the light on in the foyer.

  As I stepped into the building, I could hear a murmuring voice and soon saw the back of the Vicar’s head. He was knelt down in one of the pews, leaning forward with his head resting on his closed hands. I couldn’t hear what he was saying but it was clear they were prayers.

  I needed to speak to him, urgently, but I couldn’t interrupt a grieving man in prayer. I decided to try the Vicarage to see if Jaco
b was home, then try the Reverend again on the way back. I turned back towards the door when I heard a voice travel across the building, echoing with the church acoustics.

  ‘Please, don’t go on my account. If the church is open, it is open for everyone.’ He stood up and turned to see who it was. ‘Edward, come and join me. I thought you’d come and find me sooner or later. I know we need to speak.’

  His voice sounded outwardly jovial but I knew that couldn’t be his true emotion right now. I approached cautiously, not knowing what to expect from the second grieving husband I’d encountered that day. There was a good chance that one of them wasn’t actually grieving and they were really the killer. Could it be the Reverend? He certainly seemed to be number one suspect and was Appleby’s pick. But I wanted to keep an open mind.

  ‘Sorry to disturb you, Reverend. And I haven’t had chance to say again since earlier, I’m sorry about your wife.’

  ‘Thank you Edward, it’s okay. God sometimes moves in mysterious ways, I’m afraid.’ He returned to his seat in the pew and beckoned for me to do the same. ‘I just heard about Cherry McDonald too, another tragedy. I came here to offer a prayer for her.’

  We remained in silence for a few moments. I played his words about Cherry over in my head but I couldn’t detect anything from his pleasant, sympathetic tone. Were these the words of a kindly Reverend sad to see a young life end, while grieving for his beloved wife? Or was his true grief for Cherry, as his lover? He wasn’t giving anything away with the way he spoke about her, which I’m sure was intentional.

  ‘We haven’t spent much time together over the years, you and I, have we?’ he said. I wasn’t sure if he was going somewhere with this or just meaninglessly filling the silence. ‘I’ve seen you grow up, though. From a teenager, to a young man, to the man you are today. And your work with the police has been outstanding, I must say. The way you solved the murder of the Head Teacher like that. It made me very proud to know you.’

  ‘Thank you, Reverend.’ I didn’t know what else to do with this flattery other than thank him. I was still dissecting his words about Cherry before this, and wondering how he knew about her death so quickly. I decided to move the conversation on. ‘I’m sorry, but I need to ask you -’

  ‘You don’t need to ask me anything, Edward. I’ll tell you everything you need to know, quite gladly. I know you’re a good man and you won’t want to ask awkward questions on the day I’ve lost my wife. This way you won’t need to.’ I could see what Claire and Kimmy meant about his tendency for control. ‘Firstly, I was not having an affair with Cherry McDonald. Pedro Gonzalez got it wrong. Plain and simple.’

  ‘Who do you think she was having the affair with?’ I asked in reply.

  He looked surprised by this, he’d clearly expected me to accept his answer and move on. ‘I have no idea, but it wasn’t me.’

  ‘Of course, Reverend. Just that Pedro was certain he’d caught Cherry coming to the Vicarage when Mrs Flowers was at work, and a couple of other witnesses shared their suspicions too.’ I wanted to show him I was a worthy opponent and that he couldn’t strong-arm me, but I feared I’d pushed it too far.

  He stood up in the pew and peered down his glasses at me. ‘Edward, I think I’m right in saying you have no official authority on this case. And I’m sure that after several hours now, and with two bodies and a killer on the loose, the police will manage to get through. Therefore, I think it best to wait for the police. I have nothing more to say to you.’

  ‘Actually, the police have asked that all suspects wait under supervision in the church hall, I was going to escort you there after we’d spoken -’

  ‘If that’s the case, I’ll check with my friend the DCI and be along once I’ve spoken to him. Now I’d like you to leave please.’ His voice was firm and authoritative; I’d really touched a nerve.

  ‘Okay, I’m going. And I’m sorry if I upset you. I’m just trying to find out what happened,’ I managed as he started to usher me out. ‘Just one more thing, do you know where Jacob is? We need him to come to the church hall with you, once you’ve spoken to the DCI.’

  ‘Don’t you dare bring my son into this, he has nothing to do with it,’ he boomed. ‘Now get out!’

  After I left, I stood outside the church door a few moments trying to process what just happened. To say that hadn’t gone to plan was an understatement. I wasn’t expecting that reaction at all. Even Gloria had played along with my questions eventually after having her fun.

  But I knew what I had to work out in my head: was this a man with something to hide, or a grieving man who had just reached the end of his tether? I don’t know why but I found myself stepping back into the church foyer. I’m not sure looking back what I had in mind when I did that: to try and speak to Reverend Flowers again, or to see if he resumed praying or what. I just had a strong feeling that I’d left the conversation unresolved and I needed to go back.

  I could hear his voice again as I walked through the foyer. But it was louder this time and I soon realised he wasn’t praying. He was on the phone.

  ‘We have a problem. Edward Crisp has just been to see me poking round. I think he knows about the affair.’

  20

  Who was he talking to? It couldn’t be Cherry, who he’d been accused of having the affair with, unless his abilities as a Vicar included being able to communicate with those beyond the grave.

  I thought of those he was likely to confide in and had an idea. Luckily, most of the options were being supervised next door in the church hall.

  Immediately on my return, I went straight to PC Wood. ‘Has anyone in this room used their phone in the last few minutes?’

  ‘No, mate, not at all. I’ve had my eye on them the whole time,’ he said a little too brightly and enthusiastically. He was a terrible liar.

  ‘Dean,’ I said sternly. ‘This is important to the investigation. You don’t want DI Appleby to find out you were assisting a suspect.’

  ‘It wasn’t like that… I mean, I’d never do that.’

  ‘Dean,’ I repeated, trying to sound as stern as I could.

  ‘I promised I wouldn’t say,’ he replied weakly.

  ‘Who was it?’

  He sighed and looked down at the floor, embarrassed and defeated. ‘It was the bossy lady with all the perfume.’

  Gloria Hernandez. Of course it was.

  A couple of minutes later, Noah and I were in the small room off the main church hall with Gloria. I’d decided to bring Noah with me as he hadn’t been directly involved for a while, and I wasn’t sure I could face the full force of Gloria on my own. Besides, I was tired of Gloria being difficult and I knew it would annoy her.

  ‘If you must know, I had to ring my elderly mother to check she was okay. She lives the other side of the village and I was worried about her. You have seen the snow outside, haven’t you, Edward?’

  I couldn’t believe Gloria could answer me with such disdain in her voice when she was blatantly lying, but I was ready for her. ‘That’s fine, Gloria, that makes sense. And I hope your mum is okay. But are you alright just to show me your phone, so I can see the call?’

  Our eyes met in a deadly battle of wills. She knew what game I was playing and she was planning her next move. But when she took it, it wasn’t one I was expecting. She burst into tears.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Noah asked. ‘Why are you upset? Are you going to confess to the murder?’

  She looked up and gave him the most deathly stare, as if she was about to commit another one. I nudged him to be quiet but he didn’t take the hint.

  ‘What? We’re due to have a plot twist in the case, and I just thought that would be a good one.’ He smiled brightly at me.

  ‘Sorry, what?’ she muttered as she wiped her eyes. ‘What is he going on about? It’s bad enough you’ve seen me like this, without him talking absolute rubbish.’

  ‘That’s okay, Gloria. Don’t worry about him,’ I tried to say as firmly as I could (I’d been doing well but
her crying outburst had thrown me). ‘Whatever you’re upset about, I can help. Just tell me whatever it is you know.’

  ‘Ah yes, you’d love that, wouldn’t you? If you were such a good detective, you wouldn’t need my help.’

  ‘Your help?’ She was exasperating. ‘Gloria, you’re meant to be under supervision here for a reason. Yet you managed to con PC Wood into going to make a phone call. A phone call I heard the other end of. It was to Reverend Flowers. Saying he thinks I know about ‘the affair.’ The affair that you earlier said definitely wasn’t true, and since then the other party in the affair has been found dead. Now, it’s up to you if you wait for CID or tell me, but either way you’ve been caught out and you’re going to have to explain what’s going on.’

  She examined me for a second and burst out laughing. ‘Edward Crisp, you have been working on your assertiveness, haven’t you? Fine. Young man, do you want to get your little phone app ready to note what I say?’

  Noah nodded enthusiastically and opened up notes on his phone, completely missing her sarcasm.

  She played with her bright fluorescent fingernails, clearly thinking of how to start. ‘I first want to say that Reverend Flowers is a good man, one of the best I’ve met. And what I’m about to say doesn’t make him a killer. I still think it’s my awful ex-husband, he clearly got Claire to lie about his alibi for Frances’ murder.’

  I wanted her to stick to the story in hand. ‘But about Reverend Flowers, what were you going to say?’

  She picked at her nails again. ‘No. I won’t do it. I won’t break a confidence like that. I’m not going to talk.’

  ‘Gloria, you escaped police supervision to answer his call, and I already know his end of the conversation. So it’s not even breaking confidence, not really. Just confirming for us.’

  She stamped her feet on the floor from her chair. ‘Fine. Yes it was me who he spoke to. And yes, he told me that he thought you knew about the affair.’

  ‘His affair with Cherry McDonald?’ I knew this but I wanted her to explicitly say which affair she was referring to: