by Peter Boon
‘Yes, they were fake. It wasn’t Cherry’s phone, it was a dummy phone, planted to frame the wrong man and hide the real killer. Her real phone is of course nowhere to be found, and I doubt it’s an old model like an Iphone 5. But, disturbingly, it wasn’t just the messages last night on there, the fake phone had been used over many weeks to leave a whole history of false evidence.’
‘But why?’ PC Wood asked. ‘I understand all that, but I don’t understand why. Why would Gloria go to all this trouble to murder both women?’
‘She didn’t murder both women, she only murdered Frances. But she was very much the mastermind behind Cherry’s murder.’
‘Someone else killed Cherry then? I’m confused,’ Wood said again.
‘Yes, they did. I always thought Cherry’s killer was likely a man;the strangle marks were from someone quite strong and bigger than her. I’d worked out how Gloria did Frances’ murder, but I suspected she had a male accomplice. In fact, PC Wood, I thought it might have been you.’
Me?’ he said incredulously.
‘The policeman did it twist!’ Noah shouted, clapping his hands together.
‘It occurred to me that the snowstorm was a convenient time for the murders to happen, when the police couldn’t get through. They’d have to rely on the local policeman for help, giving you the perfect opportunity you wouldn’t have otherwise had to tamper with the crime scenes.’
‘But I didn’t do it!’ he whined.
‘Don’t worry, I realised that very quickly,’ I said as I smiled at him. ‘In fact, you’ve been a brilliant help through the whole case, and a credit to the police force.’ The young PC beamed with pride.
‘So, who was her accomplice then?’ Kimmy asked. ‘There’s no one else left. Only Pedro, and he and Gloria hate each other.’
‘What makes you say they hate each other, Kimmy?’ I asked.
She looked confused. ‘Because we all know it. All the massive public rows, they even had one just now. They act like they hate each other.’
‘Exactly,’ I said. ‘They act like they hate each other. But what if that’s all it is, an act? A clever plot acted out over more than a year, all to get their hands on a fortune, murdering two innocent people in the process? Because that’s what happened, isn’t it, Pedro?’
33
Pedro looked nervous as all eyes in the room were on him. ‘Edward, my friend, you have made a mistake. I could never kill my Cherry, I loved her, even after she betrayed me.’
‘No you didn’t, and she didn’t betray you. The affair never existed. It was all a work of fiction created by you and Gloria. Like pretty much everything we’ve seen from both for you over the last year or so, including your fictitious break-up.’
What?’ Kimmy and Claire both said at once.
‘They might be divorced on paper for the sake of their plot, but Pedro and Gloria never actually broke up, not in reality. It’s all been planned the whole time, for Pedro to marry Cherry for her money.’
‘But she was telling everyone who’d listen that he killed Frances,’ Mum said.
‘Yes, to keep us all convinced. Which was easy, because he didn’t kill Frances, she did. While he had a genuine alibi with Claire at the B&B.’ I noticed how shocked Claire looked. ‘Poor Frances Flowers, she didn’t even have to die for them to get their hands on Cherry’s money.’
I looked over at Jacob, who hadn’t taken his eyes off Gloria. I continued. ‘It was important that Frances Flowers was found first, to keep the focus off Cherry’s death and Pedro. If Cherry was the only death, or the first death, Pedro would have been under immediate suspicion. Obviously, Reverend Flowers would be the main suspect of his own wife’s murder, especially after the affair revelation right before it.
‘Which was another part of the plan, Pedro knowing full well that he’d already killed Cherry, but hiding her well enough that Frances would be found first. The snowstorm couldn’t have been more perfect for their plan, and probably why they executed it when they did.’
So, everything we saw was fake?’
‘Yes, Mum, everything. The accusation and attack of Reverend Flowers in the square, every public row you’ve seen Gloria and Pedro have, even the big, public, dramatic break up they had on Christmas Day. It was all carefully planned fiction.’
Kimmy looked in absolute disbelief. ‘And you, Pedro, you pretended like you were being our friend in secret, behind Gloria’s back.’
‘They fooled everyone, Kimmy,’ I said. ‘Especially poor Cherry, who thought he’d fallen in love with her. He faked that love, even going as far as to marry her, which of course was to ensure he’d get her money. And his true love, Gloria, who he of course would have remarried afterwards, was in it with him the whole time.’
‘I can’t believe it,’ Mum said. ‘They both deserve Oscars.’
‘I know, Mum. When you reminded me about their public break-up on Christmas Day, I remember thinking that it was a drama worthy of a soap opera Christmas episode. That’s because it was. It was all carefully constructed drama.’
Pedro remained silent, but Gloria didn’t. ‘Listen, you little idiot. This is all rubbish, we don’t have to listen to this, you’ve lost the plot.’
‘I haven’t, Gloria, and you know I haven’t. I think the police will have an interesting time with your alibi now that Kimmy’s has fallen through, not to mention the trainers and the phone records for both phones: the fake one and Frances’ real one. But it wasn’t just that, you and Pedro weren’t as smart as you thought. You both gave me clues that you were involved.’
‘I guarantee you that we didn’t,’ she replied arrogantly, before adding hastily, ‘because we weren’t involved, of course.’
‘Part of the plan was that Pedro had married Cherry in secret, although only Kimmy and Claire knew that, and you definitely didn’t. But when I spoke to you the second time and mentioned Gloria as Pedro’s wife, you didn’t bat an eyelid. Because you already knew – it was part of your murderous plan.’
‘You stupid woman!’ Pedro shouted. ‘All this trouble and you give yourself away like that!’
‘Shut up, Pedro!’ she shouted back. ‘Who’s giving us away now, you idiot!’
I smiled to myself – I had them. But I couldn’t resist letting Pedro knew where he slipped up too. ‘And you, Pedro, you said to me earlier that you heard I’d spoken to your ex-wife. I thought Claire or Kimmy must have rang you as soon as you left the B&B, but you came up with some story about seeing me with Gloria. Of course, the real reason you knew was because she’d warned you, because you were in on it together. Not to mention that you referred to her in the past tense, saying you loved her, and that she was beautiful, before we’d even found her body.’
Pedro stood up, and I saw a flash of the rage he’d shown Reverend Flowers this morning when he attacked him: although that was faked, whereas this was entirely real. ‘You think you’re so clever, don’t you, my friend? You think you have worked everything out. Well, now you know what I am capable of, you better watch your back.’
‘Alright, I think we’ve heard enough! Come on, Wood,’ Appleby said as both men moved to grab Pedro, before Appleby read him his arrest rights.
‘And where do you think you’re going?’ I heard behind me, as I turned to see Kimmy and Claire stood in front of the pub door, blocking it from Gloria, who was trying to exit during the commotion with Pedro.
‘We need back-up… Gillespie, Bowie, Ortega, Underwood… come to the Chalk Inn now. We have suspects to apprehend,’ Appleby spoke into his radio. Moments later, several officers descended on the pub as everyone looked on in amazement.
Mum stood by the door as the police led Gloria and Pedro out. ‘Oh, Gloria, not that you’ll be around for a while, but just so you know… you’re barred.’
As Pedro passed us, Mum directed her last comment to me. ‘See, I told you it’s always the husband. I just had the wrong one.’
34
‘Edward, that was amazing! You were incredible, you were
just like Hercule Poirot. And what an ending to the mystery… the fake break-up solution, a rarely used trick in murder mysteries. I’m so glad you asked me here for a de-brief.’
I was in the church hall, formerly our incident room, and I’d asked Noah to meet me privately; I had a lot to discuss with him.
‘Thanks, Noah, I thought you’d like it. I’m just glad we got justice for Cherry and the Flowers family. But I wanted to talk to you about a specific part of what I said in the pub. Do you remember when I said Everest Brown got Reverend Flowers’ help to come find a member of his family? He actually came to look for his son.’
‘Oh yes, I knew he was a red herring!’ Noah said. ‘I guess his son must be Jacob, which is why he went to Reverend Flowers. Did Mrs Flowers have him before she met the Reverend?’
This had actually been my first theory before I’d realised the truth. ‘Not quite, Noah. The Reverend is Jacob’s real father. But it is someone else very close to home.’
He thought for a moment, and as the seconds passed I could see him falling deeper in thought as he looked ahead, miles away. I didn’t want to disturb him until he’d finished.
Finally, he spoke. ‘It’s me, isn’t it? I’m the secret son he came to find. Well, that’s alright if he is, I’ve never had a father before and he seems very nice. Is it me then?’
‘Yes, Noah, it is. Everest Brown is your father.’
35
I’d put the pieces together after I realised Everest wasn’t Jacob’s father. I did think he was for a while, and even suspected him briefly as being involved in the murders, but I soon knew that he wasn’t.
Mum was immediately worried they were going to lose their position fostering Noah, but Everest said he just wanted to get to know Noah; he wasn’t here to take over, and I could tell he was a genuine man.
I’d brought Noah back to the pub and introduced them both properly, and they were now sitting at a table together with Noah chatting away to him happily. Everest nodded me at appreciation as I glanced over on my way to the bar.
‘Edward, buddy.’ I turned around at the bar to see that Patrick had followed me from our table. ‘I wanted a quick word, just you and me. Well done for earlier, you were incredible. You blew us all away, it was fantastic.’
‘Thank you,’ I said, trying not to blush. I wasn’t looking for glory, I was just glad that we’d got to the truth.
‘The conversation about exes before though,’ he said. ‘That was really about Pedro and Gloria? You were checking your theory.’
‘You got me,’ I said. ‘But I’m glad you’re over Kat, I was actually worried for a moment there.’
‘Look who I’ve brought home!’ we turned to the pub door to see Appleby there, with PC Wood next to him. They both stepped aside to reveal Reverend Flowers.
‘Dad!’ Jacob shouted from his seat with Kimmy and Claire. He jumped up and ran to embrace his father. ‘I’m sorry, Dad, I’m so sorry.’
‘You have nothing to be sorry about, Jacob. I’m the one who’s sorry. Your mother would be proud of you.’ I looked away and gave them their private moment; I knew they’d have a lot to talk about later.
‘We have to go, mate,’ Appleby said as he and PC Wood came over to the bar. ‘The snow’s starting again and we don’t want to get stranded in the village, you’ve given us a lot of paperwork to get through. I just wanted to say, you did it again, Edward. I’m proud of you, and really grateful.’
‘Thank you, mate,’ PC Wood echoed. ‘I really enjoyed working with you.’
‘Thanks, both of you,’ I said as both men shook my hand. ‘And Dean, well done. You did our village and the police force proud.’
‘PC Wood, meet me outside in a sec, I just want a quick private word with Edward,’ Appleby said to the junior officer, who waved me goodbye as he left the pub. Appleby then leaned over confidentially. ‘He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m recommending that he soon becomes DC Wood. I’m asking if he can join my team in CID.’
With a wink and a smile, Appleby too left the pub. Just when I thought all the thank yous were over, I heard a voice behind me.
‘May God be with you, Edward.’
‘Reverend, I’m pleased to see you.’
‘Edward, I can never, ever repay you for what you did for my family. I hope my wife can rest at peace knowing you’ve brought justice for her. And may God forgive me for suspecting it was my son who killed her.’
I looked at the heartbroken face of the man in front of me. ‘Reverend, you were manipulated and tricked by two very evil people who knew exactly what they were doing. And from what I saw a moment ago, you and your son will be fine.’
He smiled at me. ‘Edward, I said a moment ago I can never repay you. I can’t, but I do have a small gesture to make as a thank you, one that I know will prevent you from tremendous earache in the years to come.’
I was utterly confused as he called out to my mum. ‘Linda, I have something to ask you. You’ve probably realised that Pedro and Gloria’s absence has created a couple of vacancies on my winter market. Would you like one of the spaces?’
‘Oh bless you, Reverend!’ Mum said, as she rushed to hug him.
Reverend Flowers simply gave a wink as he whispered to me. ‘God bless you, Edward Crisp.’
EDWARD'S NEXT MYSTERY...
Kieron Juniper is one of the most promising young footballers in England. Quickly leading his football club, Beachy Head United, to incredible Premiership success, he has become a local and national hero.
But he has a secret. One that will make history. He is about to come out and become the first openly gay Premier League footballer.
Until he is murdered by someone who doesn’t want that to happen.
Can Edward and Noah navigate a world of WAGs, drag queens and misbehaving millionaires to solve the DEATH IN THE CLOSET?
Acknowledgements
I can’t believe I’m here again. It seems like five minutes since I sat down to write the Who Killed Miss Finch? acknowledgments, when it’s actually been nearly five months.
I want to thank every reader, reviewer, social media follower, friend and family member who has supported me since. Every second since release date has been a dream come true, I still can’t quite believe it.
Again, I need to give a big thank you to Graeme, the most amazing partner anyone could ever wish for. You are my everything and I wouldn’t be where I am without your support.
My family have always been there for me, but in publishing my book I’ve been reminded what a supportive bunch you are, even 300 miles away. Mum, Dad, Karen, Steven, Sarah, Harry, Harry, Alex, George, Alice and Ada, I love you all. Alice, you will be giving me a run for my money as an author in a few years! And Mum, you are the perfect proof reader.
Writing can often be a lonely occupation but I have an amazing team in place who have helped bring The Snow Day Murders to you.
To the fantastic husband and wife duo, Ben and Marion, for everything you do for me. Marion, you are such a talented designer and I’m so privileged to work with you: thank you for the beautiful cover. Ben, my ‘go to’ writer friend, always on hand to answer any manner of stupid questions about writing, advertising, Amazon, Facebook... everything! Thank you a million.
Charlie, thank you for your work helping name characters and being a sounding board for my ideas; I think you had a hand in pretty much every new character name this time round, and it really helped me bring them to life. DC Gillespie will eventually get more to do, I promise!
Harry, our housemate, thank you for being a brilliant first pair of eyes and for all your feedback, suggestions and errors spotted. PC Wood is for you!
Jon, my amazing ad designer, I have never seen such a combination of kindness and talent, and I know everyone at Bowden House agrees!
The Grove Theatre - Steve, Dave and Ori - for all of your support in hosting my book launch and lending your premises to record my audiobook (Ori, you are a legend), and being all round great guys.
&n
bsp; To Kate and the team at Old Town Community Library, Eastbourne, thank you and I look forward to being able to do something in person really soon.
Juliette and Nigel at Heathcliff House, thank you for your support; Kimmy and Claire might be both women but there is a little of you two in their lovely B&B and homemade jams!
To one of my lovely readers, Chris George, thank you for the info about farmers’ help in previous local snowstorms. Very useful and I hope you like the farmer’s name!
My ARC team for all of your support in reading in advance and for all the kind words / reviews, with a special shout-out to the fabulous Bookstagrammers Phil, Hannah, Zoe, Lisa and Michelle for being incredible Instagram cheerleaders!
My dear friends, in Wigan, Manchester and Eastbourne - North and South, old and new - I love you all. Especially the ones who read a book for the first time in years to support me!
And to all the other writers I’ve met along the way; it’s so lovely to have such great people on the same journey as me.
Thanks again to all of you: love you all and I hope you all remain safe and well in these challenging times. See you all for book 3!
KEEP IN TOUCH!
Thank you for making it to the end of Edward's latest mystery; I hope you had as much fun reading as I did writing it! Did you figure out The Snow Day Murders?
I love to hear from readers, so if you have any feedback, spotted any errors you wanted to tell me about, or just wanted to say hello, you can reach me at [email protected].
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