Small Town Secrets (Some Very English Murders Book 2)

by Issy Brooke

This time she went into Facebook. There were over a hundred notifications, and her stomach began to clench. She didn’t understand what was going on. Somehow, she’d become friends with dozens of people that she didn’t know, and half of them were tagging her in photos offering cheap shoes for sale.

  She closed it down.

  Then, with a cold trickle of fear on her skin, she opened the browser again, and checked her craft website. She didn’t log into the admin side. She just visited it as a general member of the public would see it.

  Gone! All her photos, all her carefully thought-out bits of text – all gone now, and replaced by some cheap and tacky photos advertising fake designer clothing.

  She logged out again and slammed the laptop lid closed.

  Who exactly were her rivals in the local craft scene? She tried to remember their names.

  Things had just become personal.

  Chapter Eleven

  Penny was up early on Tuesday after a fitful and unsatisfying night’s sleep. Of course, the local arts and crafts world was as cut throat as anything she’d encountered in her television career in London; people were people, with the same jealousies and ambitions, wherever you went. It was saddening and it was maddening. She should have expected it.

  But it was upsetting. “I tried to log into the admin panel,” she told Cath on the phone. She had the phone clamped to one ear, and the other hand held Kali’s lead as they walked along the slipe in the early morning. She nodded and waved at the other regular dog walkers that she recognised, although she knew the names of their animals more reliably than she knew the names of the owners.

  “Could you get in at all?” Cath asked. She was on her hands-free set, driving up to work in Lincoln, and occasionally her side of the conversation would stop as she had to concentrate more fully on driving.

  “Nope. Whoever did it had hacked their way in and changed my password! I then had to jump through hoops with tech support, except they all seem to be based in America and they are all in bed at the moment. I’ve got to scan and email some proof of identity or something. It’s a nightmare!”

  “I’m really sorry to hear this. Any ideas? Could it be a random attack?”

  “It’s personal and it’s targeted,” Penny said. She stamped angrily along the hard-baked earth. Kali was looking longingly at the river, and Penny tugged her away before she launched herself into the water. “Now I’ve started to go to craft fairs that are further afield, I’m coming against people who’ve been in the business for longer, and they don’t like newcomers. And the thing is, using floral motives and nature images – like I do – is hardly original. I mean, there’s no copyright on a cowslip, is there? But people do get resentful. And when I turn up at a fair, with my bags selling more than their horrible creations, they get jealous.”

  “Ouch. I thought it was all a lovey-dovey world of women in floaty skirts wearing crystals.”

  Penny laughed. “I can assure you it’s daggers drawn, sometimes.”

  “Well, I’ve got news about the murder case that might take your mind off it,” Cath said.

  “Oh! Really? Go on.”

  “Well, I thought about Eric, because I know you’re quite concerned about him. We wanted to know where he was on the night of Warren’s murder. He said he was at home, but he didn’t have an alibi, because his wife was at a party in Lincoln and Nina was at a friend’s house. We did the routine checks, of course. Nina and her friend had gone to a take-away and there is CCTV confirming that. But when we went to the host of the party that Eric’s wife, Jane, was supposed to have been at…”

  “What? Go on.”

  “Jane wasn’t at the party at all,” Cath said.

  “Okay, so where was she?”

  “We don’t know. But we are going to talk to her today.”

  “Did Eric really know that Jane wasn’t where she said she was?” Penny mused. “Or is she having an affair, perhaps?” Penny felt uncomfortable. “It’s pretty horrible how these secrets come out like this.”

  “There’s nothing to say one way or the other yet,” Cath said with a note of caution in her voice. “Don’t jump to any conclusions. There are a million reasons why Jane might have been somewhere else. Perhaps she went to see a friend in crisis.”

  “True, true. On the other hand,” Penny said, “if I were married to Eric I’d have an affair.”

  “Penny!”

  “Sorry. But it is true.”

  “Look, I’m getting to Lincoln now, so I need my wits about me. I’ll call you tonight and let you know if anything new has come up.”

  “Okay.”

  * * * *

  Penny didn’t want to look at her website again for a few hours. The whole thing was making her feel ill. Instead, she prowled around her back garden and half-heartedly tidied up the herbaceous borders, with Kali lying under a shady bush and watching with interest.

  Her thoughts kept returning to Eric, and Nina, and the niggling doubts she was having. Nina had been living in Scotland, with a partner and a good job, after completing her degree. She seemed to be a mature young lady with a good outlook on life.

  Her father was exactly the sort of overbearing man that daughters moved away from, Penny thought. Although Penny herself had moved away from her own parents; so it was a natural thing, too, she told herself and she probably ought not read too much into it.

  She’d received a postcard from her parents the previous week which showed a cruise ship and a backdrop of idyllic-looking Greek islands. It had been sent before their email declaring that they were home for a while. She was delighted for them. She imagined they would still be travelling the world when they were in motorised wheelchairs. She certainly hoped so.

  Nina was an only child, as far as Penny knew. Sometimes Penny felt like an only child, too. Her younger sister, Ariadne, had been born when Penny was eleven and just starting high school. Penny had been a keen, over-achieving sort of student and Ariadne was an uninteresting ball of crying and leaking for the first few years. By the time Ariadne was walking and talking, Penny was getting caught up in the heady and all-consuming task of being a teenager, which was a full-time job involving crazy make-up, loud arguments, slammed doors and music with swearing in.

  Penny straightened up, and her back sent a ripple of pain through the muscles. It was still a surprise to her, now, when she found that her body wouldn’t do what it always used to do. She took her time getting to her feet, and brushed the earth from her hands as she surveyed her handiwork.

  There were fewer weeds, but other than that, the border didn’t look much different.

  Ariadne, she thought as she turned to go back into the kitchen. She only lived an hour away, with her sullen husband who made Penny’s flesh crawl, and the brood of children that seemed to span all the ages from toddler to young adult. She’d never understood Ariadne’s choices.

  No, that wasn’t quite true. Ariadne seemed to think that Penny looked down on her for becoming a homemaker – she’d said as much, in a shouted argument, two years ago. That was the last time they’d spoken to one another.

  But Penny didn’t have an issue with Ariadne wanting husband and family and home and children.

  But why that family, that husband, those children?

  Kali nudged the backs of Penny’s legs. “Manners,” Penny said, stepping aside to let the dog into the kitchen. Penny looked at the bread in its plastic wrapper on the counter.

  She didn’t fancy sandwiches for lunch.

  She’d go up to the fast food place on the northern edge of town, she decided.

  Maybe Nina would be there.

  * * * *

  Penny decided to walk up through town and out along the northern road that led to a large roundabout. Here, there was a twenty-four hour fuel station and the fast food place. One highway ran north to Lincoln, and another main road went to the east. South, there were two roads – one led into the town, and the other was the western bypass. Penny had heard that the building of the bypass had b
een the source of much contention in the town, and even now, twenty years later, it still split opinion. Some were in favour of the bypass, claiming that the lorries and trucks thundering through Upper Glenfield’s quiet and narrow roads were ruining the buildings and making the streets dangerous. Those who opposed it were the local traders, who said that the lack of passing traffic would kill their businesses.

  Yet since the bypass had been built, Upper Glenfield had remained a thriving town, and Penny liked being able to buy her meat from the butcher’s and her veg from the greengrocer’s.

  The roundabout was a busy one and it took her some time to cross the roads. Most people drove up to the fast food restaurant, and it wasn’t designed for pedestrians to access. She had to hurl herself over the road in a gap between two cars and a tractor, which was mercifully chugging along slowly and creating a huge tailback.

  The fast food restaurant could have been anywhere in the world – they all looked the same. She’d been in identical ones in Mongolia, Australia and Japan. The serving staff were all young, and had wide, fake smiles.

  But Nina’s became genuine when she recognised Penny as she approached the brightly-lit counter. Nina tapped her colleague on the arm. “Davey, I’ll get this.”

  “Aren’t you going on your break?”

  “In a moment. Hi, Penny. What can I get you?”

  “Something that’s really bad for me.”

  “That’s pretty much everything we serve here. Care to narrow it down at all?”

  “A cheeseburger, I think. Thanks.”

  While Nina rang the order through, adding on fries and a drink, she said, “So, how is the calendar coming along? I saw some of the shots that dad took at the shoot in the forge. I think they turned out really well. That husky is so cute.”

  “I haven’t looked at them yet. Have they been uploaded?”

  “Yes, most of them, I think.”

  “I’ll check them out.” If my access to that website hasn’t been compromised somehow, she thought.

  Then there was an awkward silence as Penny tried to come up with a subtle way to ask about Nina and Warren. But there was none, so she simply took a deep breath and blundered in. Bare-faced cheek hadn’t worked for her yet; she’d tried it before. But there was always a first time.

  “Nina, did anything happen between you and Warren that upset your dad?”

  The young woman laughed, which was totally unexpected. Penny had thought that Nina would be upset about the whole thing, like her dad was. And when Lucy had mentioned it, back in the shop at the dogs’ home, Nina had reacted badly. But maybe it was getting easier with distance.

  Nina’s laughter faded, and she sighed and said, “Oh, what do you think? Warren had always left me alone before. You know, when I used to come home and visit my folks. But when I came back this time, because of splitting up with … Gordon … obviously he saw me as fair game because of being single. I don’t know if you know, but Warren was really… umm…”

  “I know,” Penny assured her. “He was persistent. He came onto me when I first moved here.”

  “Right. Okay, so you know what he was like. And I went with dad to the camera club because I’d had the idea for the calendar, and Warren was there, and he was all over me, and it was horrible but nothing I couldn’t handle, you know? I mean, I’m twenty-six and I’ve been away from home for eight years. I’ve dealt with creeps before.”

  “Of course,” Penny said. “I don’t doubt it.”

  “Well, you might not, but dad did. He went into full-on over-protective father mode. Oh – here’s your order. Look, I’m on my break now. Do you want to go outside and sit in the sun?”

  “Sure, that would be great.”

  They settled themselves on a wooden bench at the back of the restaurant and away from the roads, though the traffic noise was still loud. Penny tipped the thin American-style fries into the cardboard lid of the burger box, and pushed it across the table so that Nina could help herself.

  “Your dad is pretty angry about Warren,” Penny said. “Is he just angry about, um, men in your life?”

  “Oh, dad is angry about everything, all the time.” Nina shook her head sadly. “It was a mistake coming home, but dad always sounded so sad on the phone when I spoke to him, and when my relationship broke down, he rang me every day, telling me I needed to be in the family home to recover.”

  “I think I can understand that. He wants to look after you.”

  “I know,” Nina said. “I’ll always be his little girl. I get that. But he’s so strangely needy, and I don’t know why. I have got to move out again. I took this job just to get out of the house for a few hours a day. I’ve got some savings, and I think I might rent a bedsit or flat in Nottingham. I’ll have better job prospects there.”

  “Have you told your dad this?” Penny asked.

  “Goodness me, no, not yet. I don’t know if he’d be angry or upset. Both, probably.”

  Penny tucked into her burger and Nina sighed. She reached out for the drink she’d brought with her, and froze, her hand in mid-air.

  “Dad.”

  Penny turned and saw Eric coming around the side of the restaurant, his face tense and drawn, and his brows low. “Nina! There you are.” When he saw Penny he became even more angry, and he strode over the parched yellow grass to reach them.

  “What’s up, dad?” Nina asked.

  “They are questioning your mother! The police!” he said, and he glared at Penny. “This is all your doing, isn’t it?”

  “I’m not up there, questioning her. I’m not the police,” Penny said defiantly.

  “What are they asking her? Why her?” Nina said, her voice strained.

  Eric set his mouth in a thin line and fixed his gaze on Penny. She stared back. “Are you going to tell her?”

  “Tell me what?” Nina pleaded.

  Penny turned back to the young woman, and said softly, with as much kindness as she could, “It’s probably nothing but they just need to check out the discrepancies, that’s all. I do have some information about this … don’t ask me how … but your mum wasn’t at the party that she said she was at.”

  “Right.” Nina nodded and fiddled with her drink. Then she looked up at Eric, and asked, flatly, “So, is she having an affair, dad?”

  “We’re a family!” he hissed back.

  “That’s not an answer. Is she? I mean, I wouldn’t blame her.”

  Penny wanted, very suddenly, to be anywhere but where she was. Eric’s face was pale and he looked about to explode. “How dare you!” he said, his voice rising. “You need to come home, right now.”

  “What, like I’m fifteen? Dad, I’m an adult, and I’m at work. You can’t just order me.”

  “You are living under my roof, and–”

  “Well, maybe that’s about to change.” Nina stood up and began to gather the litter onto the tray. “I’m going to move out. I need to get a better job so I’m going to move to Nottingham.”

  “You can’t!” he yelled. “You can’t. We’re a family. Your mother needs you, Nina. Don’t you see? She needs you, or she wouldn’t be having an affair.”

  “Don’t you dare put this on me!” Nina shouted back.

  Penny tried to hunch her shoulders and make herself invisible. Father and daughter faced one another, both furious and both stubborn.

  “We need you!” her father repeated, illogically, as far as Penny was concerned.

  “You need to have a look at yourself,” Nina shot back. She snatched up the tray. “I need to get back to my shift. I’ll be moving out, soon. I need a life again. I need to get my own space, new friends, a new life. A new boyfriend, maybe.”

  “Men!” Eric spat. “Men are bad for you. Haven’t you learned? I’ve warned him to stay away, too.”

  Warren? Penny thought. But he’s dead.

  “Who? Who – Gordon?” Nina asked, the tray trembling in her hands.

  “Of course. He can’t come slinking around here, trying to get in
to your good books again. You’re my little girl, Nina. We need you at home, now.” Eric’s voice was losing its hard edge. He sounded brittle and fragile.

  Nina’s mouth was half-open. “Has he rung the house?”

  “He won’t be ringing again.”

  “Dad … no.” She slammed the tray on the table again, and looked in wild confusion from Penny to Eric and back again. Then, without another word, she fled, running through the staff entrance at the back of the restaurant, punching in the key code to the security door.

  Penny picked up the tray as she stood up. “I’ll just, er…”

  “You’ll just keep your nose out!” Eric hissed, and disappeared around the side of the restaurant.

  Penny stared after him. “Or what?” she said to the empty air. “Or what will you do, Eric?”

  Chapter Twelve

  Penny walked slowly back into Upper Glenfield, feeling unsettled and slightly ill. Perhaps it was the burger she’d eaten, but it was more likely to be the family rift she’d just seen exposed.

  As she walked along the pavement, past the new housing estates and into the older part of town, she pulled out her mobile phone and called Drew. Apologetically, he said he was about to take a group out for an afternoon’s field-craft session, but he promised to call her as soon as he could. She sighed.

  The town was quiet, as if it were sleeping in the summer heat. She turned left and walked along the High Street. The butcher’s display of meat was sparse, and mostly hidden away in the chillers. The greengrocer had a wide range of fruits but nothing tempted her.

  When she reached the hairdressing salon, she was hailed by Agatha who was sitting on a deckchair on the pavement with a book in her hand. She was wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat that perched at an odd angle on her towering beehive. “Penny, my love! Enjoying the heat? Eh?”

  “Not really,” Penny said. “Will it be like this until September?”

  “No, we’ll have some cracking thunderstorms soon, I reckon. We get more rain in summer than in winter, here, you know.”