Small Town Secrets (Some Very English Murders Book 2)

by Issy Brooke

  Cath leaned over the table, resting her palms on it. “Yes, and that’s what Blue argued earlier this morning when we called him in for some questioning. He said that as it was the family home, of course he had some snaps of it.”

  Taz looked again at the photograph. “There’s something you two know that I don’t,” she said. “Not fair. What am I missing?”

  “Just the fact that Reg and his son do not get on,” Cath said. “And as far as I can tell, in spite of living in the same town, they haven’t actually spoken to one another for years.”

  Penny nodded. “Reg is old-school. He only respects people who work, and if you get your hands dirty when you’re working then you are the cream of the crop. The problem is, his son Blue – or John, his real name – doesn’t work. He spouts a lot of nonsense about the government and stuff, but he’s not a proper agitator like Ed in the Ramblers’ group. Ed gets up and does stuff, he protests against things and writes letters and everything. But Blue is full of noise and wind. He’s the bar-room jury.”

  “And another thing,” Cath said. “We have had Blue in here before. We spoke to him about the harassment that his father was experiencing. It was routine; we were talking to everyone. And he really wasn’t bothered. He literally could not care less. I looked over the transcripts again last night, and he was mostly off-hand and sometimes unpleasant.”

  All three of them stared at the grubby prints. Penny picked them up and leafed through them.

  “I just printed a selection,” Taz said.

  “Nothing else here jumps out at me. Lots of urbex-type stuff. He is a good photographer,” Penny said.

  “We were looking for any that showed the location that Warren was killed,” Cath said, “but we found nothing.”

  “What about in Warren’s photos?” Penny asked.

  “What, of the place he was killed? We still haven’t found his camera,” Cath explained. “It could be destroyed and long gone by now. And we … sorry, Taz … thought of Instagram and whether he could have taken photos and uploaded them instantly, from where he was, before he was killed. But he didn’t seem to do that. He was one of those methodical photographers who take the shot, go home, edit them, and put up only the best. He stores everything else though. There are honestly thousands on his various hard drives.”

  “I bet he had a good cataloguing system, didn’t he?”

  “He did,” said Taz. “I was really impressed. He was a man who understood back-ups.”

  Penny chewed her lip. “Can we see if there are any images that are similar to these that Blue took?”

  “I’ll go and check.” Taz stood up, but when Penny got up as well, Cath waved her back down.

  “Sorry. We’ll wait here, but you can’t follow Taz.”

  “Huh.” Penny slumped into her chair again. “Secret police stuff.”

  “I’ll be as quick as I can. That might be ages, though,” she said ruefully as she disappeared through another door.

  * * * *

  Penny leafed through the pile of photos, until Cath could hold her words in no longer.

  “Okay! So you might have been right about Blue. There, I said it.”

  Penny dropped the sheet of paper she was pretending to study, and beamed in smug pride. “It’s why you asked me to be involved, isn’t it? For my superior sense of intuition.”

  “No, that’s totally not why we asked you, actually. We asked you because everyone in the town talks to you. All you’re supposed to do is relay what people have said.”

  Penny shrugged. “Well, my advanced and searing insight is a wonderful bonus for you, then.”

  Cath glared at her for a moment.

  Penny smiled back.

  “Oh, you’re impossible,” Cath said. “Speaking of impossible, have you seen Drew lately? Or are you actually doing the online dating?”

  “I haven’t replied to any of the messages,” Penny said. “But Drew and I went out for a meal a few days ago, and it was lovely. I think I got carried away about the whole thing, you know?”

  “No, I don’t know.”

  “Well, I just got daft about it all, because he hadn’t been in touch, and I blew it all up in my head to mean something really serious.”

  Cath spluttered with laughter. “You’ve taken this recovering your lost youth thing a bit too much to heart! That’s teenager-style, that is.”

  “I know.” Penny drooped, feeling slightly ashamed.

  “Well, it all sounds fine now.”

  “It is, yes.” Thinking about the reason she had come to Upper Glenfield made Penny think of those she’d left behind in London, and she realised with a start that she hadn’t called Francine like she had meant to.

  “What’s up?” Cath said.

  “Oh – nothing. Just that, you remember that woman who came to see me? An old friend from London? Francine?”

  “Yes. Is she all right?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t get hold of her.”

  “Is that unusual?”

  “Yes. I’m worried.”

  “Have you any mutual friends you can contact? Do you know her family?”

  “Oh. Mutual friends, yes.” She decided not to admit she hadn’t made contact properly herself. “I will.”

  Cath’s phone buzzed and she leaned back to dig it out of her pocket. She had a text message. Penny discretely looked away.

  Family. If something happened to Penny, would people try to contact Ariadne, her sister?

  If something happened to Ariadne … would Penny ever know?

  * * * *

  When Taz returned, she was carrying hot drinks and a stack of printed photos.

  “I’ve got something,” she announced. “And this time, from Warren’s photos.”

  “We need a bigger table,” Cath said, shoving the general clutter to one side. “Show us what you’ve got.”

  Taz riffled through the sheets of paper dramatically and then fanned them out on top of the other photos. “Ta-dah!”

  Penny and Cath stared at the top one.

  Penny broke the silence. “That’s Reg’s house. Again.”

  “Yes. I didn’t think anything of it when I first went through Warren’s photos, because it’s just a house. He has taken a lot of boring photos, you know, as well as the really good ones he posted up. I don’t know why he never deleted the rubbish ones, but from what I know of photographers, that’s not unusual behaviour. But when I saw the one that Blue took of Reg’s house, I had a nagging thought that I’d seen something similar before.”

  The photo was taken from a different angle, but it was clearly Reg’s house.

  “And no CCTV pole up there, yet,” Penny said thoughtfully.

  “Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Cath asked.

  “I hope not,” Penny said. “What’s on your mind?”

  Cath spoke slowly. “Perhaps Warren was harassing Reg. Perhaps Blue found out about it…”

  “Oh my goodness. Yes.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Penny was determined to get the final shots that she needed for the calendar. True to Agatha’s words, the long-range weather forecast was predicting torrential rain and storms approaching Eastern England, and Penny wanted to grab the nice weather while she had the chance. Some of the members of the camera club had been annoyed at the “rush job” but she had to explain that the layout, printing and distribution couldn’t happen overnight. Leaving the photography until December so they could get some dogs frolicking in the snow sounded great, but it simply wasn’t practical. The calendar needed to be on sale by mid-October.

  She had managed to arrange a last photoshoot that Saturday afternoon. The shots taken in the forge had been good, but only one or two were useful. Luckily, Saturday was a cooler day, and they arranged to have some of the more sociable dogs taken to the meadowland called the slipe. Two in the afternoon was the designated starting time, but from midday onwards it was busy, with a general relaxed party atmosphere and lots of picnics and screaming childr
en. It wasn’t the best situation for many dogs, but only the friendliest from the dogs’ home had been picked.

  Penny brought Kali down just after midday. When Kali had first come from the dogs’ home, she’d been very reactive and upset in the presence of other dogs. Unfortunately, an upset and fearful Rottweiler looked, to the general public, like an angry and dangerous dog. Especially when she got over-excited and started to foam at the mouth. With lots of patience and help from knowledgeable dog people, Penny had been able to convince Kali that other dogs meant her no harm, and that the sight of another dog actually meant nice things would happen – namely, bits of chicken or ham, and sometimes cheese.

  Still, the dog wasn’t comfortable with a lot of chaos around her, and when Penny observed that she was beginning to feel anxious from the way she tightened up her lips, she took her home and left her in the kitchen with a puzzle toy and a bowl of water.

  When she got back to the slipe, with her own camera and a notebook and a bottle of lemonade, she noticed that most of the photographers were there, including Eric.

  He gave her a filthy look when he saw her, and didn’t even crack a smile. Instead he turned away pointedly and began to talk to another camera club member, who peeped around Eric’s shoulder and smiled apologetically at Penny. She waved back and went to talk to Lucy, the daft shop manager, and Marge from the office.

  Lucy had brought some cleansing crystals, and Marge was shaking her head regretfully. “Thank you all the same, but I think I’ll stick with what the doctor prescribed.”

  “It can’t harm to try,” Lucy insisted. “This is Amazonite. It will balance your auric body.”

  Marge sighed and accepted the unconvincingly glittering jewels, and tucked them away. “Hmm. Thanks. Ahh, Penny. So, we’re all set for the final push! I’m very excited.”

  “Me too. I think the photographers know what to do by now. I’m just going to leave everyone to it.”

  “It’s been wonderful,” Marge said. “Do you see that man there? The one chasing the Jack Russell?”

  “He has chased him before,” Penny said.

  “Exactly! That’s Trevor. He’s going to adopt the terrier. He says they’ve formed a bond.”

  Certainly, the mischievous terrier wasn’t running to get away, Penny realised. He’d go so far, and then stop and look to ensure he was being followed. He’d let the portly man get almost close enough, and then dart away, tongue lolling.

  “Aww. That’s nice.”

  “Yes. Bill’s needed something to do for a long time.”

  “I thought the photographer was called Trevor?”

  “He is. The dog’s called Bill.”

  “Right.” Penny nodded. She caught sight of Eric again, with his back to her. He was waving his arms angrily about something. “Eric seems even more agitated than usual.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Marge said. “What with his wife and his daughter and all that.”

  “All what?” Penny thought about the showdown at the fast food restaurant and winced. “What’s happened now?” She thought she could guess, though, and she was proved correct.

  “His wife has left him,” Marge explained. “Apparently, she’d been having an affair! Who knew?”

  I did, Penny thought. She said, “Oh no!” and hoped she sounded suitably shocked.

  “What’s more,” Marge went on, “his daughter Nina has moved out.”

  “Has she got a job in Nottingham?”

  Marge looked confused. “No. Why would she do that? She’s gone back to Edinburgh with her partner. Gordon. He came for her and they’ve made up and it’s all going wonderfully again.”

  “Oh! Well, that’s fantastic.” Penny was happy for Nina, but felt a slight sadness for Eric. He’d lost everything meaningful to him.

  No, she reminded herself. He’d pushed it all away. But it was still a shame.

  “And there’s someone I did not expect to see,” Marge commented. Penny followed her gaze and saw two more people she recognised.

  Lee – and his daughter, Natasha. She slouched along, trying to look uninterested in being out with her dad, but the mere presence of so many fluffy dogs and puppies was too much, even for the incipient teenager. No one could hold back a smile when being licked by a baby pug.

  As Lee approached, Marge peeled off to talk to someone else. Penny expected that Lee would follow Marge, but it turned out to be Penny that he wanted to speak to.

  “Hi,” she said stiffly.

  “Hi. I’m just here to prove I’m a good dad,” he said.

  Natasha squealed and batted him on the arm. “Dad! You’re here because you like spending time with me, aren’t you?”

  “That’s the same thing. Go and look at those puppies in that crate over there. But no, you can’t have one.”

  She duly wandered off, and when they were alone, he said, “I want to remind you that nothing, and nobody, can jeopardise my relationship with my daughter.”

  “I know, I know, I’ve got that, and I wouldn’t. Family is important.”

  “And I’ve got something to tell you. About me and Warren and why I was so mad.”

  Penny hesitated. Cath had spoken to her on Friday about Lee, but she didn’t think it would be a good idea to reveal what she already knew. She let him speak.

  He said, “I am only telling you this so that if, or when, you find out, you won’t think I tried to hide it, because I know it looks like a real proper motive and everything. My daughter Kelly came to stay with me when she was having some problems in Lincoln.”

  Penny nodded. “Emma told me a little.”

  “Huh. Did she? Right. Did she also tell you that Kelly got caught shop-lifting in the mini-market?”

  “She mentioned something had happened,” Penny said cautiously.

  “It was something and nothing. To be honest it was a typical teenager thing. It had been going well between us, but I had pushed it too far by talking to her about her future, and she kicked off. She said afterwards that she acted on impulse because she just wanted to teach me a lesson. Warren called me when he caught her, and I went straight down to the shop.” Lee scowled. “And that should have been that, but it wasn’t.”

  “Why? What did he do?” she asked. She already knew the answer. Cath had told her. But she was curious as to Lee’s take on it.

  “Kelly was crying. He was threatening her with the police, and she was terrified. And that’s all he needed to do. But he didn’t stop there. He did ring the police. He told her he was going to recommend that the company that owned the mini-market took action against her. Even when the copper turned up – even he advised Warren to drop it.”

  “But he didn’t?”

  “No, he didn’t. He was so rigid. So unbending. Like he had a point to make. As it happened, the mini-market company didn’t press any charges. It wasn’t worth their while, and the crown prosecution service had no interest, of course. The problem was that me and Kelly’s mother, well, we weren’t getting on very well and she was looking for someone to blame for Kelly’s troubles. It was easy enough, then, to blame me.”

  “So you lost touch with Kelly,” Penny prompted.

  “That sounds like it just happened accidentally. No. I was prevented from seeing her until she came of age when she could make up her own mind. Until then, I was deemed unfit to have care of her.”

  It tied in exactly with what Cath had told her on the phone the previous night. “I’m so sorry, Lee. It sounds horrendous. But you’re in contact with Kelly now, right?”

  “As much as I can be, given that she’s enjoying the student lifestyle in London. But you see, now, why I didn’t mourn Warren’s death as much as I should have. I mean, yeah, he shouldn’t have died. No one should have killed him. But I don’t miss him. He wrecked my relationship with my daughter when I needed it the most, and I won’t forgive him. Ever.”

  Penny was silent for a moment. Hearing it from Lee’s own mouth, the hurt in his heart was obvious, and she ached for him. Then
she nodded. “I wouldn’t get over it, in your position, either.”

  “Really?” He blinked at her in surprise. “Oh.” He stopped short of saying “thank you” but she could see the acknowledgement form on his lips. “Well, then.”

  Penny couldn’t think of anything more to say. She smiled, and began to move on, but Lee’s hand shot out and he grabbed her arm, just like he had when she had caught him spying on his own daughter. “Now what!” he exploded in rage.

  She craned her head around to see what had set him off this time. Two liveried police cars were arriving in the car park near the children’s play area.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Let me go! This is nothing to do with me. Or you, I would imagine.”

  People were staring their way and he reluctantly let go his hold of her arm. He turned and called for his daughter. “Natasha! Come on. We’re leaving. Now.”

  Natasha, however, was kneeling by a small pen that had been set out to contain some Labrador puppies and there was no way that she was going to be easily parted from the four bundles of blonde fluff. “Dad, we’ve only just got here. And look at them! Just look!”

  The cars didn’t have the blue lights flashing, but three uniformed officers and Cath, in her plain dark suit, got out and began to walk across the slipe, each taking separate directions and talking to everyone in their path. Cath spotted Penny and made her way over to her. Lee seemed frozen next to her.

  “Penny! Aha. I knew you’d be here. I think pretty much everyone is, aren’t they?” Cath said.

  “Most of the town, yes. Just because there are puppies.”

  “I can’t blame them. Hi, Lee. Have either of you seen Blue Bailey?”

  “Blue?” Lee said as if he didn’t know him. “Oh. Blue. No, I haven’t. Why?”

  Cath’s mouth was set in a grim line. Penny hadn’t really seen her in professional work mode – not since they had first met, when Penny had stumbled over the body of the farmer David Hart. Then, Cath had been warm and reassuring. Now, she looked like a hunter, and Penny was reminded that she was a Detective Constable with a serious job to do.