A Narrow Trajectory

by Faith Martin

  Rollo sighed. ‘Steven’s going to have to be very careful. That’s an awful lot of balls to juggle in the air. And Medcalfe won’t go down without a fight.’

  Hillary nodded soberly. ‘I know.’

  ‘Do you think Jake will still want to help us anymore?’ Rollo asked curiously. ‘Will he be in any mood to co-operate, given all this?’ He nodded towards Jasmine Sudbury, who was in the midst of spilling some very ugly truths indeed.

  Hillary sighed. ‘I hope he will,’ she said quietly. They’d need him to keep playing Chivnor.

  ‘Well, at least she’s still alive. He was so sure that she was dead so … this is a bonus. Right?’

  Hillary shrugged helplessly. Was it? She supposed so – of a kind. But she wasn’t sure. From what all that the witnesses had said about Jas, and from what she’d slowly gleaned of her personality, Hillary had begun to peg her as being more likely to turn out to be a villain, than a victim. Something that Jimmy Jessop, after reading her notes, had also discerned. But she doubted that such a thought had ever crossed the minds of those closest to her.

  Now, one thing was for sure – the boy wonder and his parents were going to have to face up to some very hard home truths and find a way to cope with some brutal new realities in the near future.

  It was two days before Christmas when Hillary Greene walked to her narrowboat mooring in Thrupp for the last time. It was a sharp, cold day, with a clear blue sky and the nip of frost in the air.

  Steven, now working of out St Aldates, was neck deep in the Medcalfe affair, and wouldn’t be there when she arrived at his home. Their home, now. Nor did she expect him to be. She, more than anyone, knew just how much the job would consume him, and his time, for the foreseeable future. And neither of them would have it any other way. Besides, she was no young blushing bride and hardly needed to be carried over the threshold – metaphorically or otherwise. She would just moor her boat and then start unloading her stuff, and proceed to move into her new home, and her new life, with no mess and no fuss.

  At least her professional life was clear sailing at the moment. Kyle Karastrides, when finally arrested for the murder of Lydia Allen, had almost immediately broken down in tears and confessed, much as she had always guessed he would.

  Wendy Turnbull had taken the decision to become a social worker, and had given her notice the day before. Jimmy had promptly taken her off down to the Black Bull to celebrate.

  Jake Barnes and his family were still trying to come to terms with the return of Jas – and just what it all meant. And everyone could only wish them the best of luck. And Jake had not only agreed to continue helping them with Chivnor, he’d even transferred to St Aldates, in order to work more closely with Steven in bringing down Medcalfe’s empire.

  Yes, all in all, things were looking good.

  As she approached her boat, Hillary Greene turned her mind to gentler thoughts, and found herself contemplating Christmas dinner. Her first in her new home.

  Would Steven invite his grown children to come around? Or his elderly parents?

  Or all of them?

  Either way, she’d better get herself to the shops at some point and buy a bloody great big turkey. If she could remember just how to go about cooking one now that she’d have access to a decent-sized oven!

  With a sigh, Hillary reached down and slipped free the ropes, then stepped lightly onto the back deck. With a deft twist of the ignition, she started the Mollern’s engine, and, at a sedate three miles an hour, gently chugged her way towards her new life.

  By the same author

  A Narrow Escape

  On the Straight and Narrow

  Narrow is the Way

  By a Narrow Majority

  Through a Narrow Door

  With a Narrow Blade

  Beside a Narrow Stream

  Down a Narrow Path

  Across the Narrow Blue Line

  A Narrow Point of View

  A Narrow Exit

  A Narrow Return

  A Narrow Margin of Error

  Walk a Narrow Mile

  A Narrow Victory

  The Work of a Narrow Mind

  © Faith Martin

  First published in 2016 by

  Robert Hale an imprint of

  The Crowood Press Ltd,

  Ramsbury, Marlborough

  Wiltshire SN8 2HR

  www.crowood.com

  www.halebooks.com

  ISBN 978 0 7198 2091 5 (epub)

  ISBN 978 0 7198 2092 2 (mobi)

  ISBN 978 0 7198 2093 9 (pdf)

  ISBN 978 0 7198 1998 8(print)

  The right of Faith Martin to be identified as

  author of this work has been asserted by her

  in accordance with the Copyright, Designs

  and Patents Act 1988.