“Oh, did you indeed! I’ll have you know that Harry Thornton has been our trusted protector for longer than you have been a vicar, I’ll wager.”
Reggie sighed. “Finding Elsa this morning was — quite shocking and I think I can be forgiven for perhaps not being so reasonable when I spoke with the detective. But I will be giving my official statement tomorrow and I assure you that making accusations is the very last thing on my mind.”
Ms. Wilcox crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Miss Murphy was a sweet girl, but quite troubled. There were many rumors around the village about her — habits – and then there was the matter of her mother.”
“I heard something about that.”
“It’s not my place to share idle gossip but you can be assured that what happened to that poor girl, she did to herself. I will not have you stirring up trouble for my village to fulfill your own need for controversy. You’re not in the city now.”
“Why would I do such a thing? Who would do such a thing?”
“I don’t know, but I will warn you only once. If I feel that you are not fitting in here or that you’re causing trouble among this community, I will not hesitate to make a call to the Bishop.”
Before Reggie could even think of a response, Ms. Wilcox turned on her heel and marched out of the church. Leaving the vicar staring open mouthed at the woman’s departing back.
Chapter Six
Reggie awoke to a pair of wide green eyes peering down at her and a weight on her chest.
“Meow,” the cat said.
“And a good morning to you, Miss Kitty,” Reggie replied, her voice croaky with sleep.
“Meow!” The cat said more insistently.
“What’s the point of getting up if that old biddy is just going to get me fired anyway? I should just stay in bed.”
If it were possible for a cat to roll its eyes it seemed like it would have. Instead it head-butted her chin, then let its whiskers tickle her cheek.
“Meow.” She jumped off the bed and padded away, her tail flicking impatiently. She swiped at the door and hissed before turning to face Reggie again. “Meow. Meow meow. Meeeeooow.”
“Alright, alright!” Reggie snapped rolling out of bed and stumbling towards the door. “No need to yell.”
She opened the door and the cat shot through and down the stairs to wait, impatiently in the kitchen.
“I suppose if you’re planning to stay, I should probably give you a name,” Reggie said as the cat ate her tuna in delicate bites while the vicar made coffee.
“What about Sasha?”
The cat made an angry growling sound, not looking up from her food.
“Roxy? Fluffy? Sox?”
The cat pushed its food away, gave Reggie a narrow-eyed look, then walked in casual circles in front of the door.
“Ah come on,” Reggie said moving towards the door to open it. “Don’t give up on me yet. I’ll think of a name, I promise.”
The cat looked up at her then wove around Reggie’s legs, rubbing her furry face against a bare ankle before pawing at the door again.
Smiling, Reggie did as she was told and watched as the cat slinked out to find a warm place to nap.
“What about Ebony?” She called after it, but the cat didn’t even dignify that with a response. “Fine, I’ll just buy the cat food and open doors then shall I?”
The departing meow was the cat’s only response as it disappeared around the corner.
“See you’ve made a new friend already then, Vicar?” A voice came from behind her, making Reggie yelp and pull her robe more tightly around her pajamas as she spun to face the intruder. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya.”
“Bernie, where on Earth did you come from?”
He looked a little contrite as he pulled his hat off his head and twisted it in his hands, much like a younger man waiting in the principal’s office.
“Well, Vicar, I was just about to knock when you and your new friend came out. You was talking so it didn’t feel right to interrupt. Sorry again.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’m always a bit snappy before I’ve had my first cup of coffee. Would you like to join me?”
His gaze quickly flicked over her sleeping attire and he looked about Nervously. “No, better not. Gossip is worth more than gold around here, I’m afraid. I just came to tell you that I’ve finished with your van. Tail light’s as good as new.” He pointed at the Vicar Mobile now sitting in the driveway.
“That’s great news. Are you sure I can’t give you something? I know you said it was on the house, but I feel bad not compensating you.”
“Well, I was thinking,” he started. “It’s a jolly nice van you have there but it’s not really fitted for what you had in mind.”
Reggie blinked, confused. “What I had in mind?”
“Yes, Miss Duncan was saying that you planned to start a weekly bus trip for some of the older residents to do their shopping.”
Reggie couldn’t help smiling. That Miss Duncan was a crafty lady indeed. Never mind that Reggie was, in fact, hoping to find some way to help the elderly community.
“What would I need to make it suitable?” She asked. And what will it cost?
“Not much and I offer good rates and payment plans.” He gave her a toothy grin before continuing. “You’re gonna want to get that motor tuned up, some new seats installed, and I can fix that heater for you and all.”
“That sounds expensive,” Reggie replied, frowning. “Not that I don’t agree with you.”
“I did say we can work out a payment plan, and I’ll throw in a bunch of extras for free seeing as my old mum will be one of the ladies you’ll be helping.”
“And how long will all this take?”
“Assuming I can get the parts in a timely manner, shouldn’t take longer than a week.”
“A week! And what should I drive in the mean time?”
“Well you can walk nearly anywhere you need to go in Patchwork Hill. Why I’m planning to walk back to the shop now, if you decide not to go ahead with the work.” He looked down at his hands. “A lot of elderly ladies will be real disappointed though. Apparently, there’s a play showing in the city that they wanted to see. Apparently, Miss Duncan won tickets for the entire Retired Ladies Auxiliary Club, but they just can’t afford the cab fare going that far out.”
Reggie sighed. “Okay, okay. Take it, do what you need to do and prepare me a long-term payment scheme along with the quote.” She pursed her lips in thought. “Maybe I can organize a raffle or a sponsor to help pay for it. What about that MP Marcus What-ever-his-name-is?”
“You can try, Vicar,” Bernie said with a chuckle. “I doubt you’ll have much luck with Mr. Blackwell though, what with still two years till the next election.”
Reggie had a flickering memory of an overheard conversation from last night. Rumor had it that perhaps Elsa and Marcus had been an item. She should probably pay him a visit anyway in case he needed someone to talk to.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking,” Reggie said. “Did you know Elsa very well?”
He looked down again and shrugged. Again, she was reminded of a school boy in trouble. “I guess everyone in this village knows everyone well enough.” He hunched his shoulders. “Didn’t expect her to — you know — do that though. She didn’t seem like the type. I mean I know what happened with her mother but that don’t mean nothing.”
“Now that was a nasty business,” Sarah intoned as she rounded the corner. “That woman had no business killing herself and leaving her daughter all alone in the world.”
Bernie grunted in agreement and nodded. “Still, naught to be done about it now. What’s done is done and it’s for the rest of us to keep going.”
“Do either of you know if she was seeing anyone? You know, a boyfriend?”
Sarah and Bernie changed one of those looks that people do when they’re talking to a new person.
“Maybe John?” Sarah said. “Elsa, John, and Summer have been insepa
rable since we were kids. Everyone’s kind of been wondering when he’d just pick one or the other already.”
“Makes sense, I guess. There seems to be a lot of innuendo over who she was seeing. I heard, Blackwell and some teacher were on the list.”
“That would be Mr. Peterson. You would have met him at the welcome party.”
Reggie blinked. “I did?”
“Aye, that sounds like Mr. Peterson alright,” Bernie said with a laugh. “Always good at blending into the background he is.”
He gave them a wave before hopping back into the Vicar Mobile.
***
Back inside, Sarah shooed the vicar off to shower and dress while the verger prepared coffee.
Once they were sitting together over the steaming brews, Sarah pinned Reggie with a stern look.
“Don’t think for a second that I don’t know what you’re doing, Madam Vicar.”
“What am I doing?”
“You’re sleuthing. Asking about Elsa’s mother, asking if she had a boyfriend.”
“She did have a boyfriend,” Reggie replied. “She told me she was going to see him just before she left that last evening.”
“Ah-ha!”
“Well, that detective wasn’t even going to look into it. He was going to close the case without even talking to anyone.”
“Now that’s not very fair,” Sarah scolded. “Just because he said it looked open and shut doesn’t mean he wasn’t going to do his job. I know the two of you didn’t exactly get off on the best of terms, but don’t you think he deserves a chance. As the good Lord says…”
“Judge not,” Reggie finished. “Okay, but it’s not just Detective Thornton. What if Elsa did kill herself. How do you think her boyfriend would be feeling?”
“Pretty damned awful,” Sarah replied then smiled. “And probably in need of the Vicar.”
Reggie swallowed the last of her coffee. “You said her boyfriend might have been John, and Summer did say that John hasn’t been answering his phone or the door.”
“Wouldn’t Summer have mentioned if John and Elsa were together though?”
“She was pretty upset herself,” Reggie said. “Maybe it just didn’t come up.”
“Maybe she didn’t know,” Sarah added. “Though I can’t imagine them keeping it a secret for long. Nothing stays secret in this town.”
“That reminds me,” Reggie said, frowning again. “I need to have a chat with Dr. Manning about that Pharmacist. Half the town seemed to know about the pregnancy test and from what I heard the first whisperer was Judy in the Chemist.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right. Gossip is worth more than __ “
“Gold, yeah, Bernie was telling me. But medical things aren’t for gossiping about. She should know better.”
“I agree. It’s just that Elsa has been a bit of a hot topic of late.”
“I noticed,” Reggie stood and leaned against the cozy breakfast bar. “On one hand she was the sweet girl who they were all happy was teaching Sunday school and on the other she was apparently seeing several different men, including a teacher and the very engaged Marcus Blackwell.”
“But it was just a bit of fun. Elsa was so perfect. She was beautiful and smart, and everyone loved her. Nobody took it seriously.”
Clearly that wasn’t the case, but Reggie decided to leave it at that. It sounded like Sarah might have been a bit jealous of Elsa. It sounded like a lot of girls in town were jealous in fact. But would one of them have been jealous enough to kill her?
Chapter Seven
An hour later, Reggie made her way, on foot, to Summer’s cottage. Though the walk was quite beautiful, she conceded that she should perhaps look into purchasing a bike, since her van might be indisposed for a while.
“Hello, Vicar,” Summer said, smiling as she opened the door. Her eyes were still red rimmed and puffy but her form-fitting dress and nails were immaculate. “I’m just doing a bit of tidying. I couldn’t bring myself to do much of anything yesterday.”
She held two wine glasses, one tinged red and what looked like an empty tub of ice-cream under one arm.
“Let me toss these in the kitchen and we can go.”
Summer was in the kitchen and back again in seconds and ushering the vicar out onto the street before she could get more than a cursory look around the actually quite tidy living room.
They chatted easily as they strolled towards the square. Along the way, Summer pointed out interesting spots or recalled half remembered childhood adventures.
“Sounds like this was a wonderful place to grow up,” Reggie said. “Were the three of you always friends?”
Summer nodded. “Since we were babies, I think. We were probably more like siblings than friends and we had our spats and breakups, but nothing could ever keep us apart for long.”
“Did either of you ever…” Reggie touched her fingertips together, almost as though making them kiss before pulling them back to her sides. “You know…?”
“Oh, you mean was either of us ever his girlfriend?” Summer laughed then shrugged and blushed slightly. “No. Things got a little complicated when we were in high school. John and I had sort of a thing, but if me and John got together, Elsa would have felt like a third wheel. And then when we broke up, we would have ruined a perfectly good friendship for nothing.”
“You chose the friendship. That was very mature.”
“I don’t know. I guess I sort of had this fantasy that Elsa would find a boyfriend, then John and I would just sort of meet gazes again and it would be right.” She shrugged. “But we grew up and all that silly teenage stuff fell away.”
Summer frowned, her brow furrowing in concern. “I hope you can help him, Vicar. I hate thinking of him all alone.”
***
Sandy’s Sweets was nestled in beside Harper’s books and Reggie made a mental note to stop in to replenish her already overstuffed bookcase.
Through the window, she noticed an impeccably dressed woman, sipping coffee. Their eyes met for an instant and Reggie recognised her as the cool woman who’d been with Marcus Blackwell. The woman’s smile didn’t quite meet her eyes, and after a slight nod in greeting, she returned her gaze to the glossy magazine she’d been reading.
The pretty door opened with a tinkling bell and the smell of freshly baking cakes, bread, and real coffee had the vicar practically floating to the counter.
A mousy brunette poked her head around the corner and said, “Won’t be a minute.” Before disappearing again and there was the sound of an oven opening and trays being moved. “Is that you, Summer?”
“Yes,” Summer called back. “And I have the new vicar with me.”
“Oh!” The woman popped out again dusting flour off her cheek and wiping her hands on her pink frilly apron before holding them out to Reggie.
“I’m Sandy, welcome to Sandy’s Sweets. I was hoping you’d come by today.”
Reggie smiled. “Looks like you have your hands full here. Do you run this place on your own?”
“Pretty much. I usually get a couple of the local teens in to help before and after school. Nobody could replace Summer and…” her words drifted off and her face crumpled as she remembered the news. “Oh, Summer I’m so sorry.”
“No, no you don’t have to apologize,” Summer was quick to grasp the older woman’s hands. “Some of our happiest memories were working here after school. Where else could we get paid to eat our weight in cake?”
Sandy let out a watery laugh and gave Summer a stern look. “That wasn’t what I was paying you for. But enough of that, How’s John? I haven’t seen him.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Reggie interjected. “We were planning to pay him a visit and I thought some cake and coffee might be the golden ticket in. Can you recommend any favorites?”
Just then the door tinkled again and a neatly suited man in glasses and holding a suitcase edged in.
“Hello, Mr. Peterson,” Summer said, her voice suddenly brighter.
> The man’s eyes widened and flickered from Summer to Reggie to Sandy. For a second it looked like he might just back right back out again but with an awkward little cough his thin lips stretched into a sickly smile.
“S—Summer,” he stammered. “Good to see you. Very sorry to hear about…” he twitched and fidgeted. “You know.”
“Thank you, sir,” Summer replied. “This is our new vicar, Regina Watson.” Then to Reggie she said. “Mr. Peterson teaches math at Patchwork Hill High.”
Reggie and Mr. Peterson shook hands. “We’ve already met, actually,” he said with a nervous high-pitched chuckle. “At your Welcome party and again last night.”
“Of course, yes.” Reggie smiled wider to cover her guilt. How did she forget meeting this man twice already? Bernie had been right; this man was awfully good at blending into the background and going completely unnoticed. “Nice to meet you again.”
He returned the sentiment but there was an odd gleam his eyes, almost as though he enjoyed the concept that people forgot him almost as soon as he was out of sight.
“I’d love to sit and chat,” Reggie said. “But we’re in a bit of a hurry this morning. I’ll see you both of course at church on Sunday, won’t I?”
Both Sandy and Mr. Peterson exchanged a look before both stumbling to make their excuses. Sandy had the bakery and couldn’t possibly close on their busiest day and Mr. Peterson just had so many papers to mark.
“Say no more,” Reggie said, holding her hands up in surrender. “I completely understand. Within an hour of arriving, I managed to badmouth the local plod and quite upset the headmistress. Lord knows what kind of trouble I’m going to make during my sermons.”
This was met with laughter all round making Reggie flush with pleasure and wish that she was in fact joking.
Summer suggested the chocolate cupcakes with cherry icing but though Sandy acknowledged that they were John’s favorite back in high School, over the last year he’d been ordering the carrot cake with the lightly salted butter icing. This earned her a frown from Summer, but it was gone almost as quickly as it appeared.
“They do sound good,” Summer conceded.
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