This picture was quite different to the first with John. Colder more posed. In the photo, Elsa was smiling up at Marcus with wide adoring eyes while Marcus grinned into the camera. A wide shark smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes. Reggie guessed Elsa would have been a couple of years younger than she was now.
Still, Reggie’s heart ached for the openness of the young woman’s face. The innocence and the way her lover’s smile was almost mocking the way she loved him.
“Ah, you found her dirty secret,” Summer said from behind Reggie, making the Vicar jump a foot. “Sorry! I thought you heard me coming.”
Reggie laughed. “I’m in my own world, don’t worry about it. So, the rumor was true, Elsa and Marcus were a thing?”
“For about twenty seconds,” Summer scoffed. “She was head over heels in love with him.”
“Let me guess, he didn’t feel the same?”
“He told her he was looking for a proper politician’s wife and she wasn’t the right candidate. He started dating Vivian about six months later.”
“I saw him at the police station earlier. He was so angry that Detective Thornton hadn’t closed the case yet. Is it possible they hooked up again recently, maybe something secret?”
“I suppose so.” Summer sat on the edge of the bed and fidgeted with the comforter. “I think he might have been the first man she ever loved, and she was never quite the same after.” She let out a bitter laugh. “And he made it difficult.”
“Difficult how?”
“It was like, he made it bluntly clear that he didn’t want to be with her, but he didn’t want her to be with anyone else either. The man is just a selfish child really, but he can be charming when he wants, and Elsa has never been able to say no to him.”
Reggie stared at the photo. Jagged glass, yellowed edges. But the way she looked up at him as though he were the only man in the world, all the while he grinned like a lecherous hyena.
He did seem like he wasn’t in any rush to marry Vivian that first day and came across as the kind of creep who liked having options. When he started getting bored with his latest girlfriend would he have tried to rekindle some kind of affair with Elsa?
She’d been so happy that night. Perhaps she thought a pregnancy would make Marcus Blackwell finally see her as exactly the wife he needed.
“I found her mother’s phone book,” Summer said suddenly, pulling Reggie back to the present. “It’s a bit of a bust though. No family, not even her brother’s number. Just friends and a few services in town.”
Reggie blew out a breath, puffing out her cheeks. “That’s rough. So Meredith’s brother really was the only family. I wonder what could have happened that they stopped speaking for so long? Looks like he didn’t even come home for his sister’s funeral and never met Elsa.”
Summer just shrugged. “It was all before I was born.”
“Well.” Reggie gave herself a little shake to ease her dark mood. “Shall we pick a dress?”
Summer nodded eagerly, and they spent the remainder of the morning sorting through Elsa’s few formal dresses. When the girl pulled out a flowery summer dress, Reggie felt her eyes widen as she recognized the dress Elsa had worn in that picture with John. Not wanting to give anything away, she commented that she liked it, and they agreed to place it on the maybe pile.
She felt bad keeping a secret from Summer, and technically a lie by omission was still a lie. But it wasn’t her secret to tell, if anything it was John’s. And what if she was wrong? What if it was just a picture of them in a happy moment, and they were just friends?
Proverbs 11:13 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.
They found the dress Elsa had been wearing in her photo with Marcus, and almost as though in one mind, they lay it on the No pile.
Finally, Summer pulled out a floor length satin gown of emerald green.
“I remember this one,” Summer said, smiling wistfully. “She wore it to Mr. and Mrs. Manning’s 20th anniversary party last year.”
Reggie took the dress and placed it against summer, then herself, admiring the way it shimmered in the mirror.
“She must have looked breathtaking.”
Summer bit her lip. “She did.”
Reggie turned her attention to Summer who had paled somewhat. “Oh, I’m sorry, Summer. Is this too much? We can try again another day if…”
“No,” Summer said, waving her off. “It’s always going to be hard. I just — I forget sometimes. That she’s gone, you know?”
Reggie nodded and placed a warm hand over Summer’s. “I know, then you remember and it’s like you're finding out for the first time again.”
Summer nodded, her eyes shimmering. Finally, she sucked in a breath and pointed at the emerald dress. “That’s the one. She always loved it and hated that she never got to wear it again.”
They hung the dresses back in the wardrobe and prepared to leave. Reggie took a final look around the room and couldn’t help a niggling feeling. Elsa was happy. Maybe not perfect, sure there had been breakups and sad times, but overall, the room felt like the sanctuary of a young woman who was happy. She’d surrounded herself with things she liked, photos of people she loved, and who she believed loved her.
But if she hadn’t killed herself, was it possible that one of these people had?
Chapter Fourteen
David Peterson was a private man.
He lived alone, dined alone, slept alone, and that was how he liked it.
But he enjoyed teaching and found adequate satisfaction helping a young person’s mind to grow. Watching teenagers sink into the chrysalis of hormones only to emerge as beautiful adults was something magical.
He liked it very much.
That was the limit of his interaction with the world.
At the end of the day, he returned home, and they returned to their parents. He was not their father and was not responsible for them after that three O’clock bell. That was how he liked it. Controlled interaction with others with set hours and strict boundaries.
In his early years he’d been awkward and struggled to fit in, and as is the way of things, he’d been bullied mercilessly throughout his preteens. But in high school he’d discovered something interesting about himself. There was nothing special about him, nothing that made him stand out from the crowd of other mindless teens. If he wanted, he could fade into the background and nobody seemed to even notice he was there.
It became a game.
He’d see how long he could go in one day without being noticed. Once he even managed to sneak into the girl’s bathroom. But that was another story.
Elsa Murphy had changed things.
From the moment she’d entered his class, he’d felt her potential like a rush of hot electricity over his pale flesh. She’d struggled from day one, but he knew she was smarter than she seemed.
The girl had lost her mother not long before. Suicide. Such a selfish thing for a single mother to do. Leaving such a sweet, talented girl alone to fend for herself was unthinkable.
David had taken the girl under his wing, tutored her, counseled her, and one unforgettable night, he’d become her lover.
He bit his lip and sat heavily in his leather arm chair. It was all over before he’d even known what was happening and for a time, he half expected the detective to show up on his door step. But that hadn’t happened, and life continued as though nothing had happened at all. Perhaps it hadn’t. Perhaps he had merely dreamed that event.
A lifetime of celibacy must have side effects, right?
Was it all in his head? Had he imagined her smile when she came to see him? Imagined his lips on hers. Imagined her tears on his shoulder as they shared that first intimate moment?
She’d seemed so much older. But that hadn’t been the truth. And after, she’d been so distant, eager to put as much space between him and herself as possible while stuck in the same small town.
He stared
at his shaking hands. In his mind’s eye they were streaked with blood.
“Am I the one who broke your heart, Elsa, or did you break mine?”
Chapter Fifteen
Reggie was still undecided about the photographs when she entered the police station later that morning. She supposed if the detective had searched Elsa’s house, he would have found them on his own. It irked her that he hadn’t bothered.
Could that mean that he wasn’t taking this case as seriously as he should? Did he, like everyone else, think Elsa had killed herself?
Was he right?
She opened the door and smiled at Denise. “Good morning. Detective Thornton said he had some forms for me to sign.”
Before Denise could answer, a gruff voice boomed from the office. “Is that the vicar?”
Denise rolled her eyes and winked at Reggie before replying, “In the flesh, sir.”
“Send her in! I have papers for her to sign.”
Reggie mimed a surprised pose and grinned as Denise stifled a laugh.
Once inside Detective Thornton’s office, she closed the door and flashing him a smile as he glared up at her.
“Sit,” he instructed. “You’re late. Again.”
That earned him raised brows. “I wasn’t aware that we’d set a time, Detective. I do have other responsibilities in this village, you know.”
“Hmm.”
“My, you’re in a mood today.”
His only response was to slide a small mountain of forms across the desk.
She accepted them with a sigh and began to sign and initial where instructed.
Mainly to loosen the quiet tension, Reggie said. “From what I can see there are two Funeral directors in the village. I don’t suppose you could help me decide which I should choose?”
“Mr. Todd and Mrs. Barker have been rivals since I was a boy,” he grunted. “I suppose both accosted you after you announced that you were in charge of the arrangements?”
Reggie chuckled. “It can’t be easy having a rival for such a niche service in a small village like this.”
“Doesn’t seem to encourage either to make their prices more reasonable though.” He glared down at his own small stack of paperwork and finally sighed and added, “Mrs. Barker was quite good friends with Elsa’s grandmother and I believe she handled both the grandmother and mother’s funeral.”
“Strange she didn’t mention that when she approached me.”
“Perhaps she thought it unseemly to mention.”
Reggie thought about that and her heart warmed slightly. It was nice to know that not everyone was as mercenary as the prodigal uncle.
“I wonder, since she was friendly with the family, if she knows the identity of Elsa’s father.”
Detective Thornton coughed and raised a finger and matching glare as he continued to splutter. Finally, he managed, “I thought I told you to stop nosing about in my case.”
“I’m not nosing! I’m just curious. Besides, I am the vicar of this village — for now — I need to know who my parishioners are and how I can better serve them.”
He leveled her with a suspicious look and after a moment of fidgeting, she broke.
“But, since we’re on the subject,” she finally said, and in a rush of words followed with, “I was in Elsa’s house earlier this morning and I may have found some photos that might be useful to you.”
“Ha!” He pointed an accusing finger at her. “I knew I’d catch you out.”
“Catch me out? I admitted it!” She replied. “And I wasn’t sleuthing either. I was trying to find a dress she might like and thought I might also find an address book of other family besides that so-called uncle.”
If Reggie wasn’t mistaken, it almost looked as though the detective was pouting.
“He was quite the cold fish, wasn’t he?” He finally conceded then sighed. “What did you find, Vicar?”
“First, I should preface this conversation my saying that, neither of these pictures proves any guilt on either of the gentlemen in them.”
“Reverend Watson,” he said dourly, “I’ll have you know that I’ve been a detective here in Patchwork Hill for many years. I know my job.”
“I know,” Reggie was quick to reply. “It’s just, I don’t want to cause any more trouble for these men. I’m sure they’re already going through a … “
“Give me the pictures!”
She rifled in her bag till she found the two photos and handed them over. “You yell an awful lot. Did you know that? It can’t be good for your throat.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’ll stock up on Lemsip.”
When he looked at the photos, one after the other, he shrugged. “These aren’t really surprising. I already knew about Blackwell and suspected John might have been the secret lover.”
“I’ve been trying to see John for days,” Reggie said. “He won’t talk to anyone. To be honest I’m getting quite worried. He’ll be running out of food soon.” Then at the detective’s dark look she held her hands up and added, “Vicar duties only, I promise. And you can trust me, I’m a servant of God.”
He coughed out a laugh before he could stifle it and even Reggie had a hard time hiding a smirk.
“Okay, so maybe that’s not such a good recommendation. But I swear, you can trust me, I make it a point of honor to never lie.” Much.
He stared at her for a long time before visibly relaxing. “I do trust you, Regina. You’ve been here three days and you’ve already turned this village on its head. But apart from the unfortunate death, I think you’re exactly what this village needs.”
Reggie blinked at him. What? She’d gotten so used to the insults and skepticism that she was completely unprepared for a compliment.
“I…” She licked her lips and felt a stupid laugh rise in her throat. “I mean — thank you?”
He leaned back in his chair. “You’re not like other vicars.”
Reggie could only shrug. “We’re all just people in the end, aren’t we, Detective. I mean, you aren’t angry and bossy all the time, right?”
He made a face and tipped a flat hand side to side. “Not all the time.”
They smiled at one another and Reggie was struck by what a nice smile he had. It lightened him somehow, a glimmer in his eyes and the flash of teeth as his lips didn’t quite part, gave him a cheeky, mischievous appearance.
Suddenly feeling flustered, she finished up signing the forms and slid them back across the table.
“I suppose I should go,” she said, gathering her bag and checking her collar. “I was hoping to go see Mr. Blackwell this afternoon.”
“You what!”
“You’re yelling again. It’s not about the case, it’s about the van.”
“The van?” He peered at her incredulously.
“Yes, the van, my van, the one I’m apparently going to be using to take our elderly parishioners shopping and out on other outings. I was hoping that our local MP might be interested in donating.”
He sucked in a breath and it looked like he was counting to ten again.
“Listen to me, I’m sorry I yelled.” He pursed his lips, choosing his words. “But I need you to stay away from Marcus Blackwood.”
Reggie leaned closer, her eyes wide. “Why? Is he a suspect?”
“No! Not at this time. It’s not about what happened to Elsa. Not exactly.”
“Ooh, this sounds juicy. Come on, you can’t leave me hanging.”
There was that smile again, or at least the hint of it. “None of this is a secret, but all the same, I need your word that what I say won’t leave this room.”
Reggie crossed her heart. “Spill it.”
He let out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine. Blackwell and Elsa were a thing for a while a few years ago. It was even looking pretty serious for a bit.”
“But he broke up with her suddenly. Sorry, Summer told me.”
He rolled his eyes. “As you said, Blackwell broke off the relationship suddenly and as I unders
tand Elsa was heartbroken. But a few months later she met a man named Warren Grey. He hadn’t been in the village long and worked for Harrison’s Builders.”
“Let me guess,” Reggie jumped in. “Our MP didn’t like that she got over him so fast.”
He fired a finger gun and made a clicking sound. “He made a ridiculous amount of fuss with the council over everything Warren was involved in. New permissions requiring little more than a rubber stamp took months to go through, and the health and safety board seemed to be getting called out for even the slightest oversight. One night down the Lamb and Flag they even got into it. It burned that I had to arrest Warren for drunken disorderly, even though it was clear Blackwell had nettled him till he cracked.”
“So, what happened?”
Detective Thornton frowned and shook his head. “I don’t know. One day Warren was just gone. All his things were still in his flat, except his wallet and phone. It’s like he just walked away one day and never came back.”
“Wait,” Reggie said. “So, you think Marcus Blackwell…”
“I don’t know anything. Nothing for sure. All I do know is that Blackwell had a problem with a man and then one day that man disappeared.”
“Did you try to contact his family?”
“Of course, I did! We even had his brother come looking for him a few months later. Nobody knows where he went. It’s like he just fell off the world.”
“Oh my. How very exciting.”
“Exciting!”
“Well.” Reggie cleared her throat. “I didn’t mean exciting exactly, just — Interesting.”
“It’s been two years, surely if he was planning to kill her, he would have done it sooner than now, and presumably in a way that couldn’t possibly link to him.”
“You never know, in the heat of passion we do wild and unexpected things.”
The detective arched an eyebrow. “Do we indeed?”
Heat spread to her face and she waved him off. “I was of course speaking metaphorically.”
“Of course.”
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