A Valentine Mystery E-Book

Toni Prette

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Cosy Crime
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 258

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Steph’s life was full enough as a busy single parent without having to deal with the fear of an evil drugs ring spreading its poison round her home town and threatening the wellbeing of her kids. It was a good job Detective Inspector Ben Riding was on the case. But did he have to be quite so dashing...?

Leseprobe

A VALENTINE MYSTERY

by Toni Prette

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

CHAPTER 1

M

olly Flynn couldn’t believe what she was about to do. She knew she was going to hate herself for ever more. She looked at the mobile on her mum’s bedside cabinet. Could she go through with it?

If only she’d hear the Micra drawing up outside because then the decision would be taken out of her hands. But her mum wasn’t due home for nearly an hour. Molly put her hand on the mobile but it was as if her fingers refused to curl around it. It was wrong. Very wrong and something her mum would never dream of doing to her.

She got up from the bed and sighed. Five more minutes and then she’d decide. She walked across the landing to her own room and stood gazing out of the window at the small back garden where a few lonely snowdrops were poking their pretty heads through the damp earth.

Mrs Lejeune, the elderly widow who lived next door, was putting another grease ball on her bird feeder. She wore a frilly apron and her grey hair had been freshly permed. She spotted Molly and waved.

A memory came to Molly and she could see in her mind’s eye the large, well-tended garden in the house they’d lived in before moving to the cosy but much smaller semi. Her dad’s hobby had been gardening and he’d spent every minute when he wasn’t working cutting the lawn, pruning the roses, tending the flowers he’d lovingly grown from seeds in his greenhouse.

Molly squeezed her eyes shut. Had her mum forgotten him already?

Molly distractedly started moving her history study books from the top shelf of the bookcase to the bottom. They wouldn’t be needed until after half-term. She put some highlighter pens into a drawer and her eyes were drawn to the stack of small pink diaries tied up in an elastic band that gave an account of Molly’s life from when she’d started school until she was fourteen. Now she used her phone, of course, but she’d never get rid of the diaries. Her mind wandered back to the mobile in the room next to hers and the text that Molly was so tempted to look at.

She was still torn between going back to the front bedroom or staying in her own and sorting out the resources and notes that she’d need for her business studies mock the following week when she heard the front door opening. A mixture of relief and disappointment ran through her but, when she heard something heavy being dropped on the hall floor and a bunch of keys thrown with a clatter onto the small table she knew it was her brother, Luke, home from university on study leave to work on his dissertation. Then came a shout up the stairs.

“Hey, Sis, you in?”

Molly called back. “I’m here, Luke.”

Molly sat on her bed and listened to the familiar sounds coming from the kitchen with the fridge door being opened and closed, the clatter of the bread knife, a ring pulled on a can of Coke, and then Luke running noisily up the stairs. His dark head appeared around Molly’s door. He still had his coloured scarf wound around his neck.

“How’re the mocks going?” he asked with his mouth full of peanut butter sandwich.

“Okay. How was your journey?”

“As always. Long. Boring. I’ll be glad when I get a car but goodness knows when that’ll be. See you later.”

Molly heard his door being shut with a bang and smiled to herself. She could imagine him lying on his bed and talking on his phone to his girlfriend, Devina, whom he hadn’t seen since Christmas, and not surfacing again until he could hear food being served.

Molly took slow footsteps back to her mother’s room. Once again she stared at the mobile. It was now or never, she told herself, and however much she knew she shouldn’t do it, she had to know once and for all. With a jerking movement she picked up the phone and pressed her finger on the WhatsApp icon.

The text she’d heard come in half-an-hour ago appeared. The message was what she’d expected but she was more interested in finding out who’d sent it.

When she saw the name – so familiar to her – her heart seemed to drop into her stomach. She didn’t need to go into the text. It was short enough to read on the opening screen.

Then she froze. A car was drawing up on the drive just below the bedroom window. Molly knew it would be her mum’s Micra and she dropped the mobile back on the bedside cabinet as if it were a hot coal. She ran from the room.

A key turned in the front door.

“I’m home. Anyone around?”

Molly continued walking down the stairs. Her eight-year-old sister, Ella, followed their mum into the hall and a school bag, gym bag and a bright orange parka were dropped onto the pile of Luke’s belongings.

Molly heard her mum sigh as she shrugged off her jacket and hung it on one of the pegs on the wall. “Ella, pick them up, please – now! – and take them to your room. We’ll sort out your gym bag later.”

“But Luke’s things are here,” grumbled Ella, “I suppose it’s all right for him just cos he’s the oldest.”

“It’s not all right for Luke and nothing to do with being the oldest.”

Steph called out to her son but there was no reply.

Ella scooped up her belongings, stood on tiptoe to hang the parka on a peg – she’d only grown tall enough to reach it recently, and stamped up the stairs, passing Molly on her way down.

“It’s not fair,” grumbled Ella, her favourite three words of the moment.

“I don’t have to ask if Luke’s home,” said Steph to Molly, her lips halfway between a frown and a smile. Apart from the fact that his luggage was still lying on the floor where he’d dropped it, they could hear music blaring from his room. But Steph was happy. Her family was together again. She gave Molly a hug. “All right, love? How was college? Just a few more mocks to go, yes?”

“That’s right, Mum.” Molly wondered if her mum noticed that she was avoiding looking into her eyes. Her mum noticed everything.

With heavy steps Molly followed Steph into the kitchen. The short message on her mum’s WhatsApp and its sender were engraved into her mind.

7.30 tonight. Usual place.

“Did you remember to turn the oven on, love?” Steph asked Molly, hanging her bag over the back of a chair. Molly said she had. “Then the lasagne will be ready very soon. Could you start making a salad?” She looked around the kitchen. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen my mobile phone anywhere, have you?”

Molly laughed shortly and managed to respond to her mum without actually answering her question. “Oh, Mum, you’re always forgetting where you put it. Why don’t you get one of those things that Luke has fastened on his belt? You’ll never lose it then.” Yes, she thought wryly to herself, if her mum had done that, then Molly wouldn’t have been tempted to read that awful text, confirming what she’d hoped wasn’t true.

Steph dropped the tea towel she’d been holding and left the kitchen. When she came back, Molly saw her slipping her mobile into the pocket of her long cardigan.

With Molly chopping lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber and Steph putting shopping away in cupboards, they heard giggling upstairs followed by sudden loud voices. Ella adored her big brother but Luke teased her relentlessly. Steph exchanged a glance with Molly knowing they were both wondering what they were finding to argue about already.

Ella came stamping down the stairs.

“It’s not fair!” she cried.

“What’s not fair this time, Ella?” said her mum, glancing at Molly with a small smile. Molly managed to give her one back.

Luke had followed Ella and he gave Steph a bear hug.

“So nice to have you home for a couple of weeks, love,” said Steph. “Everything okay at uni? How’s the dissertation going?”

“Yeah.” It was Luke’s usual response to a question he didn’t want to answer. He looked through the archway to the dining room. “Will dinner be long? I said I’ll meet Devina at seven.”

“Ten minutes,” replied Steph. Trust Luke to get his priorities right. She looked at her younger daughter who was standing erect with arms folded. “Okay, Ella. What’s the problem?”

“Luke said I’ve taken his belt from his room and I haven’t.”

“Then why is it missing?” said Luke.

“What belt?”

“The belt with the heavy metal buckle that I won for rugby.”

“I’m quite sure your sister hasn’t taken anything from your room, Luke,” said Steph from the dining room as she took cutlery and place mats from a drawer in the pine dresser and put them on the table. She came back to the kitchen. “It’s probably in your rooms at university,”

“I only wear that belt when I’m home,” said Luke and looked again at Ella with his eyes narrowed. “It must be the ghost again.” He took a step towards the little girl, wiggled his fingers at her and bared his teeth. Ella squealed.

“Stop teasing your sister, Luke,” said Steph, coming back to the kitchen. She put an arm around Ella’s shoulders. “I’ve told you, sweetheart, there are no such things as ghosts. Take no notice of your brother.”

“Well, it’s not the first time, is it?” said Luke. “When I was home at Christmas I couldn’t find that book on the Napoleonic Wars that Devina gave me.”

“But you did find it eventually on the top of your wardrobe,” said Steph. “You just forgot where you put it.”

“I would never have put it on the top of my wardrobe,” said Luke indignantly.

“What about my trainers?” asked Ella. “How did one of them turn up in the laundry bin?”

“Aah!” said Luke gleefully and rubbed his hands together. “So there have been other eerie happenings while I’ve been away?”

Steph ignored him and replied to Ella. “No doubt because you accidentally bundled your trainer up in your dirty gym clothes before dropping them all in the laundry bin.” She looked over at Molly. “A ghost certainly didn’t do that.”

“Well,” said Luke, “it still doesn’t explain where my rugby belt has gone.”

Molly had been listening silently to her family’s bickering. She couldn’t help feeling a shudder running down her spine as she remembered the day she’d come home to find her economics study books mixed up randomly with the ones for business studies. Molly always kept her school books tidy and in the order she’d be needing them. Everyone in the house knew how important her schedule was to her.

But none of that meant there was anything supernatural going on, she told herself firmly. These things happened in a busy house.

She squeezed Ella’s cool hand and glared at Luke. “Mum’s right, Ella, there’s no such thing as ghosts. Stop trying to frighten her, Luke.”

Her brother just laughed and tapped keys on his phone.

But Ella was enjoying what she thought was an exciting grown-up conversation. “What about your necklace, Mum?”

“What’s this?” said Luke, giving them all his attention again.

Steph waved her hand and tried to look complacent. “I’ve mislaid my pearl drop. It’ll turn up. Now, can we not have any more talk of ghosts or things going missing and concentrate on dinner?”

Luke and Ella went through the arch and settled themselves at the table. Steph donned oven gloves and took the lasagne out of the oven. Molly picked up the salad bowl but, before going through to the dining room, Steph said to her,

“Have you planned to go over to Frankie’s tonight to do revision?”

Molly stopped. “Not tonight. I’m up to date so I’m giving myself a break.” She looked at Steph through narrowed eyes. “Why do you ask?”

“Erm... well, I have to pop out later and I was hoping you could stay with Ella.”

Ella’s voice came from the dining room. “I keep telling you – I don’t need looking after. I’m nearly nine.”

“Going anywhere nice?” Molly asked Steph flatly.

“I have to see a client who can’t make it during the day.”

Molly couldn’t help taking their conversation a step further. “The same client you always see?” These secret meetings seemed to have been going on for at least two months, Molly recalled.

“Yes. The same client. I’m helping with some financial business.”

Molly noticed that her mum had given nothing away to tell whether it was a man or a woman she was meeting. But Molly knew. Hadn’t she seen the name Marc on the text? Uncle Marc. Molly followed Steph and put the salad bowl on the table with a thud. She thought of Frankie and their fun sessions revising but now she wondered if she’d ever be able to look her best friend in the eye again now that she was sure her mum and Frankie’s dad were having an affair. She could feel her face warming with anger.

Ella was putting little dollops of tomato ketchup around the rim of her plate and Luke was tapping his fingers on the table in time to the music on his phone that was coming through his ear buds. Steph pulled one out of his ear.

“Luke! You know mobiles are banned at mealtimes in this house.”

“Okay, okay,” grumbled her son, taking the other bud out of his ear and shoving his phone in his jeans pocket. “There are more rules here than at uni.”

Steph dished out the lasagne and Molly passed round the salad bowl. She could tell her mum kept glancing at her. She realised she didn’t have an appetite but chewed on a small mouthful of lasagne, barely hearing the chatter that was going on at the table.

Then she jumped a little as Steph said, “Moll, everything all right?” She leaned across the table and placed the back of her hand on Molly’s brow. “You’re very quiet. You’re not getting that nasty cold back again, are you?”

Molly pulled away. “No, Mum! It’s nothing. Don’t fuss.” She knew she’d spoken sharply and her mother was staring at her with a worried expression. “I’m fine. Just tired. I’ve had a busy week doing mocks and stuff.”

Steph looked around at her children. “Hey, how about us getting take-away pizzas tomorrow night and watching something on Netflix? To celebrate us being together for the first time since Christmas. You’ll bring Devina, won’t you, Luke, and, Molly, you can invite Oliver?” She looked tentatively at Molly.

“I’ll have to check with him.”

“That sounds very formal,” said Luke. “Surely you see your boyfriend on Saturday nights.”

Molly bristled a little. “Oliver isn’t my boyfriend as I keep telling you all. We just see each other now and again.”

“Early days, yes, Moll?” said Steph, giving Luke a warning glance. “It’s good to take things slowly.”

Molly knew her mum was thinking of the speed with which she’d thrown herself into a serious relationship with Jude, who’d then broken her heart when he’d suddenly told her he was immigrating to Australia with his parents. It was why Steph had been so pleased when Molly started seeing Oliver, a boy in her class.

They carried on eating their lasagne. Luke kept them amused with his stories of life at university and his feeble attempts on parallel bars when he’d fancied himself a gymnast after the recent Commonwealth Games. He gulped down the slice of his favourite chocolate cheesecake that Steph had bought for his first meal back home.

“Gotta run, guys. Devina and I have arranged to meet the gang at Nino’s.” Nino’s was the latest trendy club where many of the young folk of Bedfield gathered.

“Are you doing any work for Devina’s dad while you’re home?” asked Steph. Luke’s girlfriend’s father was a builder and usually offered Luke a few hours’ work on one of his sites when Luke was home. It gave him some pocket money and, having passed his driving test two years earlier, went towards his savings for a car,

“Yeah. He’s got a big project over by the river so he said I should just turn up whenever I have some free time.”

“You’re lucky,” said Molly. She herself worked part-time on the checkout at the Late to Eight shop but had taken some time off while she was doing her mocks.

“Oh, before you go, Luke,” called out Steph, “I hope you haven’t forgotten we’re all invited to Uncle Marc’s and Auntie Louise’s on Sunday. We haven’t seen much of them since Christmas. Frankie and Aaron will be there and I know they’ll welcome Devina.” She beamed at her children. “That’ll be nice, won’t it?”

Ella clapped her hands. “Do you think Uncle Marc will do some drawing with me?”

“I’m sure he will,” said Steph. Marc was a talented free-lance illustrator and graphic designer and art was Ella’s favourite subject at school. Marc often sat with Ella with a sketchpad while discussing earnestly the finer details of drawing.

Luke came back to the table. “I think it’s about time I stopped calling them Auntie and Uncle. I’m a bit old for that especially as they aren’t really our aunt and uncle.”

Molly interjected quickly. “I agree. It’ll be Louise and... Marc from now on.” She was finding it hard to say his name.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Steph. “They’re as close to us as any family can be and they’ve known you since before Ella was born.” She shrugged. “But if that’s how you want it...”

“I shall go on calling them Auntie Louise and Uncle Marc no matter what age I am,” said Ella, her little chin sticking out determinedly. “Cos that’s what they are.”

“They’ll be very pleased to hear that, sweetheart,” said her mum.

Before Luke left, he wiggled his fingers at Ella and made what he thought was a ghostly noise. She pushed him away.

When the dinner things had been cleared up and the dishwasher stacked, Steph glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. It showed seven o’clock.

“I’ll just go and get ready, love,” she said to Molly. Then with what Molly thought was a nervous laugh, went on, “Don’t want to be late.”

Ten minutes later, Steph reappeared having changed out of the plain navy skirt and white blouse she’d worn for work and into well-fitting black jeans and a lime green fleecy jacket. Molly’s breath caught in her throat. She was aware that her mother, at forty-three, was still a very attractive woman with her slim, curvy figure and dark hair with its red tints. The dark circles under her hazel eyes had become more prominent as time crept by after Molly’s dad had passed away but Molly still thought she was beautiful.

“I’ll try not to be long,” called out Steph, picking up her keys from the hall table and opening the front door. “Make sure Ella has her bath and then she can stay up a bit later seeing it’s weekend.”

Molly didn’t answer. She wandered over to the sitting room window and watched the fourteen-year-old Micra reverse off the drive and disappear down the road. She realised her cheeks were wet with her tears.

CHAPTER 2

S

teph roused and stretched out in the double bed. As she’d done every day for the past three years, five months and nine days, she reached out and placed the back of her hand on the pillow next to her. The devastation of losing Simon so cruelly, so suddenly, had caused a violent pain inside her that she was sure would never go away but, after time, it became just a constant ache that she knew she had to live with for the sake of the children. They were still coming to terms with losing their dad, too.

Steph treasured her Sunday mornings when she could lie in bed and not have to think about getting ready for work, making packed lunches, consider what to have for dinner, wonder whether she could afford the boots that Ella just couldn’t live without because all her friends had them, and if the aging Micra would pass the MOT that was approaching too quickly. There always seemed so much to worry about.

She glanced at her bedside clock. It was just after eight. There were no sounds in the house. She lay quietly and let herself contemplate the day ahead. The entire family was invited to lunch at Ascot Close, the road in a leafy village at the edge of Bedfield where Steph and her family had spent their happiest years until it had been necessary to move to somewhere smaller and where the bills weren’t so high. Now it cheered Steph knowing the two families would be getting together, not to mention eating Louise’s wonderful Sunday dinner. No one could make Yorkshire puddings like her closest friend, Steph thought with a smile.

Steph, for the thousandth time, wondered what any of them would have done without the kindness and support of Louise and Marc Cookson after Simon’s death. They’d become more than a surrogate family and Steph felt she would have crumbled without them. Her parents had passed away some years earlier and Simon’s lived in Canada.

But the comforting thoughts that were relaxing Steph began to fade as she remembered one difficulty that she was finding hard to cope with. She knew that Marc found it hard, too, as they tried not to look at each other for too long, being careful what they said in case their secret came out. But it was what they’d agreed – she and Marc. What they were doing was necessary and Steph knew Simon would understand.

The night before, none of them had got to bed before midnight. It had been a noisy but enjoyable evening with Steph, Molly and Oliver bunched up on the sofa, Luke and Devina happily squashed into an armchair and Ella curled up on the beanbag. It had been a tough job deciding on a film that everyone was happy with but, in the end, they all gave in to Ella and settled down to watch Frozen for at least the tenth time.

When it finished, Luke carried Ella up to bed then spent a long time at the front door saying Goodnight to Devina before she went home. She had her own car.

Lying in her comfortable bed, Steph was aware that plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, pizza boxes and crisp packets would still be lying around downstairs but she didn’t mind. It wasn’t often they could all be together with Luke being away at uni and, when he was home, spending most of his time with his old college friends or Devina. He and Devina had known each other since primary school and Steph remembered how Simon was always saying that Devina was as much a part of the family as their own children.

There came the sound of quiet footsteps on the stairs. Steph knew it would be Molly because it was far too early for Luke to stir and Ella would come bounding into her mum’s bed as soon as she woke up. Sure enough, a few minutes later, there was a tap on Steph’s door and Molly came in with a mug of tea. She was still in her nightie and fleece dressing gown Steph had bought her for Christmas. It crossed Steph’s mind briefly that usually Molly would bring two mugs so they could drink their tea together and have their normal Sunday morning chat. But Molly rested the mug on the porcelain coaster that said World’s Best Wife.

“I’m going to do some revision in my room, Mum,” she said.

“Okay, love. We don’t have to go out until around midday so there’ll be plenty of time for you to have a shower and dress.”

She looked at her daughter. Molly’s eyes seemed tired and there was an expression in them that Steph hadn’t seen before. Almost hard. She was about to reach out for Molly’s hand and ask her if there was something on her mind when Molly turned and left the room.

Steph sighed and propped up her pillows. Whereas Luke somehow drifted through life without much effort, Molly was the most serious and conscientious of Steph’s three children. Steph could rarely figure out what was going through Molly’s head and now it seemed something was worrying her. No doubt her forthcoming A-Levels, Steph decided, but she was sure that Molly was going to sail through them. She always attained top grades. When her dad passed away, Molly had had a difficult time and even saw a councillor for a few sessions but, to Steph’s relief, soon found her feet again.

And then Jude had come along. Steph didn’t worry too much about their intense relationship. They were young. It would soon fizzle out, she assured herself.

But Jude’s sudden departure had taken them all by surprise. Molly had put on a good show of it being the best course for him to take. There would be wonderful opportunities for him as a trainee reporter in Australia, but Steph had heard the quiet sobbing in Molly’s bedroom, seeing her light on under her door in the middle of the night, and her carefree attitude towards her studies over the following few weeks. Thank goodness, thought Steph now, she was back on track again and rarely talked about Jude any more.

Steph was drinking her tea when, suddenly, her door flew open and Ella came in like a whirlwind, landing on Steph’s bed. Tea spilled over the mug onto the duvet. Steph knew that was the end of her lie-in.

When she went downstairs, she found that Molly had emptied the dishwasher as well as doing most of the clearing-up from the night before. Her mum gave her a hug. Molly’s body was stiff against hers.

“Everything okay, love?” she asked.

Molly turned away. “Why do you keeping asking me that, Mum? I’ve told you – everything’s fine. You’re just putting more pressure on me by hassling me.” She sighed and turned back to her mother who looked both surprised and hurt. “I’m sorry, Mum. I didn’t mean that but I’ll feel better when these mocks are over and I’ll know exactly what work I have to do for the real exams.”

“If anything is worrying you, love, you know you can talk to me, don’t you?”

Molly nodded knowing that her main concern was the one thing she couldn’t talk to her mum about.

Steph took the pastry from the fridge that she’d prepared the day before for the apple tart she was taking to the Cooksons for dessert.

At eleven-fifteen, after having been called three times, Luke surfaced. He groped his way to the shower. Ella had insisted on wearing her blue spotted long-sleeved tee-shirt and black and red striped trousers even though Molly told her that stripes with spots were gross. Molly had tried hard to think of an excuse to get out of going to their friends but, in the end, she gave in and dressed in jeans and fleece zip-up jacket. Her fair hair was pulled back into a pony tail.

At twenty minutes to twelve there was a flurry among the three children as they put on coats, scarves and outdoor shoes. Luke opened the door. A scattering of snow was beginning to cover the ground to Ella’s delight. Steph joined them and pulled her coat from the peg.

“Can I drive, Mum?” asked Luke. “The only practice I get is when Devina lets me drive her car.”

Steph handed him the keys and wished she could get enough money together to top up his own savings for a car. While all the children were getting into the car, she went to the kitchen to collect the apple tart. She stopped. There seemed to be a distinct chill in the air. Going back into the hall, she turned the radiator up a notch so that the house would be comfortable when they got back. She’d be glad when spring came along and she could start economising on her fuel bills once again but one thing she would not do was see her family cold.

It was a short drive to Ascot Close. Whenever Steph visited whom she called her second family, she couldn’t help the bittersweet sensation that she was coming home. She knew everyone felt Simon’s absence. They used to alternate going to each other’s homes every month for Sunday lunch when Simon was still with them. He and Marc would disappear to the pub until the meal was ready, Steph and Louise would have numerous cups of tea while they caught up on their news and any local gossip, and the children would disappear and find games to play. Now, it wasn’t quite the same.

It had been just after Molly’s eighth birthday when the Flynn family had moved into the imposing new-build detached house on the much sought after tree-lined avenue at the edge of the town. 34 Ascot Close.

Just a week later, Louise and Marc had moved into number 36 and, from that day, the two families had become inseparable, sharing barbecues in the summer, spending Christmases together, joining up for exotic holidays.

After Simon had passed away, Steph had struggled to keep the house going financially. It had been Simon who’d earned the higher salary – more than three times what Steph brought in from her part-time position at the bank. Trying to make ends meet with a growing family, and determined not to touch Simon’s life insurance pay-out which Steph had invested for the children’s future, and although she’d been promoted to a full-time position as financial planner and mortgage adviser at the bank, there’d been no alternative but to downsize and they’d moved to the semi in Ash Tree Road.

Then Simon was gone and Steph knew she’d be forever grateful to her two friends for their love and support through the most difficult time of her life.

Now, pulling into the semi-circular drive of Number 36, she tried to keep her eyes averted from the house next door with its perfect lawn now covered lightly with snow, tidy grass verges and a fountain in the middle of the pool that had taken Simon three years to complete. They’d been so happy there, Steph recalled, blinking a tear from her eye.