Read Online A Cornish Revenge (The Loveday Ross Cornish Mysteries Book 1) by Rena George - Free Book Online

walked back up the path towards him.
      ‘Can I speak to you, vicar?’
      In the small room at the back of the church where he kept his robes and the flower vases were stored, he pulled out a chair and invited her to sit. She ignored the chair.
      ‘I don’t know where else to turn.’
      To his surprise large tears rolled down her cheeks and she looked so vulnerable that he had to stop himself from gathering her into his arms and whispering soothing words. He listened, intrigued, as she poured out the story of a disastrous marriage.
      The unexpected interruption of his other mobile made them both jump. His home number flashed and he clicked it on. ‘Don’t tell me you’re going to be late, again, Martin?’ His wife, Joan’s voice was slightly irritated.  He could hear his children in the background - 12-months-old Timmy, Jemima 4, and their six-year-old twins, Sophie and Rory – they were squabbling.
      Magdalene was rummaging in her bag for a tissue. ‘I’m keeping you,’ she said, making for the door. ‘Thanks for listening to me.’
      Looking down into her large blue eyes he should have recognised the danger signs. She wasn’t, after all, the first attractive, vulnerable female he’d had to deal with. It wasn’t as though he didn’t know the pitfalls. But he heard himself arranging to meet her next day - to talk things over.
    It hadn’t taken long after that for their relationship to develop into an affair. He hated himself for it. Sitting at the breakfast table each morning, surrounded by the trusting faces of his children as they tucked into their cereal, were the worst times…And Joan…she didn’t deserve this. Why was he risking losing his family? But then he remembered Magdalene, the smell of her skin, the feel of her hair, silky through his fingers. How could he not protect her from the monster she was married to?
      This weekend it had all come to a head. Paul Bentine knew about them. He was threatening to destroy him…to tell Martin’s family about the affair. He couldn’t let him do that!
      Magdalene’s voice on his mobile brought him back to the present.
      ‘I’m going to the police,’ she repeated.
      His hand shook as he pleaded with her. ‘Do you know what you’re saying? I’ll come over. Don’t do anything yet.’
      But Magdalene voice was resolute. ‘My mind’s made up. I have to tell them.’
     

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    At 11.30am on Tuesday morning Magdalene walked into Truro Police Station and handed over the photograph of Paul that she had carefully selected from the album. ‘I’d like to report my husband missing,’ she told the young sergeant. She fancied she noticed his eyebrows rise when he looked at Paul’s picture. She gave her name and address, and details of when she had last seen her husband. He jotted them down on a pad then showed Magdalene into a side room. Ten minutes passed before the door opened and a tall man in a dark tweed jacket entered. The woman who followed him was shorter, younger, and with a shock of ginger hair that she had unsuccessfully attempted to tame by tying it back on the nape of her neck.
    The man’s smile was professional as he extended his hand. ‘I’m Detective Inspector Kitto.’ He turned to his companion. ‘And this is Detective Constable Fox. Please take a seat Mrs…’ He glanced at his notes. ‘…Mrs Bentine’
      She was dressed casually, a suede tan jacket over a light sweater and slacks, but she looked expensive. Sam laid Paul’s photo on the table. ‘This is your husband?’
      Magdalene nodded.
      ‘When did you last see him, Mrs Bentine?’
      She shifted in her chair. ‘Friday.’
       Sam had been watching the woman carefully. He thought she looked more frightened than worried, but there were dark smudges under her eyes that suggested she’d been crying.
      ‘That was four days ago, Mrs Bentine. Why have you left it so long to report him missing?
      ‘I’ve been away,’ she