Read Online Bones Under The Beach Hut by Simon Brett - Free Book Online Page B

his victim in the sand and
shingle under the beach hut. But if he'd done that, the last thing he would
have wanted to do would be to set fire to the place. By doing that he would
immediately be drawing attention to where he'd hidden his victim.'
        'Well,
I-'
        'Oh,
come on, Carole. If the fire had taken hold and Quiet Harbour had gone
up in flames, whoever cleared up the debris would almost definitely have
discovered evidence of recent digging and investigated that - and found the
body.'
        'So
what are you saying?' asked a rather disgruntled Carole. She knew Jude was
right and felt sheepish about having let her excitement outrun her logic. It
was a very un-Carole Seddon thing to do.
        'I
would say that there are definitely two perpetrators involved. That the person
who lit the fire was not the same as the one who buried the human remains.'
        'I
suppose you're right,' said Carole grudgingly. 'Oh, it's very frustrating not
to have more information.'
        'It's
early days. At this stage I doubt whether the police have any more information
than what's been on the news bulletin.'
        'And
even if they have, I don't think they're about to share it with us.'
        'No.
As we've found out before, they're funny that way, the police, aren't they?'
        'So
all we can do,' said Carole grumpily, 'is to sit and wait for the next news
bulletin.'
        'Oh,
I wouldn't say that's all we can do.'
        'What
do you mean?'
        'I'm
going to ring Philly.'
        'What
a great idea. See if she's got any more information.'
        'I
had actually thought,' said Jude with a hint of reprimand in her tone, 'of
checking whether she's all right. The news about the human remains being found
in the beach hut that she's only recently vacated must have been a terrible
shock to her.'
        'Oh
yes, fine. Check that she's all right, of course,' said Carole solicitously.
But her tone changed as she went on, 'Then see if she's got any more
information.'
        
        
        'I
assume you've heard the news about Quiet Harbour,' said Jude on the
phone to Philly.
        'Yes.
It's horrible. It makes me feel ... I don't know . . . spooked out.' The girl
did sound very emotional, almost as though she were in shock.
        'What,
the thought that the human remains may have been under the floorboards while
you were actually in the hut?'
        'Not
that, really, no. As I say, I haven't been inside Quiet Harbour for
about a month.'
        'You
did say you'd been in to put down the carpet,' Jude reminded her gently. 'You
said you went in there last week when you were walking the dogs.'
        'Yes.'
There was a silence from the other end of the line, as though Philly Rose was
trying to decide what to say. 'The fact is, Jude, that wasn't true.'
        'Oh?'
        'I
only said it because your friend Carole was kind of badgering me about it.'
Jude would make a point of telling her neighbour that. Philly had accused
Carole of the same thing as she had - 'badgering'.
        Jude
said nothing, waiting for the explanation. Which duly came. 'I haven't actually
been in Quiet Harbour since Mark left. I just . . . somehow, I don't
know . . . We'd been so happy there. It all seemed too ... I couldn't.'
        'So
you hadn't seen the piece of carpet Carole mentioned?'
        'No.
The fact is, I wanted Carole to take over the rental, not just because I needed
the money, but also because I never wanted to see the place again. I don't take
the dogs for their walk on Smalting Beach now. I try to avoid it.'
        'And
that was because it contained happy memories?'
        'As
opposed to what?'
         'Quiet
Harbour didn't prompt unhappy memories? You and Mark didn't have rows in
there?'
        'No.'
        'It
wasn't in there that he told you he was leaving?'
        'No.
Anyway, he didn't tell me he was leaving. He just left. That's what made it
doubly