Read Online Murder in Abbot's Folly by Amy Myers - Free Book Online Page B

morning, therefore, it had to be faced. Georgia arrived at Haden Shaw somewhat early and prepared to tread gingerly, but she was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn’t necessary. Margaret greeted her from the kitchen, and Peter was already at the computer. There were signs that he had actually breakfasted, an impressive array of reference books was piled on the desk, and Marsh & Daughter’s website was on the screen.
    â€˜I’ve been looking back over our case,’ Peter announced without preamble. So that was that. Robert Luckhurst was ‘our case’. Did she mind? No, she realized. So far it had not seized her imagination, but after Laura’s murder, it began to seem inevitable that Marsh & Daughter should pursue the earlier tragedy.
    â€˜I’ve set Cath on to the problem of tracking Max Tanner down,’ he continued.
    â€˜Good.’ Georgia was pleased. Cath Bone was newly married to Charlie, Georgia’s cousin. She was a journalist and shared Charlie’s inquisitive nature into anything that took her fancy, not only the stories she was asked to cover for her newspaper. ‘Useful income,’ she said practically, and, put that way, Marsh & Daughter had had no hesitation in hiring her services when something suitable came up. This seemed an ideal opportunity.
    â€˜Isn’t it premature though?’ she asked.
    â€˜The fingerprints were shouting loud enough,’ Peter pointed out.
    She couldn’t deny that they certainly suggested there was more to Robert Luckhurst’s story than she and Peter had heard so far. ‘Tanner claimed he was innocent, and if so are there any candidates for guilty?’
    â€˜Rather premature, but we can tentatively list a few. Mike offered his help over that.’
    â€˜Offered?’ she queried ironically. Mike had looked too busy to be in an offering mood when they had last seen him on Saturday.
    â€˜Agreed, then. Apart from the toughie Tom Miller, Amelia Luckhurst is one obvious candidate. Mike also suggested we talk to Barbara Hastings, who was barmaid at the Edgar Arms at the time of the murder and in charge of the catering at Stourdens on Saturday – I think I remember her. She also does the teas there on open days. Her son Craig was at the bar. He’s barman at the Dunham pub, plus part-time plumber. Remember him?’
    She did. In his twenties, stocky, brown hair, rather fresh, round pleasant face. She remembered his mother too – and her remarkable cooking. ‘I do. He can’t be on the suspect list for 1985; he’d have been a babe in arms. Anyone else?’
    â€˜Not yet. We’d better start with Tom the toughie.’
    â€˜Toughies who lead protest marches don’t usually carry guns with them.’
    â€˜They might if they were particularly eager to solve the issue quickly, which Miller did. He had a small struggling fruit farm which was heavily dependent on the track through Stourdens’ estate. Without it he was undoubtedly out of business.’
    â€˜Did that happen?’
    â€˜No. Because of strong local feeling, Amelia Luckhurst made it a condition in the sale of Stourdens that farm traffic could continue to drive through, and the Fettises were happy about that. It does no harm to the gardens, only to the fields let out to farmers, one of which unfortunately ran quite near Abbot’s Folly – the field Miller rented. Luckhurst might have seen it as a threat to his beloved collection.’
    â€˜I bet Jane Austen didn’t have this neighbour trouble.’
    â€˜Who knows? Her brothers, especially the one who owned Godmersham, must have done. Mud was a big problem in her day, so he was probably always being badgered to maintain the tracks better.’
    So easy to have an image of Jane sitting on her own quietly scribbling away without a thought in her head save who was to marry whom, and the niceties of social life, but it must bear little relation to the