Murder in Abbot's Folly by Amy Myers Page B

look well, so I agree it was odd.’
    â€˜Her husband says she was lying down in the bedroom when he last saw her about three o’clock, and that she told him then she wouldn’t make her appearance at four. But he went to double-check at about five to four only to find no one there. He and his daughter quickly checked the house, but there was no sign of her, so he went ahead shortly after four o’clock, while his daughter checked the house again. What did he actually say in this announcement, Peter?’
    â€˜That there wouldn’t be one until a later date.’
    â€˜So the family might have already known she was dead?’ Mike said.
    â€˜Your job, Mike,’ Peter said mildly. ‘I take it you don’t know exactly when she died yet?’
    â€˜We do. Roughly, anyway.’ Mike looked at his notes. ‘A Mrs Dora Clackington seems to have been the last person to see Mrs Fettis alive when she looked in on her just before three thirty to wish her luck for the big speech. She was in a downstairs room by then and told Mrs Clackington that she was too ill to make the speech.’
    â€˜No more?’
    â€˜No. Probably wanted to get rid of the woman. Can’t blame her. Have you talked to her?’
    â€˜I’m staying with her,’ Elena put in somewhat reproachfully.
    Mike grinned. ‘Don’t worry. I don’t see Mrs Clackington wielding a gun, silencer or not. Do you?’
    â€˜No.’ Elena managed a weak smile in response.
    â€˜Was the gun still around?’ Peter asked. ‘Georgia said she didn’t see one.’
    â€˜No. And before you ask if it was the same one used in 1985, I can’t say yet. The 1985 handgun was a Beretta, found, as I’m sure you know, at the Edgar Arms where Max Tanner was the landlord.’
    â€˜Thank you, yes,’ Peter replied calmly. ‘Of course,’ he added, ‘Luckhurst’s murder was an open and shut case, so I suppose there wasn’t a large-scale investigation.’
    A steely glare from Mike. ‘From what I read about it, that wasn’t called for. It came down to Tanner or the leader of the protest march, one Tom Miller.’
    â€˜Any idea what happened to Tanner?’
    Mike sighed. ‘Knowing you, Peter, I had it checked out. I was going to ring you on Monday. Released in 2000, not re-offended. No record of him since, under that name or any other. We had no reason to keep tabs on him, and DNA was in its infancy. His prints were on the gun. So was his DNA.’
    â€˜As they both could well have been, quite innocently. So there’s no clue as to whether he’s still in this area?’
    â€˜None.’
    â€˜I gather Amelia Luckhurst—’
    A look from Mike quelled even Peter, but all Mike said was, ‘Luckhurst will have to wait. I have to get back to that poor woman’s murder. Any detail you remember that you haven’t yet told Newton, tell her right away. I have a feeling this one’s going to be tricky.’
    â€˜The tea tent still seems to be operating,’ Elena said timidly after Mike had left. ‘Would anyone like something to drink?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Georgia replied, hardly able to believe she had said that, even though from the look on her face and the quaver in her voice it was clear that Elena needed it. Nevertheless, it seemed bizarre that tea should go on as usual in the midst of a murder investigation. On the other hand, she supposed that keeping normal life going was a sensible idea.
    â€˜I’ll bring some back here,’ Luke offered.
    Georgia decided to go with him. Action, any action, was better than sitting on this terrace with her mind full of that red spotted dress. Luke seemed about to suggest she remained, but he refrained. Once walking on the lawns and part of the general scene, Georgia felt it easier to cope, even though her costume began to seem even more incongruous with uniformed police everywhere, not