Page 38 of A Very Bookish Murder
‘What about Millie?’ Ally asked.
‘Millie shared a bedroom with Joyce and so she must have had access to the insulin, yes? So, she must be the most likely person to kill Joyce!’
‘But she and Joyce got on well,’ Ally said. ‘Anyone could have got the insulin because it was in my fridge in the kitchen.’
Brigitte shrugged. ‘There is some connection there. There must be! It must have been one of them.’
‘That doesn’t seem to be much of a reason, Brigitte, as far as Millie’s concerned. And you’ve just said that you think Penelope was the killer.’
Brigitte was nowhere near finished yet. ‘What I mean is that anyone could have done it. That Laura! Tell me, where does she go when we socialise? Why is she here? She must go somewhere, no?’
‘Perhaps she’s just a loner?’ Ally suggested, stifling a yawn, determined not to mention what she knew.
‘Why then does she come up here to Scotland with a group of women?’
‘To improve her writing ability?’ Ally suggested. ‘Isn’t that why you’re all here?’
Brigitte shook her head. ‘No, I think one of us came here to kill.’ She paused. ‘Why did she appear here after we all got back from the picnic – eh? And I wonder about this Morwenna too! She tells me that Jodi once stole her husband. Herhusband!Would you not be angry?’
‘I wouldn’t be pleased exactly,’ admitted Ally with a smile, thinking of anyone trying to steal poor old Ken! Years ago, though, maybe… ‘That was a long time ago, and surely if she wanted to kill Jodi, she’d have done it then? Brigitte, you’re not really telling me much that I don’t know already.’
‘Well,’ said Brigitte, standing up, ‘I hope most sincerely that you do not suspectme!’
‘It’s not my business to suspect anyone. That’s the job of the police.’ Ally hesitated for a moment. ‘I am a little curious though why you were looking through Jodi’s diary, particularly at the page on which she’d written something about having a chat with you?’
Brigitte froze, her eyes wide. ‘How could you possibly know that? I tore out the page.’
‘I know you did, but I saw the imprint of her writing on the page beneath.’
Brigitte appeared suddenly uncertain. ‘I’d written to Jodi two weeks ago and she’d promised we’d have a chat.’ Brigitte added, ‘My husband is a publisher. We publish wonderful books. Reference books, language books, dictionaries, thesauruses, instruction books, religious books, and there was something I wanted to ask her – purely on a literary note.’ She pulled a face. ‘We do not, of course, publish the kind of books that she wrote.’
‘So why then are you here, Brigitte?’
‘Because she ispublished!And I want to be published too, Ally! I wanted to know her secrets, her tips, her ideas! But one of these other women is not here for that reason.’
Ally stifled a yawn. ‘You may be right, but I hope you don’t mind if I go to bed now?’
Brigitte nodded. ‘It has been good to talk to you,’ she said as she made her way towards the main staircase.
Ally switched off the lights and headed towards her own staircase behind the kitchen. She knew that Ross would probably be asleep, and he was.
As she lay in bed, she thought that Brigitte had a reason for everyone to kill Jodi, except herself. Was she hiding something? What had she really been looking for in Room 1? Did this woman protest too much?
FIFTEEN
Shortly after the women had finished breakfast the next morning, Ally went to clear away the breakfast dishes and found Millie still in the dining room.
‘Oh, sorry, Millie. I thought everyone had gone upstairs.’
‘No, no, I’ve finished breakfast, but I wanted to ask you about buses. I’m having a day off from writing and thought I’d make a trip to Inverness. To buy a hat.’
‘Ahat?’
Millie looked a little embarrassed. ‘Yes, I’d like to wear a hat to Jodi Jones’s funeral, out of respect, you know. I really did admire her such a lot.’
‘Well, that’s certainly very respectful, Millie, but I’m not sure that people wear hats so much to funerals these days.’ Ally paused, then added, ‘I don’t think that Jodi’s funeral is going to be exactlyformal.’
‘I’m not bothered what people do or don’t do,’ Millie said firmly. ‘I am going to wear a hat.’
