Page 71 of A Very Bookish Murder
‘Millie never spoke about her life if she could avoid doing so,’ said Penelope. ‘We knew she was divorced, but she was very tight-lipped about anything to do with her earlier years.’
Laura had come to join them, leaving Owen to pack up his machine. ‘I had no idea,’ she said, blowing her nose.
‘None of us did,’ Penelope said, quietly for once.
Ally was finding it incredible to believe that two such different women had come on this retreat for the sole purpose of killing Jodi Jones, and another had come to try to reason with her. What a strange, mixed-up woman Jodi must have been!
And Millie! Mousy little Millie, who liked cold water swimming! Who would have believed it? She was the woman Harry Harper had abandoned so long ago, leaving her and their three-month-old baby. How she must have hated him and nursed that hatred year after year, planning how to get herrevenge. Well, she certainly managed that, Ally thought, and how.
And then she heard what was now becoming an all too familiar sound. Ally looked up at the sky and saw the helicopter as a dot in the distance, and then becoming larger and larger as it neared this remote place. It had only been two weeks since they’d last seen it.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Feeling increasingly shaken by what had just taken place, Ally was glad of Ross’s supporting arm around her. He, too, looked a little shell-shocked, but neither of them was as badly affected as poor Morwenna, and even Penelope’s stiff upper lip appeared to be a tad wobbly. Ally realised that neither of her remaining guests were in any fit state to drive south that afternoon, particularly Morwenna. If Morwenna planned to go all the way to Penzance in one go, it would certainly take her a good twelve hours because Penzance was as far away from Locharran as it was possible to get without falling into the English Channel.
‘You are both staying another night,’ Ally instructed them firmly, ‘and if you feel strong enough, you can set off tomorrow.’
Neither of them argued, just thanked her profusely.
‘I shared that room with her!’ Morwenna kept repeating, still in shock and disbelief. ‘And she had killedtwo women!’
‘Well, just be grateful you weren’t the third!’ Penelope snapped, plainly considering this remark to be of some comfort – which, of course, it wasn’t – and caused Morwenna to start wailing again.
‘And they’ve taken myphone!’ Morwenna added, blowing her nose.
Filming the funeral for her ex-husband, she was the only person to have captured the incident, and Amir had wanted a copy for the records, promising her that he’d return it later in the day.
Ally was beginning to wonder just how much Morwenna’s ex-husband – whose desire to see Jodi again was the reason she was here in the first place – was really going to enjoy watching this horrendous video from his hospital bed.
The four Rigbys – weren’t George and Brigitte now really Rigbys too? – approached. Brigitte gave Ally a big hug first. ‘Thank you so much, Ally, for everything! I still can’t get my head round what’s just happened.Au revoir!’ Her eyes were full of tears.
George gave her a bear hug too and added, ‘Thank you for your help in all this, Ally. I now know who my real parents were, even my father, who was just a lad in her class in school. Sadly he died in a motorbike accident a couple of years later. I’m not going to try to contact any of that family. No point now. But we’ll be coming up here more often now to see myuncle! And we’d love to see you again.’
Even Rigby himself was in hugging mood. ‘Thank you, Ally,’ he said. ‘Thank you for everything, and particularly for telling Kandahar about my relationship to Jodi. It was the wisest decision, and now I can have some closure on my sister Joanne’s tragic death.’
As they were making their way towards their car, Desdemona joined them.
‘At least,’ she said sadly, ‘poor Jodi has ended up in this peaceful spot where I can come from time to time with some flowers.’
‘It’s certainly peaceful now,’ Ally agreed, looking around at the damp, windswept moor.
‘So that murdering guest of yours turned out to be Harper’s ex-wife?’ Desdemona asked as they walked towards where their vehicles were parked.
‘Yes, but we were unaware of that because she registered everywhere in her maiden name,’ Ally said, ‘and she certainly gave no clue. Didn’t talk about her personal life at all.’
Desdemona frowned. ‘Did I tell you that Jodi came to see me on the day she arrived in Locharran?’
‘No, you didn’t,’ Ally said, not entirely surprised. Desdemona wasn’t one to share her secrets if she didn’t have to.
‘She stayed for about an hour and we had quite a chat. According to what Jodi told me, Harper left his wife about twenty-five years ago. Wouldn’t you think she’d have got over it by now?’
‘They never divorced?’ Ross asked as he unlocked his car.
‘No,’ Desdemona replied, ‘she refused to divorce him. Not that Jodi was bothered because she wasn’t divorced either.’
‘So, the only person really affected by this was Millie,’ Ally said. ‘But Harper isn’t dead, thankfully. Millie came up here purely to get rid of both him and Jodi, but had to kill Joyce too, most likely because poor Joyce found her passport or some item with her married name on it.’And Morwenna might well have been next, she thought.
‘I’m going to see Hamish and meet his boys now,’ Desdemona said as she opened the door of her old Land Rover and, after folding up the pink umbrella, climbed into the driving seat. ‘I only hope that woman swings for what she’s done!’
