Murder in House Read Online Free PDF Page B

bell.’
    â€˜Isn’t that something your cousin Roy got involved in?’
    Of course. Roy was a talented, hard-working architect with a loving younger wife, a baby girl on whom he doted, and absolutely no sense where money was concerned. His unmarried mother, Miss Quicke, had been unable to keep the boy when he was born, and had given him up for adoption. Roy had only traced her a couple of years ago, since when she’d helped finance him in one or two projects, while steering him away from others which she considered doubtful.
    Once she died, Roy had turned to Ellie for funds to put into the development at Prior’s Place. The project had looked all right on paper, but Miss Quicke hadn’t liked it, so Ellie hadn’t been easy in her mind about it either, and had also ended up refusing to help him.
    She took the last biscuit, and sighed. ‘Roy and money do not make a perfect marriage. And talking of marriage, I seem to have mislaid the ring which Ursula wanted me to return to her boyfriend. At least, I think he was her boyfriend. You haven’t seen it?’
    His mind was on other things. ‘I suppose I could ask the vicar if he knew the lad who died?’
    Ellie felt a sneeze coming on. She tried to remember the name of the boy the ring was to be returned to. Daniel something? She could, she supposed, contact him and confess that she’d lost the ring which Ursula had given her. Or she could do nothing. Presumably he wasn’t expecting it? Or was he? She sneezed. Thomas handed her a box of tissues. She used one, thinking she really preferred cotton hankies which were kinder to her nose.
    A spot of prayer was in order, perhaps. A trivial matter. She really didn’t want to bother Himself with it. On the other hand, remembering the other things the girl had said: a murder, a broken engagement, a disappearance? All very odd. Probably Ursula had been exaggerating as the young tended to do. Ellie told herself that she hadn’t exactly promised the girl that she’d do anything for her.
    But all the same . . . Well, dear Father, how about it? If the girl wasn’t making it all up – which she could have been doing – but . . . well, you do see what I mean, don’t you? I haven’t a clue how to  . . . Oh dear, another sneeze was coming on.
    She dived into her pocket for a hankie and felt something round and smooth in one corner. The ring.
    She took it out and looked at it. Thomas was smiling, content. Midge, their marauding ginger tom, had arrived from nowhere and was balanced on Thomas’s ample frontage. Where had Midge been all day? He hadn’t touched the bowl of food she’d left for him in the kitchen, but he looked well pleased with life. As did Thomas.
    â€˜All right, dear heart?’
    She smiled and nodded, slipping the ring on to her little finger. She would return it tomorrow.
    â€˜Can I speak to Ursula?’ A man’s voice. Youngish. Anxious .
    A woman replied. Middle-aged. Brisk. ‘Is that Daniel? I’m afraid she’s already gone back to uni. Didn’t she tell you she was going back early?’
    â€˜No, she didn’t. I’ve tried to get her on her mobile, but can’t get through.’
    â€˜She dropped her mobile and broke it, clumsy girl. I told her to reverse the charges when she rings home, till she gets herself another. I expect she’ll let you have her new number when she gets it.’
    Silence. ‘Well, when you speak to her, will you tell her I called?’

THREE
    Monday morning
    T he weather wasn’t any better the next day. A hard frost had whitened pools of slush in the roads. On the bright side, both Ellie and Thomas had had their first good night’s sleep since they went down with the cold.
    Drawing curtains and tidying rooms, Ellie considered the day ahead. Gone were the days when she’d been a housewife with time at her disposal to spend on