Frozen Grave (Willis/Carter #3)(96)

‘No, I don’t think it does. She would have gone through a lot of emotions in those five years. Maybe her expectations would have changed from the start, when maybe she just saw it as flattering that he would come and see her once a week. After all, he comes across as a good catch. It would have helped to rebuild her bruised ego, but, by now? By now, she’s got to want something permanent. She may have known there were others but she’s got to have thought she’d come out the winner in the end.’

‘Maybe she still does,’ said Carter. ‘She didn’t want to tell us how much money she’s given him.’

‘I think it’s a case of think of a number and double it,’ said Tucker. ‘She’s not going to let Ellerman get into trouble if she can help it. It’s her and him and she doesn’t seem to see the others.’

‘You have to take your hat off to him, how he’s managed to inspire loyalty,’ Carter said. ‘I suppose we have to look at it from her point of view. She needed a friend, she needed to feel attractive, and he didn’t promise her that anything would happen fast; so, in her opinion, he hasn’t really lied – that much.’

‘Yeah – I’ve got a horrible feeling you’re right,’ said Tucker.

‘What did Megan Penarth seem like when you met her?’ Willis turned to ask.

‘She seemed very bright, very independent, confident, used to doing things her own way.’

‘Olivia was the same type – driven, confident; quite a loner at work. Gillian too. Lisa was a boss at a gym,’ said Carter. ‘Emily seems independent, quirky, strong.’

‘Megan Penarth organized the meeting between the women,’ said Tucker. ‘We need to know, did she contact others who were going to come and couldn’t make it or were these women the only ones interested?’ Carter turned.

‘These are his regulars,’ said Willis.

‘A fast-diminishing group,’ Tucker said.

‘Do you think Emily will see Ellerman again?’ asked Carter.

Willis replied: ‘Yes. Definitely.’

At just before eight they arrived at the Boulder Inn. They parked up, signed in and went straight to the bar and restaurant with their room keys in their pockets. They sat in the restaurant of the old mid-eighteenth-century coaching inn. Willis switched her phone on to vibrate only. She had texted Tina, to tell her that she wouldn’t be home tonight; having previously promised that, if she was back in time, they’d meet for a hot chocolate and a catch-up.

Carter ordered a pint of the local beer and Tucker had the local cider. Willis ordered a Coke. They sat in the restaurant and spent an hour making meaningless chitchat in a room without background noise and with too few people for them to talk privately without being overheard. At the end of the dinner they went back to the bar.

Tucker pulled out a brochure of Megan Penarth’s work from his briefcase.

He put it on show on the bar. ‘She definitely lives very near here,’ he said, within earshot of the landlady – Rachel Goody, a woman who had run a bar in Chelsea before buying the inn seven years ago. ‘I wonder how far it is to her studio?’

‘It’s not far.’ Rachel, glancing at the brochure, commented as she pulled a pint. ‘But you have to make an appointment – she doesn’t welcome people to her house. You could try and catch her tomorrow morning. She’s a bit odd like that – you’d think she would be grateful for the work and walk-in trade, but apparently not.’

‘Do you know her personally?’

‘Oh, yes. We all know her. She’s down here complaining about the noise or the light pollution. Her husband was a practising Wiccan.’

‘What’s that?’ Carter asked.

‘One of those “would-be” witches. But, he was a good bloke – he brought in a lot of custom here. He was all about the area – bringing tourism in and making sure he contributed to the area, but she doesn’t do any of that.’

‘She’s not well liked then?’

‘No, not just by me – I’m also a newcomer. But I don’t feel she makes any effort with the locals. She behaves oddly; we see light sometimes, coming from the old quarry. People say it’s her carrying on with her husband’s pagan ceremonies – but I don’t know – all a load of nonsense what people say when they get talking.’

They said goodnight and Willis was so excited to get inside her room, or rather to stand outside the door and put the key in the lock. She had never stayed in a hotel until she first went on holiday as an adult and that was with Tina. They’d gone to Ireland and stayed with Tina’s family but, besides that, they’d spent three nights in a hotel in Dublin and it had been the best fun Willis had ever had. Now she felt enormous excitement and pleasure at turning the key in the lock and pushing the heavy door open to her room. She almost laughed out loud as she walked into a beautiful beamed room with a large kingsize bed with scatter cushions. She walked around the room, looking at the place with delight. Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

‘Miss Willis?’

She answered: ‘Yes?’

‘This is Dr Lydia Reese. I’m afraid we’ve had some problems with your mother.’

Carter and Willis met up on the way down to breakfast.

‘They’ve had something serious happen with my mother.’