Page 4 of A Very Bookish Murder (Ally McKinley Mystery #3)

FOUR

When Ross returned with the fish and chips, he asked, ‘Where are your guests now?’

Ally shrugged. ‘They’re probably having their dinner at the hotel; that’s if any of them are particularly hungry after finding Jodi strangled and the detective inspector having a heart attack.’

‘Enough excitement for one day I should think,’ Ross agreed. ‘Any idea who might have strangled that Josie?’

‘Jodi,’ Ally corrected. ‘Jodi Jones. A very successful writer of women’s fiction, accused of plagiarism by a fiery Irish lady who just happened to be sitting next to me.’

‘And who, I suppose, must therefore be the obvious suspect?’

Ally nodded. ‘According to Callum, for some of the so-called coffee break, Jodi was in the bar, downing a hefty Scotch, before she went to the ladies’ room. The thing is, nobody in the bar paid much attention to who visited the ladies’ room and for how long – because you don’t, do you?’

‘No, I don’t suppose you do,’ Ross agreed, shaking his head.

‘All four staying here went to the ladies’ room at some time during the break, but not all together, of course! And then there was Della, the Irish lady. They’re all suspects now, and they got questioned rather thoroughly. I just wonder how much information Rigby got before he hit the floor.’

Ross looked thoughtful. ‘Don’t forget there were other guests in the hotel. It could be someone else.’

‘I suppose it could be.’ Ally sighed. ‘God only knows what happens now.’

After they’d eaten and had a glass of wine, Ross said, ‘And now you’re going to tell me that you want to stay up until your guests come back?’

Ally nodded. ‘What else can I do, Ross? It would seem heartless to just let them come in and go straight up to their rooms. I was thinking of shepherding them into the sitting room and offering them a hot drink or something.’

‘Even though one of them might be the killer?’

‘Even though one of them might be the killer…’

‘That night of passion I envisaged is rapidly fading,’ Ross said with a sigh.

‘Never mind,’ Ally said soothingly, patting his hand. ‘They do say that anticipation can sometimes be the best part…’

The four women returned not long before ten o’clock.

Brigitte and Penelope had driven up from the south, and still had their cars parked in the village, whereas Millie had made the journey by air to Inverness, and then by bus.

Joyce, who didn’t drink and who had a large Range Rover, had driven them back up to the malthouse.

‘It was parked out on the road anyway because of having to clear the car park,’ she said, ‘and I wanted to bring it up here.’

Ally ushered them into the large sitting room and offered hot drinks and/or nightcaps.

‘I’d love a hot chocolate!’ exclaimed Joyce.

‘Great idea,’ the other three chorused.

‘We’ve had such a load of alcohol this afternoon and evening,’ Penelope said cheerfully. ‘But we bloody well needed it, didn’t we, gals?’

The ‘gals’, apart from Joyce, all agreed that they had indeed needed alcohol after the horrendous events of the afternoon.

‘So now there is no Jodi,’ Brigitte said sadly.

‘To be honest, I didn’t like her that much,’ Joyce admitted. ‘I must confess that I wasn’t particularly shocked when Della came up with the plagiarism thing because I think she stole one of my ideas too…’

‘What makes you think that?’ Penelope asked.

‘Because one of her plots was very similar to one of mine which I’d sent for her to edit,’ Joyce replied.

‘No smoke without fire, I suppose,’ Penelope said brusquely.

‘And this course has cost a lot of money, so what happens now?’ Millie asked.

‘We are not giving up now, ladies!’ Penelope said loudly. ‘You’ve paid for a course, and I shall give you a course.’

‘But what would we do?’ Millie asked.

‘Well, we can still do writing exercises and brainstorming sessions.’

‘But we should discuss how Jodi died and who could have possibly done it. Surely that would be a good base for crime stories?’ Ally suggested hopefully.

Penelope guffawed. ‘Obviously there’s little doubt that the Irish woman killed her,’ she said firmly in her usual loud fashion.

‘That’s true; after all, if it wasn’t any of us, who else could it be?’ Millie asked.

‘It could have been that Laura whatever-her-name-is,’ Joyce said. ‘I thought she was a bit strange, and I thought all along that she had another agenda.’ She put her head in her hands. ‘Oh God, I’m never going to forget seeing Jodi lying there…’

‘If only we hadn’t needed the toilet,’ Millie said sadly.

‘Some of us have to go!’ Penelope boomed. ‘I have a very weak bladder, I’ll have you know.’

‘Have you tried those special pants they keep advertising?’ asked Joyce, who seemed more than happy to change the subject.

Ally decided this was a good time to escape to the kitchen and make the hot chocolates.

‘This is Ross,’ Ally announced as he followed her into the sitting room a little while later, carefully carrying a large tray of hot chocolates, followed by two excited Labradors.

As she shooed them back into the kitchen, Ally was aware that he was being scrutinised and was also aware of some muted murmurs of approval.

And so there should be, she thought. Ross was tall, lean, silver haired and blue eyed, and he looked very tasty this evening.

Pity about the night of passion though, but Ally couldn’t imagine either of them staying awake long enough for anything other than a hasty goodnight kiss.

‘That policeman said he wanted us to stay here,’ Brigitte said, stirring her drink. ‘So now we must be here for some time and my husband will go crazy!’

‘Do you know how long for?’ Millie asked, looking horrified.

Brigitte shrugged again. ‘I do not know.’

‘What will happen,’ boomed Penelope, ‘is that most likely we will have to stay here until someone is arrested, and that’s that !’

‘But,’ Joyce said, ‘the detective is presumably in hospital, if he’s still alive, and so who takes over? And when will the new detective, he or she, get here? And will we have to answer all those questions and give new statements all over again?’

There were groans all round before Brigitte stood up and drained her mug. ‘I am going to bed. Thank you so much, Ally. And, Ross,’ she added, giving him a coy little smile.

This was followed by a great deal of yawning and mug-draining and the other three decided it was time to go to bed too. Ally could hear them talking as they made their way upstairs.

‘What a day!’

‘What happens now?’

‘Do we get our money back?’

Shortly after they’d all disappeared upstairs and Ross had kindly stacked the dishwasher, switched it on and let the dogs out for ten minutes, they too made their way upstairs, to Ally’s room.

‘Who do you think is a likely killer?’ she asked Ross as she got into bed.

‘Let me clean my teeth and we’ll have a chat about it in bed,’ Ross replied.

But by the time Ross had finished in the bathroom and climbed into bed, Ally was already fast asleep.