Malice in the Cotswolds Read Online Free Page A

found herself roaming restlessly around the garden.
    ‘Oh … Blake. Hi.’
    ‘Everything okay?’
    ‘Not really. It seems that Yvonne never reached London. Her husband’s worried about her.’
    ‘My God!’ The reaction did nothing to soothe Thea. ‘She must have got into trouble, then. She’s been gone all day. ’ He made it sound like a month.
    ‘Yes. I thought perhaps she’d called in on somebody on the way, as a sudden whim. Or just … changed her mind.’ She shrugged at this temptingly normal idea. Something about the failed marriage, Yvonne’s nervousness that morning, the husband’s tone, made it seem rather plausible that the woman had deviated from her original plan, that she had got cold feet and decided instead to go and stay with a distant cousin in Beaconsfield or Haslemere.
    ‘She’s been psyching herself up for this for ages,’ he said, almost to himself. ‘The final showdown with bloody Victor.’
    ‘But aren’t they divorced? Wasn’t that the time for a showdown?’
    He wrinkled his nose. ‘She just signed everything that was put in front of her, whether it was fair or not. It didn’t do much to sort out the emotional side of things. She hasn’t been able to face up to a meeting ever since … well, for years. We talked it over endlessly. She wouldn’t chicken out of it now. I know she wouldn’t.’ He sounded less certain than his words.
    ‘If she hasn’t seen him for a long time, it must be hard for her.’ Thea fumbled to express her vague understanding of the situation. ‘I mean, that sort of thing – it looms bigger and bigger in your mind, doesn’t it?’
    ‘She wouldn’t do it now, if it wasn’t for Belinda.’
    Thea nodded. ‘Yes, she told me. She wants him to come to the wedding.’
    ‘She wants him to pay for it. I’m not sure anybody wants him to show up as well.’ He laughed, and added, ‘I’ve got something of a similar problem myself, as it happens. Eloise’s dad is almost as out of favour as Victor is. All we can think of is to get married in the Caribbean or somewhere, with no family at all.’
    ‘Bit drastic,’ remarked Thea.
    ‘It’s a drastic business,’ he said severely. ‘So much can go wrong – as Vonny would tell you if she was here.’
    ‘I assume Victor took up with another woman?’
    Blake’s eyelids dropped, giving him a sly appearance.He turned his head aside and examined the colourful flowers intently. ‘That’s what we all assumed. But Vonny would never say exactly what happened to split them up.’
    ‘Probably too painful to talk about. She said she felt humiliated.’
    ‘Poor old girl. She really does need to move on.’
    Thea felt uneasy, now that gossip seemed to be finally under way. That Victor had behaved badly seemed axiomatic – and her impression of him from his phone call had not been favourable. But more pressing now was the question of what might have happened to Yvonne in the course of the day.
    Blake, however, seemed to have settled any initial worries he might have been feeling, and was intent on conveying what he knew of the couple. ‘I don’t get why he’s in Crouch End,’ he said, with a little pout of puzzlement. ‘He was renting a swish apartment in Hampstead Garden Suburb as far as I knew. Don’t you love the sound of Hampstead Garden Suburb?’ he added incongruously. ‘It conjures such a lot in those three words.’
    ‘The point is, I’m not quite sure of my position, if my employer’s missing,’ Thea said, with some emphasis. ‘I ought to find out whether she’s okay.’ She refrained from mentioning that she had previously experienced the death of a homeowner whilst caring for the house, and it had led to considerable confusion and complication. She was not keen for a repetition.
    ‘I can understand how you feel,’ he said, as if this was a brilliantly helpful remark. ‘But I don’t suppose she’ll stay lost for long. I know old Vonny pretty well. She’s a survivor.’
    The