Small Town Christmas (Some Very English Murders Book 6) Read Online Free

The door
slammed, and smiles returned to the clientele.
    “There is something in the air!” Drew said as he sat back
down. “That was the bloke from last night who was arguing with Clive, wasn’t
it?”
    “Yup. Oh, and guess what! I met Linda again today. What a terrible
woman. And apparently she’s Clive’s sister. Did you know that?”
    Drew mulled that information over. “Yes, now you say it, I
can see the awful resemblance.”
    “What’s more, they don’t get on.”
    “Does anyone get on with either of them?” Drew said.
    “I don’t know much about Clive,” Penny said. “But I
wouldn’t imagine so.”
    “I was up at the industrial estate this morning,” Drew
said. “I popped up to see a mate who is repairing some outdoor gear for me. You
know Jared works up there, doing the computers for one of the smaller units?
Anyway, I didn’t see Jared but I did see Clive, which was weird. And
Clive was having a right rant about Jared, so I think he might have been up
there to see him or something.”
    “What was his issue with Jared? I can’t imagine Jared
offending anyone. He’d apologise if you bumped into him, even if it wasn’t his
fault.”
    “I don’t know,” Drew said. “Clive stamped off. He has a big
posh car, a proper road hog. The sort of car you know is going to
tailgate you as soon as you see it appear in the rear view mirror.”
    “Poor Jared,” Penny said. She had a real soft spot for the
geeky young man. “He seems quite lonely to me. He’s single, isn’t he?”
    “I don’t know. But … probably.”
    “He’s sweet, though,” Penny mused. She drained the remains
of her drink. “He sent me a text this morning to tell me he’d found a new thing
for my graphics editing software. I didn’t fully understand it but apparently
it’s some kind of automated process that will make my night-time shots look
amazing.”
    “What, by deleting them and replacing them with good
photos?” Drew joked, and was rewarded with a punch on the arm.
    “Don’t you have work to do?” she said.
    “I’ve got a whole day off, today!” he replied. “But I’ve got
more field craft work, which has surprised me, with the weather like it is, and
all. I’ve been offering gift vouchers and people have bought them as unusual
presents. And of course, it’s still going well at the school.”
    “Sounds great! But you promised me badger-watching, months
ago.”
    “I did,” Drew agreed. “It’s harder now because it gets dark
so quickly and they don’t move around as much in the cold. They don’t hibernate
though. I have found a sett which is currently active. We would always go out
there this week but I’m not guaranteeing that we’ll see anything.”
    “I’d like that,” Penny said. “I have never seen a real live
badger. I’ve got some carol concert practise, and committee meeting stuff, so
I’m totally booked up this week. Are you free next Tuesday night?”
    “I am,” he said.
    “It’s a deal.”
    “It’s a date,” he corrected her, and she smiled warmly.
    Life was really good.
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    A week later, and it was finally December, and a cold, dark
Sunday night. Penny crossed her legs and folded her arms, and shifted to get
comfortable on the plastic chair. She was sitting in the town’s community
centre, at another interminable Christmas Planning Committee meeting, and she
was shaking her head in despair.
    She was joined in her resigned derision by the other
members of the committee. They were all on chairs around a long folding table,
and everyone was staring up at the angry figure of Clive who stood in the
doorway. He was trying to look intimidating.
    The local police woman, Cath, was there as a liaison
officer between the police and the community. She was in civilian clothing, but
she was sitting very upright and glaring at Clive. The chairperson was Ginni,
who ran the floristry shop and was active in most of the arts groups locally.
There was also Mary, the