Morrie stroked my hair. “Oh look, another murder victim. Are you sure you’re not cursed, gorgeous?”
“Not funny.”Please let Ginny’s baby be all right.“And this isn’t murder. She tripped on the stairs.”
“No, she didn’t.” Morrie pointed at her neck. Her bare neck. “Someone has stolen her necklace.”
I shuddered. He was right. Ginny’s expensive necklace was nowhere to be seen. And there was something else… a white object clutched in her hand. A piece of paper. I drew it from her fingers and read the message, flipping it over to check for a signature, but there was none. It read in a simple font:
Meet me at the top of the bell tower after the ceremony. We have something important to discuss.
Morrie grabbed the note from me and held the paper by the corners, peering at it through the light. “Standard printer paper, inkjet. Not much to be gleaned from this except the threatening tone of the message. ”
I surveyed the crowd as they filtered into the church.Any one of them could have done it.Women screamed as they saw the body. The vicar and his son tried to push everyone back outside, but of course, you couldn’t keep nosy villagers away from a body. Because of the chilly winter day, most of them wore gloves. There probably wouldn’t be any fingerprints on the note.
“Someone lured her into the tower and killed her!” Mrs. Ellis cried, reading the note over my shoulder. People stared in horror at the body. Her words passed through the crowd, and heads bent to whisper accusations about who might’ve done it.
“We don’t know that yet,” I said to soothe Mrs. Ellis, so neither she nor anyone in the crowd would panic and flee. “Ginny probably tripped on her way up the stairs. They are slippery and uneven, and look at the shoes she’s wearing.” Ginny’s stilettos were hardly adequate footwear for climbing ancient church steps.
“She was murdered, I know it! It’s the same person who poisoned Gladys. Don’t you see? Someone has it in for the Banned Book Club.”
Dorothy Ingram’s flared nostrils and twisted mouth flickered across my mind, as did the ominous words of her secret conversation with Ginny.Maybe Mrs. Ellis is right.“The police will look into every possibility. Did you see anyone else inside when you were looking for your shawl?”
“No. I went to the end of the row, and I noticed a lump at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the tower. I thought one of the flower arrangements had fallen over so I came to right it and… oh…”
I wrapped my arms around Mrs. Ellis’ shoulders and tried to steer her away from the grisly scene. Outside, sirens wailed, growing closer. “I really think Ginny fell—”
“She didn’t fall, she was pushed!” Mrs. Ellis gripped my shirt. “Ginny was as nimble as a mountain-goat in those shoes of hers. She’d not have fallen. And look, someone’s taken her diamond necklace. That was her favorite, she never took it off. Oh, Mina, you have to help me.”
“What are you talking about? You’re not in danger.”
“I am!” Mrs. Ellis’ eyes bugged from her head. “Someone is killing off members of the Banned Book Club. And I could be next!”
Chapter Nineteen
After we gave our statements to the police, I left Morrie to return the books to the shop and the trolley to the market, and helped Mrs. Ellis back to Nevermore Bookshop. Upstairs in the flat, she settled into Heathcliff’s chair by the fire while I boiled the kettle and prepared the tea – the only appropriate English response to a terrible fright.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized she could be right about the Banned Book club being targeted. First Mrs. Scarlett, and now Ginny Button. The only thing those two ladies had in common was their membership to the book club and the fact that both of them had crossed Dorothy Ingram.
And then there was that strange conversation I’d seen between Dorothy and Ginny Button. From what Dorothy said, it was almost as if Ginny was blackmailing her. But what secret did a woman like Dorothy have, and what would she do to stop it being made public?
I handed Mrs. Ellis her tea, which she took in shaking fingers. “Mrs. Ellis, has Dorothy Ingram ever threatened anyone at the book club before?”
“Oh, yes. Every few months that nasty woman will get a bee in her bonnet about something in the village that doesn’t meet her puritanical standards. She’ll write letters to theGazetteand plaster the shops with flyers and work the church committee into a frenzy. She’s got the vicar’s ear, you know. But she could never get the best of Gladys. Every time Dorothy started a campaign against the Banned Book Club, Gladys found a way to make her look foolish and have people stop taking her seriously, and Dorothy found another group to terrify.”
“I read a column in theGazettewhere Gladys stood up for Sylvia Blume.”
“Yes, that was a number of years ago, when Sylvia first wanted to open her crystal shop and offer her services. Dorothy tried to start a good old-fashioned witch hunt. Gladys couldn’t stand to see bullies, so she let rip in the paper. Of course, Dorothy can’t prevent a legitimate business from opening on the high street, and after Gladys’ letter in the paper nothing Dorothy said would stop the villagers lining up to have their auras read, so she’s mostly left Sylvia alone ever since.”
Or has she?Ginny’s visit to Sylvia Blume’s home weighed on my mind. I was sure it was all connected, but I just didn’t know how.
“I think you should tell the police what you’ve told me,” I said. “It might go some way towards clearing the Lachlans of wrongdoing. After all, they can’t have killed Ginny if they’re still being held at the police station.”
“Oh, I said as much in my statement at the church, but I don’t think they believed me. And they haven’t let Cynthia and her husband go. I’m so scared, Mina. It someone would push a prenant lady down the stairs, think what they might do next! Won’t you stay with me tonight?” Mrs. Ellis whimpered. “I’m terrified someone’s coming to hurt me.”
“Yes. Of course.” Then I remembered. “Oh, no, I can’t. I’m having dinner with my mother.”
And my three male… boyfriends.
“I’ll come too!” Mrs. Ellis perked up. “I promise I won’t be a bother. I’ll even bring along my world-famous cottage pie. I’ve got one stashed in the freezer for just such an occasion.”
