“God knows. They’ve been slashing our budget for years, so I guess it’s not a complete surprise. Although the way they’re trying to pin this on the missing money, rather than just being honest and saying they want to sell the building, makes my blood boil.”
“Everyone’s going to blame me for this, aren’t they?” Nova said, remembering Beryl’s words earlier. “If this place closes, I’ll forever be known as the girl who got the community center shut down.”
“People’s memories are short, they’ll soon forget about this once a new piece of gossip comes along. And if they don’t, you can always—”
Lauren was interrupted by the bang of the front door opening.
“Sorry, we’re closed,” she called out, but a moment later they saw PC Khan put his head round the door.
“Afternoon,” he said, nodding to them both. “I’ve just popped in to give Sandy an update on our investigation. Is she still here?”
“She’s in the office,” Lauren said. “Okay if we come too?”
Nova and Lauren followed him down the corridor. Sandy was sitting behind her computer, but her head jerked up as soon as she saw the police officer walk in.
“Yusaf, please tell me you’re here with good news?”
He waited until Nova had closed the office door. “I’m afraid not. In fact, things are a lot more complicated than we originally thought. As well as being the main suspect for the theft of your money, Michael Watkins is also now the prime suspect in a murder investigation.”
“What?” Sandy said, at the same moment Lauren muttered “Bloody hell!” Nova did her best to feign shock, given she didn’t want any of them knowing she’d been to visit Michael’s wife and already knew this.
“On Wednesday, Michael’s mother was killed in the home she shares with Michael and his wife. I can’t go into too much detail at this point, but it appears Michael packed a bag and fled the house soon after, and he hasn’t been seen since. In fact, as far as we can ascertain, it seems likely that Nova here was the last person to see him at her book club.”
“So that means our money has disappeared too,” Sandy said, slumping back into her chair. “Shit!”
“Do you have any leads on where he might be?” Lauren asked. “A man doesn’t just disappear, for God’s sake.”
“I’m afraid it seems he has,” Yusaf said. “This morning, his car was traced to a deserted lane in the middle of Bodmin Moor, but there was no sign of Michael. It seems likely that he drove there afteryour book club and then abandoned his car and carried on by foot or transferred to another vehicle.”
“Can’t you track him via his mobile phone signal?” Nova asked.
“We’ve tried but he must have switched it off, or else it’s run out of charge.”
“He must have an accomplice,” Lauren said. “You can’t just disappear off the face of the earth without help.”
“His wife has mentioned a possible other woman in Michael’s life, and this is another line of investigation.”
“So, what’s the plan now?” Sandy asked. “How are you going to find him?”
“We have teams out searching for him around the Bodmin area, in case he’s gone into hiding there, and obviously we’ve alerted our colleagues nationwide as well as Border Control. Assuming he’s still in the UK, then at some point in the coming weeks he’ll have to emerge from hiding, and we’ll be ready to catch him when he does.”
“But we don’t have weeks!” Sandy said, her voice sounding horribly desperate. “We need to find our money now or the council will shut us down.”
Yusaf shrugged. “I’m afraid that without Michael, there’s not much we can do about that. I interviewed the other members of the book club and, as you know, they all have alibis for arriving and leaving the center. So, it seems the only person who could have taken the money was Michael or…” He trailed off and there was an awkward silence.
“It wasn’t me, if that’s what you’re suggesting,” Nova said, feeling her face flush. “Why would I steal from my own place of work and risk losing a job I love?”
“Aren’t you and Craig getting married next weekend?” Yusaf’s tone was soft, but Nova knew what he was insinuating.
“Craig’s parents are paying for the wedding. But even if they weren’t, I’d never do anything to hurt the community center. Sandy, you believe me, right?”
She looked at her boss, but Sandy was staring at the squeezy stress ball in her hand and wouldn’t catch Nova’s eye.
Chapter Ten
Arthur
Every Saturday morning, Arthur Robinson visited St. Tredock library to collect new books for Esi.
