Kennedy 03 - Where Petals Fall Read Free Page B

devil worshipper. I’ll have to shift all those TVs and DVD players before the police come hammering on my door.’
    ‘Why not ask the cards who did it?’ Ella suggested with a smile.
    ‘Ah, you mock.’
    ‘Oh, yes, I mock.’ Ella laughed. ‘Not you, but people daft enough to believe in it and pay you.’
    Finlay shrugged. ‘You’d be surprised.’
    ‘I’d be surprised if there was anything in it other than profit for some people,’ Ella agreed.
    ‘I must do a reading later,’ he said. ‘Jill would make a good subject.’
    ‘Why would I?’ she asked, amused.
    ‘Because, in many ways, you’re a typical Leo. And because I already feel as if I know a lot about you.’
    ‘Like what?’ Ella asked doubtfully.
    Finlay Roberts, roguish face smiling, took a sip of wine, then leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
    ‘She’s generous and warm-hearted –’
    ‘Pah! I could have told you that,’ Ella scoffed.
    ‘She’s very organized and tends to organize others if she thinks they need it. In most situations, she feels she knowsbest, but – and this is where it gets interesting – her self-confidence has been battered over the years. She was once in a strong relationship,’ he went on, ‘and by strong, I mean the depth of commitment was strong rather than the passion. She was living with someone or perhaps even married to someone she didn’t love.’
    His tone was level, monotonous even, but it was enough to bring Jill out in goosebumps. She hadn’t told him that she had been married. Or widowed. And she could use the fingers of one hand to count up the people who knew that she and Chris had discussed starting divorce proceedings before he was killed.
    ‘I think her work scares her,’ he continued. ‘She’s frightened of making a mistake.’
    ‘What? Oh, that’s complete crap. I love my writing and I’m returning to my job on the force in a couple of weeks.’
    ‘And the thought frightens you,’ he insisted.
    ‘Rubbish!’
    Nevertheless, if she’d made a mistake and The Undertaker was still alive – Why was she even bothering to think about it? It was complete rubbish. Anyone could invent that mumbo-jumbo!
    ‘Here, let me refresh our glasses.’
    The three passed a pleasant couple of hours but, left alone, Jill wondered again about the things Finlay had said.
    She knew, deep in her heart, that she was anxious about her return to the force. Despite having excellent qualifications and plenty of experience, she had made a mistake. That mistake, in part, was responsible for Rodney Hill, wrongly accused, hanging himself.
    Had she made another mistake? Again, it was thanks in part to her profile that the police had gone to arrest Edward Marshall. He’d resisted arrest and made a run for it in a neighbour’s car. Two people had been badly injured during a high-speed chase across Yorkshire before Marshall lost control of the car and plunged over a cliff. Experts, taking into account the tides and weather conditions, hadtried to predict where and when his body would be washed ashore but it had never been found.
    He had to be dead, though. Witnesses had seen him inside the car as it dived into the sea below and traces of blood had been found inside his car. He couldn’t have survived that plunge into the sea. No, Edward Marshall was dead.
    But had he been the right man?
    ‘My, someone’s looking fed up with life!’
    Jill looked up with a start and laughed. ‘Just thoughtful – and slightly drunk,’ she said, standing to give Louise a hug. ‘How are you?’
    Louise Craven was another friend that Jill had made on moving to Kelton Bridge. She lived along Main Street, in a beautiful stone-built terraced cottage. Not long after moving to the village, Jill had been out walking and had paused to admire her garden. Louise had invited her to have a proper look, and they’d been friends ever since.
    ‘Oh, you know,’ Louise replied, sitting on the bench next to Jill.
    ‘Trouble?’ Jill