Bunburry--A Murderous Ride Page 10
Alfie stared at her.
“It’s true,” she said. “I presume you saw the way Richard treated Beth?”
He nodded.
“She’d been planning her escape for a long time, skimming the profits. Then Mike turned up as the new apprentice and they started their affair. She was the one who set him up in the new garage. She was biding her time until he’d established himself and then she was going to leave Richard for Mike. That was why Richard thought the business was going under – she was siphoning off an increasing amount of money.”
“You’re sure, nothing to do with Tennison?”
“Not a thing. Her money, arguably, and now her garage. You managed to alarm her, though.”
“Sorry?”
“All your talk about mysterious Russians and whether Mike had been in financial difficulties. She wondered if she’d made another wrong choice of man. But everything was in perfect order and above board. She had set it up in her name, so all she had to do was walk in and take over.”
“But without Mike.” Alfie was thinking of Vivian.
“Yeah.” She sighed. “Richard had borne him a grudge – he could see the business was going downhill financially, but since he didn’t do the books, he didn’t realise it was Beth, not Mike taking away business.”
“But he wouldn’t have killed for that. You were right – it was when he heard Edith talking about Beth and Mike having an affair, he completely lost it. Drove straight over to the garage, and you know the rest. He actually saw you when he drove away again, but you never noticed him.”
Alfie thought back to that journey, how skittish he had been at the sight of another car, how he had vowed never to put himself through the stress of driving again. He had completely lost his nerve. And then when Emma sent him off in the police car, his focus had shifted from his own discomfort to his determination to bring Richard Smith to justice. Driving stopped being a challenge and became a means to an end.
She was right; this was a beautiful car. And he was enjoying driving it. He might yet decide to sell it. Perhaps to Beth. But he didn’t have to make any irrevocable decisions right now, all he had to do was drive.
“Okay to move on?” he asked, turning the ignition.
“Of course. So where are we going?”
There was a sign up ahead for the motorway. Alfie turned to Emma and grinned. “Let’s see if we can do the ton.”
Next episode
In “A Taste of Murder,” the third Bunburry book, a local beef farmer is found dead and Betty Thorndike, vegetarian and Bunburry’s only Green Party member, is in the frame.
Despite what everyone thinks, Betty is absolutely not Alfie McAlister’s girlfriend. But Alfie knows what it’s like to be wrongly accused, and enlists the help of his fellow amateur detectives, Liz and Marge, to find out who’s responsible. There’s just one problem about a farm-based investigation – Alfie’s scared of cows…
A Taste of Murder
BUNBURRY – A Cosy Mystery Series
by Helena Marchmont
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