The Ullswater Undertaking Rebecca Tope (good books to read for young adults .TXT) 📖

Keswick. ‘I wish we had a dog to complete the picture,’ said Christopher, as he did every day or so. It was a campaign that Simmy knew she was going to be unable to resist for much longer. The putative animal was gradually gaining ground in her imagination, despite her best efforts.

In the car, they yet again began to talk about the murder.

‘With everybody knowing each other, we ought to find out more background – the wider family, and who knew Josephine best,’ said Christopher. ‘I feel at a disadvantage, only having been here a few years. This all goes back decades. Maybe we should ask Oliver – he’s very much part of the social network round here. Everybody knows him, after all.’

‘Do you think he knows Fabian and Hilda and all the rest of them?’

‘I wouldn’t be surprised.’

‘Well, we can assume that Josephine did know the whole family. And I agree with you we ought to see if we can find out a bit more. We could start with Uncle Ambrose.’

‘He’s an old man.’

‘And that’s another thing. Ben found out that Richmond is only about seventy. That makes him miles younger than the rest of them. His sons must be a lot younger than Fabian.’ She tried to order her thoughts. ‘Did you say they all grew up together – Fabian and his cousins and Josephine?’ This struck her as potentially rather important.

‘That’s right. Fabian told me what she was like then. Top of the class in history, as well as brilliant at maths. And then when they were in the sixth form the four of them started a little business together – backed by Aunt Hilda, who always took a shine to Josephine. It was a family full of boys, and she became a sort of honorary niece, apparently. Fabian never took his A-levels but dropped out after a year. He didn’t say what happened after that.’

‘Aha!’ said Simmy. ‘That does sound significant. I wonder if he’ll explain all that to the police.’

‘I wonder whether they’ll ask him for that sort of stuff.’

He looked at her with a grin. ‘That’s where your Ben turns up trumps – especially now he’s got this passion for history. Not that it always works out that way. I mean – not every crime stems from something in the distant past.’

‘But you think this one might?’ She wracked her brains for any evidence to suggest this. ‘That would rule out a panic-stricken burglar, then?’

Christopher shrugged. ‘I guess so. I can’t say I find that a very likely theory. But it must appeal to the cops – makes it nice and simple.’

‘They’ve had two days already and haven’t questioned Fabian yet. Seems a bit remiss.’

Christopher pointed out the turning into Threlkeld, which offered an alternative route to his workplace. ‘I usually go this way now,’ he said. ‘It actually goes past Josephine’s house if you carry on into Keswick.’

‘Oh,’ said Simmy. ‘I’m still very hazy about the geography up here. I always stick to the way I know.’

‘Well now’s your chance to learn,’ he said.

She had no recollection of ever going into the village of Threlkeld and was surprised at its size and relative normality. Very few obvious signs of tourism, but the trappings of an ordinary settlement in the shape of school, church, pubs and food shops. ‘I had no idea it was so nice,’ she said.

‘Too late now.’

‘Pardon?’

‘You’re going to say we should have come here to live, instead of Hartsop.’

‘Am I? It’s very close to the busy road.’

‘It stretches quite a way back, so you’d probably barely even hear the traffic. The school’s the other end of the village, and there are lots of nice, sensible family houses.’

‘Are you trying to sell it to me?’

‘Just teasing,’ he laughed. But the more she looked, the more she liked it. There was even a modest war memorial decorated with flowers. She counted four women pushing baby buggies. And for good measure there was a perfectly self-respecting fell rising up to the north. ‘Blencathra,’ said Christopher. ‘One of the very best, in many people’s eyes.’

‘A long way from Windermere.’

‘A good road, though. Except for having to go right through the middle of Ambleside.’

‘I bet it snows dreadfully. It’s high up here.’

‘The road’s kept clear right through the winter.’

‘Prone to flooding.’

‘Like everywhere else in the area.’

‘Stop it,’ she said. ‘We’ve got a beautiful house already. Or will have, when Humphrey finishes.’

‘Yes, we have,’ said Christopher.

Chapter Ten

The auction house was much less deserted than expected. The big double gate stood open and there were several vehicles in the yard. ‘I thought you were closed today,’ said Simmy.

‘So did I. That’s Jack’s car, and Pattie’s. I guess they just couldn’t keep away.’

‘What about Fiona?’

‘Wait here and I’ll go and see what’s what. Nobody’s meant to deliver stuff until tomorrow, so there’s not a lot to do. I can’t think why anybody’s shown up.’

‘Same reason you have, I expect,’ she said.

Christopher got out of the car and headed for the main entrance. Simmy watched him go with a pang of resentment. Women everywhere had to share their menfolk with workmates, she supposed. And vice versa, although that never seemed to be quite the same. The fact of Josephine’s naked devotion had been only a part of the whole sense of Christopher living a separate life at the heart of a group of people that were very like a family. Considerably more than his actual family, in fact. His two brothers seldom put in an appearance, and his sisters were superficially attentive but certainly not a part of his daily life. Now here were ‘Jack and Pattie’ showing up beyond the call of duty, united, no doubt, in the trauma of losing their manager. And Christopher had trotted eagerly into their midst to share the grief.

But then two people came out and made for the car with broad smiles and Simmy managed to open her window, after turning the ignition on. One was a ginger-haired young woman