Deadly Clementine

The Captain waved an airy hand. “Of course. Of course.”

“You will need to be armed as well,” Moss assured him.

“I am off to my cousin’s house tomorrow but will keep a gun on me just in case.” The Captain assured them all.

Clementine didn’t doubt that if the killer was stupid enough to try to take the Captain’s life then he – or she – might have more of a battle on their hands than they ever anticipated.

“I need to go home first,” Moss continued. “I need to fetch a few things and have a word with Billsdon. But, for now, I think it is safe to say that nobody should go anywhere unchaperoned, and that includes you, Captain. For now, I shall escort you home, and then will take a quick look inside Sally’s house on my way back to town. Clementine, you need to make sure that you don’t go anywhere alone or allow anybody into the house.”

“Do you really think all this is necessary?” Clementine hated to think that someone she was friendly with wanted her dead. Just as soon as she had spoken, though, she knew that Moss’s orders were indeed necessary. The alternative was to end up like Sally Walcott.

“Yes,” the men replied in unison.

“You are not going to Sally’s house,” Cameron bit out when he looked up at saw the expression on Clementine’s face.

“But I was there on the morning of her death. I know how it was left and will be able to tell you if something has been disturbed,” Clementine argued.

If she was honest, Clementine didn’t like the idea of Moss investigating the deaths without her, not least because she was curious to see for herself what he managed to uncover. The thought of simply stopping at home and waiting for him to throw her a kernel of information was enough to drive her out of her mind with frustration.

“I am not going to sit inside like I have done something wrong. I have a committee meeting to go to anyway.” That statement was enough to make Clementine’s gaze stray to the clock. She gasped when she realised what time it was.

“Where are you going?” Moss growled when Clementine launched out of her chair.

“I have to go.” Clementine hurried across the room and snatched her shawl off the peg before throwing it around her shoulders.

“What? Where?” Moss thundered, instinctively rising to follow her.

“The committee meeting is about to start, and I am not even there yet. They are going to think I am not going or, worse, that something has happened to me. I have to go.” With that, Clementine swiped up her basket and slammed out of the kitchen.

“Mother of God,” Moss whispered when he found himself staring at the spot where Clementine had once stood. He turned his head in time to watch her sail past the kitchen window without a care in the world. “Does she not listen to a word anybody says?”

Cameron opened his mouth to defend his daughter but then closed it again with a snap. He lifted his brows when Moss slammed out of his kitchen and charged after his daughter without waiting for either him or the Captain to answer.

“A guinea on them being married within the year,” the Captain offered.

“Two and by yuletide,” Cameron replied crisply.

The men shook hands and resumed their seats to enjoy their brandy while they waited to see what happened.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Moss was stunned at how much ground Clementine had managed to cover by the time he reached the front gate. Swearing, he began to jog down the street to try to find her. By the time he reached the village hall, Clementine was just sliding into a chair at the committee table, which was really a group of smaller tables shoved together, all lined up in the middle of the room. All the other committee members were already seated around the table, which was far too big for the handful of people who now made up the committee.

Moss sidled into the room and quietly closed the door behind him while everyone was busy settling themselves. He was hoping to be ignored and be waiting outside for Clementine once the meeting was over. Until then, he stood in the shadows, determined to watch what happened. Cautiously, he propped a shoulder against the door and studied the assembled group of people.

It was clear from only the one brief look at them that none of them wanted to be there. A heavy silence hung over them all as they settled down and slid wary looks at those already seated. Clementine was uncharacteristically quiet as well. He suspected this was not what the Fair Committee was usually like when they met, but that led Moss to wonder if the tension had something to do with the fact that one of them was a killer – a killer who had tried to take another person’s life this morning but had failed miserably. Or, whether the committee were starting to suspect that Clementine was behind the deaths, which might account for the wary looks they kept giving her. Or, worse, whether everyone on the committee now truly feared for their lives.

Should I make my presence known?

Moss wondered which one of them would be the first to object to having an ‘outsider’ in the room. He seriously contemplated stepping forward and introducing himself but then knew he would have to tell everyone why he was in the village, and what connection he had with Clementine. The last thing he wanted to do was give the killer any information about himself, but he knew that keeping his mouth closed and his presence hidden would leave Clementine vulnerable.

Maybe I should rattle this bastard’s cage?

Before Moss could do just that the meeting began.

“Right, is everyone ready?” A young woman of similar age to Clementine asked from the head of the table. She looked a little ruddy in the cheeks, as if she had raced to get there as well, but appeared perfectly calm, if a little bored by the monotony of such an occasion.

“Let’s just get on with it, shall we?” Mr Aldwych growled. “This is the last blasted time I am meeting you here and that’s a fact. Given that another committee member has now died, I am not taking any more bloody chances by coming here again after today.”