Free Dark Ritual by Patricia Scott

Met I expect.”
    “Yes. But I’m getting used to it. By the way I’ve got the custody of Clancy, our Labrador.” He chuckled. “We’re settled down now okay, I think. The old feller and me. I’d like to get a place with a garden like yours,” he said leaning forward to gaze out on the lawns and trees outback through the latticed windows. “I’ll bring him out to see you sometime. He rather took to you as I remember it. The old boy would love to have a run around here. Would you mind?”
    “Anytime. As long as he leaves my old girl alone.”
    “That would be good. I guessed you knew about us. I would have been glad to have had Steve’s ear. He was the best partner and pal I’ve had and I miss him still.”
    Viv caught her breath, shook her head and smiled sadly.
    “You must have known that we weren’t having a good run. Usual story. Work got in the way. You were different, you and Steve. You had something good going from the beginning. You had the kids. I wanted them, you see, but she didn’t. She liked her career in banking too much.”
    The china clinked out in the kitchen. “I didn’t know that.”
    “We didn’t want it known generally.”
    Viviane came back in with the coffee.
    “So come on, tell me. What gives, Bob? Why are you really here? What do you want to ask me?”
    He grinned. “Forgive me for saying it but it does seem like we’ve opened up a can of worms here...”
    She sat down. “Is it really that bad?”
    “It could be. Thought you were the best one to ask, Viv. We don’t want the media to latch onto it.”
    She frowned and nodded. “Okay. I shan’t mention it to another soul. Cross my heart.” He grinned. “At least not till we’ve had a chance to work on it.”
    She handed him his mug of coffee and waited for the rest to come out.
    “Thanks. You do know a good bit about the history of this place by now. I know you haven’t lived here that long, Viv, but it seems that your great-aunt did. And her family before that? Am I right?”
    “Yes.” She viewed him seriously over her mug. “But what on earth has my elderly aunt got to do with this case?”
    “A good deal I hope. Did she fill you in about Lower Milton’s past history at all? You said she was a teacher in the school here.”
    “Yes, she was. My aunt liked to talk about the local history, often.” She laughed quietly. “And she was a darn good teacher. She was a fount of information for me on local things. That helped me a lot when I first moved in here. So that I knew the families and most of the locals.” She stirred her coffee and tasted it and put in a spoonful of sugar.
    “Great. I felt sure you must know more than a bit.”
    Her eyes still held on him thoughtfully. “I’ve been careful not to tread on anyone’s toes. Daisy Doughty for instance. She’s like an elderly matriarch round here. Have you made her acquaintance yet? I told you Lower Milton’s in the Domesday Book, didn’t I? There is nothing she doesn’t know about in the village. Or anyone living in it.”
    “I’ve yet to make Mrs. Doughty’s acquaintance. Listen, I want to know if it is possible that we’ve got somebody who practices pagan rituals here. Somebody who’s used them to get rid of Sandra.”
    “Do you want me to laugh and dismiss it as rubbish, because I can’t do that.”
    Her face told him that she meant it. She laughed nervously. “This is a re-run of what Jo Stevenson mentioned this morning and it gave me the heebie-jeebies. You can either use it or forget it.”
    Fowler nodded. He’d asked to hear everything that she could give him and then like she said he could either use it or forget it.
    “I absorbed quite a bit from what my aunt told me. She made it fascinating and I was a good listener as a child. Her grandfather was a history professor. He came to live here as a young man and married the vicar’s daughter. And Great-aunt Ida simply carried on where he left off I think. She made it her lifetime work when