Free Butterfly Grave (Murder Notebooks) by Anne Cassidy

castle. On their right was the sea, vast and calm. On the left was green parkland and the road beyond. In front the cliff walk snaked away from them. It was early afternoon but there was a hint of darkness over to the east. They walked on, Poppy dashing ahead, sniffing here and there, running in spurts and stopping, looking back then heading on.
    ‘Poppy won’t go near the edge?’ Rose said.
    ‘No, we’ve done this walk dozens of times. She knows the way.’
    ‘Are you sure you’re all right? Doing the walk won’t upset you?’
    ‘I want to do it. I want to see the place where Stu fell.’
    Ten minutes or so later they came to a noticeboard that had been erected by the police.
     
    Cliff Fall. A man had a cliff fall here on Wednesday 19th December at approx. 22.00 hours. He was not discovered until the morning on Thursday 20th. Did you see or hear anything unusual or suspicious along the cliff path during the evening of 19th December?
     
    At the bottom was a telephone number to ring.
    Joshua walked past the notice until he got to the edge. Rose followed him. It wasn’t as high as she had pictured it. The beach below could be clearly seen and between the cliff edge and the sand were two ledges that stuck out, like small shelves.
    ‘Stu must have lain there all night,’ Joshua said. ‘See, if you’re on the beach, you can see it. Not in the dark of course but it’s clear now.’
    ‘And Poppy?’
    ‘Joe said they found her sitting up here. She was very cold. They wrapped her in silver blankets and took her to the vet. Susie Tyler picked her up from there.’
    Joshua turned and looked away from the sea towards the park and the houses and the road.
    ‘My dad could have parked anywhere along here and caught up with Stu while he was walking. That’s what I’ve been thinking, Rose. You asked, this morning, why Stu would make an arrangement to meet my dad if he knew he was meeting Greg Tyler? It was a completely sensible thing to say. But what if Stu hadn’t made that arrangement with my dad? What if he was meeting Greg here and my dad, for some reason of his own, followed him, thinking he was just out for a walk with the dog, called to him and they had a conversation that ended in a row. What if that happened?’
    ‘That’s possible,’ Rose said.
    Joshua continued looking at the area as though he was watching a replay of the events of the previous Wednesday night.
    ‘Dad calls out to him. They talk. They argue about something, I don’t know what. Then Dad walks away, in a huff and Stu calls after him, Bren! Bren! But Dad doesn’t come back. Stu is upset. Don’t forget he’s already drunk a lot and he turns and walks straight on, like he would on the path only he’s not on the path – he’s on a diagonal from the road to the edge and before he knows it he just goes over.’
    Joshua’s voice was firm.
    ‘It could have happened like that. Trouble is it raises so many questions. Was Stu in touch with Dad? Why? And why would Dad come to meet him here, anyway? Why not ring him or meet him at the house? I was away in London so there was no chance I’d walk in on them.’
    Rose pulled at his arm and they walked on. Up ahead was a building that looked like it had seen better days. As they came to it she could see that there was a seating area in front of it as though it had once been a cafe. There were a couple of young men there. She recognised one of them. Rory Spenser was sitting beside another young man. There were cans of drink on the table in front of them. She felt Joshua stiffen. Poppy ran off in their direction. Rory got up and walked towards the dog, bending over to make a fuss of her. Rose tensed.
    ‘All right, Josh?’ Rory called.
    Joshua gave a curt nod of his head. He held the lead up to Poppy and she reluctantly walked back towards them. Rory stood very still, staring at them. The other young man never moved, just continued to drink out of his can. As soon as Joshua got Poppy back on the