Free Murder on the Village Green: A Diane Dimbleby Cozy Mystery by Penelope Sotheby Page B

Darrell slowly takes just a few steps closer. Sliding his badge across the floor towards one of the armed officers, Darrell explains to him that he’s with the Shrewsbury Police, as are three of the gentlemen lying on the ground. He tells them they’ve been on a rescue mission and that both the victim and the kidnapper are lying on the ground.
    Once the airport officer verifies Darrell’s identification, he and his team allow the Shrewsbury officers to take Benedek into custody. Darrell helps Diane stands up and gently guides her away from the chaotic scene.
    “Are you alright?” Darrell asks, fully revealing his concern.
    Diane nods her head and closes her eyes.
    “How can I help Diane? What can I do?”
    “Take me home so I can have a cup of tea… or perhaps a whiskey!”
     
    ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠
     
    A few days later, Diane hears a knock at her cottage door. She opens the door to find a remorseful looking Inspector Darrell Crothers. He’s a holding a clear bowl with a white water lily floating inside.
    “You brought me a water lily?” says Diane beaming.
    Darrell nods shyly. He’s happy to see Diane smiling. He thought he might arrive to see her looking traumatized over the ordeal.
    “And did you slap on your hip waders to pick this flower for me Darrell?”
    Again the inspector nods.
    “Well come through won’t you, for a cuppa?”
    Darrell enters, placing the vase delicately on top of the credenza before taking a seat on the sofa.
    “Ta,” he says, accepting the cup of tea from Diane. He stares at the cup’s round-leaved sundew pattern again, with mixed feelings.
    Diane sits across from him and smiles gently. She looks tired but placid.
    “Diane, I am truly sorry for what happened to you,” says Darrell. “I put your life at risk. I involved you too much in the case. I shouldn’t have done that.”
    “Well Darrell, I think I pushed my way in, don’t you think?” Diane laughs. “The way I see it, I knew the risks and I’m a big girl.”
    Darrell feels some of the weight lift off his shoulders. Knowing Diane is not cross with him allows him to take some satisfaction in his case soon coming to a close.
    “I have to admit that even though we didn’t follow protocol, without you I think we would still be searching for those dreadful organ snatchers,” he says.
    Darrell explains that because of her snooping, she found the first solid lead in the case—the keycard to the Farmer’s Refuge Inn.
    “And what about Benedek, if that’s her real name…” asks Diane, shuddering, but just a little.
    “Yes, her name is Lynn Benedek, and we’ve determined she’s a member of an organized crime group out of Birmingham. They call themselves The Dissociates. We’re starting to find out that stealing organs is just the beginning of their heinous crimes. It looks like Benedek’s going to turn on her group and testify against her bosses.”
    Based on the time Diane had spent with Benedek, she still wasn’t sure whether the woman was evil or simply lost. She’d like to believe the latter but will never know for certain. Whatever the case may be, it seems like this resolution—that the majority of the organized crime firm to which Benedek had belonged will be destroyed—will serve the greater good.

Epilogue
     
     
    A pile of long black hair is accumulating around the bottom of a salon stool. A woman barely recognizes her reflection in the mirror; she doesn't remember ever seeing herself with short hair.
    “You been living here long?” asks the hairdresser.
    The woman shakes her head no.
    When she was enrolled in the UK Protected Persons Service, in exchange for testifying against the captains and sergeants of The Dissociates, ‘Lynn Benedek’ became non-existent. Now she has a new identity and is living in a new place with a new name. It isn’t the fresh start she had been hoping for—it isn’t Brazil—but it is a clean slate.
    It isn’t like she left a family behind—she had already cut