Free A Cotswold Ordeal by Rebecca Tope

somewhere?’
    ‘What – like a tea shop or something? I’m not sure there is one.’
    ‘Well, just a bit of a walk, then. I need to stretch my legs after all that driving.’
    They spent less than ten minutes walking down one side of the High Street and up the other. Two cars passed during that time, and perhaps six or seven pedestrians. There was no noise, no sign of any shoppers in the handful of smart emporiums. Two places snagged Thea’s interest: a French restaurant and a pink-painted building labelled ‘The Cotswold Club’.
    Jocelyn followed her gaze. ‘Maybe we should give that a try one evening,’ she suggested, nodding at ‘Sophie’s’.
    ‘Looks pricey,’ said Thea. ‘I’m not here for a holiday, you know.’
    ‘Neither am I, I suppose. But we might as well have a bit of fun while we’re at it.’
    The Cotswold Club had opaque glass windows, boasting a recurring motif of a sheep in each one. Thea eyed it with growing curiosity. ‘What do you suppose that is?’ she said. ‘All very secretive.’
    Jocelyn glanced at the building and shrugged. ‘Looks like a Freemasons’ Hall for women,’ she said. ‘All that pink.’
    ‘That’s what I thought,’ Thea agreed.
    ‘This place is still a dump,’ Jocelyn grumbled. ‘I’m trying to like it, but it’s beyond me. I thought towns were supposed to have people in them.’
    ‘I expect they’re all out on the Common playing golf or flying kites,’ said Thea. ‘There’s a pub, though. I bet it’ll be heaving in another couple of hours.’
    Jocelyn glanced at The Crown Inn and shook her head. ‘I doubt it,’ she said.
    Returning to their cars, they made elaborate arrangements for Thea to lead the way back to Juniper Court, the atmosphere between them spiky with untold stories. Driving slowly, constantly checking that Jocelyn was following in her elderly Volvo, Thea ran once more through the possible explanations for this descent into such uncharacteristic calamity. Illness now took first place, with adultery second. If Jocelyn could consider eating at what was obviously a highly priced restaurant, money was probably off the list.
    The road gate to Juniper Court was open, asshe’d left it in her haste to escape from Valerie Innes. And a police car was parked on the yard, somehow giving the impression that it had been there a long time.
    Thea recognised the man sitting in the driving seat.
    ‘Hello,’ she greeted him, watching her dog jumping up at his legs as he got out of his car. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’ His lean face was all she could focus on, in the seconds she took to cross the yard to him. She registered as if for the first time how strong his features were, what a surge of emotions he generated within her. Surely she hadn’t felt like this on their last encounter? Superintendent Philip Hollis had admittedly gone some way towards endearing himself to her three months earlier, when his leg had been in plaster and he’d manifested a genuine concern for Hepzibah when she’d been injured, but she hadn’t given him more than a fleeting few thoughts since then.
    ‘Hello again , I suppose you mean,’ he said without the ghost of a smile. ‘I do hope this won’t get to be a habit. Perhaps I should ask you now where your next engagement as a house-sitter might be.’
    ‘I haven’t got another one lined up. After this, I might well abandon the whole exercise.’
    ‘That might not be a bad idea.’
    She was still completely fixated on his face,recalling how he had inexplicably frightened her when she first met him. She remembered being suspicious of him, and finally grateful for his understanding.
    ‘So – why are you concerned with a suicide?’ she asked.
    ‘Because we don’t think it was suicide,’ he said, confirming suspicions she had so earnestly been trying to suppress.
    She might never have remembered Jocelyn if her sister hadn’t slammed out of her car after sitting in it for three minutes waiting for further