Free Murder in Abbot's Folly by Amy Myers

truth, Georgia thought.
    â€˜You seem to be getting interested in Jane Austen,’ she commented. ‘You’re getting as bad as the Clackingtons.’
    â€˜Mike says he dislikes coincidences, but I love them, because they’re so often not coincidences. When you look at this one . . .’
    She sighed. ‘There’s nothing to suggest that Robert Luckhurst’s murder had anything to do with Austen. Nothing about Jane Austen changed at Stourdens when Luckhurst died, except that the collection went with the house and the Fettises inherited it. Nothing was stolen though, which is the important point.’
    â€˜You can’t avoid the fact that Laura was murdered on the day when she might have been going to announce that Jane Austen was going to become big news at Stourdens.’
    â€˜Granted, but one could equally argue that since Jack the Ripper’s cases were all committed in East London they must have links to East London history.’
    â€˜Far-fetched, isn’t it? We need to find out what this big news will consist of, other than this TV documentary. And we don’t even know the theme of that yet. My guess is that it’s Jane Austen’s secret love affair and the Stourdens collection.’
    She agreed. ‘But we’ve no idea whether Laura’s death will change anything about whatever plans she had in mind. Even if we’re really sure there was trouble at the family mill on Saturday, we can’t barge into the Fettises’ affairs.’
    â€˜Ah, but we can barge into the Clackingtons’. I’ll ring them up.’
    She was forced to laugh. ‘I don’t see any problem there.’
    â€˜Tomorrow OK?’
    â€˜Elena will still be there. She’s not going till Thursday.’
    â€˜We can’t let her rule our lives.’
    She gave in. ‘Agreed. Once we’ve seen Dora and Gerald though, who comes first? Still Tom Miller?’
    â€˜Depending on what we learn at Edgar House, yes. Then there’s Barbara Hastings, who still lives locally. Pity Amelia Luckhurst’s whereabouts aren’t yet known. Dora thought she saw her at the Gala on Saturday, but she isn’t on the police list of attendees. I asked.’ Peter hesitated. ‘About Elena, Georgia. She seems serious about returning to England for good. Are we going to be able to live with that?’
    â€˜Bless you for that “we”.’ Georgia grappled again with the myriad consequences that this might bring.
    â€˜We need to plan together.’
    â€˜Comforting words, but that might not be possible. Not when it’s a reality.’
    â€˜I’ll try. I can’t pretend it will be easy. Nor for you?’ he asked.
    â€˜No, but I’ll try too. After all, if she lives in Canterbury—’
    â€˜Don’t kid yourself, Georgia. Wherever she lives in England, she’ll ensure that we fall over her left, right and centre. Could we take it?’
    She tried to think carefully about this. ‘Remove the centre, and I think I could take the left and right.’
    Peter understood immediately. ‘You mean if she leaves Marsh & Daughter alone?’
    â€˜Yes, but not just because it’s work.’
    â€˜No interference between father and daughter?’
    â€˜It sounds hard put that way. Unreasonable – and, worse, impractical.’
    â€˜Will you take the risk?’
    A watershed. Could she face it? She’d faced one – no, two – watersheds in the last year. But in future if she looked back after having said no, what then? Didn’t that run the risk of driving a wedge between herself and Peter? There were still signs of a tie existing between Peter and Elena. If she tried to snap it artificially, wouldn’t that be fatal? What way was there, but forward? Even if forward meant actively trying, not just accepting.
    â€˜Yes,’ she said firmly. If she drowned in the Rubicon she was crossing,