Free Bones Under The Beach Hut by Simon Brett

hurtful.'
        'Well,
are you sure he has left you?'
        'What
do you mean?'
        'Are
you sure Mark hasn't had an accident? If he didn't discuss leaving you, perhaps
you should report him as a missing person?'
        'I
know he walked out on me.'
        The
words were said with such pained certainty that Jude didn't attempt to seek
further explanation. Philly Rose must have had reasons to know that she had
been dumped by Mark Dennis.
        'I
suppose you should prepare yourself, Philly,' Jude suggested tentatively, 'for
the possibility that the police will want to talk to you.'
        'They
have already.'
        'Oh?'
        'Last
night. Obviously they came to me as the person who was renting Quiet
Harbour.'
        'So
they didn't know you'd handed it over to Carole?'
        'No.
And I didn't tell them.'
        'Why
not?'
        'Look,
I don't particularly like Kelvin Southwest - or indeed the little games he
plays - but I'm not about to get him into trouble with his employers.'
        'You
mean Fether District Council didn't know about the change of rental?'
        'I'm
sure they didn't. It's just a little deal he set up privately.'
        'Right.
But the police are sure to speak to Kelvin Southwest, aren't they? Since he's
in charge of all the beach huts. He's bound to tell them about the handover to
Carole, isn't he?'
        'Not
if he can help it. He called me yesterday evening before the police arrived and
swore me to secrecy about the arrangement.' Jude looked across her cluttered
sitting room to her neighbour, grateful that Carole couldn't hear Philly's end
of the conversation. It would have started up again all her anxieties about the
legality of her using the beach hut.
        'And
did you get much information out of the police, Philly?'
        'They
were doing the questioning, not me.'
        'I
know that. I just wondered if they let slip anything of interest.'
        'What
kind of thing?'
        'Well,
whether they had any suspicion as to the identity of the human remains that
were found, whether the remains were of a male or female, how long they'd been
there, that kind of thing.'
        'If
they did have that sort of information, they certainly didn't share it with
me.'
        Jude
thought it had been too much to hope for. 'By the way,' she said, 'do you know
if Smalting Beach is open to the public again? They can't keep the whole area
as a crime scene for long, can they?'
        'No,
it is open. When I was walking the dogs this morning I met someone who'd been
down there. She said the row of twelve beach huts including Quiet Harbour is cordoned off, but the rest of the beach is open.'
        'And will
no doubt, as the day goes on, gather its share of snooping locals, indulging
their curiosity.'
        'Yes.'
Apparently that idea was repellent to the young woman. She seemed to shudder as
she spoke.
        'Are
you all right, Philly?'
        'Well,
as you know, I wasn't feeling great even before all this. And Smalting is such
a gossipy area. With what's happened now . . .' She sounded perilously close to
tears.
        'Would
you like me to come round? I could do you a massage or—'
        'No.
Thanks. It's sweet of you, Jude, but I'll be fine.'
        Philly
Rose sounded far from fine, however. And after their conversation finished,
Jude had the feeling that the discovery beneath Quiet Harbour had
stirred some very deep dread in the girl.
        
        
        Kelvin
Southwest's attempts to cover up the arrangement he had made about passing on
the rental of the beach hut had clearly been unsuccessful, because within the
hour Carole had had a call from the police. They understood she had been the
first person to find the charred floorboards in Quiet Harbour and they
would be at High Tor shortly to talk to her about exactly what she'd seen.
        There
were two of them, a Detective Sergeant in very dressed-down plain clothes and