Free A Case Of Murder (Kendall Book 6) by John Holt Page B

the drinks. “By the way, Mr. Kendall, Derren isn’t entirely correct you know, when he says there’s not much to do here.” He finished preparing the drinks and placed them on the counter. “There’s always the football club.” He paused for a moment. “This is the club’s badge.” He pointed to a small metal badge on his lapel. “I’m a member, and so is Derren.”
    Derren nodded and pointed to the badge in his lapel. “Everyone’s a member,” he added. “We’ve got to have some pleasure haven’t we, to make up for coming here.”
    O’Rourke smiled and looked at Lynch. “Right you are, but don’t forget that we do have our own weekly bit of excitement right here.”
    “And what would that be?” asked Derren.
    “Why you wouldn’t be forgetting the ceilidh tomorrow night now would you?” said O’Rourke. “It’s the high point of the week.”
    “The what?” asked Kendall.
    “The Ceilidh,” repeated O’Rourke. “You pronounce it Kay Lee.”
    “It’s traditional Irish music,” explained Derren. “And how could I possibly forget about it? I’ve been trying for years without success.”
    “If you can call it music,” said Mallory.
    “They have a band here every Saturday, so you might want to go home on Friday,” Derren continued smiling. “It starts at about nine thirty. I normally leave by about nine thirty-five.”
    Derren started to laugh, and looked at O’Rourke. “Only joking. It’s really not that bad,” he said, holding up his hands. He looked back at Kendall. “You never know you might actually enjoy it.”
    “I have to say that Simon and Garfunkel are more to my taste.” Kendall looked at Mollie. “What do you think?” he asked.
    She smiled and nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
    Kendall looked back at Lynch. “Okay, we’ll be there,” he said. “Nine thirty, on the dot.”
    “So what about tomorrow?” asked Mallory. “Have you any plans?”
    “Oh, we thought we’d have a look at the village,” replied Mollie.
    Mallory smiled. “Good idea,” he said. “Shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes or so, what about the rest of the day?”
    “Perhaps we’ll take a stroll down to the beach,” suggested Kendall. “Take a look at that cove.”
    “Carrick Cove, you mean?” said O’Rourke.
    “The very same,” replied Kendall.
    O’Rourke turned towards Mallory and shook his head. Kendall wondered what that was all about. Some kind of a signal perhaps, or was it intended as a warning.
    “I should wrap up warm,” said Mallory. “The forecast for tomorrow isn’t good, and those Atlantic gales can be pretty fierce.”
    “The cove is very open,” added Derren. “Back in the old days there was many a wreck flounder on that shore. A wrecker’s paradise.”
    “It’s really not worth the bother,” said O’Rourke. “There’s not much to see, especially if the weather’s bad.”
    Why didn’t they want him to see the Cove? What were they hiding? Kendall wondered. Was this a warning for him to keep away, or was he becoming ever so slightly paranoiac?
    “By the way you really must come up to the house for lunch,” Mallory continued. “My wife would love to meet you both. How about the day after tomorrow, say two o’clock?”
    Odd, Kendall thought. One minute he was being warned off visiting the cove, the next minute he’s being invited to lunch. It didn’t make sense. He wasn’t prepared to play along with their games. “That’s nice of you, but ….”
    “That’s very nice of you,” Mollie interrupted. She looked at Kendall. “We’d be delighted to accept, wouldn’t we?”
    Kendall nodded. “Delighted,” he repeated. “Thank you.”
    * * *
    Kendall was a very confused man when he returned to his room later that evening. So Charters was bit of a loner, Kendall murmured. You hardly ever saw him, said Lynch. And yet Keiron was definite, Charters was always down at the boatyard. That’s what he had said. Why would Keiron tell lies? To get