a start on things.”
“I didn’t arrive particularly early,” said Gwennie as she took a step toward the sink. “I said I’d be here at eight and I was here at eight.”
Penny tipped her head.
“But I heard you moving about down here around seven thirty.”
Gwennie shook her head.
“It wasn’t me, Miss Penny. You must have been dreaming. Trixxi and I had our walk at seven thirty, just like we do every morning, and then we came here.”
At the mention of a walk, Trixxi looked up at Penny with large, hopeful brown eyes and wagged her tail as Gwennie ran hot water into the sink and reached for the washing-up liquid. Penny hurried into the sitting room toward the desk where she had left her phone, but just as she picked it up, a small figurine caught her eye. As she took in the little shepherdess, holding her crook as a cuddly lamb peeked around her ruffled blue skirt, a rough voice barked out, “Switch that phone off and put it down.”
She turned slowly to see Glynnis Bowen emerging from the kitchen, her left arm roughly around Gwennie’s waist, and her right hand holding the tip of the carving knife to Gwennie’s ribs.
Twenty-seven
“You heard me. Switch it off and put it down,” Glynnis ordered. Penny put the phone down beside the shepherdess figurine and then turned to face Glynnis.
“Glynnis. Please, let Gwennie go. She’s done nothing to you.”
“Of course I can’t let her go,” Glynnis said. “She’d go straight to the police, and I’ve had enough of them for one day, thank you very much.” She laughed, a strained, high-pitched, desperate kind of noise.
“Oh, yes, they’ve taken Huw in for questioning.” She practically spat out the name.
“Huw?” exclaimed Penny. “Why on earth? But he’s not…”
Glynnis gave her a cold, dark stare. “Yes, Penny? He’s not what?”
Penny said nothing.
“He’s not the murderer, is that what you were about to say? Well, he’s just confessed.”
“Why are you here, Glynnis? What do you want from me?”
“Do you know, that’s a good question. I’m not sure. But I do know you and I are going to have a long overdue chat.”
“Let Gwennie go,” Penny repeated. “She’s done nothing.”
Suddenly Glynnis released her grip.
“She can sit down in that chair over there,” said Glynnis, gesturing with the carving knife, “but she’s not going anywhere.” Gwennie turned her pleading meerkat eyes to Penny, who nodded. “You, though, you stay right where you are. And don’t move.”
Penny watched as Gwennie sat gingerly in the chair nearest the desk and then turned to Glynnis.
“You’ve already killed two people, Glynnis, don’t make it any worse for yourself. We both know Huw won’t stand up under questioning, and it won’t take the police long to figure out he didn’t do it, so he’s lying to protect someone, and the only person that could be is you.”
Glynnis glared at her with mad, glittering eyes.
“No, Huw couldn’t have done it. It’ll all unravel, Glynnis. You’ll see.”
“What makes you so sure the police won’t believe him?”
“Well, I worked out that whoever stole the items from the charity shop also stole my brooch and Mrs. Lloyd’s letter opener. What are the chances there’d be two thieves at work in a town this size? But what really got me thinking was that business about putting a valuable diamond brooch on top of the Christmas tree in the charity shop. That was whimsical. Creative.”
Glynnis smirked.
“Huw’s a banker. He’s logical. He likes everything orderly. He likes things to add up and balance out. From what I know of him, that just isn’t something he’d do.”
“So you’ve got it all worked out, then, have you?”
“Most of it,” said Penny. “When I saw the John Lennon book that you gave Florence, I knew you’d given it to her. It was on the list of items gone missing from the charity shop along with the plate you gave Brian. Why did you give those things away, Glynnis? Was there part of you that wanted to get caught?”
“Caught? No? What would I want with them? I had no need of them. I just took them. I liked stealing things. It was exciting. But nothing was as good as taking your brooch! Now that was fun. And speaking of giving things away, I hope you noticed I left you a little something.” She nodded at the table where the little shepherdess sat. “Left it there for you this morning. A little calling card, if you like.” She smirked.
“How did you get in?” Penny asked, filled with revulsion at the idea of Glynnis walking around her home, picking up a book here, a picture there, touching her things.
“It was easy,” gloated Glynnis. “Not much of a lock on that back door. I would have thought with a policeman for a boyfriend you’d have something a little better.”
I will now, thought Penny grimly.
Glynnis sighed. “We might as well sit down.”
She turned to look at the sofa behind her, and in that moment Gwennie snatched up the mobile phone from the desk and slipped it into her apron pocket. Penny gave her a slight nod and the hint of a smile.
“I think you were having an affair with Harry Saunders, and I know you killed him, but I don’t know why.”
“You’re right. I was in love with Harry Saunders,” said Glynnis, her eyes misting over. “He was exciting and rich. We couldn’t wait to be together. Oh, I knew all about his dalliance with Mrs. Lloyd, but that meant nothing to him. He was just being kind to an elderly woman. Giving her a bit of a thrill. It was me he loved. He told me so, over and over, and I could see it in his eyes. I was going to leave Huw, and Harry and I were going to have a wonderful life together in San Francisco, where he’s from.”
“He told you he’s from San Francisco, did he?”
“The Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, Fisherman’s Wharf. It was going to be wonderful.” She paused. “And then Huw had to go and ruin everything.”
Despite herself, Gwennie leaned slightly forward.
“He insisted on showing up at Conwy Castle that day we were having our outing. That was the day Harry and I were going to make our final plans to leave all this behind. And then Huw, so jealous and controlling, had to come along to the art club outing. I think he was suspicious of Harry and wanted to confront him. Nobody wanted Huw there. Least of all me.”
She sat back in her chair, the carving knife resting lightly across her knees.
“So when I saw him standing on the parapet, something just came over me and I still had Mrs. Lloyd’s letter opener in my bag and I felt this great surge of anger and I pushed it into him and over he went.” She choked back tears.
“Except it wasn’t Huw-it was Harry,” she sobbed. “The man I loved and I killed him by mistake.”
She looked from one to the other.
“I know you’ll think me the biggest fool, but in the heat of the moment, I panicked and I thought he was Huw.”
“I can see that,” said Penny. “They were both about the same height and wearing those green anoraks that just about every man in the area wears. So it was a case of mistaken identity.”
Glynnis nodded.
“And Brian?” asked Penny. “You were worried there might have been images on his computer that could have incriminated you?”
“That’s right. So at least I took care of those.”
“No, you didn’t, actually. The police have copies of the photographs Brian took that day, and if there’s anything on them that points to you, they’ll find it. And don’t forget they have all that high-tech digital enhancement gadgetry.”
