‘Kate. Your cousin!’
‘Oh, hi, Kate! You just caught me! I’m packing for a cruise round Cambodia and Vietnam, with Frank. Was I with Frank when we spoke last?’
Kate couldn’t recall the names of Pam’s various male friends. ‘Very nice, too,’ she murmured.
‘Yes, I’m looking forward to it. Everything OK at your end?’
‘Yes, fine. We’ve settled in well down here.’ She described the house and the village and confirmed that Angie was fine. ‘I was wondering if you could give me some information. I’m interested in finding out a little more about an old chap who lives down here. It’s in connection with a recent incident,’ Kate said casually. ‘He hails from a place called Little Barrington which, I see from the map, isn’t too far from you?’
‘An incident? Whatever do you mean?’
‘Well, one of my patients died and there’s a possibility she was murdered. One of her next-door neighbours hails from Little Barrington and I thought I’d ask you if you might know him, although I realise that’s a long shot.’
‘A murder! Oh my God! Aren’t you afraid? There could be a killer on the loose!’
‘That’s a possibility, Pam, but I can’t stand back and do nothing.’
‘Well, be careful, for goodness’ sake! As regards Little Barrington? It’s about twelve miles from here. Who is this person you want to know about?’
‘He’s an old retired vicar who had the parish there.’
There was a silence. ‘Edgar-the-Lecher?’
‘What?’
‘Edgar-the-Lecher Ellis was the vicar there for years. I don’t suppose it’s him, is it?’
‘Yes, it is. What do you mean, Edgar-the-Lecher?’
‘He made the national press! But you probably didn’t see it. He was certainly famous, or infamous rather, round here!’
Kate was dumbfounded for a moment. ‘But why?’
‘Why? Because he had it off with most of the women in the choir and then, glory of glories, managed to get the organist pregnant.’
It took a few seconds again for Kate to find her voice. ‘Edgar Ellis?’
‘I shouldn’t think there’s two of them. Tall, skinny, long nose, not exactly God’s gift to women, but that didn’t stop him.’
‘Unbelievable!’ Kate found it impossible to visualise him as some kind of Lothario.
‘Rumour has it he poisoned his wife,’ Pam went on, ‘but apparently that was down to the local takeaway. Health and Safety closed the place down after that. So, he’s down in your neck of the woods now, is he? Better put a padlock on your knickers! Surely they don’t suspect old Edgar, do they?’
‘No, no, he’s not a suspect. But he is a patient of mine so I was interested.’
Kate could only think of the old man with the drip on the end of his nose. And his devotion to Edina, who’d died of poisoning too! It seemed too similar to just be a coincidence.
‘Well, he’s no angel,’ Pam said, ‘dog collar or not.’
‘This has been a most interesting conversation, Pam. Thanks for that information!’
‘Let me know what happens, after I get back from my cruise!’
After Kate came off the phone she realised that her main suspect, David Courtney, was now second on her list, after Edgar Ellis. But why would Edgar have wanted to kill Edina? It didn’t make any sense.
‘Today I found out something which may interest you,’ Kate said casually into the phone.
‘Go on,’ said Woody, ‘I’m holding my breath.’
‘My cousin Pam lives very close to the village in the Cotswolds where the Reverend Edgar Ellis once presided over the local congregation.’ Kate paused.
‘I can’t hold my breath much longer.’
‘I spoke to her on the phone today and she told me a few interesting facts. Apparently, he was a real Lothario, spreading it about among the lady members of the choir – at least I’m assuming they were all ladies. And he got the organist pregnant! Got himself into the papers as well!’
‘Well, good for him! That must have livened things up at the Sunday services!’
‘But that’s not all. His wife died of food poisoning shortly before they were due to move down here. Food poisoning!’
There was silence for a moment. ‘Really?’
‘They’d had a dodgy takeaway, apparently,’ Kate went on.
‘Oh.’
She could hear the disappointment in his voice. ‘But that doesn’t mean that it was the takeaway that killed her, does it?’
‘How did the takeaway come out of this incident? Did anyone investigate?’
‘Well, Health and Safety closed the place down but—’
‘Kate,’ he interrupted, ‘calm down! The woman very probably did eat a dodgy meal. You’ve just said yourself it had to be closed down.’
‘I still think this is important,’ Kate said. ‘It could be very convenient to blame a takeaway when you’ve poisoned someone, particularly if the place hasn’t got a very good reputation anyway.’
‘OK, Kate, I’ll make a note of it, just in case.’
‘Will you tell Bill Robson, or shall I? I don’t suppose for a moment he’s looked into Edgar Ellis’s past.’
‘I’ll tell him. But I don’t think you should read too much into the takeaway meal and the food poisoning,’ Woody said.
‘Well, I’ve elevated him to the top of my list, above David Courtney,’ Kate informed him.
‘You may need several sheets of A4 before this case is wound up,’ said Woody.
‘Well, at least I’m trying to do something, even if one day I think I’m making progress and the next day I don’t. I mean, what’s Robson come up with? Nothing that we know of!
Do you suppose he’s got anyone on his list of suspects – apart from me?’
Thirteen
Kate had now met all the residents of Seaview Grange, even Hetty, the lady in Flat 1 who she’d met fleetingly on her first visit to Edina. Apparently, she’d been very friendly with Edina, so perhaps she could throw some light on the situation and have an idea as to who could have committed such a deed. But the little lady was proving to be very elusive and was rarely around when Kate was visiting the Grange. When Kate had mentioned this to Sharon, Sharon had said, ‘Oh, Hetty keeps herself to herself. Funny old bird.’ Funny old bird or not, Kate thought, she was
