The Claresby Collection: Twelve Mysteries by Daphne Coleridge Page A

there most days. I’ve bumped into him and he is really rather sweet; only a bit lacking, if you know what I mean. He also has a mild form of epilepsy and was not well the evening of the disappearance.”

    “He has an alibi, then?” queried Rupert. “So why did the police arrest him?”

    “Well, Ian was wondering whether he should tell the police about his suspicions when he saw Strider setting off with a rucksack late in the afternoon the day before yesterday. Then he jumped to the conclusion that Strider was making a run for it, so he called the police and said goodness knows what. The police turned up and tracked Strider down making his way out of Claresby. He was confused and panicked and tried to run away from them. They assumed the worst and arrested him.”

    “Poor chap,” said Laura.

    “Unfortunately they couldn’t get hold of Veronica that evening – there wasn’t any sign of anyone at the vicarage, so he spent the night in the cells. Once they got hold of her, sometime after ten in the morning yesterday, she explained that he had been unwell the day Monty disappeared and she thought he might have had a fit. She had taken him in to casualty and they kept him in overnight for observations. He was at the hospital from seven and Monty was last seen at about nine. To my mind it is just as well that it wasn’t Veronica alone providing the alibi – she said the police seemed a bit mistrustful of her until the hospital corroborated the story.”

    “So where had he been going with the rucksack?” asked Laura.

    “To visit his parents.”

    “I thought you said they were dead?”

    “They are, but from time to time he forgets that.”

    “I see. So does that mean that Veronica has an alibi for that Friday too?”

    “Well, no. She took her brother to the hospital, waited with him, but had left by nine.”

    “And why couldn’t they get hold of her the evening that her brother was arrested,” pursued Laura.

    “Ah, well that I don’t know,” replied Wendy. “I have a sneaking suspicion, but wild horses won’t drag that out of me in case I’m wrong.”

    “Nothing the police should know?”

    “Like I say, it is my suspicion; I don’t actually know anything.”

    “Oh well, let’s hope the police find out something concrete soon. We could all do without any kind of suspicion hanging over us.”

    But the police made no headway at all and the disappearance of Monty Howard remained a mystery. Without a body there wasn’t even any evidence that it was a case of murder. A new churchwarden was appointed in the shape of Bill Smith, a mild mannered man of gentle artistic temperament who nonetheless had the organisational abilities to make him an efficient if lower profile successor to Monty. It was hard to tell if the Reverend Dahl benefited or not from the disappearance of her chief antagonist. There was no doubt that the vocal opposition of the old-guard was reduced to the faintest murmur and a handful simply defected to the church in the neighbouring parish. Certainly all the writing on the walls and other obvious manifestations of hate ceased. Whether this was because Monty had been solely responsible, objections had lessened, or Monty’s disappearance had frightened others into silence was anybody’s guess. On the downside, Veronica was now routinely described as “The Black Widow of Claresby” – in local press articles and even at the pub. Laura was actually impressed by her fortitude throughout and her apparent ability to carry on working for the good of the parish despite many awkward moments. When she gently complimented Veronica of this, she merely replied,

    “Worse things have happened to me: I can cope with this.” But she was beginning to look her age, even if her natural beauty was untouched.

    Easter came in the latter half of April and Laura took it into her head to take some flowers to the church to help Veronica decorate for the Easter Sunday Service, particularly since