Page 56 of The Other Side

“She was. She had no enemies. I don’t know why anyone would kill her.” He let out a choked moan.

“Lily told me about her tiff with Stan Motson.”

Arthur scowled. “Self-important little… Yes, Stan was annoyed and so was Sonita but not that annoyed. As I recall, it was all sorted out anyway. Sonita apologised and that was that.”

Drum just let Arthur talk in case some little detail slipped out but all he felt was that Sonita was a kind, thoughtful woman and Arthur thought the world of her.

“Thank you for talking to me,” Drum said. “I wonder if I could ask one more thing. You clearly didn’t want to talk about it at the book club, but…Sparlow.”

“What about it?”

“Why does everyone not want to talk about it? About the lights?”

“Have you been there?”

“Well…” He’d tried to.

“If the village doesn’t want you there, you don’t tend to go.”

Drum frowned. “What does that mean?”

“Just what I say. I think I’ve been to Sparlow twice and I’ve lived in this area all my life. If I’ve ever found myself heading there, I’ve suddenly found myself not heading there.”

“But you’ve been twice.”

Arthur smiled. “Once was when I was giving a lift home to a Sparlow girl. Second time when I delivered a bookcase one of the villagers had bought from me.”

“What about the lights? Have you seen them?”

“I have. I can’t explain them. They cause no trouble. The people or the lights. They’re best left alone.”

“Do you know anyone who lives there?”

“No.”

For a moment, Drum thought Arthur was going to say something else, but he didn’t.

Chapter Ten

Drum sat in his car and wrote up everything, apart from the chat with Arthur about Sparlow because he knew how Purbeck would react to that, and sent it in, copying in DI Purbeck. Then he called in at the local primary school, offered to come and speak to the children on any topic the headmistress thought would be useful, and she said she’d let him know some dates.

Oh, and what was the latest on the poor lady who’d been murdered? Drum told her he didn’t know.

He really didn’t like not being involved. It was embarrassing not to be kept in the loop. Drum took a deep breath, then called Purbeck to offer his help.

“What?” Purbeck snapped.

Drum winced, though maybe he snapped at everyone.

“I’ve just sent in a report on conversations I’ve had with people about Sonita Sharma. You might need Arthur Billings’ fingerprints because he’s been in the house, mended stuff for her and—”

“You think you can tell me how to do my job?”

Uh oh. “No, sir. I’m trying to help. Lily Edwards was a good friend of Sonita’s. She says she’d be able to tell you if anything was missing from the house.”

“You told them she was murdered!”

“No. I did not. But when people see police tape and a lot of commotion and Sonita is no longer around, they come to conclusions.”