Body in the Woods (A Reverend Annabelle Dixon Cozy Mystery Book 3) by Alison Golden, Jamie Vougeot Read Free Book Online Page B

used to be our family home. Louisa,” Katie said, almost struggling to say the name without grimacing, “and her family lived over there in that tiny house that Louisa now lives in by herself. So we sort of grew up together.”
    “You were friends?”
    “Sure, I suppose,” Katie said, reluctantly, after a moment’s thought.
    “What happened?” Annabelle asked earnestly, on the edge of her seat.
    “About ten years ago, I married Tom Flynn – you know him. Well, when it came to deciding where we would live, it was an easy choice. Tom’s house over on the hill was ten times the size of ours! As I was the eldest, and Harry – my brother – was away working in London, I didn’t want to leave our family home empty.”
    “So you decided to turn it into a tea shop.”
    “And I’ve never looked back.”
    “It’s the best in Cornwall.”
    Katie chuckled. “Thank you, Reverend. Certain people were against the idea from the start, however.”
    “Why?”
    Katie shook her head in confusion. “I still don’t really know. She said it would be ‘noisy,’ that it would ‘ruin the aesthetics of the street,’ that the house had been a home for years, and it would be a tragedy to change it into a business. At first I thought it was just the typical grumbles and resistance to change you hear at any old town hall meeting, but when she began getting lawyers involved, I got very upset indeed. They threw out her claims, of course, but it left a very bitter taste in my mouth – especially when the shop was supposed to bring pleasure, and tourists, to the whole village. Personally I think she’s been a teacher for too long. She thinks she can boss around adults just as easily as she does her pupils!”
    “It is rather strange.”
    “She’s never been the same since her sister disappeared – not that she was so wonderful then, of course.”
    “Do you think her objections to the shop were about clinging to the past? Albeit in an odd way?”
    Katie shrugged.
    “Frankly, Reverend, I think you’d need more Godly forgiveness than I’m capable of to give her the benefit of the doubt to that extent.”
    Annabelle sighed sadly.
    “Can you tell me anything about her sister? About how she disappeared?”
    “Ah, you’re going very far back there, Reverend. I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast!”
    “Please try.”
    Katie looked up and squinted as she brought forth memories long forgotten.
    “Well, the one thing I do remember is that Lucy was as sweet as Louisa was sour. She was always smiling, always laughing. Everybody loved her. None of that intensity or aloofness that Louisa has. No, Lucy was an utterly lovely girl. I’m sure that’s why they never got on.”
    “They argued?”
    “No, nothing like that. They just… weren’t like sisters at all. They never did anything together. Partly because Louisa always thought she was better than anyone else. If there was a school dance, you could be sure that Louisa wouldn’t show up, and just as sure that Lucy would be the life of the party. If it was a nice day, you were sure to find Lucy skipping down the street to meet her friends, while Louisa was locked up in her room with nothing but her books. I mean, put it this way, Reverend, you know almost every person in this village, and yet here you are, having to ask me about Louisa Montgomery. What does that say about her as a person?”
    “Hmm,” Annabelle murmured, “I suppose you have a point.”
    “Oh! And she was so disapproving of Lucy having a boyfriend. You’d think she was her mother, rather than her older sister! The crazy thing was that Louisa herself had a boyfriend! If that’s not the definition of hypocrisy then I don’t know what is!”
    “So she was protective of Lucy?”
    “Bah!” Katie said, brushing the idea aside. “If you’re looking for good intentions from Louisa Montgomery, you’ll need to dig very deep. If you ask me, Louisa was jealous of Lucy. Lucy was younger, prettier, more