A Village in Jeopardy (Turnham Malpas 16) by Rebecca Shaw

thing he left Penny Fawcett when he did to live with his dad. Anyway, he can still turn my knees to jelly.’
    The back door opened and in walked Peter. ‘Beth, you’re home! You’ve made good time. How’s my favourite daughter?’
    Beth sprang out of her chair and they hugged. ‘All the better for seeing you, Dad.’
    ‘And I am too for seeing you.’
    ‘Tea, Dad?’
    ‘Yes, please.’
    Beth got out another mug, poured him his tea and then sat down again in the chair on the other side of the Aga to her mother. ‘Everything all right in the village, Dad?’
    ‘Apart from three people leaving in a hurry and we don’t know where two of them have gone, yes, I suppose you could say everything’s fine.’
    ‘Who’s left?’
    ‘Johnny has gone home to Brazil we assume, leaving Alice desperate. Marcus has gone to London to see about his book being published. Before you ask, he has finally got a publisher and I understand from Alice he has taken all the money from their joint bank account. And now Dottie.’
    At the mention of the third missing person Beth’s attention was immediately focused. ‘Dad! Where’s she gone?’
    ‘That’s it, we don’t know.’
    ‘Why has she gone?’
    ‘All because Willie made an unfortunate remark in the pub the other night and Dottie took serious umbrage and went away very first thing the following morning.’
    Beth, who had depended on Dottie right since her first coming to clean at the Rectory said, ‘Right! I’ll be back for my tea. Don’t throw it away.’
    ‘Where are you going?’
    ‘I’m going next door to see Willie, of course. I’m not having this.’
    The door to Willie and Sylvia’s cottage was propped open so Beth marched in full of anger to get to the bottom of what Willie had said to make Dottie leave the village.
    Willie was watching Countdown but when he heard Beth’s voice he immediately called out, ‘You’re home, love! Come in, come in.’ He found the remote, switched off his programme, delighted that she had called. ‘Well, Beth love, how nice to see you. Sit yourself down. I was thinking the other day about how you and Alex used to love to come here for your tea and we’d have a game of Snakes and Ladders or Ludo or something. Didn’t we have some fun? Eh?’
    ‘Willie! Dottie’s gone. What on earth did you say to her?’
    Willie was alarmed by the anger in her voice, he who’d always felt like her substitute grandfather.
    ‘It wasn’t anything much, just caught her by surprise.’
    ‘So, what was it? It must have been serious for her to run away; she’s not the running away kind. She’s strong, and she knows how to talk to people and I need her back, here in Turnham Malpas.’
    Willie shuffled about a little, straightened the newspaper and put it in the magazine rack, asked her if she wanted a cup of tea and said Sylvia wouldn’t be long, he didn’t know what was keeping her.
    ‘Was it about her being a prostitute when she was younger? Because I know all about that.’
    Willie had to be truthful to this girl he’d known since the day she was born.
    ‘Well, I’m afraid it was. I shouldn’t have said what I said, but I did. It was nothing but the truth and I’m so sorry about it, you’ve no idea, but she didn’t give me the chance to apologise. She went the very next morning before I’d even got up. How do you know about what . . . she was like when she was a younger woman?’
    ‘She told me one day.’
    Willie was horrified. ‘Told you? She’d no business to.’
    ‘Well, she did. Now all you can do is tell me anything at all that you know about her cousins. I know she has lots of cousins.’ Rather threateningly Beth added, ‘It’s the least you can do. Given the circumstances.’
    ‘There’s the one who lives in Little Derehams, but I don’t know her name; there’s another one called Irene what lives on her own and always wants Dottie to go live with her because she hates being lonely.’
    ‘So where does she