Table of Contents

  Cover

  Recent Titles by Anthea Fraser From Severn House

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Recent Titles by Anthea Fraser from Severn House

  The Rona Parish Mysteries (in order of appearance)

  BROUGHT TO BOOK

  JIGSAW

  PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN

  A FAMILY CONCERN

  ROGUE IN PORCELAIN

  NEXT DOOR TO MURDER

  UNFINISHED PORTRAIT

  A QUESTION OF IDENTITY

  JUSTICE POSTPONED

  Other Titles

  PRESENCE OF MIND

  THE MACBETH PROPHECY

  BREATH OF BRIMSTONE

  MOTIVE FOR MURDER

  DANGEROUS DECEPTION

  PAST SHADOWS

  FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS

  THICKER THAN WATER

  SHIFTING SANDS

  THE UNBURIED PAST

  JUSTICE POSTPONED

  Anthea Fraser

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  This first world edition published 2014

  in Great Britain and the USA by

  SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of

  19 Cedar Road, Sutton, Surrey, England, SM2 5DA.

  Trade paperback edition first published in Great Britain and the USA 2015 by SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD.

  eBook edition first published in 2014 by Severn House Digital

  an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited

  Copyright © 2014 by Anthea Fraser.

  The right of Anthea Fraser to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  Fraser, Anthea author.

  Justice postponed. – (The Rona Parish mysteries)

  1. Parish, Rona (Fictitious character)–Fiction. 2. Women

  authors–England–Fiction. 3. Chiltern Hills (England)–

  Fiction. 4. Detective and mystery stories.

  I. Title II. Series

  823.9’14-dc23

  ISBN-13: 978-0-7278-8418-3 (cased)

  ISBN-13: 978-1-84751-528-5 (trade paper)

  ISBN-13: 978-1-78010-569-7 (ePub)

  Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.

  This ebook produced by

  Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Falkirk,

  Stirlingshire, Scotland

  PROLOGUE

  God, what had he done? This should never have happened – he couldn’t believe that it had! In the cold light of dawn he sat on the edge of the bed, raking his fingers through his hair and thinking back over the evening behind him. It had started in the rush hour – she’d been lost and panicky and it was starting to rain, so after giving her directions he’d suggested they had a drink till the shower stopped. She agreed readily enough and it hadn’t dawned on him that she wasn’t used to alcohol till it became clear she’d had too much, by which stage he couldn’t just abandon her.

  So he’d followed his usual practice and taken her back to his flat. She’d seemed so impressed with it and with him that he assumed she was expecting him to make love to her – damn it, most girls did – and by the time he realized she wasn’t just playing the tease it was too late to stop.

  He groaned, putting his head in his hands. Because as she’d lain there sobbing he’d begun to suspect with dawning horror that, despite the heavy make-up, she was nowhere near the seventeen she’d claimed to be, and that realization coupled with the alcohol he’d consumed rose as vomit in his throat. He’d made a dash for the bathroom, and by the time he returned she had gone.

  That was when the panic set in. He’d flung on some clothes and dashed into the street but there was no sign of her, and for the next few days he’d lived in dread of an official knock on the door. But none came and gradually the panic eased, if not the remorse. At least, thank God, he’d not used his real name, a ruse he always employed with one-night stands. But, oh, God, he would have given a great deal to be able to turn back the clock.

  ONE

  September already, Rona thought, flipping over the calendar. Where had the summer gone? Not, on reflection, that it had been uneventful; the Furness family, who owned the house next door, had, after a long sojourn overseas, returned to reclaim their extensively modernized and redecorated house, providing herself and Max with permanent rather than transitory neighbours – a very welcome move. Another major change was that her mother and her fiancé Guy Lacey had moved from the old Parish home in Belmont and installed themselves on the outskirts of town, and to celebrate there was to be a family lunch there today by way of a house-warming.

  An extended family lunch, Rona reminded herself, since not only she, Max and Lindsey, but Guy’s daughter Sarah and her fiancé, due to marry next month, would be there as well.

  The family had also expanded in the other direction to include Catherine, who would marry Rona’s father, Tom, when her parents’ divorce was finalized, together with Catherine’s son, daughter-in-law and baby granddaughter. After all those years of its being just Mum, Pops, her twin Lindsey and herself, it took a bit of getting used to.

  The front door slammed as her husband returned from walking the dog, followed by a pattering as Gus, released from his lead, loped down the basement stairs and into the kitchen, making for his water bowl.

  A moment later Max followed him. ‘It looks like being a scorcher,’ he commented. ‘If we’re going to be in the garden, I hope they’ve enough umbrellas.’

  ‘There were a couple at home,’ Rona said. ‘Mum’s sure to have taken them with her. It’ll be odd, won’t it, only having to drive ten minutes instead of twenty to visit them?’

  Max slipped an arm round her. ‘You miss the old home, don’t you?’

  ‘I suppose so, though it was never the same after Pops moved out. It’ll seem strange seeing familiar furniture in a new setting.’

  ‘Intermingled, no doubt, with Guy’s. All things considered it’s worked out well, the four of them each making a fresh start.’ He glanced at her. ‘The only one not doing so is Lindsey. Or rather, she’s making too many.’

  Rona frowned, moving away to fill the kettle. Implied criticism of her twin triggered defensiveness coupled with irritation, for there was no denying Lindsey had made mistakes, and though successful in her career – she was a partner in a firm of solicitors – her personal life had consisted of one disaster after another.

  She had married and then divorced Hugh Cavendish but had continued to dally with him between affairs, one of which had been with a murderer from whom Hugh had had to rescue her. Other liaisons had involved Jonathan Hurst, a fellow partner at Chase Mortimer, and Dominic Frayne who, Rona suspected, was the love of her twin’s life, but whose sleeping arrangements with his attractive assistant had led to what seemed to be a permanent break-up. Matters were further complicated by the fact that Hugh had recently acquired a girlfriend and was no longer at Lindsey’s beck and call, and to Rona’s disquiet she seemed to be drifting back to Jonathan, a married man with a family.

  Max’s voice broke into her thoughts. ‘Have we got them a house-warming present?’

  ‘Some coasters,’ she replied, pushing her worries aside. ‘Rather nice ones, with local views. It was hard to know what to go for when they already have the contents of two houses between them!’

  ‘Good choice; you can’t have too many coasters. What time are we due there?’

  ‘Around twelve. I’ve been wondering what to do about Gus; I forgot to check, and as you know Mum wasn’t too keen on having him at Maple Drive.’

  ‘That was during her difficult stage,’ Max reminded her. ‘She’s mellowed since Guy came on the scene.’

  ‘All the same, I think on this first visit we should play safe.’

  ‘Fair enough. At least he’s had a good walk, which should last him till we get back.’

  Once clear of the confines of town, Guild Street, Marsborough’s main shopping centre, metamorphosed into Belmont Road, leading eventually to the suburb where Rona had grown up. Along the route were sporadic groups of houses, a couple of shopping parades and a school, and just beyond one of these clusters Max turned left into Brindley Grove. It was a cul-de-sac of some twenty houses of varying designs and sizes, and Guy and Avril’s was halfway down on the right, easily identified by the copper beeches either
side of the gates, which now stood open.

  They’d not been here since their initial visit soon after the previous owners moved out, when the house had been completely bare. Rona had mixed feelings about seeing it in its new guise as her mother’s home in which she herself had no part – feelings she hastily dismissed as both Guy and Avril came hurrying out to meet them.

  ‘Welcome to Tall Trees!’ Avril cried gaily. ‘Our very first visitors!’

  ‘I hope we’re not too early,’ Rona said, returning her mother’s kiss and receiving one from Guy.

  ‘Not at all!’ Avril assured her. ‘Someone has to be first, but we’ll wait till everyone’s here before we do the grand tour. Now, come inside and have a drink.’

  Guy peered into the back of the car. ‘No Gus?’

  ‘We weren’t too sure he’d be welcome,’ Max admitted.

  ‘Nonsense, of course he would. We’re thinking of getting a dog ourselves.’

  Rona bit back an exclamation of surprise. Throughout their childhood Avril had withstood all her daughters’ pleading for pets and once Rona was married with a home of her own, one of their first purchases had been the retriever puppy. Avril had taken her arm and was leading her up the path. ‘It’s an attractive-looking house, isn’t it?’ she said contentedly, and Rona had to agree with her. Like others in the road it was built of the local stone, with a bay window either side of the door and a steeply pitched roof. As they went inside her first impression was of light and space since the hallway, panelled in pale wood, was filled with sunshine flooding in from the open door and the window at the head of the stairs; but she’d barely had time to register it when Guy’s voice reached them from outside.

  ‘The others have arrived!’ he called, and they went out again to see Sarah and her fiancé, Clive, emerging from a car and Lindsey coming through the gates, a sheaf of flowers in her hand.

  There was initial awkwardness as they all greeted each other and moved en bloc into the house, talking and exclaiming at the same time. Rona had met Sarah only a few times, Clive even fewer, and Lindsey hardly knew them at all. They both taught at Belmont Primary School, Clive as a PE instructor, and it was when Sarah, moving from her home in Stokely, had answered Avril’s advertisement for a lodger that the Laceys had entered their lives.

  ‘Now,’ Avril said when everyone had a glass, ‘we’ll show you round the house, then we can all move outside.’

  As Rona had foreseen, there was a pang in seeing well-loved furniture in these new surroundings, but as she had to admit it fitted admirably into its new location and, mixed with pieces from Guy’s previous home, created an attractive and comfortable ambience. Even in the dining room, furnished with the suite from Stokely, the china and glasses on the table were those she’d known all her life.

  The inspection duly completed they were led through the sitting room and out on to the terrace where, to Max’s relief, two large umbrellas provided shade.

  ‘Now,’ Guy began, ‘before I sit down, let me top up your drinks. Rona – sorry, Lindsey!’ He gave an embarrassed laugh as he took her glass. ‘I so seldom see you together I have difficulty telling you apart!’

  Yet beneath the surface, Max thought privately, they could hardly be more different. He could not forget – though he’d tried often enough – that Lindsey had arrived at his studio one evening after her marriage broke up and begged him to make love to her. It was something he’d never told Rona and never would, but Lindsey hadn’t forgiven him for sending her packing and relations between them had been strained ever since.

  Having refreshed their drinks, Guy seated himself and raised his glass. ‘Here’s to Tall Trees, its residents and all who visit it!’

  They joined in the toast and he sat back in his chair. ‘Now, that’s quite enough about us and our affairs. What have you all been up to? Rona? Any thoughts on your next project?’

  Rona shook her head. ‘I’m still coasting,’ she said. With a difficult biography at last behind her, she had put on her other hat as occasional contributor to the prestigious monthly Chiltern Life, an altogether less demanding occupation. ‘Max is the one with some news,’ she added. ‘He’s been asked to do two portraits, of our new MP and of the principal of the art college.’

  ‘I did suggest the head commission one of his students to do it,’ Max remarked, breaking into the chorus of congratulations, ‘but no one took me seriously.’

  ‘And Lindsey?’ Avril smiled encouragingly. ‘What about you?’

  ‘Nothing to report, I’m afraid.’ Lindsey’s voice was brittle. ‘Just the same old, same old.’

  Rona felt a quiver of unease. Her sister wasn’t meeting her eyes, but now wasn’t the time to probe. Guy, meanwhile, had turned to his own daughter.

  ‘And you two, of course, are on the final countdown! Not long now!’

  ‘Seven weeks and six days!’ Clive supplied, and everyone laughed. He was a tall, broad-shouldered young man as befit his profession, his face and arms tanned and his fair hair bleached almost white by the summer sun. Little though she knew him, Rona felt more at ease with him than with Sarah, who could be somewhat prickly.

  Avril glanced at her watch. ‘Lunch in ten minutes,’ she announced, ‘so if any of you want to freshen up, now’s your chance. The downstairs “facilities” are to the left of the stairs.’

  As she went back into the house, Lindsey rose to her feet and followed her. The conversation round the table continued but Rona was only half-listening and, after a couple of minutes, she too went inside, hoping for a private word.

  ‘Everything OK, sis?’ she asked anxiously as Lindsey re-emerged into the hall.

  ‘Not really.’ Her cheeks were flushed. ‘I just hate being odd man out on these occasions, when all the rest of you are in pairs.’

  ‘Oh, Linz!’ Rona said helplessly. ‘It’s only temporary, you’ll soon—’

  ‘—latch on to someone else unsuitable?’ Lindsey cut in bitterly.

  Rona studied her face. ‘There’s something else, isn’t there?’

  Lindsey hesitated.

  ‘How about lunch tomorrow? We could talk it over.’

  ‘All right, but it will have to be quick. Twelve fifteen at the Bacchus?’

  ‘I’ll be there.’ And as Lindsey went to rejoin the others, Rona determinedly put her anxieties on hold.

  The lunch was up to Avril’s usual standard: cold watercress soup with swirls of cream served with home-made croutons, a side of salmon in aspic decorated with shrimps and circles of cucumber, a selection of British cheeses and a raspberry pavlova. By the time they returned to the patio the sun had moved off it and Guy closed the umbrellas.

  ‘We haven’t had a tour of the garden yet,’ Max commented.

  ‘It was too hot before lunch and you can see most of it from here. But we can wander round now if you like.’

  So, with the afternoon sun warm on their backs, they strolled past sweet-smelling herbaceous borders, an ornamental pool and a neat vegetable patch screened by a hawthorn hedge, to the summerhouse at the far end. Here, nature had been allowed to run wild and there were lush grasses, wild flowers and the murmur of bees.

  ‘It’s heavenly,’ Lindsey said. ‘Almost makes me wish I’d a garden at the flat!’

  ‘“Almost” being the operative word,’ Rona told her. ‘Your idea of gardening is to sit in a deck chair and give orders!’

  ‘It’ll require a fair bit of work,’ Max remarked, grateful for his own paved plot with its ornamental tubs and statues.

  ‘I’ll enjoy it,’ Guy said. ‘I’m hoping to take early retirement, and it’ll give me something to do.’

  Rona turned and looked back at the house, its patio doors standing open and the drooping umbrellas by the table where they’d had drinks. Sarah and Clive had stopped by the pool and were looking down into it, hand in hand.

  ‘Love’s young dream,’ Lindsey remarked, following her gaze.

  ‘Long may it last,’ Guy said quietly, and Rona, seeing her mother slip her hand into his, felt a lump in her throat. It was a continuing wonder to her that this was the same woman who for years had taken no interest in her appearance, who had complained and criticized and generally made life difficult for everyone. Small wonder that her father had finally snapped and, on meeting the quiet, restful Catherine, decided to cut his losses. Had Avril’s metamorphosis happened only months earlier, things could have been very different and family lunch might still have been held at Maple Drive.