Head Wound Read online

  ‘I gather you and he aren’t together – or likely to be?’ He grinned. ‘No, of course not. Though some women might – certainly in the past – have been attracted, not least by his bank balance. You know there’s to be a new pop-up school building to replace Wrayford Episcopi until the police have finished there? In the Wrayford School playground?’

  I nodded.

  ‘Actually, didn’t you suggest it? Yes, of course you did – he almost admitted that. Almost.’ We shared a grin, a bit feeble in my case. ‘But I bet you didn’t know that Brian’s funding the move out of his own pocket? Don’t say I told you. In fact, don’t mention it. But it seems both schools need a protector – some big building firm’s circling, I gather?’

  ‘Brian would know a lot more than I do, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Let me get you one of these.’ Getting up easily, he strolled off in the direction of an unobtrusive cupboard, which he opened to reveal a fully stocked fridge.

  He came back with two glasses; as if on cue his female equivalent came in, as attractive as he, with bones that would still be beautiful if she lived to be a hundred. She gathered me up as if I was Caffy, not a stranger.

  ‘Jane, I’m Jan. Sorry to be so alliterative.’ She hugged me again.

  She picked up a glass; I didn’t. I had this theory that it was fine to drink if you were happy, but positively dangerous if you were sad.

  ‘Have you asked her yet?’ she asked, toasting us both and sitting down elegantly.

  ‘Your job, my love.’

  Asked me what? To leave? It was true I didn’t want to be here but suddenly I didn’t want to go.

  ‘OK. Here goes. Jane, you know Todd and I have used his ill-gotten gains to set up this trust. We work in various parts of Africa, with, for instance, children who are former child soldiers, or rape victims – kids who have suffered even more than their peers, though God knows things are so bad in so many places. We give them the best education we can – or that they’re capable of dealing with. My special brief is girls. If a girl wants to keep goats, really wants to keep goats, that’s fine. If she wants to become an eye surgeon, and has the work ethic and the ability, we can put her through medical school. Currently we’re working alongside another charity, which we think might be close to your heart.’

  For the first time I managed a real smile. ‘Chance to Shine?’

  ‘A smaller one, Cricket without Boundaries. It’s committed to work with African kids exposed to AIDS, in particular. And we understand that you love your cricket. Our current liaison officer’s on maternity leave, and we’d like to replace her. With you. Just for six months – though if she chose not to come back straightaway, the post would last longer. Or you could move across and concentrate on something else. Say yes, please.’

  Yes, please! But I couldn’t say it, could I? What about supporting Joy, now things were going truly wrong – though she might not want anything to do with me, of course. And what about fundraising, and protecting the school, and the women’s cricket training, and my umpiring? And Zunaid? Who would speak up for Pam fostering him? Desperate for a stern, unanswerable excuse, I spread my hands. ‘I’m used to a much more open selection process.’ Did that sound as priggish to them as it did to me?

  ‘Of course. We sometimes forget about equal opps, and you’re right to remind us. In fact, I respect you even more. OK. We can advertise, shortlist and interview. That takes time. Can you come in as a stopgap while we do that?’

  Todd grinned. ‘It’ll annoy the socks off Brian, which shouldn’t of course influence you either way. You need both a rest and a challenge, Jane. According to Tom, who, incidentally is the only man we’ve ever thought remotely good enough for Caffy, you’d be better off out of the country for a bit. Heavens, you haven’t even got your own house to live in! Even if you did, Caffy says it’s too remote for you to be there on your own. So you can live in our place – it’s just on the edge of a game reserve so you can have unusual company sometimes.’

  ‘Have you ever met warthogs?’ Jan put in. ‘The silliest, sweetest creatures.’

  ‘You can come back for Caffy and Tom’s wedding, of course. And maybe come back altogether when everything’s calm again, especially if that guy Petty realises what an idiot he’s been.’

  ‘Petrie. And I’m not sure I do reformed idiots.’ I managed another weak smile. My God, I was tempted. Surely doing something useful was better than sitting moping. But in my bleak depression, I might more easily have opted for a task in a hopeless war zone: even the prospect of sun and kind people made me teeter towards guilt. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts: I’d never met a deus ex machina before. Or a dea ex machina for that matter. Now I had one of each, beaming intently at me.

  They must have sensed I was weakening.

  ‘About Petrie, time will tell,’ Jan said, putting her arm round me again. ‘More important, time will heal. Sun will heal. Cricket and kids will heal. Oh, do stop tormenting yourself, Jane, love, and say yes, because Caffy’s already got the champagne on ice.’

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JUDITH CUTLER, Birmingham’s Queen of Crime, began her working life as a college lecturer. She has written forty novels, with protagonists ranging from the nineteenth-century vicar-detective Tobias Campion to Chief Superintendent Fran Harman. Now Jane Cowan joins their ranks. Judith is married to fellow writer Edward Marston, whom she partners in the speaking duo ‘Murder Ancient and Modern’.

  judithcutler.com

  By Judith Cutler

  THE JANE COWAN SERIES

  Head Start

  Head Count

  Head Wound

  THE TOBIAS CAMPION SERIES

  The Keeper of Secrets

  Shadow of the Past

  Cheating the Hangman

  THE FRAN HARMAN SERIES

  Life Sentence

  Cold Pursuit

  Still Waters

  THE JOSIE WELFORD SERIES

  The Food Detective

  The Chinese Takeout

  Scar Tissue

  Staging Death

  Drawing the Line

  COPYRIGHT

  Allison & Busby Limited

  11 Wardour Mews

  London W1F 8AN

  allisonandbusby.com

  First published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2018.

  This ebook edition published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2018.

  Copyright © 2018 by JUDITH CUTLER

  The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978–0–7490–2335–5