A Ghost Story

By S Kaye

The rural English village of Morton is in shock following the death of one of its residents. Was it murder or hit and run? Jo Kemp is desperate to find out what is going on, but which of her friends and neighbours knows more than they are letting on? 

This comedy, crime fiction, long story is somewhere between a short story and a novella.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S Kaye
• Release date: May 15, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224046676

Book preview

Chapter One

C ome on boy!

Taylor opened a sleepy eye, scanned the room briefly and curled his head back round, not shifting from his warm bed. Jo sighed, lazy dog!

Something felt different this morning. The weather was bleak, a kind of dampness filled the air. It was clingy, suffocatingly clingy, not quite drizzle, not quite fog. Just bleak and moist. And cold.

Jo pulled the collar of her coat up and shivered.

Come on Taylor, let's get moving, it’ll warm us up if we get a wriggle on.

Constantly Jo chatted away to her dog as many dog owners do, probably because sometimes it’s the only way to have a sensible and meaningful conversation. Taylor understood every word, even if he couldn’t talk back. He knew when something exciting was happening, when it was bedtime, or if a snuggle on the sofa was in order, and most importantly, he agreed with everything Jo said, which she particularly loved about him. This little terrier understood her better than any man ever had, and she was very appreciative of it, returning the favour in the form of treats and biscuits, cuddles and walks. It was without exception the best relationship either of them had ever had with another living thing.

Once outside in the damp air it felt quite hard to breathe. Jo remembered learning about London smog many moons ago in geography, and she imagined this was quite likely what it had felt like. The nights had nearly finished pulling in and the mornings were still dark and dismal until quite late. At just gone 8:30 it was daylight, but the weather carried a darkness. It was so very cold.

As they walked along, she heard a familiar sound as two doors down, a garage door slowly closed, and the driver switched off the engine and got out of his car.

Good morning, Mr Parker! Jo called out, trying to sound much more cheerful than she actually felt. Bit nippy today!

Mr Parker would drive the car from his garage each and every morning, and park it up on the driveway just in case Mrs Parker wanted to go out somewhere. Even on a Sunday. But Mrs Parker had chronic anxiety and rarely left the house. Between the joys of Tesco home deliveries and Amazon she had no need to, and the car would sit there till around teatime when Mr Parker would put it back in the garage. The car hadn’t actually made it onto the road in years.

Jo thought he was a lovely man, as did everyone that knew him. He was kind and patient and normally he would wish Jo a good day, but this morning he just sighed sadly, locked the car and headed inside. Jo didn't think much of it, sometimes he didn't hear too well, and it was ridiculously cold today.  She couldn’t blame him for wanting to get indoors into the warm as quickly as possible. She hoped they had their heating on sufficiently, it would be awful if they froze to death in their own home, as older people do sometimes. Jo commented on it to Taylor, who murmured a woof in agreement.

She nodded to a pair of Police officers walking towards her and crossed the road.

Don't get many of them to the pound round here do we, she said to Taylor.

As they approached the top of the road, George Patak drove past in his vintage Renault Clio, a car two years older than he himself was. Jo noticed his brother Ron was not in the passenger seat as he usually was, and George did not hold his hand up to her as he always did. Odd, she thought.

Ron must be poorly. she remarked to Taylor. Tis the season to be stuffed up to the eyeballs and full of Lemsip after all.

They looped the village green next to the church and headed for home. She couldn't help noticing two police cars and a rather nice black BMW parked outside the church.

Oops, vicar had his hand in the collection plate, you reckon?

Jo counted the houses who had their Christmas decorations up already and was disappointed to find it was most of them.

Why Taylor, why? We only left November yesterday! Never mind, another fortnight and we can start buying Easter eggs!

Taylor was used to Jo’s sarcasm and chuckled to himself inwardly, because like all dogs, he got it. Though Jo secretly feared that one day people would stop saying things that required a sarcastic response and she’d instantly lose half her personality. He knew this because she had told him, more than once.

Eventually they arrived home.