INTRIGUE at the Ink Plotters Club
THE STORY SO FAR: Vicar Bree Plummer is a member of the Ink Plotters Writing Club and is taking part in a crime writing weekend at Kellett Hall, hosted by Lady Kellett. The Hall’s claim to fame is that Jane Austen once stayed there, and the weekend’s guest of honour is celebrated crime writer, Carl Casper. Carl borrows from Bree a key to a nearby chapel he wants to explore alone, believing it could be the perfect inspiration for his next book. Despite him later returning the key, Bree gets a frantic phone call from a fellow Plotter, Lydia, saying she’s locked in the chapel. Bree rushes to the rescue and a near-hysterical Lydia reveals that she heard a woman scream outside. Bree searches and discovers an earring dropped on the ground in the chapel graveyard. Lydia instantly recognises the earring as belonging to Lady Kellett, who is nowhere to be found.
Bree glanced from the pearl earring in her palm to Lydia’s anxious face. ‘Are you sure this belongs to Lady Kellett?’
‘Of course I’m sure. Susie always shows off the jewellery her husband bought her. She must have been the woman I heard screaming!’
‘We shouldn’t jump to conclusions,’ murmured Bree, without conviction. Peering into the darkness, she spotted a clump of trees in the opposite direction to where she had parked. ‘Is that where your car is, Lydia? I didn’t see it when I arrived.’
Lydia looked sheepish. ‘Yes.
