A Will to Murder: A Molly Wright Cozy Mystery, #1

Prologue

"Y ou know, I couldn’t be happier leaving that whole ugly business to you. I’d be lost if I had to handle it myself."

Sir Alexander Dove strode into his dining room, long paces carrying him towards the ornate fireplace on the opposite wall. Standing in front of the roaring flames, he inspected his complexion sternly in the mirror set upon the mantle. He turned around. His compatriot’s eyes were fixed firmly on him. He waved a hand theatrically.

What I mean to say is that it really is intolerable that it should have gone on this long in the first place. What with my health being what it is, it’s time that it’s finally finished, once and for all. Pour some drinks, won’t you? The ’49, that’s alright.

He marched back across the room to stare out of one of the many grand windows that adorned his manor in the town of Little Clegghorn. He gazed out over the open countryside with the June sun slowly setting across the surrounding hills. He could see the landmark windmill that the town was known for, blades gently rotating in the soft breeze. A lovely spot and, what with his whole family living within a few miles, he really couldn’t be happier. Such a shame that he couldn’t enjoy it like he wanted to any more.

Behind him, the drinks were stirred nervously, a silver spoon pushing the liquid around the inside of two crystal glasses. Dove turned back towards the direction of the annoying clinking sound.

Alright, no need to stir it. It’s wine, not Earl Grey!

The spoon was removed quickly and placed aside. Dove took the glass proffered to him and curled his lip.

Well perhaps I will have that spoon after all. There’s a nasty sediment in that. Should fish that out, I expect.

He removed a speck of white from the base of the cup.

Well, here’s to your continued health, wealth, and wellbeing, Alexander.

Dove’s eyebrows raised in surprise, but he soon regained his composure.

Thanks, thanks. And to yours, that’s it.

There was a clink as their glasses touched. Dove tipped back his glass with a gulp.

Good stuff, if a bit cloudy. Now where were… where were…

He stopped and brought a hand to his neck.

You know all of a sudden I don’t feel quite…

There was a burning in the back of his throat, an awful sensation, and suddenly all of the power seemed to have gone out of him. One leg buckled, bringing his strong frame down on one knee. He looked up at his companion in confusion.

Help…

The face remained blank, perhaps with a scowl. It took Dove a few seconds to comprehend exactly what that meant. His other leg bent and he found himself sinking to the ground, a little gurgle in his breath as he coughed out his last syllables.

But w… why?

The deed done, his companion stepped away confident that the poison would do its job. The wine bottle was quickly checked and there were no fingerprints to be found on the on the sides or the long neck. The poisonous tablets were safely slipped into a jacket pocket, out of sight. The glasses were swiftly removed and taken care of.

Reappearing less than a minute later the individual left the manor via the front door without another look into the room where Dove now lay dead, an expression of surprise etched onto his face.

1

S OHCAHTOA, miss!

Molly Wright looked to the back of her classroom, and scrawled the acronym on the board.

That’s right, and, somebody else please, that stands for…

Finn Jones, across the room, stuck his hand in the air.

Yes?

Sine, Opposite, Hypotenuse; Cosine, Adjacent, Hypotenuse; Tangent, Opposite, uh… Adjacent?

Right. Once you have that, you can pretty much do trigonometry. Simple!

She waited a few seconds, glancing around the room. Good. They seemed to have fallen for it.

She turned back to the board, beginning to write up some problems she’d thought up during the previous night’s lesson planning. She smiled. Teaching was not an easy occupation, but once you’ve managed to convince thirty secondary school children that trigonometry is easy, you’ve pretty much done your job. You can’t do more.

Miss?

She spun back to the room. Yes, Felicity?

"Miss, what do you think is the meaning of life?"

There was a smattering of laughter around the room. Molly ran her hand through her short brown hair and nudged her reading glasses up her nose with an impatient finger, her green eyes almost owl like behind the lenses. She hated teaching math after R.E.

Not really my field, Felicity.

"Yes, but… it’s important, and Mrs. Smith said that life has no meaning, and it is her field."

Molly closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to clear her mind. Really?

In general, Molly loved her job. She had been teaching at St. Cuthbert’s Secondary for five years, and she had no plans to quit any time soon. Sure, it looked like more of a prison than a school, full of children who clearly didn’t want to be there. And she didn’t exactly need sunglasses for the kids’ brightness. It wasn’t even as if teaching was an easy occupation; in fact, it had driven her into an uncomfortably hefty sweet habit.

But it was great, almost all of the time. To be helping kids, and to be paid for doing trigonometry, was a blessing, a real blessing. Even still, just sometimes, when trigonometry followed a course on Hinduism, she could have used a substitute.

Stepping behind her desk, she reached into her bag and pulled out a pack of rhubarb and custards. Selecting a choice specimen, she popped it into her mouth and relished the sweet sugar rush that followed.

"Felicity, I will talk you through the meaning of life after class, not during. We can certainly have that discussion though."

But…

After. Now where were we? The sums on the board. 1a, there are two lengths, what’s the third? You’ve got two minutes on that one, so you’d better get started. There is a rhubarb and custard sweet in it for the first person who gets it. She brandished the sweet in question aloft and the kids jumped to it faster than she would have thought possible.

In the meantime, she wandered along the rows, checking answers and helping where she could. This class didn’t really need her help, being in the top set as they were. Perhaps she should be counting her blessings though. She was pretty sure she’d heard a chair hit the wall next door a few minutes earlier.

As she stalked around the room, she noticed something strange in the corridor outside. There was a woman standing out there with red hair, wearing a suit, who seemed to be staring straight at her through the window in the door. As she noticed Molly looking at her she waved jovially, and smiled. Molly waved back reservedly and then continued on her rounds. She had no idea who this woman was but she wasn’t particularly interested in leaving the class on their own and going to chat to a random stranger. She did have a job to do, after all.

Turning back to the student in front of her she pointed out a mistake in a formula. Sine not Cos. Behind her back there was a knock on the door. She turned back in annoyance, ready to tell the woman to leave and stop wasting her time, but the redhead stranger had been replaced with the headmaster, Mr. Henderson. Molly put down her pen and walked to the door. She really didn’t have time for this.

Carry on with your problems, I’ll be back in a moment, she said as she opened the door and stepped into the corridor outside. She’d gotten past the point where she felt the need to salute when Mr. Henderson entered the room but he did have a proven ability to fire staff on a whim, so he was probably best kept on her side.

Having closed the door behind her, she faced the headmaster, who was looking stern as ever, grey monobrow folded into a permanent frown.

Hi Gary, what can I do for you? she said, smiling.

Not much, and I’m sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to introduce you to Catherine Stein. He motioned behind him, and Molly recognized the woman who had waved earlier.

Hi, said Molly, leaning across to shake the proffered hand.

She’s a new resident here. She wanted to know about the teaching in the area and I thought I’d introduce you, let her see one of your classes.

Molly struggled not to let out a groan. She longed to tell them exactly how much she wanted some stranger sitting in the back of her class, disrupting the students. Instead, as she knew was expected of her, she smiled, nodded and said, Great! My pleasure.

Oh good. I’m sure you’ll find it quite informative, Miss Stein. The headmaster was speaking even as he hurried away, his burden passed on.

Molly didn’t have time to concern herself with politeness or greetings, so she opened the door and motioned this Catherine Stein to follow her in.

Class, she said as she walked to the front, pointing out a chair where the woman could sit. This is Miss Stein. She’s going to be watching our class today. Now, who’s managed to complete the problem on the board?

Almost every hand in the class went up. Great. She was going to have to empty her Rhubarb and Custard bag out for this.

The next hour was filled with advanced trigonometry of a kind that put most students to tears. Apart from another quick question about the meaning of life (definitely more R.E. than Math, and a two lemon sherbet problem to be sure), the class passed without incident. The woman on the front row nodded and smiled throughout though Molly, perhaps a little rudely, didn’t try to talk to her at any point. Sometimes you have to be a little impolite to adults in order to get a class taught properly. She wasn’t known as the Dragon just because of her love of Chili flavored toffee…

At the end of the class, the bell sounded again, and she allowed them to leave en masse, on their way to double history. That left her alone with Catherine Stein. As soon as the class had gone, the woman stood and spent a good thirty seconds stretching her legs out. That at least was fair enough. She’d been in one of those tiny plastic chairs for almost an hour. She walked over and shook Molly’s hand once more.

Well thank you, that was quite useful. I was thinking though, do you mind if we have a quick chat, while I’m here?

Another internal groan. She had marking to do!

Of course! she smiled through gritted teeth. My room’s being used for Geography, so let’s go sit in the lunch hall and we can talk.

The door opened into the corridor outside and she waved to the head of Mathematics across the corridor. She almost walked into a pupil who was sitting in the corridor, but she didn’t have time to ask what she was doing there. She shooed the girl, who scuttled off, hopefully towards whatever class she was skiving off of.

Just this way, she said, and they walked together down the corridor. So Miss Stein, you’re new here?

The woman smiled obligingly, and nodded. Yes that’s right, and please, it’s Catherine.

Right. They entered the dining hall and Molly found them a table. Other than a few pupils on a free period, they were alone for now. Catherine settled down on one side of a long dining table and Molly took the seat opposite, giving her a good opportunity to look her up and down.

The woman was perhaps forty or forty-five, and dressed smartly in a grey dress suit that fitted her in a way that was well chosen but not tailored; a grey skirt and blazer combination that reminded Molly of a recent meeting with the PTA. Her hair had been dyed a slightly unnatural blaze of red that Molly had never really liked, but that on her somehow looked alright, and she was made up to a tee. She looked every inch a businesswoman. Even still, she seemed… shifty? Was that the right word?

There was an uncomfortable silence that lasted a couple of seconds, both women waiting for the other to speak. Eventually Molly decided to break it. She licked her lips and spoke quickly. So what can I do for you, Catherine? I don’t think the headmaster actually said.

Catherine nodded once more. Well, she started, crossing her legs and putting her hands on her lap. You see it’s like this. I’ve been home schooling my little girl, Orla, for the last six years. I always thought it was best and where we’re originally from the schooling system is… well, it leaves a little to be desired.

Molly nodded. She had trained in some schools that left more than a little to be desired herself.

"But I’m starting to realize, you see, that there is something to be said for… company. Friends. It’s good for a girl to be around people, and community. It gives them such a taste of life, don’t you think? I can see you do, and, now that we’ve moved here, I do think it’s time to find somewhere for her to go to school. I know this is supposed to be one of the better schools but I do find it so difficult just to let go, you know? I think I may mother her a little too much, Orla that is, but I thought to myself ‘I just have to go and see some of those teachers and see what they’re like and, more importantly, what they think of the schools, of the area’. You do understand?"

Molly smiled appreciatively, relieved to get a word in edgeways. This was a woman who viewed words as Molly considered gumdrops – the more the better. Still, she could see why the headmaster had chosen her to speak to the visitor. Evidently, she was to be the friendly face of the faculty.

Yes, I think I understand. It’s difficult, isn’t it? she ploughed on with her next sentence, not letting Catherine get an answer in. Well I don’t know what I can tell you really, except that this is one of the loveliest and best schools I’ve been in. Obviously there will be different positives to every school, but the teaching here is wonderful…

And the environment, the area?

The area? repeated Molly. Was she supposed to be the friendly face of the whole town?

Yes.

Molly shrugged.

Well I like it a lot. It’s friendly, and being a small village there’s almost no crime. It’s the kind of place where everyone knows everyone. She smiled Depends what you like, really. It’s not a city atmosphere, that’s for sure.

Yes. It is nice to look at though, isn’t it? Particularly, she leaned forward across the table, that large mansion up on the hill overlooking the village. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it! The pagodas!

Yes, Molly chuckled. She had never seen anyone get so excited about a