Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryham

and leave?’
    ‘Oh, no. We’re going to sell the Stubbs, yes, but the roof needs repairing and then maybe we’ll go on a cruise. Do you want coffee or something? Although I’m actually very busy.’
    Outside, Agatha took out a five-pound note and handed it to Charles. ‘I still don’t believe it,’ she said.
    ‘They’ll never go on that cruise, you know,’ said Charles. ‘He’ll gradually get control of her again and there won’t be a next time for Lizzie.’
    ‘Serves her right,’ said Agatha. ‘I never liked her anyway.’
    In Fryfam, Agatha called the estate agent and said she would be leaving in the morning and that she wanted her deposit and the remainder of the rent refunded. Mr Bryman said the deposit could be refunded but not the remainder of the rent. But by the time Agatha, glad to vent her spleen on someone, had told him what she thought of Fryfam and its murders and that she would take him to the small-claims court, he caved in and said he would send her a cheque.
    Agatha was still cross with Charles. She felt the fact that he’d taken Rosie to bed diminished her own night with him. She thought constantly of James.
    That evening, Charles was asleep in front of the dying fire. Agatha decided to go down to the garden shed to get more logs.
    She went into the frosty back garden. Then she stood and stared. Little multi-coloured lights were dancing around at the bottom of the garden. She thought she could hear faint laughter, which seemed to be half inside and half outside her head.
    She went back inside and phoned Harriet. ‘Those Jackson children are up to their tricks again,’ she complained. ‘Shining lights at the bottom of my garden.’
    ‘It can’t be them,’ said Harriet. ‘The children have been taken off to Mrs Jackson’s sister in Kent. Must be the fairies. I say, what do you think about Lucy being guilty after all?’
    But Agatha answered automatically. She could somehow still hear that strange elfin laughter.
    When she finally replaced the receiver and looked down the garden, there was nothing there.
    But Agatha Raisin found she was too frightened to get any logs. She left Charles asleep in front of the dying fire and went to bed.

Chapter Nine

    The next day, Agatha could not bear to tell Charles about the strange lights. He would just say, if it hadn’t been the Jackson children it might have been some angry villager. Agatha remembered a woman chief constable saying that a murder left everyone scarred.
    And sure enough, as she was packing, the phone began to ring. Angry anonymous voices with strong local accents accused her of being an interfering busybody who had probably done the murder herself. After the third, she unplugged the phone from the wall.
    Charles came downstairs, carrying his suitcases. ‘People ringing to congratulate us?’
    ‘Locals ringing out for our blood.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Because we got their dear, sweet Mrs Jackson banged up. Will you lead the way in your car, Charles? I’m frightened of an ambush.’
    They loaded up their cars, Agatha tenderly placing the cats in their travelling boxes on the back seat.
    As they emerged from Pucks Lane to circle the village green and take the road out of Fryfam, Agatha saw Rosie standing with a group of villagers. As Charles’s car approached, Rosie’s beautiful face became contorted with fury. She threw a half-brick straight at his car. The window on the passenger side smashed. Charles accelerated, and so did Agatha.
    Soon they were speeding fast out of Fryfam. After several miles Charles pulled in at a garage. Agatha pulled in behind him.
    ‘Are you all right?’ she asked, getting out of the car and going up to inspect the damage to his.
    ‘I was lucky I wasn’t cut,’ said Charles.
    ‘Here’s my phone. Call the police.’
    ‘No, Rosie must feel used. She’ll know that I got the police on to Barry. I’ll phone up the glass-repair people when we stop for lunch. They’re pretty nippy these days. I’ll keep the brick as a souvenir.’
    ‘Then let’s drive on,’ said Agatha. ‘I’m afraid they might come after us.’
    They stopped for lunch a few miles down the road. Charles phoned and ordered the glass to be repaired.
    Over lunch, Agatha eyed him narrowly. ‘You didn’t tell Rosie you loved her, or anything like that?’
    ‘Not exactly. Stop glaring at me like that, Aggie. Who knows who’s been sleeping with who in that accursed village.’
    ‘You should keep that half-brick as a