7
Not long ago a villager had lost her mind and locked her daughter in an underground cellar, but other than that nothing dramatic or even out of the ordinary had ever happened in Ashton Mead, at least while I had been living there. I was content with my uneventful life, but Hannah seemed determined to believe that Richard had killed his wife. She was either bored, or else genuinely scared that my new next-door neighbour was a crazy killer. Although outwardly I scoffed at my friend’s suspicion, her fears had unnerved me, so I resolved to do some private investigating of my own. At the very least, I was curious to find out what had happened to Richard’s wife. Whether he had committed a heinous crime or was completely innocent, quizzing him directly seemed like a bad idea. If he was guilty
