A Contest To Kill For

A CONTEST TO KILL FOR A HOPGOOD HALL MYSTERY E.V. HUNTER CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Acknowledgments More from E.V. Hunter About the Author Poison & Pens About Boldwood Books 1 ‘Why is it so damned cold?’ Alexi stamped her UGG-booted feet on the frosty ground and thrust her hands deeper into the pockets of her sheepskin jacket. ‘It never got this arctic in London.’ ‘Stop being such a baby,’ Cheryl chided. ‘It’s only November. Give it a few weeks and then you’ll really have something to complain about.’ ‘It gets worse than this?’ Alexi shuddered at the prospect. ‘It only seems warmer in London because of all that pollution.’ ‘Can’t beat an unhealthy dose of carbon monoxide to keep the mercury above freezing.’ Alexi caught Cheryl’s elbow to prevent her from slipping on a patch of ice. ‘Point proven, I believe.’ ‘Go on, admit it; you like it here.’ Cheryl nodded towards Alexi’s cat. ‘He certainly does.’ ‘Only because there’s more wildlife for him to terrorise.’ ‘Given some of the sights I saw the last time I was in London, I’d have to disagree.’ Alexi’s breath clouded in front of her face when she chuckled. ‘I guess you have a point.’ Cosmo, Alexi’s cat, trotted ahead of the two friends while Cheryl’s little terrier Toby danced ecstatically around his feline friend. ‘You’d think they hadn’t seen each other for weeks rather than a couple of days,’ Cheryl said with an indulgent smile. Cosmo was twice Toby’s size and weight, his paw prints in the frost double the size of the dog’s. Alexi had been a reporter on the trail of a story that only the derelicts sleeping rough beneath Waterloo arches could help her to break. Cosmo, a feral cat who also resided beneath the arches, had taken a liking to Alexi and allowed her to adopt him. They’d been a double act ever since. ‘You okay?’ Alexi slowed her pace when she noticed that Cheryl had to scurry to keep up with her. ‘You should have stayed inside with your little bundle of joy.’ Cheryl grinned at this reference to her two-month-old daughter. ‘What, and deprive Drew of an excuse to pamper her?’ ‘Since when did he need an excuse?’ Cheryl rolled her eyes. ‘Very true.’ Alexi laughed, thinking of Cheryl’s larger than life husband and his total absorption with baby Verity. As a first-time father, he was duty bound to be terrified of dropping her, or somehow screwing things up. And yet Drew had yet to put a foot wrong as he dealt with her needs like a seasoned professional. ‘That baby is definitely going to be a daddy’s girl,’ Alexi predicted. ‘Don’t I just know it!’ Cheryl grinned. ‘He even has me…’ ‘Oh no!’ Alexi dropped Cheryl’s arm and raced ahead. ‘Cosmo, stop that at once!’ The film crew guy setting up to record the first session of a reality cooking programme at Hopgood Hall had caught Cosmo’s attention and he’d decided to amuse himself by terrorising him. The man had dropped his equipment – probably something expensive and irreplaceable – and legged it for the nearest door. At the sound of Alexi’s voice, Cosmo gave up pursuing him and morphed into a sleek black purring picture of innocence as he twined himself around Alexi’s legs. ‘Bad boy! You know better than that.’ ‘What the hell is that thing?’ the crew member asked from behind the safety of a closed door. ‘Looks like something out of Africa! Doesn’t he… well, frighten the horses?’ ‘Sorry about that. He’s actually quite harmless,’ Alexi said, crossing her fingers behind her back. ‘And, despite what you might have heard, he’s not a black panther. He just looks like one and thinks he ought to live up to the rep.’ ‘Yeah well.’ The guy poked his head cautiously around the door and eyed Cosmo dubiously, trying to look as though he hadn’t just let a cat freak him out. ‘If he’s harmless, I’ll put a tenner on the outside in the one-thirty at Kempton Park.’ Alexi rolled her eyes. This was a horseracing town and everyone talked the talk. The guy retrieved his equipment, uttered a few more expletives and disappeared inside the improvised studio. With Cosmo under control again, Alexi returned to Cheryl. ‘Don’t be too hard on him,’ Cheryl said, tears of laughter pouring down her face. ‘It’s been a while since he exerted his authority.’ ‘He’ll be the death of me yet.’ ‘He’s only amusing himself. He’s like a teenager who gets bored and acts up to get attention.’ ‘I can see I’ll have to keep him clear of this lot.’ ‘No need.’ Cheryl flapped a hand. ‘I’ll tell them to man up. This is the country. Who could possibly be afraid of a sweet little pussy cat?’ Cheryl dropped a hand to stroke Cosmo’s large head. He pushed against her hand and purred like the innocent he most decidedly was not. ‘Brat!’ Alexi said, failing to keep the affection out of her voice. Alexi cast a critical eye over the building that the film guy had just taken refuge in, still astonished at the speed with which so many changes had taken place in seven short months. Hopgood Hall was situated in Lambourn, the valley of the racehorse. It was a boutique hotel owned by Cheryl and Drew. Alexi and Cheryl had been friends since their university days, but Cheryl had married Drew almost as soon as she graduated with a degree in hotel management while Alexi headed for a career in journalism. The career that she had put every waking hour into excelling at had come to a spectacular end in the spring when her paper, the Sunday Sentinel, downsized – make that dumbed down – and as a serious