Scandal at Six (Lois Meade Mystery) (3 page)

Four

T
he
N
ew
B
rooms team had completed their weekly discussions on clients and equipment, and exchanged tidbits of news they thought would interest
L
ois.
T
hey drifted away, chatting, all except for
D
ot
N
immo, who had been asked to stay behind for a short while.

Being Dot, she immediately sniffed trouble. What had she done wrong? Nothing, as far as she could remember. She was very attached to Lois, who had rescued her from a period of severe depression after both her son and her husband had died. She was a loyal and efficient worker, and would do anything for Lois.

She remained sitting on her chair until Lois returned from seeing off the others, and said at once, “What’ve I done, then, Mrs M?”

Lois laughed. “Nothing wrong, of course, Dot. The thing is, we need your help.”

“What kind of help?” said Dot, breathing a sigh of relief. “You name it, an’ I’ll do it.”

“It’s information and connections we need. The sort you may well have, living as you do amongst the underworld of Tresham.”

“Here, wait a minute, Mrs M! It ain’t that bad. Since my Handy died, I’ve kept away from that lot. Mind you, I have to admit that I know who to ask if a favour’s needed.”

“Exactly,” said Lois. “I’ll tell you briefly what happened on Saturday morning in the shop.” She began with the snake, and watched the colour drain from Dot’s face.

“Oh my God!”

“Dot?”

Dot took a deep breath. “I saw the local paper, o’course, and hoped it’d all been sorted out. Stolen, wasn’t it? As a matter of fact, Mrs M, I got this phobia. I can’t stand them things. Can’t even say the name. I don’t mind toads and frogs, so long as they keep their distance. But them other things, no! I’ll be only too pleased to help out on anything else. I don’t know why people have to catch them and put them in zoos. Talk about immigrants! I reckon them slithery things ought to be banned from entering our country. And them that are here already should be sent home. Or, better still, put quietly out of their misery.”

“Ah, yes, well,” said Lois. “The less said about that the better. Now, Matthew and Derek and Josie will be here in a minute, and we’re going to have a discussion and make a plan to investigate the whole thing. It needs nipping in the bud before it gets any worse. So, if you wouldn’t mind having a sandwich with us, I’d be very grateful.”

*

Gran appeared in due course with several plates of sandwiches, and sat down as far as possible away from Dot Nimmo. “I must say, Lois,” she said, “it’s very nice for me to be included for once, instead of being sent away to sit among the cinders. I promise to keep quiet unless I get something useful to say.”

That’ll be a first, then, thought Derek. But he smiled and said he hoped this wasn’t going to take long. He had a job to finish in Waltonby.

“Right,” said Lois. “Now, Josie, is Floss safely in the shop until you get back? And no more creepy crawlies? I think we all know about the reptiles and what happened, so we can go straight to the kind of person we want in the flat and how we find them. I’ve made a list, and you can all add to it. We could have a notice put up in the shop, saying the flat was to let, and giving our contact numbers to ring for an interview.”

“Fine, me duck,” said Derek. “And maybe we should
all
have a look at details of people who apply.”

Lois nodded. “So first we put ads in the local papers as well as the shop.
Tresham Advertiser
and the
Echo
, I think.”

“Most people want a written application these days, Mrs M,” said Dot. “You can tell a lot before they come for the interview. Especially if they’ve done it in their own writing.”

“Good point,” said Matthew. “I’m with Dot there. And at least two references. Of course, people can falsify references, but you can always check.”

Gran seemed to be sticking to her promise to keep quiet, and Lois wondered if she was guarding a bombshell she intended to drop dramatically at the end. All avenues had been explored, all sandwiches eaten, and Lois thanked Dot for staying behind. “Great help, Dot,” she said. “We’ll let you know how we get on.”

“I am very happy to do interviewing, too, Mrs M,” she replied. “Local knowledge an’ that.”

Gran sat up in her chair and folded her arms. “Well, if you’re all finished,” she said, “I’d like to add one thing. It might be the answer to all our problems.”

“Mum?” said Lois, her heart sinking.

“I’d like to propose one person for the flat,” Gran continued. “Very reliable, still active and with full complement of marbles. Respectable, churchgoing and with a decent nest egg to pay the rent.”

Matthew grinned. “So who is this paragon of virtues?” he asked.

“Me,” said Gran. “Mrs Weedon, at present living at Meade House. Wishing to retire from household duties, but will cook for a suitable wage. Good at living alone, and a light sleeper in case of nighttime marauders. Not partial to reptiles, but not scared of them, either.”

*

“Do you think she meant it?” said Derek to Lois, when they were left alone together in the office.

“God knows. There’s no telling with Mum. She must have been brooding on it before she made her announcement. Perhaps she really is fed up with housework. She’s getting on, after all.”

“Best if we leave it ’til this evening. Then we can ask her if she’s serious. After supper, maybe.”

“She might bring up the subject sooner,” said Lois. “And then what do we say?”

Lois was feeling bad, as if someone had kicked her in the stomach and winded her. Gran was such a solid part of Meade House. She had seen the children grow up there, witnessed the mixed blessing of the national lottery being won by Lois and Derek. She had consistently opposed Lois’s ferretin’, supporting Derek in all his attempts to persuade her to give it up.

Derek, too, was taken aback by Gran’s proposal. Surely she was happy living with them? They rubbed along together very well. At least, he had supposed they did. Perhaps they had taken her too much for granted, and this was her way of showing that she was fed up and needed a change and a rest.

“Maybe we’ve forgotten she’s an old woman, and no longer up to the job,” said Lois sadly.

“She’d not like to hear you say that,” Derek said. “Anyway, I’d best be off to work. We’ll think on it, and have a chat with her this evening.”

Five

L
ois and
D
erek were still in bed, waiting to hear the sounds of
G
ran preparing breakfast, when it slowly dawned on
L
ois that there were no clattering dishes nor the usual off-key singing coming from the kitchen.

“Derek! What’s the time?”

“Mm? What? Oh, the time.” He turned over to look at the bedside clock, and shot up and out of bed. “Good heavens, it’s past eight! Come on, gel, look lively. I’ve got a full day’s work ahead.”

“Mum’s not up yet. Something’s wrong, Derek, and I’m going to see what’s happened to her.”

Last evening’s plan to discuss Gran’s bombshell had been thwarted when she announced after tea that she was going straight to bed to watch the Olympics on her television set upstairs. Discussion had to be postponed, and later, neither Derek nor Lois had found it easy to get to sleep.

Lois went along the corridor to her mother’s room and knocked gently. “Mum? Are you awake?”

No answer.

Lois knocked again, and then opened the door softly. She peered in, and was astonished to see a neatly made bed and no signs of occupancy. She shot downstairs, feet bare and nightie flapping around her legs.

The kitchen was quiet, and Jeems’s basket was empty.

Lois rushed to the foot of the stairs and shouted: “Derek! DEREK! Mum’s gone, and she’s taken Jemima!”

Derek looked down at her and smiled. “Lois dear,” he said. “It’s after Jeems’s usual walkies time, and I’ve just looked out of the bathroom window and seen your mum and your dog returning up the path. Best get dressed, and we’ll go down and listen to Gran’s explanation.”

*

“Breakfast not ready yet? You do know what the time is, I suppose, Lois? Your husband will be off to work with a hard-boiled egg in his pocket.” Gran hung Jeems’s lead on the hook, and kicked off her muddy shoes.

“Mum! For God’s sake, stop this playacting! If you’ve got a grievance, let’s have it and get it sorted out. Both Derek and me have busy days ahead, and we can’t be doing with you winding us up.”

“Nothing to sort out, as far as I’m concerned,” Gran said, calmly putting the kettle on the Rayburn. “You know where the cutlery is, and I’ll get plates out of the dishwasher. You did remember to switch it on last night before bedtime, I hope?”

“No, we didn’t,” snapped Lois. “You know perfectly well you always do it before you go up.”

Gran ignored her, and began to assemble bread, butter, marmalade, eggs and bacon. “Here you are, duckie,” she said. “I’ll just nip upstairs and get some dry shoes, and you can give me a shout when breakfast’s ready.”

When Derek came down, he sat glumly opposite Lois and said, “What do we do now? Is this just to show how we can’t manage without her? If so, for heaven’s sake, let’s make peace with her and get back to normal.”

“Not sure about that,” said Lois. “Don’t forget what she said at the meeting. She’d got it all worked out, even to continuing to cook for us—at a price.”

“She’s coming down. Act normal,” said Derek. “Maybe she just needs time to think.”

The door opened, and Gran came in. “Ah, that looks nice. Scrambled egg for me, please.”

Instead of replying pleasantly, Lois stood up, pushing her chair back violently. “Then get it yourself!” she said, and stormed out. Derek and Gran heard her office door bang shut, and in a minute or so, her voice on the telephone, sharp and loud. Gran looked at Derek and smiled. “Bacon for you, dear?” she said, and began to cut off the rind.

*

“My favourite caller!” said Inspector Cowgill. “How are you and the family?”

“Not happy, Cowgill,” she said. “Meade House is falling apart, and I haven’t had any breakfast. Mum is on strike, and I am in danger of committing whatever is the word for murdering your mother. Derek, as usual, is trying to keep the peace. Oh yes, and the shop is being invaded by reptiles. But you may have heard about that from Matthew?”

“Not yet,” he said. “I was away at the weekend, visiting my sister, but no doubt when I see him he will tell me about the invasion. Why don’t you take a deep breath and start at the beginning with Mrs Weedon’s defection?”

Lois subsided. Cowgill always had a calming effect on her, except when she suspected she was being patronised, when the call would be summarily cut off.

“Right, okay, sorry if I shouted. I’ll tell you briefly about the reptiles, because that’s what made the subject of the empty flat come up. When Josie went in first thing Saturday to open up, she went to the storeroom and saw a snake looking at her from a pile of boxes. She screamed, and Andrew Young, who was coming in for a paper, rescued her. The Tresham Zoo man came and took it away. But meantime, Josie had opened the counter drawer to find the account book, and found a sodding great toad crawling towards her. The next morning, Matthew went upstairs to look in the flat for clues, and trod on a dead frog halfway up.”

“I know some of this already, of course, but it is not nice, Lois. Carry on.”

“We didn’t tell Josie about the frog. But all of us agreed that we should get a tenant for the flat as soon as possible, to keep an eye on security. O’course, that great spread in the newspaper about the snake won’t do us any good in attracting tenants. Anyway, we had a meeting yesterday, and Gran made this ridiculous suggestion. She wants to be the tenant, and come up and cook for us on a freelance basis.
And
she wants to be paid!”

There was a short silence, and then a snuffling sound from Cowgill.

“Are you laughing, Hunter Cowgill?” said Lois angrily.

“No, of course not. It’s just that I was thinking how clever your mother is. She chose her moment to strike, didn’t she!”

“You mean she planted the reptiles!”

“Well, that’s possible. But no, that’s not what I meant. She, too, was shocked and shaken by the cruelty of it, and then found a way of taking your minds off it by letting off steam about being taken for granted. Can you see her living down the street, cut off from all that goes on at Meade House?”

Lois was silent for a moment, then said, “I suppose you couldn’t come over? You could say you were investigating the reptiles, and then have a chat with her. I know you’ll think of a good excuse. She’s cock-a-hoop at the moment, being right at centre stage. Please?”

“Oh dear, and I’ve got a golf game fixed up for this morning. Will this afternoon do?”

“She’ll probably have swanned off on the train to London by then. There’s sales on in Oxford Street, and she always goes. Not that she buys anything, but she loves to be part of sale fever. Can’t you cancel it, or postpone it, or something? Please?”

“I’m on my way, Lois. When you ask so nicely, I am quite incapable of refusing.”

*

Lois returned to the kitchen to find Derek wolfing down toast and marmalade, and Gran eating a banana and reading the newspaper.

“That was Cowgill. He’s coming over right away to investigate the reptiles.”

“I may be gone,” said Gran. “Me and Joan are catching the excursion train to Brighton. She’s got tickets. Should be a lovely day,” she added, looking out at the sun-filled garden.

“Change the date,” said Lois desperately. “You can’t ignore a police request.”

“He’s not arresting me for stealing a snake, I hope,” Gran said. “Still, you’re right, Lois. He’ll need to speak to the most senior member of the family first.”

God give me strength, thought Derek. This is worse than the Sabine women. He wasn’t sure what or who they were, but guessed that Lois and her mum would have won hands down.

*

“Good morning, Inspector,” said Gran cheerfully. “Do come in. Lois is expecting you, so you can go straight into her office. Oh, there you are, Lois dear. Here is Inspector Cowgill to see you.”

She returned to her kitchen, leaving two puzzled people staring at her.

“That’s what she’s like the whole time. It’s as if she’s become a different person,” said Lois. “Of course, it’s all an act. She used to do amateur dramatics, and always got the best parts.”

“So who is she playing right now?”

“Lady Muck, I reckon. A grand dame with a tiresome family. Removing herself from the dreary routine of everyday drudgery. She wants to look after herself, and sometimes the rest of us, as and when she chooses.”

“Sounds reasonable to me,” said Cowgill. “Anyway, we’ll talk about it later over coffee, after you’ve given me all the reptile details.”

“You heard most of it over the phone. We still haven’t told Josie about the frog on the stairs. But as far as I know, that was the last of the slimy invasion. She’s being very brave, bless her, and promising to lock up safely every evening.”

“Good. But there’s no such thing as a completely burglarproof lock. Still, as long as it deters some intruder long enough to set off the alarm.”

“I don’t think it’s a burglar. Nothing was missing, as far as we could see. No, it is a deliberate attempt to frighten our Josie. But why? Of all the people I know, she is the most unlikely to have upset somebody. Always polite and helpful with customers, and looks after the needs of the elderly and infirm in the village.”

“Ah,” said Cowgill.

“Ah, what?”

“Nothing. Just ah, that has given me an idea.”

“Share it, then.”

“Later, my dear. Not properly formulated. But there is something. Has anybody asked about the flat lately? Most of the village must know it is empty. This could be an elaborate plan to put off future tenants.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Cowgill. As if anyone would be that stupid. This is a serious emergency. We don’t want to be waiting for the next thing to find its way into the shop.”

“Very well. Here is one thing we can try. Why don’t you encourage Gran to spend a few nights in the flat to see how she likes it. She might just notice something out of kilter. Or overhear a helpful conversation, if she leaves the bedroom window open.”

“Are you out of your mind? Why would I encourage my mother to do something so possibly dangerous?”

“Because I could arrange for Matthew to be on duty overnight there. No harm would come to Gran, and if there are a few trouble-free nights, it will help Josie to have confidence that nothing more will happen. We can all put it down to a bad practical joke. We’ll find out who practised it, never fear.”

*

Lois was amazed at Gran’s reaction. Her face lit up, and she agreed straightaway. “What a good idea, Inspector,” she had said. “It’ll be a kind of dry run for when I move in permanently. And you needn’t bother about Matthew. I am quite capable of dealing with any eventuality. The shop is only a hundred yards from here, and I can alert Lois or Derek at any time. Not that I shall need to. My late husband taught me a very useful left hook!”

“Right,” said Cowgill, winking at Lois behind Gran’s back. “Shall we start tonight?”

“Fine,” said Gran. “It’ll be like a little holiday. I shall go upstairs and pack a few night things, and then Lois can come with me to make up a bed and have a dust around. It’s all rather exciting!”

Lois said that if her mother was absolutely sure about this, then she would of course get one of the girls to have a good clean through the flat and air the bed.

“No need,” said Gran. “I shall enjoy it. Now, I have some things to see to, so I’ll say goodbye, Inspector. So nice to see you again.”

“Oh Lor,” Lois said. “How long is she going to keep this up?”

“She reminds me so much of someone I love dearly,” said Cowgill gently. “And don’t worry, I’ll have someone stationed in the shadows to guard her overnight. We might just catch the villain with a bagful of toads.”