Secrets on Saturday Read Online Free

like. I need a willing girl for a few more hours.”
    “Willing to do what?” said Derek from behind the morning paper.
    “Ignore him,” Lois said.
    “Know anything about them, Mum?” Gran was a WImember, went to church, and belonged to the Darby and Joan Club. Not much in the village escaped her notice.
    “They’re townies,” she said. “Come from Birmingham, apparently. He works at the brewery in Tresham, and she’s an ancillary at a school there. The boy’s going to university, and the girl doesn’t know yet what she wants to do. I expect that’s why she wants a little job.”
    “Bhimey,” said Derek. “You don’t really need to call on them, me duck. Gran’s covered everything!” He got up and shouldered his canvas bag.
    “Cheese and pickle in there,” Gran said fondly. “Your favourite.”
    “Right-o, then,” he said, and blew Lois a kiss. “See you later.” And as he went out of the door they heard him mutter, “Wish
I
worked in a brewery.”
    L OIS STOOD OUTSIDE H ORNTON H OUSE AND LOOKED up and down the street. Nobody in sight, except a car approaching slowly. Then, quite suddenly, it quickened up with a rasp of acceleration, and she instinctively drew back. As it sped past her, she noticed that the driver had turned his head away, as if to look at the shop opposite, but Lois knew there was something familiar about him. And the car: she had seen it before. But where? She shrugged, and walked up to the Pickering’s front door. Her finger had scarcely left the bell when the door opened and a pleasant-faced woman appeared.
    “Good morning,” Lois said. “I am Mrs. Meade from New Brooms …”
    “I know you are,” the woman said with a smile. “We’ve been telling Floss to come and see you for weeks! Did Sheila mention her?”
    Lois nodded, and followed the woman in to a room where the atmosphere was warm and smelled pleasantly of polish and flowers.
    “I’ll just call her,” Mrs. Pickering said. “She’s upstairs. Spends a lot of time at her computer, like they all do.”
    She disappeared and Lois heard her call. Then both she and her daughter came in, and Floss was introduced. She was conservatively dressed for her generation, thought Lois. Jeans, of course, but with a cheerful red jersey that showed no hint of bare midriff. That was a point in her favour! Her blonde hair was cut in a long bob, parted in the middle and tucked smoothly behind her ears. In all, she made a good impression, and Lois smiled.
    “Perhaps I could have a word with Floss?” she said. Mrs. Pickering left tactfully, and Lois said, “Now then, just a few questions. First of all, why do you want to work for us?”
    “I’ll be honest, shall I?” Floss offered.
    Lois looked surprised, and said, “Of course.”
    “Well, I can’t say I’ve always wanted to be a cleaner, or that I’d do it for ever. But I didn’t get very good GCSEs, and can’t decide at the moment what I really want to do next.”
    “So you’d just be filling in time?”
    Floss nodded. “But I’d take it seriousiy, and work hard,” she said. “Mum’ll tell you I’m good around the house. And I’d give you plenty of notice if I finally decide what my career is going to be,” she added ruefully. “Dad is a bit fed up with me,” she continued, “but Mum understands.”
    Do I really want a pleasant but dim girl with a pushy father? Lois asked herself. Well, why not? She wouldn’t need starred As to clean Mrs. T-J’s mansion, or tidy up behind the vet’s totally spoilt brats.
    They chatted for a few more minutes, and then Lois got up to go. “I’ll let you know tomorrow,” she said. “You’ll not have references yet, but perhaps I could see your last school report. That’ll do for the moment.”
    Mrs. Pickering and Floss showed her out, and she walked home thinking the girl could well be a useful addition to the team. Halfway there, she stopped suddenly. That car! It was Reg Abthorpe’s, of course. And it had been the