Secrets on Saturday Read Online Free Page B

schedule?” Sheila was also the most immediately available, and always ready to swap duties.
    “No, not at the moment,” Lois replied. “I’m still wondering about Mr. Everitt … can’t get him out of my mind and I’m going to work there tomorrow. I was … well, I remembered you said Sam used to meet him in the woods with his little dog. Did he talk to him or anything?”
    “I thought you were getting his nephew to tell you where he’d gone—for Enid?” Sheila said.
    “I tried. It was a wrong number. A woman answered, and she’d never heard of him. But she did say she was a Sudbury number.” Lois told her about the blank result from directory enquiries, and then paused. Sometimes Sheila had a sudden recall. She was getting on in years, was a granny several times over, and her memory sometimes needed a prompt.
    “Let me think …” Sheila said. “Oh, yes, wait a minute, it’s coming back. Sam said the old boy loved birds and often had binoculars with him. He knew a lot about nature of all sorts. Liked to talk to Sam about farming an’ that. But I tell you what, Mrs. M,” she added confidingly, “he never mentioned no nephew. And nobody I know ever saw him with anyone who wasn’t from the villages. You’d have thought if this nephew was his only relative in this country, he’d visit him now and then. Seems a rum do to me, Mrs. M.” There was a pause, and then Sheila added, “And I know one or two of his neighbours are worried. My granddaughter’s at school with little Donna from Blackberry Close, and her mother told my daughter and my daughter told me that they were worried about Mr. Everitt. It were so sudden, she said.”
    “Yes, well, maybe I’ll find out more when I go in tomorrow. But ask around, Sheila. I don’t like working on a job that’s not straightforward.”
    “What about money?” Sheila was a crafty countrywoman, with her priorities firmly in order.
    “Oh, that’s all right,” Lois said. “Reg Abthorpe paid four weeks in advance, and said he’d set up a direct debitto come straight to me. No, it’s not the money I worry about. It’s the old man. Anyway,” she added in a brisker tone, “I won’t keep you. You’re at the vicar’s this afternoon, aren’t you?”
    “Yep. Better be off. Always does me good to go the vicarage,” Sheila said, and Lois could hear the smile in her voice. “Almost as good as going to church,” she said, and the conversation ended there.

F IVE

    “T IME YOU TOOK THAT DOG FOR A WALK , L OIS .” Gran was throwing bread to the birds, and at the same time trying to stop the puppy eating it.
    “She’s too young to go for a walk,” said Lois. “Here, I’ll get her out of your way.” She picked her up and stroked her velvety ears.
    “What about that puppy lead Derek gave you?” Gran wasn’t to be silenced so easily. “Why do you think they sell puppy leads, if not to take puppies for walks?”
    “Oh, I give in.” Lois turned around and made for the house. “I’ll take her to the shop, on the lead, and see how she gets on.”
    “Good.” It was spitting with rain, and Gran began to take in the washing. “We need apples,” she shouted. “And baked beans!” she yelled. Sausages, baked beans and mash were a regular, and Derek said stoutly that baked beans were good for you, and, what’s more, great for emptying a room.
    Progress to the shop was slow. Jeems had little idea about walking in a straight line, but finally they stood at the open door of the shop, and Lois peered in. “Can Ibring her in if I pick her up?” she said, but Josie replied that she couldn’t break the “no dogs” rule, not even for her soppy mother. “There’s a dog hook out there,” she said. “She won’t run away.”
    “It’s her first walk,” Lois said.
    “So what? Am I supposed to put down the red carpet? Come on, Mum, this ain’t like you!” Lois hadn’t the courage to persist, and so duly hooked up Jeems, who immediately tangled her