The Village Green Affair Read Online Free Page B

attack. His words came back to her: bitch; cow; evil; inconsiderate; thoughtless; scheming . . .
     
    ‘I need apple juice, have you got any?’
     
    ‘In the back. Won’t be a mo.’ Jimbo disappeared.
     
    While she waited, in her mind’s eye she could see Neville’s tortured face glaring at her, his mouth spitting out the words, till in the end she could see his mouth working but could no longer hear what he said. She’d eventually walked away from him but he’d rushed after her and grabbed her arm far, far too roughly for her liking.
     
    Eventually Jimbo reappeared with a four-pack of apple juice. ‘Sorry about the wait. Tom’s moved the storeroom round and it doesn’t make sense to me yet. That all?’
     
    ‘Yes, thanks.’
     
    As she piled her shopping into the glorious green carriers Jimbo provided she remembered saying to Neville last night, ‘Leave go of my arm, or that leading Culworth accountant will be finding himself up for assault, and I mean it.’
     
    Jimbo interrupted her thoughts. ‘Be seeing you, Liz.’
     
    ‘Thanks, Jimbo.’
     
    ‘You all right?’
     
    ‘Fine, must rush.’
     
    Once Neville had let go of her arm, she’d run upstairs and gone to bed. But Neville didn’t sleep in their bedroom that night, for which she was grateful. She’d found out this morning that he’d slept in their guest bedroom. Somehow him doing that felt to be a milestone in their relationship, a step back in actual fact. It would be far harder to move back in than it was to move out in the heat of the moment. Still, what difference did it make? None.
     
    ‘Hi, Angie, all set?’ she called as she arrived at the nursery. ‘I’ve got the juice and the fruit and a packet of biscuits for you, me and our work experience girl. What’s her name? I never can remember. ’
     
    ‘Millie. You look a bit peaky this morning. Are you all right, Liz?’
     
    ‘I’m fine.’ Liz decided to pull herself together and not allow snatches of the row to fill her mind. Best not, she needed all her concentration because she could hear the first of their children arriving, and they needed and deserved the whole of her mind focusing on them, and not on her troubles.
     
     
Almost everyone who came in the Store that morning mentioned the silent chap who’d apparently gleaned all he could about the village but told nothing in return.
     
    Someone said, ‘Was it that Kevin from the council, that one what snoops about regler?’
     
    Someone else, who knew Kevin’s mother from Penny Fawcett, shook her head vehemently. ‘No, absolutely not. I know ’im and it wasn’t ’im. Kevin doesn’t have no beard.’
     
    ‘Maybe he stuck it on as a disguise.’
     
    ‘No, that chap yesterday was tall and thin. Our Kev’s round and fat due to all them free lunches people give ’im when they want to know the latest from the planning department. The things that go on in that department! Every one of ’em deserves to be in jail.’ The customer tapped the side of her nose with her forefinger and leaned her elbow on the counter. Jimbo drew close so as not to miss a word. ‘They say that Mr Fitch is not above passing the odd brown envelope in our Kev’s direction for services rendered.’
     
    ‘No!’ Jimbo leaned a little closer.
     
    ‘Remember that time when Old Fitch wanted to build houses on Rector’s Meadow and Sir Ralph stopped him? Well, our Kev, as his mother calls him, had to hand back the money Old Fitch had given him to engineer pulling down that ancient hedgerow to make room for them big diggers to get into the field. You know the hedge Lady Muriel got all worked up about. Remember?’
     
    Jimbo nodded. The customer rested her forearms on the counter.
     
    ‘Apparently he’d spent all of it on that classic BMW he drove about in after, but he nearly came unstuck there. ’Ad to sell it quick smart, ’cos of Old Fitch demanding his money back.’ A wicked grin crossed the customer’s face. ‘What gets Old