by Adele Abbott
“I promise. I’ll get my coat.”
We didn’t have an opportunity to talk on the way to the park because Barry was pulling on the lead all the time. Once we were there, I let him loose and he ran off into the distance. We found a bench at the highest point of the park from where we could keep an eye on him. To be fair to Barry, he was pretty well behaved these days, nothing like as mischievous as he’d been when he was younger.
Famous last words.
“How’s Lester’s new business venture going?” I said.
“So far, so good.” Aunt Lucy crossed her fingers.
“How long has the shop been open now?”
“It’s three weeks today, and from what he’s told me, business is improving every day.”
“I’m really pleased for him. He’s had more than his fair share of bad luck with jobs.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Jill. If you hadn’t found him that job with the mobile fish man, he never would have ended up opening a shop of his own.”
“And financially? Things are okay?”
“We had to stretch ourselves to find the money to open the shop, but if sales continue at the current levels, we’ll be fine. The main thing is that he really loves what he’s doing now. Who’d have thought his vocation was to be a fishmonger?”
Lester had opened his fishmonger’s shop in West Chipping, where he’d managed to find vacant premises in the high street at a relatively low rent. I was thrilled to hear that things were going so well for him. After all the lousy jobs he’d had, he deserved a break.
“Have you heard from your grandmother recently, Jill?” Aunt Lucy was already looking much better for being out in the fresh air.
“Not for a few days. In fact, now you mention it, I reckon it must be over a week. Why? She’s okay, isn’t she?”
“She’s fine. I saw her yesterday and she seemed on top form. It’s just that when she sold her Ever empire, I was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to handle retirement. I fully expected her to be popping over to my house every five minutes, but quite the opposite. If anything, I see less of her now than when she was running all those shops.”
Just under a year ago, Grandma had taken us all by surprise when she’d decided to divest herself of her Ever empire. Some of the shops had been sold. Kathy had bought ForEver Bride, Deli had purchased Ever Beauty, but there had been no buyers for Ever A Wool Moment or Ever, both of which had simply closed down.
“What do you think she’s up to?” I said.
“I have no idea, and I really don’t like to ask.”
At that moment, Barry came running back up the park.
“What’s that he’s got in his mouth?” Aunt Lucy pointed.
“I’m not sure. Something red.”
“Look what I found.” Barry dropped the handbag at my feet.
“Where did you get that, Barry?”
“Down there.”
“Yes, but whereabouts down there, exactly?”
“It was on one of these.” He touched the bench with his paw.
“On a bench?”
“Yes. It’s nice, isn’t it? Can I keep it?”
“Was anyone sitting on the bench?”
“No. There was only this.”
Moments later, a woman came running towards us. By the time she reached us she was out of breath and red in the face.
“Hey, your dog has pinched my handbag.”
Oh bum!
Chapter 2
The only way I’d been able to placate the irate woman was to give her the money for a replacement handbag. I couldn’t blame her for being so angry: Barry’s teeth had punctured the bag in a couple of places. After I’d handed over the money, she transferred her possessions over to her shopping bag.
“He can keep that,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
“It’s no good to me now, is it?”
And, so it was that Barry, who was totally oblivious to the mayhem he’d caused, proudly carried it back home in his mouth.
By the time we got back to Aunt Lucy’s house, she was ready to put her head down for a while, so I magicked myself over to Washbridge and headed for Coffee Animal. The shop had recently undergone a rebranding (from Coffee Games) after an unfortunate incident during pin the tail on the donkey day. The new name struck me as a little weird, but when I’d enquired about the reason for it, I’d been told all would become clear after the ‘official’ launch, which was scheduled for the following week.
As I walked through the door, I spotted Kathy seated at a table near the counter, so I grabbed a drink and joined her.
“I didn’t expect to find you in here.”
“I needed a break.” She sighed. “We’ve been run off our feet all morning. It feels like everyone and her sister has decided to get married this year.”
“You’re not complaining, are you?”
“Of course not. Business is booming, and that’s just the way I like it.”
“By the way, when does your new shop open? It can’t be long now.”
“Two months tomorrow.”
“That’s number six, isn’t it?”
“Seven if you include ForEver Bride.”
“I still can’t believe the deal you negotiated to buy that from Grandma. I never thought she’d take your lowball offer.”
“Neither did I, but she was really keen to sell. Speaking of your grandmother, how is she? I haven’t seen her for a while.”
“I haven’t seen much of her either, but according to Aunt Lucy, she’s fine. Ever since Grandma retired, she seems to be busier than ever.”
“Doing what?”
“I’ve no idea, and I intend to keep it that way. Let’s not spoil the morning talking about her. How are the kids?”
“Much the same. Like I told you the last time I saw you, Mikey is at that age now when he considers his parents to be one big embarrassment.”
“To be fair, you are quite embarrassing, Kathy.”
“Thanks. You can laugh now, but your time will come. Seriously, though, Mikey and Pete seem to do nothing but argue these days.”
“That’s a real shame. Those two used to do loads of stuff together: Fishing, go-karting.”
“I know, but Mikey’s not interested in any of that now. All he seems to do all day is stare at his phone. I’m glad we didn’t have social media when we were kids. It drives me crazy. Just listen to me. I sound like Grandma Grump, don’t I?”
“A bit, yeah. What about Lizzie? Is she still sports mad?”
“Absolutely. She’s just been made captain of the netball team.”
“Good for her. She must take after her auntie.”
“Which auntie would that be?”
“Cheek. I was sporty when I was young.”
“Don’t make me laugh, Jill. You used to hide in the changing rooms to get out of sports.”
“Rubbish. I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while now. Has Lizzie mentioned seeing ghosts recently?”
“No, thank goodness. She seemed to grow out of that phase a couple of years ago. By the way, I’ve got the tickets for Thursday next week.”
“What tickets?”
“For the play.”
“What play?”
“The amdram production. Didn’t Jack tell you?”
“No, he didn’t. I’m pretty sure I would have remembered.”
She reached into her handbag. “Here you are.”
“Murder at the Ski Lodge? Sounds great.”
“It’ll do you good to get out of the house.”
“I don’t suppose it can be any worse than the last play you dragged me to. Can it? Please tell me it can’t.”
“It’ll be good. You’ll see.”
Suddenly, a man came charging through the door, brandishing what looked like a shotgun.
“Everyone! Get down on the floor!” He slammed the door closed. “Now!”
One look at the gun, and no one needed telling twice.
“What’s going on?
” Kathy whispered when we were lying under the table.
“Shut up!” he yelled. “Don’t make another sound or you’ll be sorry!”
He took up a position to one side of the window. Moments later, the sound of sirens could be heard, and three police cars pulled up outside.
Nothing much seemed to happen for the next few minutes. Staff and customers alike were still lying on the floor under the tables, and a few of them were sobbing. The gunman, who was still standing to one side of the window, kept glancing outside at the ever-growing police presence.
The silence was broken by the ringing of the phone behind the counter.
“Shall I get that?” The young shop assistant asked, nervously.
“No, leave it.” The man waved the gun in her direction. “Don’t move!”
The policeman nearest to the shop picked up a megaphone and began to address the gunman. “You in there, pick up the phone, so we can talk.”
The gunman continued to ignore the ringing.
The policeman tried again, “Pick up the phone and we can sort this out without anyone getting hurt.”
This time, the gunman shouted to the young woman behind the counter, “You! Pick up the phone.”
She got to her feet slowly, and I could see that her hands were shaking. “What should I say?”
“Just pick up the phone.” He snapped.
“Hello?” She listened for a few seconds, and then put her hand over the mouthpiece. “The policeman says it would be better for everyone if you would talk to him.”
“Tell him I’ve got nothing to say to him. Tell him if he doesn’t clear the road and get a car for me in the next thirty minutes, I’m going to start shooting people.”
She quickly relayed the information to the police.
“They say they’ll need more time.”
“Tell them they have thirty minutes, then I start shooting!”
She did as she was told.
“Now hang up the phone and get back down on the floor.”
Outside, the policeman continued to try to engage the gunman by using the megaphone, but he was having none of it. The phone rang several more times, but the gunman ignored it; he just kept checking his watch.
“I think he means business,” Kathy whispered. “He looks crazy enough to do something stupid.”
She was right; he did.
I couldn’t just lie there and wait for him to start shooting; it was time for me to take control of the situation.
“Jill, what are you doing?” Kathy tried to grab my hand, but I pulled away from her and stood up.
The gunman had his back to me; his attention was focussed on the activity out on the street. When I was within a few feet of him, he must have heard my footsteps because he spun around.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He pointed the gun straight at me. “One more step and I’ll shoot.”
“You don’t want to do that.”
“I’m warning you.”
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than he dropped the gun and fell to the ground, fast asleep. Phew! The ‘sleep’ spell had done its trick.
I walked over to him and picked up the gun.
The police had obviously seen what had happened because they came charging through the door. One of them took the gun from me; two others grabbed the sleeping man, and carried him out of the shop and into a police van.
“Everyone, can I have your attention, please!” It was the policeman who’d been using the megaphone. “The danger is over now. You can get to your feet.”
Everyone did as he said. Some people were in tears, others were hugging one another.
Kathy came running over and threw her arms around me. “What were you thinking, Jill? You could have been killed. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
The officer who appeared to be in charge came over to talk to me.
“What exactly happened in here just now, Miss?”
“I don’t know. I was trying to talk to him when he seemed to pass out and drop the gun.”
“That was a very dangerous thing you did.”
“I know. It was stupid. I’m sorry.”
The officer called again for everyone’s attention. “I realise that you’ve all just been through a terrible ordeal, but I have to ask you to stick around until my colleagues have taken your names and addresses. Counselling will be available for those who need it.”
“What about the shop?” said the woman behind the counter. “Can I stay open?”
“I’m afraid not. This is now a crime scene. You’ll have to close for the time being.”
“For how long?”
“I couldn’t really say, but we won’t keep it closed any longer than is absolutely essential.”
After we’d given our details to the police, I walked Kathy down to her shop.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I said.
“I’m fine. You were really brave back there.”
“Really stupid, more like.”
We were interrupted by the sound of both of our phones ringing. Peter was checking Kathy was alright, and Jack was doing the same thing for me.
“I’ve been trying to call you ever since I heard the news,” he said. “I couldn’t get through. I reckon they must have disabled the phone masts so the gunman couldn’t contact anyone. Are you okay?”
“Everyone’s fine.”
“What happened?”
“I’m going to call it a day and come home. I’ll tell you everything when I get back.”
“Okay, but you’re sure you’re alright?”
“Positive, honestly. I’ll see you soon.”
***
My drive home to Middle Tweaking was a longer journey than the one I’d had when we lived in Smallwash, but it was well worth it. We loved the picturesque village and we adored the old watermill.
Six years earlier, when Myrtle Turtle had sold up and moved to the coast, I couldn’t have dreamed that one day we would live in that property. Tragedy had struck nine months ago when out of the blue, Jack’s dad, Roy, had died of a heart attack. Obviously, it had hit Jack very hard, but he’d soon rallied when his father and mother had both made contact with him. Knowing they’d been reunited in Ghost Town had really lifted Jack’s spirits. Pun definitely intended.
Jack’s dad had left him a substantial amount of money, including the proceeds from the sale of his house. That money had enabled us to purchase the old watermill which, fortuitously, had just come back onto the market. I still had to pinch myself every morning when I woke up and found myself living there.
Another plus to living in Middle Tweaking was that I no longer had to endure the toll bridge. Even better, I didn’t have to put up with Mr Ivers and his ramblings.
I parked in front of the house, and I’d no sooner walked through the gate than the door opened.
“Mummy! Mummy!” My beautiful daughter came running up the path and threw herself into my waiting arms. “I drew a frog at school today.”
“Did you, darling? That was very clever of you.”
“Would you like to see it?”
“Of course I would.”
“It’s purple.”
“Purple? How unusual.” I carried her to the door where Jack was waiting for us. “Florence tells me that she drew a frog at school today.”
“She certainly did.” Jack raised his eyebrows. “Just wait until you see it.”
“Why don’t you go and get your picture?” I put her down, and she ran into the house.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Jack said.
“Yes, honestly, but I don’t want to talk about it in front of Florence.”
“Okay. I’d better go and check on the oven.”
“Look, Mummy!” Florence came running back, sheet of paper in hand. “Look at my frog.” It was just as well that she’d told me what the drawing was, because it could have been any animal, vegetable or mineral. “Do you like it, Mummy?”
“It’s
the nicest frog I’ve ever seen.”
“His name is William.”
“That’s a great name.”
“William is one of my friends at school. That’s why I called the frog William.”
“Did you tell William you’d done that?”
“Yes. He named his elephant Florence.”
“That was nice of him. What else did you do at school today?”
“Jackie ripped her skirt when she climbed on the fence. Miss said that we shouldn’t climb, so it was her own fault, wasn’t it, Mummy?”
“Yes, it was. You have to do what the teacher tells you.”
“I was going to mend it for her, but you said I mustn’t use magic.”
“That’s right, I did. You’re a good girl for remembering.”
“Why can’t I, Mummy? I could have mended her skirt and then she would have been happy.”
“Don’t you remember the talk we had about that, Florence? Magic has to be our secret because it might frighten other people. We don’t want to scare anyone, do we?”
“No, but I wish I could have mended Jackie’s skirt. I’m hungry now.”
“Me too.”
“Daddy has made pancakes!”
“Yummy. Nice one, Daddy.”
Chapter 3
It was almost seven-thirty when Jack finally made it back downstairs from taking Florence to bed.
“Did you fall asleep up there?” I said.
“No, she kept asking me to read the story again.”
“I thought we’d agreed that we were only going to read it twice each night.”
“I know that’s what we said, but you know what she’s like.”
“I know she can wrap you around her little finger. When it’s my turn to read her a story, she knows that Mummy is only going to read it twice, and then I’m going downstairs.”
“You’re right, I know. I’m much too soft with her.” He sat on the sofa.
“You don’t have time to sit down. The babysitter will be here in fifteen minutes. You do still want to go out, don’t you?”
“Definitely, I’ve been looking forward to it. I’ll go and get changed now.”
When we’d lived in Smallwash, we’d had a regular babysitter, but it was too far for her to come all this way. I’d asked around, and a couple of people had recommended a young girl called Sarah who was sixteen and lived on the other side of the village. She’d popped in to see us last week, so we could introduce her to Florence. The two of them had hit it off straight away, and both Jack and I liked her.
