Death at the Festival by Hilary Pugh

Author:Hilary Pugh [Pugh, Hilary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Sixteen

Jonny fiddled nervously with a flyer that had been pushed through the letter box that morning. It should have gone straight into the recycling bin. He wasn’t interested in having his hedge trimmed right now. And even if he was, they had a hedge trimmer who had been visiting them regularly every year once the birds had finished nesting and who kept the hedge that grew between his house and the one next door as neat as any he had seen in the area. But if he threw the leaflet out immediately, he would have no reason to sit and read it at the kitchen table. He wanted to talk to Mrs Gage, but he wanted to give the appearance of just happening to be there, sifting through the mail. Unfortunately, the post had offered very little to sift through that morning, so he had no alternative but to read every word on Jack Hedges’ leaflet, several times. Was that the man’s real name? Very unlikely, Jonny thought, unless it was an example of nominal determinism. Must happen sometimes, although he couldn’t think of any other examples.

It was a relief when Mrs Gage bustled into the kitchen, carrying a bright yellow toolbox in one hand and an industrial, also yellow, vacuum cleaner in the other. Both were emblazoned, as was Mrs Gage’s t-shirt, with the Windsor Mops logo, a picture of a woman wearing a knotted scarf on her head and brandishing an old-fashioned feather duster. Jonny had never seen Mrs Gage use a feather duster, but as he usually escaped to Jasmine’s for a spot of washing-up when Mrs Gage was due, he couldn’t swear that she never did.

She’d clipped open her toolbox and started extracting bottles of cleaning products, dusters and scouring pads before she noticed Jonny sitting at the kitchen table. He expected her to scowl at him and make some derogatory remarks about men who hang around the house when they should be at work. Jonny was not sure she had come to grips with the idea of retirement and if she had, she probably thought he should be out on a golf course somewhere. She liked to get on with her work without her workspace being cluttered with residents. Even Belinda, who was home much more now than she used to be and who was much braver than Jonny when dealing with the Mrs Gages of this world, had decided that Monday mornings were an excellent time to do a Waitrose shop followed by a visit to the library or the hairdresser.

Jonny dropped his flyer into the bin reserved for paper and smiled at Mrs Gage, still expecting a scowl in return. But she didn’t scowl. Today she greeted Jonny with a smile of her own. The only time Jonny had seen this before was when he had Harold with him, but as he was on his own that morning, he was surprised by it. ‘I’ll be out of your way soon,’ he said, ‘but I just wanted a quick word before you start work.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.