7 Sorrow on Sunday Read Online Free Page A

“nothing at all.”

F IVE

    “T HE B ATTERSBYS HAVE BEEN DONE,” L OIS SAID AT lunchtime. Derek was having a quick snack before returning to work.
    “What d’you mean, done? You mean you’ve cleaned for them? So what’s new about that?”
    “Done over! Burgled, y’fool,” Lois said impatiently. “The Colonel was purple. Went to check his precious horses first thing, and found the tack room empty. Poor Mrs. B, she was the one I felt sorry for. He took it out on her, needless to say. She escaped to her workroom upstairs. He’d gone off in the car, but he was back quickly, huffin’ and puffin’.”
    “He’s told the police, I suppose?”
    “Practically accused them of negligence,” Lois replied. “Then he asked me what I’d heard around the village. He more or less said that New Brooms eavesdropped wherever we went. That got me mad. I told him I didn’t know much more than rumour, and then I mentioned you seeing the back of that van at a place you were working. Sorry about that, Derek. He asked—no, ordered—me to send you to him. I said you were busy, but I’d mention it.” Lois had regretted it the minute she’d told the Colonel, and decided to tell Derek in case the Colonel talked to him. “Sorry about that,” she repeated.
    Derek was unexpectedly calm. “Don’t worry, me duck,” he said. “I reckon I’d have reported it anyway. I don’t like keeping things like that to myself. Joe was furious, but he was determined not to tell the police.”
    Lois blew him a kiss as he left in a hurry to get back towork, and sighed with relief. “Right, Mum,” she said. “I’ll be in my office most of the afternoon. What are you up to?”
    Gran said, “Washing up, cleaning the sink where Derek left greasy marks, clearing out the grate in the sitting room and laying a fire.” Lois put her hands over her ears, and Gran shouted at the top of her voice, “After that I might have time to take Jeems for a walk before tea!” Jeems was Lois’s little white terrier, and this last snipe was too much for Lois.
    “I’ll take her after tea, so don’t bother!” she said. Then she relented. “Sorry, Mum,” she said. “You know we couldn’t manage without you. But you won’t let me send one of the girls to help. I’d be quite happy to—”
    “Get on with you,” Gran said. “I was only teasing. I don’t need one of your girls—and I’d not call Sheila Stratford a girl, by the way. What would I do with myself? Now, get out of my way while I clear the table.”
    Lois sat at her desk in the office and smiled. She and her mother were very alike, and understood each other well. Still, it didn’t do to take Gran for granted.
    *   *   *
    D EREK FINISHED HIS JOB DOWN THE ROAD IN F ARNDEN, and came out of the client’s gate to put his tools back in his van. He noticed a large car standing a few yards away, and as he shut the gate a tall, distinguished-looking figure got out and approached. “Meade?” he said peremptorily. Derek guessed at once that this was Colonel Battersby. “Yes?” he said.
    “I want a word with you,” the Colonel replied. “Come and sit in my car.”
    Derek stared at him. “What did you say?” he replied.
    “I said, I want to talk to you,” snapped the Colonel. “Are you deaf, man?”
    “Look,” said Derek, with exaggerated reasonableness, “I’m not one of your raw recruits. I have a business to run, and my time is precious. If you want to talk to me about the stable thefts, I’ll see when I can spare ten minutes and letyou know. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m due at the next job. Good afternoon.”
    He drove away, seeing in the rear-view mirror that the Colonel was left standing motionless, as if he couldn’t believe what he had heard. Too bad, thought Derek, accelerating. I’ll get in touch with the old sod, but when I decide to. God knows how Lois and the girls cope with all these people she cleans for, especially him! He drove on towards Fletching