Scandal at Six(14)

Now the scraping began again, and this time she heard a smothered sneeze coming from outside the door at the top of the stairs. She swallowed hard, and lifted the bedside phone. Derek could be down here in minutes, she reminded herself. But there was no dial tone, and she replaced the receiver with a shaky hand. Of course, they had forgotten about reconnecting the phone.

The noise had stopped, but after a few seconds, another new one started up. Shuffling footsteps on the stairs, and then a thump, as if someone had dropped something heavy.

Gran got out of bed and reached for the cricket bat underneath. She tiptoed through to the stairs door, and stationed herself beside it. Silence. The scraping had stopped, as had the shuffling steps. She put her ear to the door. No sounds at all. Then it occurred to her to look through the keyhole. She carefully slid out the key, and bent down to peer out. A dim light from the moon shone onto the stairs, and at first she could see nothing unusual. Then a shadow moved, and it looked like a man, or perhaps a boy, and it disappeared without a sound.

She turned back and crossed the room to look out into the street, but could see nothing. Then the sound of an engine firing, and a car passed underneath the window and rapidly disappeared out of sight.

What to do? Gran sat down heavily on a kitchen chair, and steadied herself. The phone was not working, and she had told Matthew he would not be needed. There was only one thing to do, and although it was well after midnight, she began to get dressed.



*



“Derek!” Lois was awakened by a loud banging on the door. “Derek! There’s someone outside knocking!”

“Don’t be daft, gel! Not at this time of night. Eh? What? I’ll go. It’s probably kids high on drugs or drink. I’ll give them what for!”

Derek struggled out of bed and hunted for his slippers. The knocking, meanwhile, continued, and then he heard a voice, a familiar voice, yelling his name. He reached the front door, and unlocked it. “I’m coming!” he shouted, and opened up, only to be confronted by a large cardboard box.

“Careful with this,” said Gran. “It’s got a bloody great spider inside, with a load of tiny baby spiders crawling round on its back.”



*



When all three were safely round the kitchen table drinking hot cocoa, they stared at the cardboard box sitting on the table in front of them. Gran had told the whole story, starting from when she heard the first noise to how she had stumbled over the box outside her door, lifted it up and looked inside. Then she had locked up and made her way home.

“Home?” said Lois, looking at her dishevelled mother. “I thought the flat was your home now?”

“Not anymore,” said Gran. “We’ll get everything back here tomorrow, and then advertise for a tenant. I’ve given it a go, and it hasn’t worked. That’s all there is to it, and I shall be glad if you don’t mention this evening to anyone else.”

“Our secret, Gran,” said Derek kindly, patting her hand. “You’re a brave lady, and we’re glad to have you back. Isn’t that right, Lois?”

“No more’n I would expect from my mum,” she said. “The thing that worries me is what are we going to do with this spider? Or should I say spiders?”

Gran picked up the box and took it to the back door. There she left the box, with a brick on top to secure it, and then turned to Lois. “Up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire,” she said. “Tomorrow’s another day.”





Nine





It was as if Gran had never thought of taking on the shop flat. She was up with the lark as usual, and good smells of frying bacon floated up the stairs to Lois and Derek, as they drank an early morning cup of tea.

“So we don’t mention last night’s adventure to anyone?” said Lois. “We’ll have to take the spider back to the zoo—if that’s where it came from. I’ve looked it up on the internet, and it looks like a female wolf spider to me. Rather sweet, really, carrying its babies on its back. But it’s not sharing my house, so I’ll nip in with it first thing this morning. Then I’m calling in at the police station to see Cowgill. I’ll ring him in a minute, to make sure he’ll be there. This whole thing has got out of hand, and it’s got to be stopped. Spiders’ bites can be lethal, and God knows what’s coming next.”

Derek frowned and looked closely at her. “And is this going to be another ferretin’ case for Lois Meade? Be careful, me duck. I agree with you that it’s serious, but I’d rather the police handled it without your help.”

“Yes, well. Time to get up and be nice to Gran.”