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Scandal at Six(3)

By:Ann Purser


“Huh! I’ve dealt with worse things, I don’t mind tellin’ you.”

“Right,” said Lois. “Let’s stop meandering about, and get down to business. I’ll make some notes, and we can decide what action, if any, we mean to take. You first, Josie. Start at the beginning.”

Josie took a deep breath and sat up straight. “The snake was curled up in the storeroom when I opened up this morning. God knows how it got in. There was no gap anywhere. The odd thing is that the door out to the garden was unlocked. Either someone cleverly picked it or I somehow left it open. My fault, anyway, and my responsibility. I shall know better in the future. The snake was taken away by the zoo man, and Andrew and me reckoned that was it. I could put it behind me. Not literally, of course! Anyway, when I went to look in the counter drawer to get the account book, I touched this horrible thing, and then Andrew took over. It was an enormous yellow spotty toad, and he put it over the back fence into the field. I wasn’t very brave, I’m afraid.”

“Of course not, me duck,” said Gran. “But it ain’t no coincidence, is it? Somebody’s got in and left them things in the shop to frighten you. I reckon it’s a job for the police. Like you, Matthew. Don’t you agree with me?”

“I think it might be better if I helped, but also told someone at the station about what’s happened,” said Matthew. “Being as it’s family, it might make my position a bit difficult.”

“I know who we can tell,” said Lois.

Derek groaned. “Not him,” he said. “Not the famous detective inspector, semiretired, and scourge of the county?”

“Yes, him,” said Lois. “I shall ring Hunter Cowgill, and it’ll be a nice little job for him.”

Andrew Young said nothing, but thought privately it might not be as little a job as Lois seemed to have decided. He had sensed something sinister in the thinking behind this happening. What kind of a person would frighten an innocent young woman in such a cruel way?

“With someone living there, you’ll feel a lot safer, Josie,” said Lois. “It is a nice little flat, after all, and at the moment, the place is vulnerable, with no direct neighbours and nobody in residence.”

“Are you going to put ‘must be tolerant of sundry reptiles’ in the ad?” said Derek.

“Very funny!” said Lois. “But it won’t be so easy to find a suitable tenant, what with stories in the papers, an’ that. We’ll ask around, and advertise in the local, and then do some interviews. And I’ll be down to open up with you tomorrow morning, just in case there’s an elephant eating the sweets.”

“Well done, mother-in-law,” said Matthew. “And I’ll have a word with Uncle and tell him you’ll be in touch.”

Matthew Vickers was a nephew of Detective Chief Inspector Hunter Cowgill, and they both worked from the Tresham police station. Cowgill had a special relationship with Lois. He was more than fond of her, but she kept him at arm’s length. Together they had solved several criminal cases, and Lois refused any kind of reward for what Derek called her ferretin’. He disapproved strongly, but was sensible enough to know that with his Lois, the surest way to guarantee her carrying on with her peculiar hobby was to forbid her to have any part of it.

“And Matthew dear, could you possibly not call me mother-in-law? Makes me feel about a hundred in the shade. ‘Lois’ will do nicely.”

The meeting broke up, with Andrew going back home to Tresham, Matthew and Josie returning to their cottage, and Lois, Derek and Gran settling down for the evening news on television.

When the familiar local news announcer appeared, the three sat up in horror as a large cobra filled the screen. “This lovely snake,” said the girl, “turned up in the village shop in Long Farnden this morning. The owner of the shop sent for the owners, Tresham Zoo, and all was tickety-boo in no time. The snake, named Flatface, was collected and returned to its quarters, and no harm done to snake or shopkeeper. And now for the football results . . .”





Three





Today being Sunday, the shop was closed, except for an hour or so sorting out the newspapers and sending the newsboys off on their rounds of the village. Josie had been reluctant to open up on her own, and so Matthew, who had a day off, went with her. His reassuring presence broke the tension of venturing into the stockroom and checking all around to see that no more reptiles had ventured in.

“So, is that all?” All the newsboys had been dispatched, and the regulars who came in to collect bread and their papers had been served. Matthew looked out of the shop door and saw heavy dark clouds massing beyond the playing field. The first cricket practice session would be starting at eleven, and he was a keen coach, having been a useful batsman and bowler when at school.