“How interesting,” Josie said patiently.
He picked up the avocado pear he had squeezed and put it on the counter. “That will be fine for my supper,” he said, and looked around the shop. “Nice little shop you have here,” he said. “All your own, is it?”
Mind your own business, thought Josie, but she smiled and said, “Anything else I can get for you today?”
“I expect you think I should mind my own business,” he said, returning her smile. “But I am looking for a small business for investment purposes. Might you be interested?”
“Not today, thank you,” said Josie, as if he was a tiresome seller of clothes pegs.
“Have a nice day,” she added, and handed him his avocado in a paper bag.
Him and his heated bananas, she thought, and decided to ring her mother and tell all.
“Hello, Mum, all well?” she said, perching on a high stool behind the counter.
“Fine, but how about you? You don’t usually ring me at this time of day. No customers and bored to tears?”
“No,” Josie replied, and told Lois about her most recent customer.
“What did he look like? Maybe I would know him,” Lois said.
Josie gave her a description, and then remembered that he had called her Mrs Vickers. “Now how did he know my name? He was no stranger, I reckon, though he pretended to be one.”
“Did he have a van outside? Did you see him drive off?”
“Yeah, it had a nasty great tiger on one side. Same as the one that came to collect the snake. I think it was from the Tresham Zoo. Oh Lor! Do you think he had anything to do with those reptiles?”
“Very likely,” said Lois. “If he comes again, give me a ring, and I’ll nip down. Keep the shop door open, and don’t let him get near you. I’m sure he’s not dangerous, but there’s no harm in being careful.”
*
When Matthew came home to the cottage, Josie told him what had happened. He had been interested and said he would report the incident to Inspector Cowgill. “Sounds like Pettison. He’s a slimy customer, is Robert Pettison. He wasn’t offensive to you, was he?”
Josie shook her head. “But he called me Mrs Vickers—how did he know my name?—and said he was wanting a small business to invest some money in. Asked me questions about the shop. I got rid of him as soon as possible, of course. What about that zoo? Hasn’t he been prosecuted for having wild animals in there?”
“Oh, he’s too clever for that. Has all the right documents and valid answers. And anyway, he has spies everywhere, and by the time we get there, it’s mostly rabbits and white mice. Except the murderous king cobra, of course, but I haven’t heard the latest on that.”
“Right. Well, I hope our new tenant will cause us no trouble. He went off to see his dying father in Lincolnshire. I took some food to the flat, including one of our ready meals, which I put in the freezer. A goodwill gesture, I thought.”
“I should be careful, Josie. It could be construed as breaking and entering! We shall have to check whether there is a clause in the lease allowing us to have entry under certain conditions, such as fire.”
“Oh, stuff the breaking and entering! It was just a nice welcome for a new tenant who must be very sad.”
“Has your mother been in today? Cowgill was asking after her, as usual. The man’s besotted,” said Matthew with a smile.
“Don’t tell her that! I talked to her on the phone, after that man had been in. Like you, she reckoned it was the man from the zoo, and told me to watch it.”
“Very sensible. When is Brookes due back?”
“Didn’t say, except that it would be very soon, as he had business to attend to.”
“I might just drift into the shop, if you let me know when he’s around. I’d like to take a look at him.”
Twenty-six
Dot Nimmo was still eating toast and marmalade when her phone rang. It was Lois, and after apologies for ringing so early, she asked Dot whether she could give up her Waltonby job to Floss this morning, and do an emergency clean up at Cameroon Hall.
“Pettison has been on the phone, sounding rattled. I don’t know what it’s all about, but he wants you to go up as soon as poss, to tidy up and generally clean around, as he is expecting a guest. I said that would be okay, and hope you don’t mind, Dot?”
Dot said as long as Floss was happy, she would do anything that Mrs M asked. She said she would get ready swiftly, and be up there within half an hour. She felt a frisson of excitement, and wondered who the guest could be. If he was part of the Tresham underworld, it was quite likely that she would know him—or her. But then, why would Pettison ask so specially for her? He knew her background intimately. Maybe that’s why he had asked.