Scandal at Six(45)
She put her cleaning things away, and prepared to leave. She was halfway down the drive when a taxi came along towards her. The track was narrow, and it slowed down as it passed. She caught sight of a passenger seated in the back. It was a man, wearing a hat pulled down over his face. In spite of it being a quick glimpse, Dot knew that she had seen the man before.
*
“I might be mistaken,” said Pettison’s guest, “but I could have sworn it was old Handy Nimmo’s wife passed me on the way here. Going down your drive. What are you up to, Pettison?”
“Up to? Why, nothing at all. And you’re wrong about Nimmo’s wife. I’m sure I saw a notice of her demise recently in the local press. Now, did you have a good flight? And your luggage got through safe and sound? We must have a glass of hock to celebrate.”
His guest sat down in the sagging sofa, and looked around. “Certainly spruced this place up a bit,” he said. “Needs repainting right through, of course, but that would cost a bit. A bit short, are you, Robert, old son? Well, I’ve brought a treat for you this time. Very pretty, very rare. Needs careful handling, but very desirable.”
“Only one?” said Pettison. “That’s not going to restore the hall to its former glory!”
“Now, now, don’t be greedy. More to follow, if all goes well. Things are getting a lot more difficult in this particular market, as you know. Which means, with luck, that lack of availability will cause selling prices to rise. And that’s good for you and me. By the bye, the taxi driver had the local radio on in his cab. Something about a woman having been bitten by a snake in this neck of the woods. Anything to do with you, Robert?”
“Of course not,” said Pettison.
*
Instead of going home, Dot drove out to Long Farnden on the off chance of seeing Mrs M. It was raining hard, so hard that Dot could barely see beyond the windscreen. She cut down her speed, and thought about what she had seen at Cameroon Hall. Pettison was possibly involved, maybe disastrously, in the latest reptile accident. She had heard a later bulletin as she drove along, and this had been optimistic. The woman had been taken to hospital, and was said to be doing well. She would definitely recover from the nasty bite.
This particular snake had been a pet, kept by the woman’s husband in a shed at the bottom of their garden. Apparently it was handled regularly, and was said to be very gentle and cooperative. He was usually the one of the family who would approach the snake, and on this occasion the wife had gone into the shed, meaning to find a screwdriver and leave swiftly, but the snake had uncoiled rapidly and struck.
A warning against keeping wild animals as pets followed on the news broadcast, and Dottie nodded to herself. Surely the time would come when Pettison would be forced by law to shut down his zoo, and return the animals to their natural habitat. The snake had been obtained locally, so the owner had said.
She drew up outside Meade House, and went in. Lois greeted her at the door, and Gran, forcing a smile, offered cups of coffee, which Lois accepted.
“Come on into my office, Dot,” she said. “You’ve finished very early, haven’t you?”
Dot explained what had happened, and said she would like to discuss New Brooms involvement with Pettison and his zoo. “I hope I’m not speaking out of turn, Mrs M, but it’s my duty to warn you about that man. When Handy knew him years ago, he used to say he could be very violent, and had once or twice been in a fight. Money talks, and it had all been hushed up.”
Lois frowned. “Are you sure you want to go on with this job, Dot? I can get you, and the rest of us, out of it today, if you have any doubts at all.”
“Not for myself, Mrs. M. But I wouldn’t want you, or the other girls, going up there. I can handle Pettison, and he knows it. So I shall be fine, and useful too, I hope. If all goes well, I’d like to see that devil made to pay the price for all the trouble he’s caused.”
“Very well. But I don’t want you taking any risks. It’s not worth it, Dot. Best leave it to the police.”
Dot laughed. “You’re a fine one to talk, Mrs M, if you don’t mind my saying so!”
At this point, Gran came in with coffee. She dumped one mug down in front of Dot, and handed the other to Lois without a smile.
“We’re out of biscuits until I go down the shop,” she said, and Lois forbore to say that she knew for a fact that there were two packets of chocolate shortbreads in the tin.
“So I’ll go up there again tomorrow,” Dot said, ignoring Gran’s dirty look. “With any luck, I shall see the guest. I was certain I recognised him, though he had his hat pulled down. If it was who I thought it was, then Pettison is a fool.”