Scandal at Six(57)

She left him, and headed up the church path, and he started the engine and drove off.

Outside the shop, Justin saw a police car, and his heart thumped. What the hell?! Only one thing to do, and he accelerated, driving past as fast as he could. Three minutes later, he realised the police car was closing up behind him, its lights flashing. He drew into the side of the road, and opened the window. A police officer came up and looked in.

“Morning, sir,” he said. “Just thought I’d introduce myself. I’m Matthew Vickers, husband of Josie in the shop. I understand you’ve taken on the flat? Nice little place. Used to visit Josie when she lived there. Hope you’ll enjoy living in Farnden. Oh yes, and watch your speed through the village. You were going at forty-two miles an hour past the shop! Just a warning, sir. Good morning.”

Thank God I flung my jacket over the carrier, Justin thought. Well, that had been a turn-up. But he had been very alarmed, and realised that one careless move could bring the whole of Pettison’s house of cards tumbling to the ground. In other words, the zoo would be closed and Uncle Robert arrested and very likely put in prison.

So what to do with the creatures now? He knew Pettison was away for the weekend in a country hotel nearby, for a couple of nights of mad passion with his fancy woman. “A treat for me, dear boy,” he had said to Justin. “Work hard; play hard. Not a bad motto for the likes of us!”

So, no good going into Tresham. He would just drive back to Farnden, take the key to the shed from its hiding place, and conceal the carrier in there until tomorrow. He had cleared it out and put an electric convector heater in, and hung a dark cloth over the small window.

The wind was icy when he walked from his car to the shed, and he hurried in. Switching on the heater, he took the box from the bag, and looked around. There were shelves along the back wall, and he put it carefully on the topmost. Then he tore the bag in half, punched a few holes in it with a screwdriver, and upended it over the cage, where the creatures had now reappeared and were following his every move with their button-bright eyes.

“There you are, then, little ones,” he said. The girl had given him some stuff for them to eat, and he decided to come back when they had settled down. Perhaps at lunchtime, when nobody was around.

Back inside his flat, he made himself a coffee and looked for a newspaper. Yesterday’s had gone out with the rubbish, and he had nothing to read. Perhaps Josie was still in the shop, and would have a spare.

He walked round into the shop, and found the door still open.

“Hi, Josie?” he shouted. “Okay for me to come in?”

In a couple of seconds she stood there, smiling. “You didn’t go to church did you?” she said accusingly. “Mrs Tollervey-Jones called on her way back, and said you were not there. I’m afraid you can’t get away with anything in this village,” she added.

Justin looked suitably humble. “Afraid I couldn’t face it,” he said. “All that stuff about descending into hell and rising again, not to mention the sick and the dead. Couldn’t get through it, really.”

“Of course not,” Josie said consolingly. “I quite understand. Have you had any news about your father?”

“No, he’s still hanging on. No change. It’s very hard for Mother, and I hope to be able to get up to see her again soon. I wish they were nearer, but that’s how it goes these days. Years ago, families all stuck together in the same place, especially in the farming community. I’ve let them down, poor old things.”

“You couldn’t have been expected to stay in the middle of nowhere, after being sent away to school and university. Anyway, can I help you?”

“Yes, have you got a Sunday paper left? Any one will do. The Despatch?” He laughed. A real rag, that one. “Yes, that’ll do fine,” he said, and retreated back up to the flat.

His coffee was lukewarm, so he put it in a saucepan to heat up, and unfolded the newspaper. A picture of a snake, rising to strike, took up the whole of the top half of the front page. Underneath, a young girl smiled at the camera in a smaller picture. He read the text and discovered that the girl had been playing in a neighbour’s house, and ventured into a small, dark room with her friend. Apparently, the door had been left open by accident, and they had encountered the unfriendly creature, which immediately struck the girl on the arm, where she had put it up to shield her face.

She was taken at once to hospital, and was being continuously monitored. The owner of the snake had been taken for questioning, and the snake confiscated by the police. There followed a strong warning by the paper about keeping wild creatures in the home as pets. Alarm was spreading about the increasing numbers of such accidents, and the local Member of Parliament was taking the matter up with the authorities.