The Ullswater Undertaking by Rebecca Tope (read dune .TXT) 📕

very good with them for a maiden lady. Told them little stories and made up games.’ Her eyes suddenly turned pink around the rims. ‘And to think some monster killed her! It’s beyond all belief. It’s given me a real turn, I can tell you. Can’t settle in my own house for thinking about it. That’s why we’re off again now. Taking them to the cafe down the road for some lunch. I’m not a gawper, like you,’ she concluded crossly. ‘All I want is to get away from the whole horrible business.’

It was all they could hope for. ‘Well, nice talking to you,’ said Ben, holding out his hand. ‘My name’s Ben, by the way.’ He looked down at the children. ‘And I won’t forget that I met a little girl called Lark.’

‘And I’m Chrissie Harriman,’ said the woman.

They drove to the auction house in a state of some excitement. In the back, Robin was whimpering softly, as if trying to decide on which mood to opt for.

‘That was Chrissie Harriman,’ said Simmy, more than once, still not quite able to believe it. ‘Christopher knows her. She’s a regular at the auction. He said this person couldn’t be her.’

‘So what?’

‘It closes the circle. Or at least makes the whole circle smaller. Everyone’s more tightly connected than we thought. I’m glad I didn’t tell her who I was. That might have got seriously complicated.’

‘It went well, though,’ said Ben with satisfaction. ‘Even talking about Churchill! She’s probably got Winston and Randolph confused, but that doesn’t matter. Just the fact that Josephine mentioned the name clinches it – I must have been right about the politician in the scandal. Amazing, the way we got all the questions answered so easily – in about four minutes. Fancy calling that poor child “Lark”. I wonder what the boy’s called.’

‘I’m hungry,’ she realised. ‘Do you think we could find some food? A garden with a pub would be nice.’ She laughed. ‘I mean a pub with a garden. What’s happening to my brain? I could probably feed Robin at the same time.’

‘Does that child never stop eating?’

‘Don’t say things like that,’ she flashed at him. ‘I’m warning you. If you can’t say something positive, don’t say anything at all.’

Suddenly he was no longer the schoolboy she still assumed him to be. He had turned into a man when she wasn’t looking – albeit a man who appeared young enough to be her son, in the eyes of passing strangers. Now he gave her the same look that men everywhere gave when a woman stepped over a line. The subtlest automatic glance of offended superiority. Even now, after decades of female aggression, it lurked deep inside. Even when their own powerful mothers did it, they reacted like this. Ben sniffed and muttered ‘Okay, then,’ before changing the subject. ‘There’s a pub along here, I think.’

They found a table in the agreeable spring sunshine and Simmy gave Ben money to go and order food and drink. ‘Something with plenty of carbs,’ she said. ‘A ploughman’s would be perfect.’

‘Ham or cheese?’

‘Both, if they’ll do that.’

He was soon back, carrying two pint glasses of beer. Here was further evidence of his maturity. The Ben she thought she knew had been wary of alcohol. Student life had done its usual trick, she supposed. ‘Food won’t be long,’ he said.

As she suckled her infant, with a modest cardigan thrown over her nakedness, she tried to analyse the fresh information concerning Josephine. ‘I’m sure Christopher didn’t know anything at all about that researching or whatever it was,’ she said. ‘He never mentioned it.’

‘I got the impression it was kept very separate from her day job.’

‘Mm.’ She found herself feeling very sleepy again. It had been a short and broken night and a busy morning. The beer wasn’t helping. ‘Gosh, I’m dozing off here,’ she said. ‘Do something to wake me up.’

‘Like what?’

‘Go over all the connections between Fabian’s family and Josephine, and see if we’ve missed something. There’s a whole lot I haven’t told you about Richmond yet. Did I say he’s only got one arm?’

They were interrupted by the arrival of their food, the man bringing it showing extreme alarm at the nursing mother in front of him. Ben and Simmy merely smiled their thanks and quickly started to eat.

Ben spoke with his mouth full. ‘You’ve barely said a word about Richmond so far. We dashed up to Hilda’s house without any proper debriefing. Not that it matters. We can do it now.’

But they were interrupted after two or three minutes by Ben’s imperious phone, playing a tune that Simmy didn’t recognise. After only a few seconds he handed it to Simmy, saying, ‘Bonnie wants you.’

‘I knew he was with you,’ the girl explained. ‘You’re not answering your own phone. I’ve tried about ten times.’

‘I’m not even sure I brought it with me,’ Simmy confessed. ‘We left in a bit of a rush. What’s the matter?’

‘The thing is, Verity’s had to go home, so I’m here all on my own and it’s quite busy. She only stayed about an hour and then dashed off. What do you want me to do? There are three deliveries booked for this afternoon, which I can’t possibly do.’

‘What’s the matter with Verity?’

‘It’s not her. It’s her mother. She fell downstairs or something and they think she might die. It’s all rather a drama.’ Bonnie’s tone was commendably calm and Simmy felt a matching absence of panic. ‘There’s not much point trying to get Tanya – she can’t do deliveries, either. I was wondering if your mum …’

‘No, no,’ said Simmy. ‘Listen – I can come in for a bit this afternoon and do the deliveries. We’re having a quick lunch and then going to the auction house. We found something that Ben thinks is exciting this morning and he wants to have a look at the computer in the office there for the archives. We can tell you all about it when we see