Lester had opened his fishmonger’s shop in West Chipping, where he’d managed to find vacant premises in the high street at a relatively low rent. I was thrilled to hear that things were going so well for him. After all the lousy jobs he’d had, he deserved a break.
“Have you heard from your grandmother recently, Jill?” Aunt Lucy was already looking much better for being out in the fresh air.
“Not for a few days. In fact, now you mention it, I reckon it must be over a week. Why? She’s okay, isn’t she?”
“She’s fine. I saw her yesterday and she seemed on top form. It’s just that when she sold her Ever empire, I was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to handle retirement. I fully expected her to be popping over to my house every five minutes, but quite the opposite. If anything, I see less of her now than when she was running all those shops.”
Just under a year ago, Grandma had taken us all by surprise when she’d decided to divest herself of her Ever empire. Some of the shops had been sold. Kathy had bought ForEver Bride, Deli had purchased Ever Beauty, but there had been no buyers for Ever A Wool Moment or Ever, both of which had simply closed down.
“What do you think she’s up to?” I said.
“I have no idea, and I really don’t like to ask.”
At that moment, Barry came running back up the park.
“What’s that he’s got in his mouth?” Aunt Lucy pointed.
“I’m not sure. Something red.”
“Look what I found.” Barry dropped the handbag at my feet.
“Where did you get that, Barry?”
“Down there.”
“Yes, but whereabouts down there, exactly?”
“It was on one of these.” He touched the bench with his paw.
“On a bench?”
“Yes. It’s nice, isn’t it? Can I keep it?”
“Was anyone sitting on the bench?”
“No. There was only this.”
Moments later, a woman came running towards us. By the time she reached us she was out of breath and red in the face.
“Hey, your dog has pinched my handbag.”
Oh bum!
Chapter 2
The only way I’d been able to placate the irate woman was to give her the money for a replacement handbag. I couldn’t blame her for being so angry: Barry’s teeth had punctured the bag in a couple of places. After I’d handed over the money, she transferred her possessions over to her shopping bag.
“He can keep that,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
“It’s no good to me now, is it?”
And, so it was that Barry, who was totally oblivious to the mayhem he’d caused, proudly carried it back home in his mouth.
By the time we got back to Aunt Lucy’s house, she was ready to put her head down for a while, so I magicked myself over to Washbridge and headed for Coffee Animal. The shop had recently undergone a rebranding (from Coffee Games) after an unfortunate incident during pin the tail on the donkey day. The new name struck me as a little weird, but when I’d enquired about the reason for it, I’d been told all would become clear after the ‘official’ launch, which was scheduled for the following week.
As I walked through the door, I spotted Kathy seated at a table near the counter, so I grabbed a drink and joined her.
“I didn’t expect to find you in here.”
“I needed a break.” She sighed. “We’ve been run off our feet all morning. It feels like everyone and her sister has decided to get married this year.”
“You’re not complaining, are you?”
“Of course not. Business is booming, and that’s just the way I like it.”
“By the way, when does your new shop open? It can’t be long now.”
“Two months tomorrow.”
“That’s number six, isn’t it?”
“Seven if you include ForEver Bride.”
“I still can’t believe the deal you negotiated to buy that from Grandma. I never thought she’d take your lowball offer.”
“Neither did I, but she was really keen to sell. Speaking of your grandmother, how is she? I haven’t seen her for a while.”
“I haven’t seen much of her either, but according to Aunt Lucy, she’s fine. Ever since Grandma retired, she seems to be busier than ever.”
“Doing what?”
“I’ve no idea, and I intend to keep it that way. Let’s not spoil the morning talking about her. How are the kids?”
“Much the same. Like I told you the last time I saw you, Mikey is at that age now when he considers his parents to be one big embarrassment.”
“To be fair, you are quite embarrassing, Kathy.”
“Thanks. You can laugh now, but your time will come. Seriously, though, Mikey and Pete seem to do nothing but argue these days.”
“That’s a real shame. Those two used to do loads of stuff together: Fishing, go-karting.”
“I know, but Mikey’s not interested in any of that now. All he seems to do all day is stare at his phone. I’m glad we didn’t have social media when we were kids. It drives me crazy. Just listen to me. I sound like Grandma Grump, don’t I?”
“A bit, yeah. What about Lizzie? Is she still sports mad?”
“Absolutely. She’s just been made captain of the netball team.”
“Good for her. She must take after her auntie.”
“Which auntie would that be?”
“Cheek. I was sporty when I was young.”
“Don’t make me laugh, Jill. You used to hide in the changing rooms to get out of sports.”
“Rubbish. I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while now. Has Lizzie mentioned seeing ghosts recently?”
“No, thank goodness. She seemed to grow out of that phase a couple of years ago. By the way, I’ve got the tickets for Thursday next week.”
“What
