“Mmm, well,” said Lois, “we’ll need to talk about that. And no thanks, Bridie, no coffee. Just had some, thanks. No, let’s get on with it.”
She explained to Bridie about the intended meeting, and then turned to Hazel. “You’d be a lot younger than the others,” she said, “though Gary Needham is still in his twenties.”
“Gary Needham?” Hazel’s expression was strange.
“D’you know him, then?” said Lois.
Hazel shrugged. “Seen him around,” she said. Then she added with a odd smile, “So there’ll be a man on the team? Wow, Mrs M, that’s cool! Could jolly things up a bit…”
Lois, seeing complications ahead, said, “Now listen to me, Hazel, if I do employ you, you’ll toe the line with the others. No special favours because me and your mum are friends. I shall expect respect, and the first signs of trouble you’ll be out on your ear. You’ll be working for all sorts of people, and you’ll keep your clever comments to yourself. You will have to be punctual, polite and thorough in your work. I shall check on everybody at first, until I know how things are going.”
“So, is it on, then?” said Hazel, grinning broadly. “Gimme ago?”
Lois sighed. Against my better judgement, she thought, but looked at Bridie’s face, so bright and optimistic for once, and nodded agreement. “A trial period,” she said. “One month, and then we’ll review it.”
“Does that go for the others, too?” said Hazel, bridling.
“I’m still thinking about it,” said Lois. “But it’s a definite for you, so take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it,” said Hazel, and to Lois’s surprise she crossed the room and shook Lois by the hand.
“All right, then,” Lois said, “and now on to the hot topic in Waltonby this morning.”
“The major?” said Bridie, settling herself comfortably. “Well, ask Hazel. She knows all about him. Go on, love, tell Lois. She won’t let it go no further.”
¦
Much of what Hazel had to tell was barmaids’ speculation. She and Prue had felt sorry for the major at first, and made a fuss of him. At least, Hazel had. Prue found it difficult, said Hazel, being brought up differently. In the end, both had had much the same experience. Leaving the pub late one Saturday night, Hazel had heard someone following her, and discovered the major a few paces behind. “Just watching over you, my dear,” he’d said, and she’d not been alarmed. But then he’d come closer and taken her arm. “When we got to his gate,” Hazel said to an attentive Lois, “he sort of steered me towards his house. I tried to say I’d got to get home, and Dad would be furious if I was late, but he didn’t take no notice. Said he’d got something to show me. In the end, I just pulled free and ran off.” She paused, and Lois waited. “The worst of it,” Hazel continued, “was him laughing. I could hear it all down the street. Gave me the shivers. I was more careful with him after that, though Prue did go in,
“Doesn’t he have any friends in the village?” said Lois, resisting the temptation to ask Hazel if she’d told her father.
Time for that later. She remembered Derek saying the major was always on his own in the pub, and never mixed with the others. She was curious to know where he came from, what he did for a living.
“Nope, no friends I’ve ever seen,” said Hazel. “A loner, and no wonder. Though my dad says he knows for a fact he didn’t have nothing to do with the army.” She and her mother exchanged looks. So Hazel had told her father, and there’d been repercussions.
“Didn’t join in anything in the village?” said Lois.
Hazel shook her head. “Went to Tresham every week, regular as clockwork. Oh, and I think Geoff Boggis said he used to do a bit of amateur dramatics. Some acting lot in Tresham, I think.”
Bridie, sitting quietly while her daughter was speaking, now chipped in, “He’d be good at that…acting…Dick says he’s been acting a part for years. He hates him, Lois. Or did…” Her voice tailed off as she remembered.
“Anyway,” said Hazel, “why do want to know so much about him, Mrs M? You said yourself he was nothing to do with you.”
“I found him, didn’t I?” said Lois.
? Terror on Tuesday ?
Ten
The first meeting of New Brooms was a success. Lois had ushered her new employees into the big front room, and sunlight streaming in the window had warmed the atmosphere. Not that it was particularly cool. Bridie and Hazel had arrived first, and then Sheila Stratford, and, ten minutes later, Gary Needham. His unpunctual arrival had been the only blot on the proceedings. He’d apologized profusely, of course, and had a watertight excuse. Lois had not made much of it, apart from hoping this was not going to be a habit, and then got on with the business. It was only later that she remembered with some unease that all the women had smiled fondly on Gary and sympathized with his failure to get away from an urgent telephone call from his grandmother.
“Grandmother?” said Derek, as they sat over a sandwich lunch. “That’s an old one. Reckon you might have trouble with that one, Lois. Still, it’s your business,” he added hastily. “You’ll know best.”
Lois laughed. “Well done, Derek,” she said, and blew him a crumby kiss. “Spect there’ll be mistakes,” she added, “and then you can say you told me so.”
She had explained how the cleaning business was to work, and Sheila Stratford had made some tentative but helpful suggestions. Lois had a list of clients, most of them the result of the advertisements for staff. There was clearly going to be no difficulty finding work for her team. She handed out the schedules, and Hazel was the first to speak.
“Oh, great, Mrs M! You’ve given me the vicar, old Rogers. He’s not a bad old bloke. And everybody says he needs a good woman!”
“Yes, well,” said Lois, “don’t forget he’s the Rev Rogers to you. And never mind about good women…you’re there to clean his house, and that’s all.”
“Blimey!” answered Hazel, with a grin at Gary. “You don’t think I’d – ” She was cut short by a sharp kick on the ankle from her mother, and subsided obediently. Lois had also scheduled Hazel to work with her at the hall, where she could keep an eye on her.
“Everything all right for you, Sheila?” said Lois. She had allocated Sheila and Gary the doctor’s surgery in Tresham, thinking the older woman would be a good influence. It was a partnership on the edge of town, and in a new, attractive building. “Not too big,” she explained, and Gary said yes, he knew it well. His aunt was a patient there. Lois explained the need for absolute confidentiality: “And that goes for you all,” she stressed. “Whatever you see or hear, it is to go no further. The least bit of gossip’ll mean the sack for New Brooms.”
She looked around. “And Bridie? Everything OK for you?” She had given Bridie local jobs, sensing that her friend was not as confident as her extrovert daughter, and might like to be close to home. It had been encouraging, though, to see Bridie’s happy face, and Lois had felt like touching wood. There was a lot riding on the success of New Brooms.
¦
The rest of the week was spent shopping for cleaning equipment – a more expensive outlay than Lois had bargained for – and making sure that everyone knew what they were doing, and clients knew who to expect and when. Derek came and went, and kept out of Lois’s way, except when he could see she was tired and needed propping up. The children were difficult. It had been bad enough having a mother who went out cleaning, but now she was running a business that was going to take up even more time; they felt left out and resentful. Josie was not so bad. She had admired Hazel Reading from afar on the school bus, and was pleased that she might see more of her now. But Douglas and Jamie were edgy and quarrelsome.
“They’ll be all right, me duck,” Derek said periodically. “Once you’re up and runnin’, it’ll fall into place. Don’t worry, leave ‘em to me.” And he’d organized a trip to the Space Centre at Leicester for the weekend, hoping that would take their mind off their distracted mother.
The first Monday for New Brooms arrived with a gusting wind, drifting showers, and occasional bursts of encouraging sunshine. Lois had just waved Derek off to work, seen that all the kids had safely boarded the school bus, and was settling nervously in her office to await problem telephone calls, when a van drew up outside. It was a
