So, it was with some trepidation that I knocked on his door.
“Jill, do come in. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve got my flies out.”
That comment stopped me dead in my tracks. Surely, I must have misheard him.
“Sorry, Mr Bacus, what did you say?”
“I make flies.”
“Oh?”
“For fly fishing.”
“Of course.” I followed him through to the front room which doubled as his office. “I take it you’re a fisherman, then?”
“Not at all. It’s far too boring. I just enjoy making the flies.”
“I see. Do you sell them?”
“No, I make them purely for the fun of it. I have them displayed on the walls of my bedroom. Would you care to see them?”
“Err, actually I’m a bit pushed for time at the moment. Perhaps another day.”
“I’ve been making them for so long I’ve almost run out of wall space. I’ve already filled three walls, and I’m halfway across the last one. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them once that one is full. Anyway, Jill, you’re not here to listen to me talk about my flies. You’ll want to see your accounts.”
“Yes, please. If they’re ready. If not, I can always pop back another day.”
“I promised they’d be ready today, and I’m a man of my word.” He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and brought out a blue ledger. “Voila!”
I flicked through the pages; a lot of it meant nothing to me, but I could understand the most pertinent information: Profit and loss—a loss, obviously. The money owed to me—not much. Money that I owed—too much. All in all, it painted a pretty depressing picture, but that was nothing unusual.
“That’s great, Mr Bacus, did you have any problems with the paperwork I left with you?”
“None at all. It’s all filed away neat and tidy in my basement. If you’d rather take it away with you, I can get it for you.”
“No, I’m glad to see the back of it. How much do I owe you?”
“That’ll be fifty pounds plus VAT, please.”
“Right. Is that your monthly charge?”
“No, I don’t believe in those. I’ll just charge you every time you bring the paperwork in. With your level of turnover, you’ll only need to do that once a quarter.”
“Right, thanks.” That was less than Luther had charged me, and I was certain it was much less than Starr would have expected. “Do you take credit or debit cards?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“A cheque, then?”
“I’m afraid it’s cash only. Sorry, I should have mentioned that before.”
“Not to worry. I don’t actually have that much cash on me at the moment. I’ve never really taken any notice, is there a cash machine here in the village?”
“There’s just the one. It’s inside Tweaking Stores.”
“I can’t say I’ve noticed it when I’ve been in there.”
“When you walk through the door, turn left and it’s at the very bottom near the back wall.”
“Right. I’ll pop over there now, draw out some money, and be back in a jiffy.”
“As you wish, but there’s really no hurry. You could drop the money in later if you like.”
“I’d rather do it now. I’ll only be a few minutes.”
I made my way across the village to Tweaking Stores. Once inside, I followed Mr Bacus’ instructions, turned left and walked to the far wall, but there was no sign of the cash machine. I was just about to go to the counter to enquire of its whereabouts when I spotted it, hidden behind a pile of plastic buckets. I managed to move them to one side, just far enough to give me access. After I’d put my card in the slot, entered my PIN and the amount I wanted to withdraw, the machine churned away for a few seconds, then beeped and displayed a message that informed me it was out of cash.
I couldn’t believe it. This store was beyond useless. Not only did they not have custard creams, bread or butter, but they didn’t even have money in their cash machine.
After retrieving my card, I made my way over to the counter where Marjorie Stock was busy writing in the ledger.
“Jill, did you find what you were looking for?”
“Actually, I’m not here to buy anything today. I came in to withdraw some money, but the cash machine says it’s out of cash.”
“Oh dear. Someone mentioned it was empty yesterday, but I thought Cynthia had been in touch with the people to get it refilled.”
“It’s still empty.”
“I’m so sorry. How very annoying for you. I’ll give them a call straight away. I’m sure it’ll be refilled by tomorrow morning. Tomorrow afternoon, at the latest.”
“Right. Thanks.”
I nipped back to Mr Bacus and explained that I wouldn’t be able to pay him until the next day. He was very understanding and said I could drop by anytime with the cash.
There was just one final thing I needed to do.
She answered the call on the first ring. “Starr speaking.”
“Hi, it’s Jill Maxwell.”
“Jill—?”
“The private investigator.”
“Oh yes, of course. Good afternoon. Are you ready for me to go through your accounts and plan your strategy going forward?”
“Actually, no. I’m afraid that I’ve decided I won’t be needing your services.”
“Really? That is disappointing. May I ask why?”
“It turns out that there’s an accountant a few doors down from me in the village where I live. I’ve decided to use him because it’s much more convenient.”
“I see. I trust he’s going to review your
