Why on earth was she here? Kate wondered. Surely they weren’t going to be inviting her to dinner? As if reading her thoughts, Ollie was making faces to the effect that he couldn’t say what he wanted to say in front of Gloria, who seemed completely unaware that he’d contacted the medical centre. Several minutes later after discussing the weather, Gloria heaved herself out of the chair she’d been sitting on and said, ‘The buns must be nearly ready and I promised to take some in to Violet and Daisy.’
‘Gloria’s a wonderful baker,’ Ollie informed Kate as his wife made her way into the kitchen, which was partitioned off from the rest of the room. A few minutes later Gloria reappeared with a Tupperware box and announced she was taking some buns to the Potters. And would Kate like to take some home? Kate politely declined.
When she’d gone out and he reckoned she was out of earshot he murmured, ‘I think she’s tryin’ to kill me.’
Kate almost dropped her cup. ‘What?’
He patted his huge belly, then spoke quietly with one eye on the door. ‘I’ve been havin’ a lot of problems with my digestion lately, and I got a feelin’ she’s puttin’ somethin’ in my food.’
‘Why on earth would she want to do that?’ Kate asked, refusing his further offer of a country slice with a shake of her head.
Ollie stuffed another one in his mouth. ‘At least I know Mr Kiplin’ ain’t plannin’ to finish me off!’ He laughed, and a passing crumb missed Kate by inches.
‘So what would she be putting in your food?’ Kate asked, wondering if this could be the source of the digoxin.
‘I dunno. But me food tastes funny and she’s actin’ funny. Jealous like. Always was jealous of Edina, of course.’
‘But Edina is no longer with us, so why now?’
‘Well, it wouldn’t surprise me if she saw off Edina, and now she’s got it in for me!’
‘Ollie, don’t you think your imagination might be running away with you?’
Ollie shook his head, still glancing towards the door. ‘She likes to help a bit in the garden, you know, and Stan keeps a load of weed killer in his shed.’ He narrowed his eyes and nodded as if to confirm. ‘Now, how much weed killer would it take to kill someone, eh?’ He leaned forward and lowered his voice some more. ‘She’s not the full shilling, you know – hasn’t been for years.’
‘She seems perfectly sensible to me,’ Kate said quietly.
‘But she ain’t. I just wanted you to know, see, so that if you find me dead one of these days you’ll know why. More tea?’
‘No thank you, that was very nice,’ Kate said, hurriedly draining her cup. ‘I think perhaps you might be a little oversensitive at the moment, Ollie. I think everyone here is. Why don’t you help Gloria with the cooking and the baking and then you can see exactly what she’s putting in the food?’
He glanced back towards the door. ‘She wants a divorce.’
‘She does?’
‘Yeah, she’s been on about it for months. But she don’t want to leave here, see and, if we divorced, we’d have to sell this and go our separate ways. But, if she was a widow, well…’ He paused and grimaced. ‘She’d be laughin’, wouldn’t she?’
At that moment Gloria came back in.
‘Sure you don’t wanna try one of me buns?’ she asked Kate.
‘Most kind, but I won’t, thank you,’ Kate replied, getting hastily to her feet. ‘I must be going. But thanks very much for the tea.’
‘Don’t forget what I told you,’ Ollie said quietly as he escorted her to the door. ‘I reckon she’s got it in for me.’
Kate didn’t feel she could take Ollie’s fears seriously. She decided not to mention the strange visit to Woody. And then she wondered who the management had sent to replace Sharon. She should have asked Ollie and Gloria.
Sharon had not only cleaned their flats and the communal areas, she had carried their shopping upstairs, delivered the post from where it was left on the hall table to the incapacitated, and generally kept an eye on them.
How was Stan coping? He had plenty of jobs to do outside so couldn’t possibly give the residents much individual attention. And he was only recently widowed and undoubtedly bereft so probably didn’t fancy doing much of anything. Kate wondered if she should contact him to see how he was doing, although she wasn’t altogether sure how she could offer to help. Nevertheless, as she left the Pratts’ flat, she decided to have a walk round outside to see if she could see him. She found Stan at the top of a ladder repairing some stonework on one of the chimney stacks.
He waved and began to descend.
‘Don’t let me stop you,’ Kate said, ‘I know you’re busy.’
‘No, I’ve been tryin’ to keep myself occupied so I can stop myself from thinkin’ about Sharon,’ he said as he reached ground level. ‘It’s on my mind all the time unless I’m doin’ something. But it’s time for a cup of tea.’
She followed him into the old stable building and watched as he filled up the red kettle and set it on the Aga.
‘How are you feeling?’ Kate asked, looking at his sad face. ‘Or is that a stupid question?’
‘It ain’t a stupid question, Kate. The truth is I’m feelin’ bloody awful. But I was hopin’ you’d get in touch because I know Sharon thought a lot of you and valued your opinion.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that,’ Kate murmured guiltily.
‘She did. And she’d want you to help me now.’
Kate wondered what was coming. ‘How can I help you?’
‘You can help me to find out who killed my lovely Sharon,’ he said as he located a couple of mugs. ‘The police have gone through everything thoroughly and admit they’ve found nothin’, but I still think they might have missed somethin’. It’s got to be one of
