'What did you call me?'
'I said you were a silly tart and that's all you are.'
'You said you'd marry me.'
'Oh, not again. The things I say in bed. Forget it.'
In front of Toni's and George's horrified eyes, Elsie gave Paul an enormous push in his back and he stumbled forward and fell over the quarry. He screamed as he went down and then there was no sound at all.
Elsie peered over the quarry and then turned and ran away.
George could feel Toni shaking and put an arm around her. 'Hold on,' he said. 'I'll get the police.'
Agatha was awakened the following morning by the shrill, insistent clamour of her doorbell.
She glanced at her bedside clock. Six in the morning!
She struggled out of bed, wrapped herself in a dressing gown and went downstairs. Agatha opened the door and found a white-faced Toni and a tall man she did not recognize.
'It's terrible,' said Toni. 'Paul Chambers has been murdered.'
'Come in,' said Agatha. And to George, 'Who are you?'
'I'm George Pyson, the factor for Mrs Tamworthy's estate.'
She led them into the kitchen. 'Sit down. Toni, what's been going on?'
Toni turned to George. 'You tell her.'
So George told the tale of the witch-hunt and then how Elsie had shoved Paul into the quarry. 'He broke his neck in the fall,' he ended.
'Toni,' said Agatha, 'you should have told me about this.'
'We didn't have any hard facts,' said George. 'We just went on the off chance.'
Agatha's eyes were suddenly hard. She surveyed George. 'How old are you?'
'I am thirty-three and no, I do not have designs on your young detective.'
'We're friends,' said Toni, and George smiled at her.
'I'll make us coffee,' said Agatha. 'I don't suppose either of you have had any sleep.'
'No,' said Toni. She stifled a yawn. 'That Collins woman interviewed me all night.'
'The good thing is,' said Agatha over her shoulder as she plugged in the percolator, 'you won't have to turn up in court for Paul Chambers's trial. The bad thing is that Lower Tapor will now be crammed with the world's press. Murder
At that moment, Charles ambled into the kitchen. Agatha told him about the latest murder.
'Chambers is no great loss,' said Charles callously. 'Good for you, Toni.'
'I feel it's all my fault,' said Toni. 'It was when I saw them all dancing around naked that I began to laugh. All that loose white fat jiggling about. That's why we ran to the quarry and hid in the bushes and that's why Paul and Elsie followed us there.'
Agatha scowled into her coffee cup. She could feel a treacherous roll of fat at her midriff. Oh, to be as young as Toni. 'With all the press that are going to be around,' she said, 'we'd all better keep clear of the manor until the fuss dies down. But I hate to leave it alone.'
'I wonder if she made any enemies in her past,' said George. 'I mean, look at the way she treated her own children. Maybe there's someone she crossed before.'
Agatha brightened. 'That's a good idea.' Then she suddenly looked full at George, said a hurried 'Excuse me,' and rushed up the stairs.
'Gone to grout her face,' said Charles.
Sure enough, Agatha reappeared fifteen minutes later with her face made up.
Toni gave a massive yawn and knuckled her eyes.
'Come on, young lady,' said George. 'Time I got you home.'
When they had left, Charles helped himself to one of Agatha's cigarettes. 'What goes on there?' he asked.
'Nothing. He's too old for her.'
'And too young for you,' murmured Charles.
'I'm going back to sleep,' said Agatha. She had been roused from a glorious dream of Christmas, complete with James smiling down at her, and she wanted to see if she could recapture it.
'Now you've got to take all that make-up off again,' Charles called after her.
But Agatha pretended not to hear.
George drove Toni to her flat. He turned to her and said, 'Get some sleep and don't answer the phone or the doorbell. If the police want to interview either of us again, they can just wait until Monday morning.'
Toni thanked him and then hesitated, waiting for him to say something else. But he climbed out and went round and held the car door open for her.
'Bye,' said Toni and went inside.
In her flat she undressed, took a shower and climbed into her narrow bed. He hadn't said anything about seeing her again. Maybe she wasn't posh enough. It wasn't as if she were romantically interested in him. He was too old.
She slept all day and awoke feeling refreshed, but wondering if she would get any more sleep that night. Toni decided to drop in at the Tammy Club. It seemed ages since she had gone clubbing and she wanted to be among people her own age.
There had been protests about the club being open on Sundays, but somehow it managed to survive the complaints.
Toni entered and breathed in the old familiar smell of alcohol and pot. Strobe lights were flashing across the floor where dancers gyrated to the loud beat of the music.
'Hi! Look, folks, it's Tone,' called a girl.
Toni was soon surrounded by some of her exschool friends. One of them, Karen, shouted above the music, 'Heard you was a tec.'
Toni nodded in reply. The music suddenly finished and the DJ said, 'Taking five minutes out, folks.'
'Let's get a drink,' said Karen.
They all moved to the bar. They pressed Toni to talk about her work, but Toni did not feel like going into details. 'What's the talent like?' she asked.
A thin spotty girl called Laura said, 'You haven't met the latest dreamboat. His name's Rex'
'Sounds like a dog or a cinema,' said Toni. 'Look, that's him over there.' Laura pointed to where a young man was slouched at the end of the bar. He was wearing a black leather jacket over his bare chest and leather trousers. His black hair was gelled into spikes. He had a stud below his bottom lip. His face was very white and he had heavy black eyebrows and designer stubble.
Toni suddenly felt a wave of isolation. Not so long ago, she might have found Rex attractive. But not now. She listened to the chatter of her former friends and felt she was looking at them through the wrong end of a telescope. The music started up again.
'Gotta go,' muttered Toni and she headed towards the door and out into the night. She took great gulps of fresh air. Maybe after a week or two, she would go back to the club, but at the moment she felt caught somewhere between the youth of her former school friends and what she thought of as the 'old folks' at the detective agency.
Agatha kept clear of the manor house for a week. She knew it would be impossible to move freely with press and police swarming all over the place. Other cases had to be dealt with. She missed Toni, who was taking driving lessons, interrupted by police interviews.
After work she prowled the supermarkets because they were already selling Christmas decorations, wondering which ones would look best. She ordered a turkey from a Norfolk farm, to be delivered ten days before Christmas. She ordered a new cooker with an oven large enough for the bird to fit into.
Charles had disappeared back to his home, promising to return the following week.
On Friday evening Bill Wong called on her at her cottage. He looked tired. 'We're getting nowhere. Elsie has
