A Nosey Parker Cozy Mystery. Fiona Leitch

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      I thought I should probably stick around long enough to have a glass of wine, and then I would make my excuses and leave. It really wasn’t my kind of party. But there was someone else missing from the bar too: Cheryl.

      Tony saw me enter, brought me a glass of champagne, and steered me over to the window.

      ‘So, do you think she’ll come back?’ he asked.

      I gulped at my champagne. ‘Who, Cheryl?’

      ‘No, you muppet. Cheryl’s having an early night. Mel. Will Mel cause any trouble tomorrow?’

      ‘Oh, right. No, I don’t think so.’ I shook my head. ‘And anyway, if she does turn up, I’ll be right over there in the kitchen, preparing vol-au-vents and making dinner for a hundred people. I will have access to a lot of sharp pointy things.’

      ‘You could do your awesome ex-policewoman ninja stuff again.’ Tony laughed. ‘That was so hot…’

      I gasped in mock horror and slapped him. ‘Anthony Penhaligon! You’re practically a married man!’

      He smiled. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘I’m very lucky.’

      ‘Hmm,’ I said non-committally, sipping at my drink.

      ‘You don’t like my wife-to-be much, do you?’ he said.

      ‘I hardly know her.’ I was painfully aware that was the exact thing I’d said to Mel. He laughed.

      ‘That’s not a no, is it?’ He stared out of the window for a moment then turned back to me. ‘I know Cheryl can be a bit…’ What? A bit of a fricking nightmare? ‘A bit high maintenance. But she’s not had an easy life.’

      I thought about the things I’d gone through over the last few years.

      ‘Lots of us have had a hard life—’ I started.

      ‘She lost her parents when she was fifteen.’ Oh crap. ‘That’s how she ended up with her uncle. I don’t know what her parents were like – they didn’t live round here – but her uncle and his lot…’ Tony shook his head and lowered his voice. ‘They’re not very nice people. So cut her some slack, yeah?’ He touched me gently on the arm. ‘I’m glad you’re back, Jodie. I’d really like you and Cheryl to be friends. Will you try?’

      ‘Of course,’ I said. And I meant it, for him.

      I finished my drink and left the bar. Should I go up and talk to Cheryl? Part of me wanted nothing more than to just go home and relieve my mum of her babysitting duties – Daisy liked to think she was a grown-up, but she was still only twelve – but the concerned (or nosey) part of me thought that maybe I should pop up and check on her.

      I stood outside her room, hesitating. Maybe I shouldn’t disturb her if she wanted an early night. But I could hear movement – a lot of movement – from the other side of the door. So I knocked.

      There was silence. To my mind it was a guilty silence – like someone had been caught doing something they shouldn’t. Don’t ask me how a silence can be guilty, but it can. I just have this instinct…

      Just as I was becoming convinced she wouldn’t answer the door, she did, opening it a crack. She had a smile on her face which dropped as soon as she saw me.

      ‘Oh, it’s you,’ she said.

      ‘Just checking that you’re all right after that little incident earlier,’ I said sweetly. I can do sweet.

      ‘I’m fine,’ she said. Through the crack in the door I could see a suitcase on the bed with a mess of clothes half in and half out.

      ‘Getting everything ready for your big day?’ I said. ‘Packing for the honeymoon?’

      ‘Yes,’ she said, attempting to close the door a little tighter. I had a horrible feeling that packing wasn’t what she was doing.

      ‘Look, we may have got off on the wrong foot,’ I said. ‘If you want to talk—’

      ‘Not really.’

      ‘Okay.’ СКАЧАТЬ