‘I like knitting,’ says Heather. ‘I have a godson who has just had a baby. I’d like to knit something, but –’
‘But they don’t trust you with needles? Don’t blame them. Boy or girl?’
‘Boy,’ says Heather. ‘Mason, of all things.’
‘I’ll bring you a package straight away, blue wool, everything,’ says Connie. ‘And we’ll see how you’ve got on tomorrow.’
‘Thank you,’ says Heather. ‘I find it hard to trust people. It takes time.’
‘Well, you must never trust me, but the one thing we’ve both got is time,’ says Connie. ‘I’ll just keep coming back. I like to get a job done.’
Connie stands to leave. She reaches out a hand, and Heather takes it and shakes it.
‘I will quite look forward to seeing you again, Connie,’ says Heather. ‘I still won’t tell you what you want to know though.’
‘We’ll see about that, gorgeous,’ says Connie, and gives a little goodbye wink.
17
Thursday. The Jigsaw Room.
‘But your lights were off all night,’ says Joyce.
‘Don’t fuss,’ says Elizabeth. She will tell Joyce about the kidnapping once she has worked out her plan to deal with the Viking. In the meantime, she is glad of the distraction of the murder of Bethany Waites.
‘I’m not fussing,’ says Joyce. ‘It’s just unusual. Is Stephen all right?’
‘We had a romantic evening in,’ says Elizabeth. ‘Candlelight in the bathroom, and an early night.’
Joyce doesn’t buy this, but Elizabeth thinks she has been fended off for now. She will have to tell her eventually. To business.
‘So what do you have for us, Mr Waghorn?’
Mike Waghorn and Pauline have joined them in the Jigsaw Room. Pauline is topping up Mike’s glass.
‘Just something I remembered,’ says Mike. ‘Someone was sending Bethany notes. Locker-room stuff, really, probably not important.
‘Bullying.’
‘I can’t stand a bully,’ says Ron.
‘And did you find out who sent them?’ asks Ibrahim.
‘No. Bethany just laughed them off,’ says Mike. ‘She sent me a few messages about them, but we never got to the bottom of it.’
‘Do you still have her messages?’ Elizabeth asks.
‘Of course,’ says Mike. ‘I’ll always keep her messages.’
‘I should think so too,’ says Joyce. ‘Gerry once had a letter in the Radio Times, and I’ve always kept it.’
Mike is scrolling through his phone.
‘It was about Cagney & Lacey,’ says Joyce. ‘Which wasn’t like him at all.’
Mike has found Bethany’s messages. ‘Another note today, skipper. Slipped into my bag. “If you don’t leave, I’ll make you leave.” It was always that sort of thing: “Get out. Everybody hates you.” Playground stuff, but you never know. And it was something I didn’t think to tell the police at the time.’
‘Could it have been Fiona Clemence?’ asks Joyce. ‘I do hope not.’
‘Pauline, any idea?’ asks Elizabeth.
‘Don’t even remember the notes,’ says Pauline.
Joyce puts her hand on Mike’s arm. ‘More wine, Mike?’