Free A Pinch of Snuff by Reginald Hill Page B

steaming jug and two French coffee cups the size of small basins.
    'I expect you've heard the sad news about Mr Haggard,' said Pascoe as she poured the coffee with steady hand.
    'Yes. Devastating. Poor Alice was really knocked out. She's gone to bed with what she calls a fit of the vapours.'
    'I'm sorry to hear it.'
    'She'll recover. I'm a tougher old bird, but I must admit I was a bit shaken. What's the news? Are you hot on the trail? The killers, I mean.'
    'Killers?'
    'Yes. Probably a gang, I'd say. Out for kicks. Gilbert wasn't all that old, but old enough to be fragile. Stupid kids. They all know how incredibly rich old folk must be but not how incredibly brittle old bones are.'
    'We're working very hard at it,' said Pascoe. 'Do you mind if we talk about Mr Haggard?'
    'I'll stop you if I do.'
    Pascoe stood up and wandered over to the window.
    'Did you consider yourself a friend of Mr Haggard's?' he asked.
    'I think so,' said Miss Andover.
    'You'd known him . . . how long?'
    'Since he came here.Since he started his school.'
    'Let me see. Twelve years? Thirteen? What did you think when the school closed and the Calliope Club opened, Miss Andover?'
    'No business of mine.'
    'Most people would consider such a major change next door their business. Sergeant Wield seemed to think a few tit-bits for your cats kept you sweet. You know; two dotty old women. I can't see it myself.'
    Miss Andover now rose also.
    'Young man,’ she said in ringing tones. 'I am not accustomed to being insulted in my own home. The Lord Lieutenant of the county has been entertained in this house and his Chief Constable with him. We are not yet without influence and authority.'
    Pascoe grinned widely at her.
    'That sounds like something you picked up from Miss Alice,' he said.
    For a moment she tried to stare him down, then the old lady grinned too and picked up a packet of Park Drive from the mantelshelf.
    'Smoke?' she said. 'No? Very wise. They can't harm me, though. Not at my age. I'm seventy-six, Mr Pascoe, and Alice is seventy-three. We bruise and break more easily than of old, but that apart, what can possibly harm people of our age? When Gilbert came and told us the school was closing down for financial reasons, we were distressed. Put me out of work for one thing! I had a few hundred to spare in the Funds and I went as far as offering to invest these with him, but he refused. I should have realized no one goes bust for want of a few hundred, but he spoke to me as if I had offered a fortune. Well, that's the sort of man he is. Was.
    'For a while it looked as if he might have to sell the house. That did cause us some concern, not because of what it might become, for, as I say, how could offices or even bed-sitters bring any harm to us? No, we were concerned at the thought of losing a kind and considerate neighbour.
    'So when Gilbert told us he was thinking of starting a Club, what could we be but overjoyed?'
    'You knew about the Club before it was given the go-ahead?' interrupted Pascoe.
    'Of course.'
    'And you didn't pass this information on to your neighbours in the Square?'
    'Certainly not!' she said indignantly. 'I do not break confidences so easily.'
    'Did Mr Haggard tell you what kind of Club it would be? I mean, the kind of entertainment that would be shown?'
    She puffed out a jet of smoke and laughed.
    'I was brought up in a world deficient in many ways, Mr Pascoe, but in this at least it got things right. It recognized that men must have their pleasures and, as long as scandal was avoided, it let them get on with them. Alas, it did not accord the same tolerance to women.'
    'I should have thought Mr Haggard's Club scandalized many people, Miss Andover.'
    'You do not know the meaning of the word!' she said scornfully. 'How can you have scandal in an age which has abolished responsibility?'
    'So, you had no objection to Mr Haggard's proposals?'
    'None. Men have always had their whores and these were only on celluloid. Indeed, as I have said,