Free Lois Meade 14 - Suspicion at Seven by Ann Purser Page A

and I were together the whole time from then on until I saw . . . well, until I saw Donald and screamed.”
    At this point, she slumped in her chair and closed her eyes, desperately trying to keep calm.
    “Very well, Mrs. Black. That will be all for now. Do you plan to go back home today? I shall need to see you again, I’m afraid, as our enquiries proceed, but so long as you let us know if you are going away, that will be fine.”
    “Oh, I shall not be able to go away, Inspector. I have to get back to the bakery today. In fact, very soon. The bread won’t wait for me, I’m afraid. The shop will be shut today, but open again tomorrow.”
    She almost smiled, and then walked calmly out of the office and back to the kitchen. “The inspector would like to see you now, Gran, if that’s convenient,” she said.
    “Huh, or if it’s not, I expect. Right, here goes. Help yourself to anything you fancy, Aurora. Shan’t be long.”
    Lois made another cup of tea, and she and Aurora sat at the table in silence for a minute or two. Then Lois drew a deep breath and asked Aurora if she could think of any reason why Donald should have fallen into the water and been taken along by the flow across the wheel.
    “Or was he pushed?” Aurora answered with a grim face. “I am sure that’s what the police are thinking. Cowgill almost said it, but then skirted round it. And of course I’ve been thinking it myself. But he had no enemies, Lois. Always kind and charming to everybody. His cheerful personality was not put on, and it worked wonders in the jewellery parties. Only once have I known him to lose his temper with me, and that was when he shouted at you on the telephone! He apologised profusely afterwards.”
    “Was it something you said? I hope you don’t think I’m prying, but my head is full of questions, as is yours, I’m sure.”
    “I can’t really remember, but I think it was something to do with one of his colleagues. I thought he was trying to cheat Donald, but he wouldn’t listen. He was very loyal to his staff. And that day he had a headache. I should have shut up!”
    “Well, don’t worry now. It’ll turn out to have been a tragic accident, I am sure. Now, I am taking you back to the bakery, and I’ll stay in case you feel wobbly.”
    “Thanks, Lois. You are such a good friend. Thanks for everything.”
    *   *   *
    Lois was not pretending when she said her head was full of questions, and some of them related to the previous death in the Mill House Hotel, including the woman who was found strangled with her own necklace. Donald Black had denied all likely connection with his jewellery business, though she had a collection in her bag.
    When confronted with a photograph of the woman, he had said that he had never seen her before, and that she could have been one of the sellers recruited by someone else. Lois saw again the redhead under the potted palm. Was he being blackmailed by the murdered woman’s friend? Or was it a romantic assignation? Or only a genuine business meeting, and the redhead one of his own recruits?
    “The bread is proving now, Lois, and there is nothing more for us to do. Why don’t you go off home, and then if you don’t mind, we could talk on the telephone this evening. I expect it will all come flooding back—oh God!
Flooding!
Why does everything seem so watery this morning?”
    She was in tears again, but sniffed them back and leaned forward to kiss Lois’s cheek. “Off you go now. Safe journey home.”
    *   *   *
    What a brave woman! Lois put her van into gear and drove slowly away, seeing in her driving mirror that Aurora was still watching and waving. And she was so efficient, as she prepared the dough for the oven! All kneaded by a steady hand, as if being punished for having the effrontery to rise, sometimes overspilling the tins. Perhaps it was a good way of releasing tension? Gran was a great one for vigorous cleaning and polishing, and she would say there was