Free False Picture by Veronica Heley

‘Hallo?’
    Bea froze.
    Into the dimness of the corridor came a girl who could only be Charlotte, the ugly duckling. She had a fringe of dark hair which hugged her cheeks, dark glasses, and was wearing a black suit which was all the wrong shape for her. There was a hectic flush on podgy cheeks, and she was talking in a squeaky voice.
    â€˜Are you there, Maggie? They’re driving me mad at work and if one more person asks me for change for the photocopier, I’ll kill them!’ She caught sight of Bea, and stopped short. ‘So you’re the new cleaner, are you? You understand you’re only here on a week’s trial?’
    Bea tried for a downtrodden employee’s tone of voice. ‘Yes, of course. I think the hoover’s broken.’
    Would Maggie appear, wearing rubber gloves and stinking of disinfectant? That would give the game away with a vengeance.
    Maggie appeared, sans gloves, sniffing. ‘Do hurry up, Mrs Thing, or you won’t have time to tackle the sitting room.’ She turned to Charlotte. ‘I’m afraid she’s the best I can do for the moment. I may be able to get someone who works a bit faster in a day or two, but … you know how it is with staff. You simply can’t get the best when you need it.’
    Bea felt herself blush. How could Maggie! Though, to be fair, the girl had taken the right line.
    Charlotte ignored Bea to talk to Maggie. ‘I thought I’d better pop back in my lunch hour to see how she was getting on. You won’t let her keep the keys, will you?’
    â€˜Certainly not,’ said Maggie. ‘They always forget the keys if you let them keep them, and then where are you?’
    â€˜Exactly.’ Charlotte put her head round the sitting-room door. ‘Not done in here yet? Oh well. Perhaps you can manage to work a little faster next time. Three hours today and three on Monday, right?’
    Bea opened her mouth to reply, but the girl had already turned back to Maggie. ‘Are you free tonight? Liam’s working late, so I wondered if you fancied a little something down the road first? Then we could go on to the party at ten. Have you got someone special you’d like to invite? Oh, I forgot. You’re still getting over your ex, aren’t you? Well, there’ll be plenty of talent there tonight.’
    â€˜Suits me,’ said Maggie. ‘I have to get back to work in a minute. Half six here?’
    At that moment Philip’s mobile phone rang in Bea’s pocket. Bea didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t possibly answer it in front of Charlotte.
    â€˜Oh, really!’ said the ugly duckling. ‘Personal calls during work time … and I expect she took a good half-hour off to have a coffee.’
    Bea muttered, ‘Sorry!’ and sidled into the nearest room, which happened to be the sitting room. She pulled the phone out, and muted the sound. Another message had been left on it. She wondered how often it had been ringing in Philip’s absence.
    â€˜What are we going to do about locking up when she’s finished?’ Charlotte followed Bea into the sitting room, but addressed her words to Maggie. Bea pretended she hadn’t heard, and busied herself collecting discarded takeaway dishes. Charlotte continued, ‘I don’t like leaving her here on her own, but I really must get back.’
    â€˜Besides which,’ said Maggie, ‘she won’t be able to lock the front door here if she hasn’t got a key, though I suppose we could get Randolph to come up and see to it. No, tell you what, I’ll come down with you now, and pop back up to the office, see what’s happening there. Then I can come back in an hour, lock up and see her out.’
    â€˜You’re a star, Maggie,’ said Charlotte, her footsteps fading down the corridor. The front door opened and shut behind the pair of them.
    Bea was alone in the flat, except for several bluebottles