Free Murder My Neighbour by Veronica Heley Page B

I’m not letting them settle on me like a crowd of blowflies.”’
    Vera was enjoying this, squaring her elbows on the table. ‘She promised him she’d go on looking after them, but they did get her down sometimes. She was his second wife, see. His first wife spoiled the children rotten and then ran off with a tennis player or football coach or something when his children were nineteen, twenty, maybe more. They’d never lifted a finger for themselves and spent money left, right and centre. The old man was subbing young Terry now and then, too. That’s the one that come round with the turkey, remember?
    â€˜Then he, that’s Mr Pryce, met our Flavia, who’d been doing all right for herself in a little boutique over in Maidenhead and they hit it off straight away. That’s when Mr Pryce told his family that the good times were over; his children were to move out and fend for themselves, and there’d be no more handouts to Terry, either. They were furious, thought he ought to bankroll them all their lives, what a hoot!’
    Ellie was both amused and appalled. ‘They were old enough to earn their own living, I suppose. What did they do?’
    â€˜Oh, Mr Pryce’s bark was worse than his bite. He helped them set up in business, and if they fell behind with the rent or couldn’t pay the gas bill, he bailed them out. She, Mrs Pryce, carried on doing that all these years since. Apart from Terry-with-the-rings, there was a son and a daughter called Edwina. Now let me see; Pet, what was that she said about Edwina’s wedding-that-wasn’t?’
    â€˜Had a baby without bothering to get married, didn’t she?’
    â€˜I remember now, it was broken off because there wasn’t the money her fiancé imagined there ought to be, marrying into the Pryces, if you see what I mean. Anyway, when he went off and left Edwina with her little girl, the old man bought her a small flat and a partnership in a gift shop where she worked part-time for years—’
    â€˜Which Madam said was really beneath her dignity but they appreciated her style; or so she said, silly cow. That is, until it went bust last year some time and she started hanging around Mrs Pryce again with her hand out: give me more, give me more. Enough to make you sick.’
    Vera nodded. ‘Mr Pryce refused to stump up for private school fees for Edwina’s child, even if she was his granddaughter. He said it wouldn’t have done any good, as the girl wasn’t that bright, and it would have given her a false idea of her expectations. I thought at the time it was rather hard, but maybe Mr Pryce was right, seeing how she turned out.’
    â€˜Lazy slut,’ said Pet. ‘If I’d had her opportunities . . .’
    Vera was following another train of thought. ‘Mrs Pryce put herself out if she thought it would do any good, though. When his schoolteacher told me my Mikey would do better in the private system, Mrs Pryce helped me get him to the right doctor, and it wasn’t what the school said it was, but something that can be treated and on the whole he’s doing all right in the primary school down the road and that’s thanks to her, as I told her, the last time I saw her.’
    Ellie asked, ‘May I enquire if Mikey’s father . . . ?’
    Vera shook her head, making her earrings swing. ‘A no good boy. My own fault. I drank too much at an end of term party and passed out. A boy I’d fancied had been there, and I’d hoped . . . Stupid of me. It was his friend that done it, and he didn’t want to know. End of.’
    Ellie thought it better not to follow that up. ‘So, the Pryce daughter – Edwina? – that had the daughter, is she retired?’
    Pet said, ‘Shouldn’t we be getting on with the cleaning, now?’
    â€˜No, no,’ said Ellie. ‘I’m interested. Go on.’
    Vera