Free Furious Old Women by Leo Bruce Page A

was, besides I could smell her breath. Oh, I thought, so you Like a Drop, too, do you? They forgot all about their differences after that.”
    â€œYou say Miss Vaillant kept her gin in a locked cupboard?”
    â€œYes. In her sitting-room. Only one bottle at a time. She’d rather have died than let anyone know about it. You know what she does with the empty bottles? It just shows you how cunning they are. There’s an old welloutside the backdoor. They say it’s ever so old and goes down no one knows how deep. She’d fill the empties with water so that they’d sink, then drop them down and no one was to know any different.”
    â€œHow did you come to be aware of it?”
    â€œI saw her one night when I’d gone back for something. She never knew I saw her.”
    â€œDid she stick to one brand of gin?”
    â€œYes. Horseley’s. You know the bottles? Kind of oval shaped.”
    â€œHow do you know that?”
    â€œWell, my nephew works over at Forster’s Stores in Burley.”
    â€œYou think she drank regularly?”
    â€œNo. I’m sure she didn’t. It was only about once a week. When she couldn’t resist it, I suppose. You know what secret drinkers are, don’t you?”
    â€œYou don’t think she was at all violent when she had been drinking?”
    â€œI know very well she was. I’ve come in in the morning more than once and found things broken which could only have been on purpose.”
    â€œAnd you don’t think her reconciliation with Miss Griggs went very deep?”
    â€œNo, I don’t. They’d been at one another’s throats too many years for that.”
    â€œHow do you suppose, then, that they came to talk intimately enough for Miss Vaillant even to suggest a drink?”
    â€œWell, when I took their tea in on Miss Griggs’s first visit, I heard something. Miss Griggs had just noticed the tube of Minerval tablets which Miss Vaillant had. They’re for sleeping, prescribed by Dr Pinton. ‘Oh’, she said, ‘Dr Pinton gives you these, does he?’ I make no doubt she took them, too. That may have set them talking.”
    Just then the back door opened and Rumble entered. If his wife had shown surprise when Carolus first appearedRumble was now dumbstruck at the scene which greeted him.
    â€œWhat are you gaping for?” asked his wife. “Never seen a gentleman drink a cup of tea before?”
    â€œNot in this kitchen, I haven’t,” said Rumble recovering himself.
    â€œWell, you’re seeing it now so take those filthy boots off and sit down and behave yourself.”
    Rumble gave his tolerant grin.
    â€œI don’t know how you managed it,” he said to Carolus.
    â€œNow don’t Start,” said Mrs Rumble. “Upon my soul I don’t wish anyone any harm but I can’t help thinking it’s a pity there’s not more Taken in this village. Rumble’s never happy unless he’s digging a grave.”
    â€œI thought he was always happy.”
    â€œThat’s just Appearances,” said Mrs Rumble. “He’s got to be out there measuring it up and getting it right or else he’s not fit to live with. I know. I’ve seen him looking round wondering who the next will be.”
    â€œAny ideas on the subject? “Carolus asked Rumble.
    Rumble smiled again.
    â€œIf I had, I shouldn’t say,” he replied.
    â€œI hope there’s not going to be any more,” announced Mrs Rumble. “One’s quite enough to upset us all.”
    When Carolus left she followed him to the door.
    â€œWhat do you think I ought to do about those galoshes?” she asked.
    â€œI think you should take them to the police and tell them where you found them.”
    â€œWho? Slatt?”
    â€œYes. He’s your local policeman. They may have some bearing on the case.”
    â€œYou think they were Miss Griggs’s,