Free 7 A Tasteful Crime by Cecilia Peartree

into the treacle tin?’ said Eric in an irritatingly wheedling voice.
    ‘No,’ said Jemima. ‘No tasting until this afternoon.’
    ‘Aw,’ said Eric, and put on a sad clown face.
    He literally put it on, taking a mask from behind his back and holding it up in front of him. Amaryllis didn’t see how this programme could possibly be saved from disaster, but Jan had suddenly started to giggle, and even Charlie was smiling.
    ‘This is great,’ said Jan. ‘ It’s just like being at the panto all over again.’
    Deirdre and Oscar appeared on the screen again, still sitting at the desk in Christopher’s office.
    ‘Now tell me, Eric,’ said Oscar. ‘What has Jemima decided to name her cake?’
    ‘She says she’ll call it the Doodlebug Surprise,’ said Eric, looking serious.
    ‘Is that Doodlebug after the infamous whistling bombs of the Second World War, Eric?’
    ‘I think so, Deirdre.’
    ‘So do you think it’ll whistle when it’s ready?’ said Deirdre, looking surprised to hear herself say this – as well she might, thought Amaryllis.
    ‘No, but she’ll whistle for first place!’ said Eric, and almost bent double laughing.
    The next moment he had grated potato and courgette mixture in his hair.
    ‘Sorry,’ said Jemima, moving into shot. ‘My hand slipped... By the way, my recipe is called Pink Parfait Surprise. You must have misheard, Eric.’
    There was a brief glimpse of Eric shaking his head frantically and then they switched back to Deirdre and Oscar.
    ‘Well, it’s all good, clean fun,’ said Oscar.
    ‘I’m not sure that Eric will see it like that, Oscar,’ said Deirdre sweetly. ‘Eric, are you ready to move on and see how Penelope’s getting on?’
    ‘I’ve got a fast car waiting, Deirdre,’ said Eric, making a commendably swift recovery. He appeared on the screen for a moment, drying his hair off with what looked like Jemima’s I Love Pitkirtly tea-towel – a limited edition creation Amaryllis had ordered for her the previous Christmas. Eric was honoured to be allowed to use it.
    ‘That’s good, Eric,’ said Oscar. He turned back to face the front again. ‘While Eric’s making his way to the next venue, we have some exclusive footage of the children preparing to start the Five a Day procession through the town centre.’
    ‘We apologise that the giant apple will not appear as advertised,’ said Deirdre crossly. ‘It appears to have run out of petrol after being misused by certain people who shall remain nameless.’
    ‘We’ll be looking for these people to be prosecuted with the full force of the law,’ said Oscar, glaring.
    ‘Whoops,’ said Amaryllis. ‘Oh, well, at least I’ve done some good today.’
    She felt happier suddenly. Being in trouble with the authorities suited her temperament much better than watching from the sidelines as people made idiots of themselves. She could see that Jan was quite different from her in this respect.
    ‘It’s a lot better than I thought it would be,’ said Jan.
    Amaryllis thought that was a bit of an exaggeration. Well, a huge exaggeration. She wasn’t sure what Charlie Smith thought. He was still smiling as he washed and dried the coffee mugs. Did his smile have anything to do with Jan’s summer dress and the neckline that was cut so low that parts of her that in Amaryllis’s opinion should have remained discreetly hidden were practically resting on the bar in front of her? She had always thought of Charlie as an asexual creature – no, to be more accurate, she hadn’t even thought of this aspect of him at all – but she supposed that under his shy and sometimes forbidding façade he had the same drives as most other men.
    She didn’t approve or disapprove of this. But she had a feeling he could do better than Jan from the wool-shop if he really put his mind to it.
     
    Chapter 10 Jock and the kitchen table
     
    Jock felt a bit left-out when he had to abandon Jemima’s kitchen because it was almost time for the