Free A Sweet Murder by Gillian Larkin Page B

day off. You’ve done more than
your fair share this week,” Frankie said.
    “ Are
you sure?” Grace replied.
    “ Why
do you always say that? If I wasn’t sure then I wouldn’t say it.
Now clear off, I’ve worked in here before on my own.”
    An idea popped
into Grace’s head. She grabbed her coat and handbag before Frankie
changed his mind. He might think he was okay but his eyes were
already starting to droop.
    Grace caught two
buses over to Flamingo Head Office. It was a huge building standing
behind wrought iron gates. Grace knew that the factory was also
situated here. The gates were open and Grace walked through trying
to look more confident than she felt. She was still planning to use
the same lie to speak to Vincent, she was going to add that she was
‘just passing’ and thought she’d drop in. If she kept her voice
steady she might pull it off.
    Grace headed
towards a pair of glass doors that were labelled ‘Reception’. With
her head held high she opened the doors and walked in.
    Then her
composure completely fell away. Grace’s mouth dropped open as she
stared at the scene that met her. Huge replicas of Flamingo sweets
hung from the ceiling like tantalising mobiles. And if that wasn’t
temptation enough the aroma of sugar, strawberries, bananas and
liquorice wafted through the air. Grace quickly closed her mouth to
stop any dribble escaping. She had been so busy at the shop that
she hadn’t had time to think about sweets and, now, here she was,
in the middle of a delicious dream.
    “ It’s quite something, isn’t it?” a male voice behind her
said.
    Grace could only
nod. Imagine if that was actually a real strawberry marshmallow,
you could live inside it for a week and then eat yourself
out.
    The man said,
“Are you here for the tour? I think it’s going to start
soon.”
    Grace turned to
look at him. He was dressed in a business suit and was holding a
brochure with the Flamingo Sweets logo on it. She said, “I’m here
to talk to Vincent Flamingo, about vending machines.”
    “ Good luck with that. I’ve heard that he’s not speaking to
anyone at the moment, he’s locked away in his office all the time.
I assume you’ve heard the rumours?”
    “ No,
what rumours?”
    The man looked
to his left and right, and then moved closer to Grace. In a low
voice he said, “It seems someone on the inside has been fiddling
the books, charging customers more than they should be
doing.”
    Grace’s mouth
made a surprised ‘O’. Lucinda and Jamie? Is that what they were up
to?
    The suited man
continued, “That’s not all, there’s been some mention of illegal
activity, I’m not sure what. Someone mentioned drugs but I’m not
sure. Why don’t you join the tour? There’s going to be free
samples.”
    Grace didn’t
hesitate in her reply, “I think I will.”
     

Chapter 20
     
    A very loud,
very bright young woman suddenly appeared. She was wearing an
orange dress that had patterned cuffs, the pattern showed a variety
of sweets. The scarf tied gracefully around her neck was of the
same pattern.
    “ Good afternoon!” the woman called out. “My name is Suzie and
I’m going to be your guide today! If you have any questions please
feel free to ask me! Also, don’t forget to help yourself to as many
sweets as you can carry! Don’t worry, we ...” Suzie frowned and
looked down at the clipboard she was carrying. She nodded and
looked back up at the small crowd. “Don’t worry, we won’t weigh you
on the way out! Are we ready to begin? Great, let’s go!”
    Suited Man, who
was standing next to Grace said, “Looks like she’s had a sugar
overload already.”
    Grace just
smiled and joined the end of the group.
    “ This way!” Suzie instructed and walked to the left of the
reception desk. She abruptly stopped and looked at her clipboard
again. “No, sorry, it’s this way!”
    She performed an
about turn and headed down a corridor to the right side of the
desk.
    Grace felt as
giddy as a