A Lesser Evil by Lesley Pearse

Author:Lesley Pearse
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: General, Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing
Published: 2005-03-19T10:00:00+00:00

Chapter twelve

Fifi was singing along with ‘She Loves You’, a new release from the Beatles, on the radio as she changed the sheets on the bed. It was an awkward job with a plastered arm, and when she heard the front-door bell ring she ignored it, thinking it was for Frank. But when it rang long and hard again, she dropped the blankets and went downstairs.

She was feeling happier today than she’d felt for a very long time. Part of it was due to some fantastic lovemaking last night. But that had only come about because after the miserable Saturday with both Miss Diamond and Yvette telling her what was wrong with her, she had decided to try to modify her behaviour.

On Sunday afternoon she and Dan had gone to Hyde Park for a walk, and she didn’t mention Dale Street or the murder once. Out in the sunshine in a place she associated with the happy times when they first came to London, it was easy to be her old self. Dan seemed relaxed and happier too, and they looked out an Evening Standard and sat on the grass ringing round each of the flat-letting agencies that seemed to have plenty of flats on their books.

In the evening they went to see The Day of the Triffids at Leicester Square and when they got home Fifi was too scared to go downstairs alone to use the lavatory, so Dan had to go with her. That made them both laugh until they were almost crying, and from then on things had got better and better.

She’d spent all day Monday and Tuesday going to register at flat agencies, and most of them had seemed quite hopeful, particularly if she and Dan were prepared to move a few miles further out of central London.

But the main thing which was making Fifi feel happy was that the following day the plaster cast was coming off. On Monday, in five days’ time, she could return to work. She had an appointment later on that day to have her hair done, and she thought she’d make a special meal tomorrow night to celebrate.

The bell rang a third time as she reached the last flight of stairs.

‘All right, I’m coming,’ she called out. She hoped it wasn’t the police again; now that she had begun to try to put all that business behind her, she didn’t want anyone bringing it up again.

She opened the door and to her astonishment there stood her mother, wearing a pink two-piece. Fifi was so surprised she was rendered speechless.

‘Well, say something,’ Clara said. ‘“Come in” would be nice.’

‘I’m sorry, I’m just so taken aback,’ Fifi said, almost stammering with shock. ‘What are you doing in London?’

‘Your father had to go and see someone at King’s College, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to come and visit you.’

Ever since they moved into Dale Street, a surprise visit from her parents had always been Fifi’s greatest fear. While she felt some

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