BEYOND THE PALE: a page-turning 1940s murder mystery full of twists (Della Arthur Investigates Book 2) by Gwen Parrott

Author:Gwen Parrott [Parrott, Gwen]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: british crime fiction, female detectives, historical crime fiction, 1940s murder mystery, crime fiction, british murder mysteries, welsh murder mysteries
Publisher: Wyndham Crime
Published: 2017-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Della was still muttering frustratedly under her breath as she turned the corner back to the Manse the following morning after having been in the phone box. She didn’t care about missing the beginning of Nest’s meeting, even though she’d been out for over half an hour. All her carefully constructed arguments in favour of sending Gareth back to Nant-yr-Eithin had fallen on deaf ears. Huw already knew about the fight and her anger had no effect whatsoever on him. As long as Gareth continued to follow the instructions in those damn notes, the boy could starve and suffer as far as he was concerned. She stopped when she saw that a taxi had pulled up by the gate to the Manse. Who else could have arrived now, for goodness sake?

Dragging several bags after her, Dora climbed slowly out of the vehicle. She was paying the driver by the time Della reached her.

‘Can I give you a hand?’ asked Della.

‘Thank you!’ said Dora, in a fluster, searching her purse. ‘I thought I had more change than this. Oh dear!’

‘How much do you need?’

‘Only a sixpenny bit as a tip.’

Luckily, Della had one and gave it to her. Nest had seen them from the living room and was hurrying down the path towards them.

‘Dora, my dear!’ she said, ‘How are you? I didn’t thought we’d see you here today. Come into the house, so that you can have a cup of tea or a cold drink before the others arrive.’

Della went to the kitchen to fetch the glass of cold water that Dora had asked for. She heard Olwen answering the front door to some people and by the time she carried the water into the living room, the expected group had sat down. Dora was fanning herself with a pretty fan that looked Japanese in origin, and Mrs Lloyd was admiring it.

‘This belonged to my mother,’ explained Dora. ‘I’d completely forgotten about it, among everything else that’s cluttering up the drawers, but it’s so handy in this heat.’

‘We want a huge one of those in the bakehouse,’ said Mrs Lloyd. ‘Perhaps we could hang it from the roof.’

‘You’ll need a punka-wallah to work it, mind,’ added Richard. ‘Like they’ve got in India. Some man who sits in the corner with a string round his big toe giving the fan a tug to keep it going.’ He saw that the women were looking curiously at him. ‘They’ve got a wallah for everything in India.’

‘Bring them all here!’ said Mrs Lloyd. ‘I could find work for half a dozen.’

Nobody wanted to discuss their grief that morning. Actually, it seemed that all those present were determined to keep the atmosphere of the meeting light and happy. Della supposed that it was down to embarrassment. She caught Olwen’s eye once as Mrs Lloyd described her comic difficulties in getting rid of a mouse that had invaded the pantry at one point. That lady stared back at her expressionlessly, which was an unmistakable sign that she was thinking the same thing.

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