Jackson Brodie 03: When Will There Be Good News (1987) by Kate Atkinson

Author:Kate Atkinson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 1987-07-02T06:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

Reggie Chase, Girl Detective

‘I thought I could take the dog for a walk.’

‘The dog?’

‘Sadie.’

Mr Hunter sounded hoarse. He hadn’t shaved and looked tired. (He’s like a bear in the morning. ) He smelt of the cigarettes that he was supposed to have given up ‘ages ago’.The kitchen was already a mess. It seemed he was going to keep her hovering on the doorstep rather than invite her in. Reggie caught sight of a half-empty bottle of whisky on the counter. ‘Bachelor’s rules apply,’ he said. He gave a little laugh, ‘When the cat’s away the dog will play’Two empty mugs sat on the big kitchen table, one of them had a smear of lipstick on the rim, pale coral, not Dr Hunter’s colour. Did that come under Mr Hunter’s bachelor rules too?

‘Seeing as Dr Hunter usually takes Sadie for her walk,’ Reggie said, ‘I thought I could do it for you while she’s visiting her aunt. Aunt Agnes.’

Mr Hunter rubbed the stubble on his face as if he was having trouble remembering who Reggie was. Sadie had no such problem, appearing at Mr Hunter’s side, wagging her tail at the sight of Reggie, although in a more subdued way than usual.

‘Have you spoken to Dr Hunter since she left on Wednesday night?’

‘Yes, of course I have.’

‘How did you speak to her?’

‘How?’ Mr Hunter frowned. ‘On the phone of course.’

‘Her phone?’

‘Yes. Her phone.’

‘Only I’ve been phoning Dr Hunter, on her phone, and get no answer.’

‘I expect she’s very busy.’

‘With the aunt?’

‘Yes, the aunt.’

‘Aunt Agnes? In Hawes?’

‘Yes and yes. I have spoken to her, Reggie. She’s fine. She doesn’t want to be bothered.’

‘Bothered?’

‘What did you do to your head?’ Mr Hunter asked, changing the subject. ‘You look worse than I feel.’ Reggie gingerly felt the bruise on her forehead where she had hit it in the shower.

‘Wasn’t looking where I was going,’ she said.

Sadie whined impatiently, she had heard the word ‘walk’ several sentences ago and still nothing had happened.

‘You probably don’t have time to take Sadie out,’ Reggie said. ‘You having a lot of things to do and everything.’ Mr Hunter looked down at the dog as if it was going to answer for him and then shrugged and said, ‘Aye, right, fine, OK then. ‘Which seemed like a lot of words for ‘yes’, even for a Weegie.

‘Can I have a phone number for Dr Hunter’s aunt?’

‘No.’

‘Why not?’ Reggie asked.

‘Because her aunt needs peace and quiet.’

‘Can I leave my bag?’

‘Bag?’ Mr Hunter echoed as if he couldn’t see the enormous Topshop bag that Reggie had lugged all the way over here. She had taken the bus to the town centre and bled her Topshop account. She had fled the flat in Gorgie with what she stood up in (Ms MacDonald’s clothes, unfortunately) and she wasn’t going back for any of her stuff that was lying in a dodgy-smelling heap in her room.

In fact she wasn’t going back to that flat for anything. She just wished that her books and A Level coursework had been left undefiled.

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