The Coffin Club by Jacqueline Sutherland

Author:Jacqueline Sutherland [Sutherland, Jacqueline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780861542833
Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Ginny was definitely thinner next time I saw her.

“Hospital food seems to agree with you,” I said.

“Yuk,” she said with a laugh. “No, I’m on a different type of diet. It’s called ‘get skinny in forty stressful days’.”

Her kitchen counter was spattered in various animal mixtures, dog food and cat kibble, as well as some concoction for the hedgehogs and a dead mouse for the owl. I opened the biscuits I’d brought with me and tried not to cringe as she took one out with her cat-food fingers and crammed it straight into her mouth.

“I’ll do the tea,” I said, rinsing out the cups first and picking teabags out of the tin. It was one thing she never ran out of. I think she lived on caffeine. By the time the kettle had boiled, she’d wolfed down two-thirds of the biscuits and the animal feeds were all made up.

She swept some papers further along the counter to make room for her cuppa, pushing a load of red bills with teacup rings on them my way.

I sat tentatively on the front of the chair, avoiding a rather dodgy stain that looked like it might be something to do with the cat.

“All well in paradise?” Ginny asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. Instead she grabbed a letter from the pile and waved it at me. “Can you believe this?”

I could see the council logo and enough of the wording to see it was a formal communication, which quoted a reference number and started with an indented; Re: our prior communication. My heart sank. She was in trouble again. She passed it to me with a choice of words that started in mother and ended in fucker. The letter ordered the immediate removal of the beehives, following numerous complaints from nearby residents.

“Seems my bees are a bit on the feisty side,” she said. “I guess that’s what you get if you have a territorial strain.” She sniffed.

I read the letter through. “It gives you a date – they’re coming to check you’ve got rid of them. Two weeks’ time.”

“They can come and check,” she said with a grin, “they won’t find them, but I’m not getting rid of them. They’re making me so much honey, they’re bringing in the cash.”

“Ginny,” I warned, looking at the letter again. “You can be fined. £2,000.”

“Ha! They can try. But I haven’t even got the money for the mortgage this month, so they’ll have to join the queue.” She saw my shock and waved it away. “Anyway, they won’t find them. We’ll move them into the back paddock, right next to the hedge.”

I was glad that she’d moved away from the money, but noticed the “we” and inwardly my stomach tensed. I’ve never liked breaking rules, you know that. I couldn’t even take the toiletries out of the posh hotels we used to stay in. Not even when they smelled like heaven.

“Bring over lover boy – it won’t take long.”

I shook my head, thinking about Nico’s fear of anything that buzzed due to his allergy.

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