The Ghost Tree by M.R.C. Kasasian

Author:M.R.C. Kasasian [Kasasian, M. R. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: A Betty Church Mystery
ISBN: 9781788546423
Publisher: Head of Zeus

29

BEES, WASPS, HORNETS AND TALKING TO MANIACS

Brigsy and Dodo were engaged in their favourite occupation – drinking tea – with one of our least favourite people – Inspector Sharkey – when I went back to the front desk.

‘The pot is still hot,’ Brigsy declared, and Dodo went to fill my mug.

‘Not too much milk,’ I reminded her.

‘No, it is not too much, is it, Boss?’ she called back. ‘That is why I can give you plenty of it.’

Brigsy lit up his trusty old pipe.

‘Why don’t you use the briar that March Middleton bought you?’ I asked, and Brigsy looked more shocked than he had when I told him I didn’t know who Nevill ‘Nuts’ Cobbold, the England footballer from Suffolk, was.

‘Int right to use tha’ pipe ’cept on special occasion,’ Brigsy said, ‘and I never have none of them.’

‘But this is a very special occasion,’ Dodo enthused as the Shark came prowling through, ‘because most of our army has been saved to fight another day.’

‘Surrender another day,’ the Shark said scornfully. ‘Didn’t give the Germans much of a fight in France. Might as well sue for peace while we can.’

‘Never,’ Brigsy said fiercely. ‘We do have a setback, I grant you, but we rally. I know we do.’

‘With what?’ Sharkey challenged. ‘They left all their equipment when they fled in chaos.’

Brigsy’s normally corpse-like complexion was turning an alarming shade of mauve. Even his scraggy neck swelled almost enough to fill his collar.

‘Retreated,’ he insisted gruffly.

‘Turned tail and ran,’ Sharkey sneered. ‘They will never fight again.’

‘This is defeatism,’ I observed.

‘It’s realism,’ the Shark sneered.

‘Oh my goodness,’ Dodo cried, and dealt the inspector such a stinging slap that he reeled backwards.

‘What the—’

‘I am so very sorry, sir.’ Dodo crossed her fingers behind her back. ‘But I saw a wasp on your cheek and I was trying to kill it like this.’

Dodo’s hand went back.

‘Constable Chivers,’ I said urgently, and put up my arm. She might just get away with her life and career that once but – much as I would relish seeing it – nothing would save her if she did it again.

‘Tint no wasp,’ Brigsy mocked, and I gaped. It was not like him to betray Dodo in support of the man he called Old Scrapie. ‘It’s a bee, that viscous sort they said in the paper,’ he said, ‘a killer bee.’

‘I thought it was a hornet,’ I chipped in.

‘You don’t seriously—’ Sharkey snarled. ‘Where the hell is it now then?’

‘Fly out the window,’ Brigsy said, and I glanced over. Luckily it was open in a failed attempt to keep us cool.

The Shark clenched his jaw and his fists.

‘You, Chivers,’ he snarled, ‘are dead.’

Dodo gulped and put her hand to her chest.

‘Oh, but my heart is still beating, sir.’

‘Not for long,’ he threatened.

‘Anyway,’ Dodo said, unabashed, ‘you may be a senior officer, sir, but I will not listen to talk of surrender.’

‘I didn’t say anything about surrender,’ Sharkey argued, ‘I was talking about negotiation.’

‘You cannot negotiate with a maniac,’ Dodo insisted.

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