Dead Heading by Catherine Aird

Author:Catherine Aird [Aird, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9781250041135
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2013-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Mandy Lamb was usually able to cajole Jack Haines back into his usual good humour but not this morning. Even a continuous infusion of coffee did nothing to raise his spirits. Her employer still sat, listless and preoccupied, at his desk.

‘Russ came in earlier looking for you,’ reported Mandy.

Jack Haines sighed. ‘I’d better see him then.’ He pushed a desk diary aside. ‘Mandy, you haven’t seen Norman about lately, have you?’

‘Not for yonks, Jack, thank goodness.’ She pulled a face. ‘He’s not your most lovable character.’

‘Margot was fond of him,’ said the nurseryman.

‘She was his mother,’ pointed out Mandy Lamb.

‘He couldn’t do anything wrong as far as she was concerned,’ sighed Jack Haines. ‘Everything was all right until she died.’

‘That’s mothers for you,’ said Mandy Lamb who was still single and childless.

‘And I reckon I treated him well enough until he got greedy,’ murmured Haines, almost to himself. ‘Really greedy.’

‘You treated him very well,’ she said emphatically. She paused and then added, ‘Better than he treated you.’

‘Stepchildren usually have chips on their shoulders,’ he said. ‘Goes with the territory, I suppose.’ He sipped at the latest mug of coffee, braced his shoulders and said, ‘I suppose I’d better get back to business. What does Anthony Berra want now?’

Mandy scrabbled about among the papers on her desk. ‘I’ve got his list somewhere here. Ah, got it!’ She handed over the sheet of paper to him. ‘He’s on his way over now.’

‘I suppose in view of what’s happened we’d better pull out all the stops for him.’ Jack Haines scrutinised the paper she had given him.

Mandy said, ‘He’s still got that hacking cough. He doesn’t look all that well. I hope he’s looking after himself.’

‘I think we can do most of these,’ said Jack, still looking at the list.

‘If not,’ she said mischievously, ‘we could always ask Bob Steele if he could send us some of them.’

‘Over my dead body,’ he growled, his face turning an apoplectic shade of crimson. ‘I’m not going down on my bended knee to that man for anything. Anything at all. Is that understood?’

‘Yes, Jack,’ she said sedulously, turning back to her own desk. ‘But according to Russ the man’s happy enough to come to you for almost anything.’

‘That’s as maybe,’ he said enigmatically. ‘And mind what you say about Bob Steele in front of Russ. I’m not happy about him either.’

They were interrupted by the arrival of Anthony Berra. ‘I hear the admiral’s ordered just what he wants as usual,’ he said ruefully.

‘He has,’ said Haines, adding peaceably, ‘He’s old, of course.’

‘And difficult,’ sighed Berra.

‘Handling him must be good practice for your dealing with the Bishop, Anthony,’ said Mandy Lamb briskly. ‘I hear your future father-in-law is no pushover.’

‘That’s nothing – you haven’t met his wife,’ groaned Berra. ‘I call her Mrs Proudie behind her back. Terror of the diocese from all accounts. By the way, Jack, I’ve just come from the Berebury Garden Centre and Bob Steele said again he was sorry to hear about your troubles and if there was anything he could do, to let him know.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.