Death on the Carousel: A twisty amateur sleuth murder mystery by Hilary Pugh

Author:Hilary Pugh [Pugh, Hilary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Housemouse Press
Published: 2023-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

15

A clumsy bit of tree felling at the edge of Shady Willows had damaged part of the flagstone path between two of the chalets. Not massive damage but enough to trip up a resident who was a bit wobbly on their feet. Most of them were spry and energetic, and also fiercely independent. It would be more than Ivo’s life was worth, not to mention his job, if he suggested they weren’t. But there were one or two with poor eyesight or joint problems, and the last thing Ivo wanted was for them trip and fall on one of the cracked paving stones and need medical treatment. He knew they all lived in fear of being carted off to hospital simply because of their age, and not being able to get out again. There had been a lot in the newspapers and online about bed blocking because of a shortage of the kind of staff who could arrange help for them. The elderly were written off as a problem that no one had a solution to and it made them furious. It also made Ivo angry. His residents were friends and perfectly capable of making up their own minds about what they needed. Why were they treated like children? The least he could do was ensure that the paths were even and safe to walk on by everyone, and that included the sons, daughters and grandchildren who visited.

Having checked the on-site shed and made a list of what was needed, Ivo and Harold set off on one of their regular trips to a builders’ merchant on the Slough trading estate. Once there, he loaded up the van with two bags of cement, some stone slabs and a wire brush. He signed an invoice that would be sent to the owners of the site, Ivo not being expected to shell out for materials. Which was just as well, bearing in mind how little they paid him. But he couldn’t and didn’t complain. Why would he? He had free accommodation on the banks of the river. He and Harold were the lucky ones.

It was early afternoon and there was plenty of daylight left to complete his work on the path. He’d left it with a warning sign and blocked it with some planks balanced on milk crates. There was not much danger of anyone tripping over it and it would take an hour at most to repair it. Plenty of time to drive to the block of flats that had been Badger Waites’ home.

The trading estate wasn’t known for its eye-catching beauty. It was functional and boring. But compared to the depressing part of town Badger had inhabited, it was a haven of good design. It was clean with wide roads and grass verges. The street Ivo drove down to reach the block of flats Badger had lived in was shabby, run down and dirty. A terrace of nineteen-twenties shops and houses that hadn’t seen a lick of paint, or even a bucket of soapy water and a mop, for years.

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