Operation Moonlight by Louise Morrish

Author:Louise Morrish [Morrish, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781529157208
Publisher: Cornerstone

Frederick Shepherd 1916–1988

Beloved husband and father

Farewell

Tali gasps. Is this Betty’s late husband’s grave? It’s a little unnerving to discover he died the same year she was born.

She kneels in the muddy grass next to the headstone and tries to pull some of the foliage away. But it’s too tough and she hasn’t any gloves or cutters, and she soon gives up. She’ll come back another time with some secateurs and a trowel and tidy the grave up a bit. Then maybe she could bring Madame Betty to visit?

Back at the house, she’s relieved to find that Leo has gone out. Betty is napping in her armchair, the cryptic crossword partially completed on her lap. It’s not quite time for lunch, so Tali decides to tidy Betty’s bedroom upstairs. As soon as Betty can manage the stairs, she will want to return to her room.

Tosca follows Tali up, lying in the bedroom doorway with his head on his paws. Tali is grateful for the dog’s company. The disconcerting scent of Leo’s aftershave permeates the air up here, as though he’s lurking somewhere close by, and it puts her on edge.

Betty’s bedroom still smells faintly and reassuringly of her: a blend of Chanel No. 5 perfume and lavender talcum powder. Tali scans the room. The bed needs remaking, the carpet needs a hoover, and the antique dressing table could do with a tidy. Its three spotted mirrors reflect Tali in triplicate, and she grimaces at the heft of her hips, the bulge of her waist. She sucks in her belly, but can’t hold her breath for more than a few seconds, and lets it all sag again.

She picks up Betty’s silver-backed hairbrush, its soft bristles tangled with fine white hairs. Next to the brush is a powder compact, and an expensive-looking gold lipstick Tali’s never seen before. She’ll take them down to Betty; she’ll want to be presentable for the club.

*

The taxi drops them outside the community centre, and Tali instructs the driver to return at half past three. She helps Betty into her wheelchair, taking deep breaths in a vain effort to suppress her anxiety. If Jo is here, how will she react?

‘What’s the matter?’ Betty asks, sharp blue eyes missing nothing. ‘What’s the panic?’

‘Je vais bien,’ Tali lies, wheeling Betty inside.

The members of the Century Society are all at work on their projects, and Tali immediately spots Jo helping Violet with her box, but she doesn’t look up.

‘Ah, Betty, you made it,’ Abeo greets them. ‘Come, there is space here next to Margaret.’

Juliana, Margaret’s assistant, is daubing pungent varnish all over the lid of Margaret’s unadorned box. Margaret herself appears to be dozing in her wheelchair.

‘She had a bad night,’ Juliana whispers to Tali. ‘No sleep.’ Juliana looks exhausted herself, wan-faced and baggy-eyed, but she smiles cheerfully as she downs her brush and helps Betty settle at the table.

Tali glances across to Jo, busy cutting a photograph from a magazine. Jo looks up, her cheeks flushing as her eyes meet Tali’s.

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