A Dreadful Past Read Online Free PDF

blue.’
    â€˜It is for that reason,’ Ventnor added, ‘that fast-food restaurants are red on the outside but yellow on the inside … the red invites you in but the yellow drives you out once they have your money.’
    â€˜And that is also the reason,’ Middleton further explained, ‘why you see yellow fire engines in the United States. The Americans are very clever in that way. The colour of the fire engine reinforces the signals given out by the flashing lights and the klaxon, whereas the traditional red gives off a mixed message to the motorists. Car drivers will get out of the way of a yellow fire engine marginally quicker than they would for a red engine, but the marginal quickness of many cars adds up to a significant time saving over a journey measured in miles, and when time is of the essence that is particularly useful. Possibly even life-saving.’
    â€˜How very interesting.’ Carmen Pharoah nodded. ‘Thank you. I never knew that. It is very interesting indeed.’
    â€˜Father painted the inside of the fence green so our eyes would not be assaulted by the yellow when we viewed the boundary fence from the house,’ Middleton carried on, ‘and we belt and braced the effect of the yellow paint by painting signs which read Beware of Adders in black on the outside of the fence at twenty-foot intervals, even though it is a trifle cold for adders up here in Yorkshire. They really belong in the gentler climes of the southern counties, but it seemed to have done the trick and in our childhood Sara and I had a vast adventure playground to ourselves and our friends.’
    â€˜A good memory to have,’ Ventnor commented, ‘as you said.’
    â€˜Yes … Father could be a bit of a disciplinarian – he had quite a heavy hand – but he was a criminal lawyer and saw so many young people often come before the court, he believed, because of “loose parenting”, as he was wont to call it. But he provided very well for his family. He could not be faulted in that respect.’
    â€˜So … the burglary and the murder of your parents and sister took place at night, we believe?’ Ventnor quietly but efficiently brought the discussion back on track. ‘Is that the case, sir?’
    â€˜Yes … yes, it is the case.’ Middleton nodded. ‘I recall that the grandfather clock which stood in the hall near the front door was found to have been knocked over in the mêlée and the face was broken with the hands being stopped at ten twenty p.m., or about that time. The post-mortem found recently consumed food in the stomach of each of my parents and sister, and a pile of unwashed but soaking dishes in the sink. It was the family habit to eat at about nine p.m. and it was mother’s practice to leave unwashed dishes soaking overnight rather than do the washing up immediately after the meal. She explained that because of this practice the washing up was more than half done when she washed the dishes the following morning. It was not so much the plates or the knives and forks which benefitted from being soaked overnight, perhaps, but more the cooking utensils which could be baked hard with carbon. So what was discovered by the police was all in keeping with the family routine. Father liked to be in bed by eleven p.m., most especially if he was working the next day, and he liked to have the whole household retired by midnight. So nothing at all unusual there.’
    â€˜What was stolen?’ Ventnor asked.
    â€˜Items of high value and low bulk … I told the police all this twenty years ago. In the main really it was just the Wedgwood vase which was a bit bulky and fragile but they were probably not interested in it as such, otherwise they would have taken the rest.’
    â€˜The rest?’ Carmen Pharoah queried.
    â€˜Mother was really so proud of her collection of Wedgwood china,’ Middleton explained. ‘The bulk of