Every Woman for Herself Read Online Free PDF

Arrest the murderess!’ and then the street slowly sunk back into dark silence.
    I’d been wondering how I could break the news of the accident to Matt, but in the end I didn’t have to, because Angie did it for me.
    He phoned to inform me tersely that henceforth all communication would be through the solicitor, and then put the phone down.
    I suppose murdering his best friend
was
a pretty irreconcilable marital difference.
    Miss Grinch continued to be my comfort and guide throughout this nightmare. I didn’t know what I’d have done without her, which was a far cry from the way I felt about her before she became the star witness for the defence.
    She was now my bestest friend. Not so much a mother figure, as an acidulated spinster figure – everyone should have one, but they are a dying breed.
    Em would have come to stay for a few days, but Father’s latest mistress was still infesting the house.
    The housekeeping was, and always had been, Em’s preserve, and she wouldn’t stand interference, let alone a takeover bid. Outright war had been declared.
    Normally this would all have interested me extremely, especially since one of the combatants was occupying the hallowed ground of my bedroom, but now I moved through the days like an automaton. I signed everything the solicitor sent me; Matt, true to his word, having ceased personal contact.
    I’d be lucky if I even got the duck now.
    Miss Grinch, like Anne, urged me to get my own solicitor and a better deal, but so far as I could see there wasn’t anything but debts and an absent husband, and I didn’t want half of either of those.
    Anyway, I didn’t feel I deserved anything any more.
    All I could think of was that ghastly thud as the pan connected with Greg’s head, and I was tortured with wondering whether I could have prevented it: I mean, when I hit him, I
wanted
to hit him – so was it really an accident? Was there a moment when I could have diverted the fatal downward swing?
    I didn’t think so, but I wasn’t sure. And I
felt
like a murderess – I
had
killed someone.
    Miss Grinch didn’t understand that. She said God would look into my heart and judge me, but I was afraid He already had. He just hadn’t told me the outcome.
    We had had several people round to view the house, though I didn’t know how many were simply motivated by the thrill of blood. Miss Grinch had been conducting the sightseeing tours with a brisk efficiency reminiscent of Anne and Em. Perhaps that was why I liked her so much.
    She had also helped me pack up most of the house contents, and soon everything except a few necessities had gone to auction. I didn’t keep a lot – I felt a certain revulsion at the things that reminded me of Matt (and through him, Greg), which most things did. Anything unsaleable had gone to the nearest charity shop, or in the bin.
    I sent a small van of things to Em to store for me: the driver was cheap, but he certainly wasn’t willing, especially when it came to my plants. He said he had hay fever and wouldn’t take
any
of them, so I would just have to fit as many of them as I could into my 2CV when I moved, with the roof open, even though it was pretty cold to be transporting tropical foliage. I gave a lot of the smaller ones to Miss Grinch, who was delighted, so at least they’d gone to a good home.
    Eventually there was just me, Flossie, and a few vital odds and ends left. Like the survivors of a shipwreck, we were marooned until after the inquest.
    Angie had made banshee late-night appearances twice more on my doorstep, but been removed much faster than the first time.
    I had been buying head-sized melons.
    Skint Old Gardening Tips, No. 1
    Always keep margarine tubs of compost on your windowsills, and whenever you eat fruit, push the pips or stones in. Water daily, and eventually
something
will come up. The novelty of this method is that you won’t have the faintest idea what it is.
    Even in my numb state – which by then seemed part of me,