Five Dead Canaries Read Online Free PDF

that?’
    ‘Things sort of come up.’
    ‘What sort of things?’
    ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Alice with a weary smile. ‘One minute I find a reason to change the date; next minute it’s Joe’s turn. It’s a question of finding a time when both our families can be there. My stipulation is clear. I’m not getting married unless Paul is back home from France.’
    Ellen pulled a face. ‘Well, that’s in the lap of the gods.’
    ‘This war can’t go on forever.’
    ‘How many times have we both said that?’
    ‘Then, of course, there’s Joe’s family. They have commitments.’
    ‘You didn’t really take to them, did you?’
    ‘It wasn’t that,’ said Alice, remembering her visit to the Midlands. ‘I just never got to know them. When Joe told me that his father was an undertaker, I thought that he’d relax when he was off duty but he couldn’t, somehow. It was the same with Mrs Keedy – she chisels the names into the headstones so is very much part of the business. She and her husband are both grim.’
    ‘Maybe they’ll improve with a drink inside them.’
    Alice grinned. ‘No chance of that – they’re both teetotal.’
    ‘I can see why Joe didn’t stay in the family trade. He was born to enjoy life.’ She put her hand on her daughter’s arm. ‘I’m
so
glad that this has happened, I really am. Your father may be against it now but he’ll mellow in time. He loves Joe. He just doesn’t like the idea of having him as a son-in-law.’
    ‘Would he rather that we just lived together?’
    ‘Heaven forbid!’
    ‘I was only joking, Mummy.’
    ‘Well, for goodness’ sake, don’t joke about it in front of your father. He’s very sensitive on that subject at the moment. Working with Joe always used to be a real joy for him. Now there are definite tensions between them.’

    When he finally got back to the Golden Goose, Keedy found Marmion deep in conversation with a uniformed inspector who kept nodding in agreement. The crowd had drifted away now and the area was cordoned off with ropes. Two constables were on duty to ensure that nobody triedto loot the pub or poke about in the rubble. One of them chased away a dog that tried to urinate over the inn sign that had been knocked off its iron bar by the force of the blast. The golden goose looked outraged at the sudden change in its fortunes. Marmion excused himself and came over to Keedy.
    ‘You were gone a long time, Joe,’ he observed.
    ‘I know,’ replied the other. ‘After I’d talked to Maureen Quinn, I went over to the factory. They gave me the number of Mr Kennett, the works manager, and let me phone him at his home. He was knocked sideways by the news, Harv. He knew who Florrie Duncan was. She must have been a real character to stand out from the thousands of other women employed there.’
    ‘Was this Maureen Quinn the sixth guest at the party?’
    ‘Yes, she was still at the hospital when I got there.’
    ‘How would you describe her?’
    ‘She’s a very pretty girl but – not surprisingly – stunned by what happened.’
    ‘What did you learn from her?’
    ‘Lots,’ said Keedy, taking out his notebook.
    After moving into the spill of light from a nearby lamp post, he translated his scrawl into a terse account. Marmion was relieved to hear that all five victims now had names. Since four of them lived in Hayes itself, he delegated the task of informing their next of kin to the local police, who’d locate the addresses far more easily. Thankful to learn the identities of the dead women, the uniformed inspector said that he would pass on the bad news in person to each of the respective families.
    ‘We’ll go to Agnes Collier’s address,’ said Marmion. ‘She lives some distance away.’
    ‘Her mother will be there, looking after her grandson. She’s aMrs Radcliffe. I hope she’s got a husband or some good friends,’ said Keedy. ‘She’ll need someone to help her get through this.’
    ‘Yes, the birthday party has