Scandal at Six (Lois Meade Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

with the opportunity to take out the animals at night? But that still didn’t solve the question of how she would have got into the storeroom, or why. Apart from Josie’s unlocked doors, of course!
    She picked up her fluffy slippers, worn summer and winter, and put them into the bag. Whatever happened, Matthew would be there, and she would be safe. And if it helped Josie to feel more at ease in the shop, then it was worth a try, wasn’t it?
    “Mum? Are you ready? I’ll give you a hand with your bag. Josie’ll be in the shop, and we can go straight up to the flat.” Lois stood at the foot of the stairs, calling up to her mother in a brisk voice. She wasn’t fooled by Gran. It was a big step for her to take, and she was bound to be a bit apprehensive.
    “Here I am, ready and willing,” said Gran, appearing with a smile. “You can take this holdall, and then I’ve got one or two things to put in a plastic bag. We can be back here by midday, ready for me to prepare lunch.”
    “So when are you going to do this big spring-cleaning job? Why don’t we have lunch first, and then I can come down with you and we’ll make up the bed and clean up together?”
    Gran came down the stairs slowly, and handed her bag to Lois. “I’d prefer to go now, leave my stuff and see what’s to be done to make the flat habitable, then come back here, cook lunch and take cleaning things down this afternoon. That’s what I intended.”
    “Right,” said Lois. She felt oddly bereft. It was like seeing someone off on a train, and she added that she would go with her mother to take her bag, and then put some dusters and polish and other stuff in her van, and they would go down again together after lunch. “If that’s what you want, Mum?” she asked.
    “No need for you to come now,” Gran replied. “That bag’s not heavy, and Josie will open up the flat for me. I shall have a look round and then come back more or less straightaway. If you insist, then we’ll go together this afternoon.”
    *
    Gran arrived back in a short time, saying that Josie was busy, and they had decided she should wait until this afternoon to go up to the flat. Now she was beating eggs as if they had deeply offended her, preparing a mammoth omelette for lunch.
    “Lots of dusters and Vim,” she shouted to Lois, who was in the small scullery, where she stored all the equipment needed for the New Brooms cleaners. She was collecting up items that Gran thought they would need. “I expect we’ll find mice nesting in the bath and spiders galore. Just as well I’m not scared of creepy crawlies,” she added.
    By the time they drove down to the shop, laden with enough cleaning materials to shine up the entire village, most of the trade had gone, and Josie was sitting on the top step in the sun, waiting for them to arrive.
    “I thought Gran would like to go up first, just to get used to the stairs an’ that, and we’ll make a start. I can help between customers. It’s usually pretty quiet until the school bus gets in. Then it’s like a madhouse for ten minutes or so, then peace until closing time.”
    With Gran leading the way, they climbed the stairs, and with the key Josie had handed to her, she unlocked the door. It creaked loudly, and she had to push it firmly to open it. “There’s something the other side,” she said. “I can’t move it no further.”
    “Let me have a go,” said Lois. “It’s probably a bit damp.” She pushed as hard as she could, and the door began to move.
    “Heave-ho, my hearties!” said Gran, adding her weight to Lois’s final push. They half stumbled into the room, and Josie followed. She turned to look back to see what had blocked their efforts, and froze. Then she screamed, and ran swiftly out and down the stairs into the back garden.
    “What on earth is she doing?” said Lois.
    “Look,” said Gran. “Look behind the door.”
    It was a very large grey rat, and its tail was trapped under the half-open door. If rats