The Mysterious Miss Mayhew Read Online Free PDF Page B

Planet of the Apes . But one night he’d checked on her in bed and it was still in, so he’d confiscated it. Cue a run of fretful evenings. Which is when he realised it was a more grown-up version of the yellow cot blanket with the silky edging that she worried between finger and thumb when going off to sleep. They’d brokered a truce which allowed her to mess about with it while he read a story and then it had to go on the bedside table next to the lumps of plasticine and the photo of Steph.
    When it appeared at other times, he knew something was up. And that something usually involved Steph. A phone call promised that didn’t come. Another parcel of stuff that didn’t fit Hattie’s body or her character. Sometimes it would also be popped in after she’d talked to Steph, even if the call had appeared to be a good one. Those times he made a point of going back over the old mantra: ‘Mummy loves you very much, it’s just that Mummy and Dad don’t love each other any more. And because Mummy has to work and travel, she wouldn’t be able to look after you. Dad can. Mummy sees you whenever she’s able to and she’s always thinking about you.’
    At those moments he thought how funny it was that you told your children not to lie, and yet from the word go youdid it – even if it was only to preserve their belief in something they thought was magical. Was he any different to all those parents who chose not to say ‘It’s your dad, a little pissed, who puts the presents in your stocking on Christmas Eve’?
    Gummy back in the bag, they were off along the lane, and when he wasn’t concentrating on where he was heading, he was looking at Hattie in the rear-view mirror as she tucked into a breakfast that would have sent Jamie Oliver ballistic.
    ‘Gorgeous day,’ he said, ‘you’re going to need that sun hat.’ She pulled a face, having a natural aversion to hats unless they were pirate ones.
    He slowed down at the speed camera and checked his watch. On time and back as Dad in Control. Past the farm on the left, take the tight corner, just this long stretch with trees either side before the descent into Lowheatherington. Easy peasy.
    ‘Dad, I really, really need a wee.’
    Nooooo .
    He looked at her in the mirror.
    ‘Can’t it wait? We’re only a few minutes from school.’
    She was pressing her lips together and shook her head. He had ignored a look like that once before and had to have the car valeted. Steam wash, top of the range.
    ‘You didn’t go before we came out?’ It was the kind of stupid question parents asked where it made no difference what the reply was. Her bladder was full now .
    ‘I didn’t think we had time,’ she said, adding guilt on to the newly resurrected panic.
    Pull on to the verge. Get out of the car. Help her out. She was hopping around, with a look that screamed ‘Don’t take too long, I won’t be able to hold it in’. He yanked some tissues out of the box on the back seat and gave them to her.
    They looked at the verge, the traffic going by. No good. He grabbed her hand and she did a little running limp that made him feel even worse about hustling her out of the house.
    They headed for the small track leading down to fields and the river.
    ‘Here we are,’ he said, trying to jolly up the situation. ‘That’s it, that’s right.’
    They stopped just round the corner. ‘This do?’ he asked doubtfully. She shook her head and he agreed. ‘What about this?’ he said, pointing to the red-brick bungalow, empty and stuck on the market for months. They ran towards the gate. Yup, good overgrown garden and a hedge that came up to his chin. ‘Nip in there, Hats. I’ll stay right here. Find a flat bit and take off your shoes and socks so, you know, you don’t splash them.’
    He looked back up the track. He hoped the car was all right parked on the verge.
    ‘OK, Hats?’ he shouted and got back a relieved-sounding ‘Yes.’
    Dealing with Hattie’s full bladder had set up a