The Shooting in the Shop Read Online Free PDF Page B

Christmas lunches. Should be packed out for
the whole of December, and what have I had? Bugger
all.’
    They looked around and saw his point. A few frail
Fethering pensioners had braved the cold weather totake advantage of the Crown and Anchor’s Midweek
Special deals. A small, thin woman sat in an alcove
nursing a pint of Guinness. Low winter sun through
the pub’s windows turned the long hair, cascading
down over a flowered smock, a golden colour, giving
her the image of a hippy chick from the Sixties. But
neither she nor any of the other customers looked as
if they were big spenders.
    ‘Is it still because of what happened in the
summer?’ Jude asked Ted tactfully. She was referring
to the time when the Crown and Anchor had been
invaded by Hell’s Angels and a murder had taken
place on the premises. The pub had nearly been
closed down and, although it subsequently emerged
that Ted Crisp had been the victim of criminal harassment,
memories in Fethering were long and adverse
publicity slow to dissipate.
    The landlord nodded assent. ‘Yeah, that’s it. Going
to take years to build up the business again. And now
with all this financial chaos going on, people are even
less inclined to come out and spend their money
down the pub. They’d rather sit at home with a pile of
half-price cans of supermarket lager.’
    ‘It’ll get better,’ said Jude.
    Carole picked up the baton of reassurance. ‘Of
course it will. You’ve still got Ed Pollack as your chef,
haven’t you?’
    ‘Yes, he seems happy to stay . . .’
    ‘That’s good news.’
    ‘. . . as long as I can afford to keep him on,’
Ted continued gloomily. ‘I sometimes worry abouthow long I’ll be able to keep Zosia on, too.’ He was
referring to his Polish bar manager, who had been
introduced to the Crown and Anchor by Jude.
    ‘Don’t be silly,’ Carole said. Then, looking around,
asked, ‘Where is Zosia, by the way?’
    ‘Got some Christmas drinks thing at the university.’
The girl was managing to fit a degree in
journalism around her work at the pub. ‘So I’m on
my own here today.’ He looked mournfully around
the bar. ‘Not that I’m exactly rushed off my feet.’
    ‘Ted, it’ll all be all right,’ said Jude soothingly.
‘This is a great pub. Ed’s a great chef. Word’ll soon
spread again about how good the food is at the Crown
and Anchor. By the summer you’ll have a waiting list
for tables.’
    ‘If I’m still here then.’
    When he was in this kind of mood Ted was not to
be comforted, so Carole and Jude thought their best
course of action was to order their lunch. He handed
menus across and stood with ballpoint pen and pad
poised. ‘Can’t tempt you to the full Christmas menu,
can I? It’s very good.’
    ‘I’m sure it is,’ said Carole, ‘but I’ll be doing all
that on Christmas Day.’ And she felt a little flurry of
excitement at the thought.
    ‘I might go for it,’ said Jude.
    ‘What, the full Christmas menu?’ asked her
astonished neighbour.
    ‘Why not? I like turkey and stuff – not to mention
turkey and stuff ing .’
    ‘But you can’t have all that before Christmas.’
    ‘’Ere, are you trying to restrict my trade?’ asked an
aggrieved Ted Crisp. ‘If the lady wants to order a full
Christmas menu, don’t go putting her off.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Ted,’ said Carole contritely. The teasing
element with which he usually made such remarks
seemed to be absent that day. The lack of business
really was getting to him.
    To compensate, Carole ordered a fillet steak, the
most expensive thing on the menu and, while Ted
took their orders through to Ed Pollack in the kitchen,
the two women moved to one of the pub’s alcove
tables. The thin woman with the Guinness seemed
to be giving them the once over. Closer to, she no
longer looked like a hippy chick. Out of the sunlight,
her flowing hair was grey and the contours of her
face were scored with wrinkles,