Read Online A Village Deception (Turnham Malpas 15) by Rebecca Shaw - Free Book Online

accused. It must have happened while they were distracted or away from the till. There was no way that someone could have pinched it if either Tom or Bel had been standing there, using it.
    By nine o’clock, the two of them had been round with their lists. Obviously the lists overlapped each other, because Jimbohadn’t asked them who they’d served, just who’d been in. After reassuring the two of them again that they were definitely not on the suspect list, Jimbo suggested that they went home with a photocopy of their own list just in case, on reflection, they remembered someone they’d not put down. Jimbo and Harriet went through them after they’d left.
    ‘They were busy, weren’t they?’ Harriet observed. ‘This boy here is from the foster home on the Culworth Road, isn’t he? Mustn’t jump to conclusions though, must we? It’s not fair.’
    ‘Put a faint cross beside his name. Anyone else, do you think?’
    ‘Not a single one, they’re all honest.’
    ‘In that case, someone has been in then and they’re not on the list. Someone’s been in, drawn either Tom or Bel away from the till with a query, and they’ve not bought anything … or … No, that wouldn’t matter because I asked them who’d been in. God, I’m getting all mixed up. They’d have to have been at the till to get hold of the tin.’
    Fran had been reading so she was only half listening all the time they’d been talking. ‘It could be someone who came in for a special order and either Tom or Bel would need to go in the back to get it for them. Mightn’t it?’
    ‘Of course. That could be it. Good thinking, Fran.’ Harriet got up to give her a kiss. ‘That might very well be it. I’m getting a drink. Whisky, Jimbo?’
    He nodded, lost in thought.
    ‘Fran? What would you like to drink?’
    ‘That elderflower thing, please.’
    Jimbo rang both Tom and Bel and asked if someone had come in for a special order, but he got no further with that line of enquiry and had to go to bed with the problem unsolved.
    In the middle of the night, Jimbo had a flash of insight and said out loud, ‘It must have been last thing before we closed, otherwise Tom or Bel would have realised that the money had gonethe moment they opened the tin when they sold a ticket. That’s the mistake we made, thinking it could have been anyone, right from me leaving to going back in at locking-up time. The net is closing in.’
    Jimbo grinned and promptly fell asleep.
    But as the days passed the thief was never found, despite Jimbo’s herculean efforts with his subtle enquiries and keeping a careful eye out for someone spending more money than normal, or someone coming in and looking shifty. It was all to no avail though, and Jimbo had to stump up for the missing money. The whole episode left a bitter taste in his mouth and his hitherto untainted belief in the basic honesty of everyone who came in his store was left decidedly dented. But life goes on, he thought, and made himself look forward to the recital.
    Fortunately, it was a beautiful evening and because every ticket had been sold, it meant one hundred bottoms on seats, much to Jimbo’s delight. A programme had been given to them all as they arrived, and no one gave it more attention than Paddy Cleary. He’d got there in good time and was sitting in the front pew, alive with excitement, oblivious to the people filling up the seats. So much so that he hadn’t even noticed Caroline and Peter sharing his pew.
    Tamsin came in looking utterly superb, wearing her degree gown over a full-length emerald green dress. Tamsin’s dress and her flaming red hair made Paddy’s heart leap. His face lit up and he longed to catch her eye but knew he musn’t, in case he disturbed her concentration.
    When her first magical notes flared triumphantly round the church, Paddy trembled with passion. Caroline felt the trembling and, glancing carefully sideways, she saw his face aglow with love. Oh! Poor Paddy, he had got it