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Authors: Joyce Cato
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sighed deeply. Did the Greers actually intend to invite any friends to this party of theirs?
The atmosphere in the kitchen as Martha, Jenny, Chase and the almost monosyllabic Mrs Williams dined on Martha’s delicious steak and kidney pie was hardly conducive to good digestion.
‘Wonderful pie, Martha,’ Chase said and helped himself to some more mashed potato.
‘Thank you,’ Martha said smugly, and gave Jenny a telling look. A discreet electronic buzzer sounded, puzzling Jenny for a moment, before Martha jumped up and retrieved a piping-hot jam roly-poly from the oven, and she realized that it indicated a summons from the dining room.
‘I do so like your flower arrangements, Mrs Williams,’ Jenny said, deciding that if you couldn’t beat ’em, you might just as well join ’em. ‘It’s becoming rare nowadays to find somebody who knows how to handle flowers.’
Daphne Williams gave her a dead-eyed look, and forced a smile. It managed to make Jenny feel both sad and scared at the same time.
‘I daresay you’ll be busy soon, Chase, with all the weekend visitors arriving?’ Jenny ploughed on, and rose a questioning eyebrow in the butler’s direction.
‘Indeed,’ Chase said flatly, and reached for an extra pat of butter. Martha returned, and when everyone was finished, retrieved a second roly-poly pudding from the oven and cut out pieces – Jenny, to nobody’s surprise, receiving the last and smallest piece.
‘I daresay you were discussing the menu earlier then?’ Martha said at last, her own cook’s curiosity demanding satisfaction.
‘Yes,’ Jenny said, and spread out her pudding to allow the jam to cool off. Both Chase and Martha glowered at her silence. Two, after all, could play at that game. Jenny smiled sweetly, and began to eat her pudding.
‘Well, I don’t think we should be having a party at all,’ Martha sniffed, now in a right old hump. ‘This thing about poor Jimmy has right upset me, it really has. The police are all over the place. It’s like being in an episode of Crimewatch . And they’ve been on to poor Justin, just because he told Jimmy off that time. And it wasn’t as if he didn’t deserve it.’ Martha was in full spate now. ‘I heard Justin found him poking about in his room one time. I know that mother of his always said he was going to be a newspaper man, but if you asked me, he just liked knowing other people’s business!’
Chase coughed discreetly and directed a telling look in Jenny’s direction. Martha flushed guiltily.
‘I understand Miss Greer has hired an army of waiters and waitresses for Saturday night,’ Mrs Williams said, obligingly changing the subject and at the same time uttering the longest sentence Jenny had ever heard her say. She glanced at the older woman, surprised that she had even been taking notice. She’d seemed so distracted before.
Now, however, two spots of colour had miraculously appeared in her cheeks and her eyes were glittering. But Jenny could have sworn that it was anger that animated her.
‘Hmm. They’ll be needed, I expect,’ Martha said crisply. ‘All this fuss.’ She gathered the empty plates together and then stacked them in the sink before running the hot-water tap and squeezing in a dash of soapy detergent. She plunged her arms in without a second thought. Evidently, she didn’t believe in dishwashers, or else the Greers would have coughed up for one long ago, Jenny surmised. And the absent Vera was obviously a morning-only helper.
When Jenny appeared at her side, washing-up cloth in hand, Martha almost gaped at her. Jenny took a plate from her unresisting fingers and began to rub, vigorously. Unclean crockery was an anathema to her, as it was to all good cooks.
Martha sniffed but began to frown uneasily, and Jenny sympathized. It was disconcerting, when you’d got a good hate going, to have your foundations for dislike given a hearty wallop.
The clearing away done, Jenny left, intending to go to her
The atmosphere in the kitchen as Martha, Jenny, Chase and the almost monosyllabic Mrs Williams dined on Martha’s delicious steak and kidney pie was hardly conducive to good digestion.
‘Wonderful pie, Martha,’ Chase said and helped himself to some more mashed potato.
‘Thank you,’ Martha said smugly, and gave Jenny a telling look. A discreet electronic buzzer sounded, puzzling Jenny for a moment, before Martha jumped up and retrieved a piping-hot jam roly-poly from the oven, and she realized that it indicated a summons from the dining room.
‘I do so like your flower arrangements, Mrs Williams,’ Jenny said, deciding that if you couldn’t beat ’em, you might just as well join ’em. ‘It’s becoming rare nowadays to find somebody who knows how to handle flowers.’
Daphne Williams gave her a dead-eyed look, and forced a smile. It managed to make Jenny feel both sad and scared at the same time.
‘I daresay you’ll be busy soon, Chase, with all the weekend visitors arriving?’ Jenny ploughed on, and rose a questioning eyebrow in the butler’s direction.
‘Indeed,’ Chase said flatly, and reached for an extra pat of butter. Martha returned, and when everyone was finished, retrieved a second roly-poly pudding from the oven and cut out pieces – Jenny, to nobody’s surprise, receiving the last and smallest piece.
‘I daresay you were discussing the menu earlier then?’ Martha said at last, her own cook’s curiosity demanding satisfaction.
‘Yes,’ Jenny said, and spread out her pudding to allow the jam to cool off. Both Chase and Martha glowered at her silence. Two, after all, could play at that game. Jenny smiled sweetly, and began to eat her pudding.
‘Well, I don’t think we should be having a party at all,’ Martha sniffed, now in a right old hump. ‘This thing about poor Jimmy has right upset me, it really has. The police are all over the place. It’s like being in an episode of Crimewatch . And they’ve been on to poor Justin, just because he told Jimmy off that time. And it wasn’t as if he didn’t deserve it.’ Martha was in full spate now. ‘I heard Justin found him poking about in his room one time. I know that mother of his always said he was going to be a newspaper man, but if you asked me, he just liked knowing other people’s business!’
Chase coughed discreetly and directed a telling look in Jenny’s direction. Martha flushed guiltily.
‘I understand Miss Greer has hired an army of waiters and waitresses for Saturday night,’ Mrs Williams said, obligingly changing the subject and at the same time uttering the longest sentence Jenny had ever heard her say. She glanced at the older woman, surprised that she had even been taking notice. She’d seemed so distracted before.
Now, however, two spots of colour had miraculously appeared in her cheeks and her eyes were glittering. But Jenny could have sworn that it was anger that animated her.
‘Hmm. They’ll be needed, I expect,’ Martha said crisply. ‘All this fuss.’ She gathered the empty plates together and then stacked them in the sink before running the hot-water tap and squeezing in a dash of soapy detergent. She plunged her arms in without a second thought. Evidently, she didn’t believe in dishwashers, or else the Greers would have coughed up for one long ago, Jenny surmised. And the absent Vera was obviously a morning-only helper.
When Jenny appeared at her side, washing-up cloth in hand, Martha almost gaped at her. Jenny took a plate from her unresisting fingers and began to rub, vigorously. Unclean crockery was an anathema to her, as it was to all good cooks.
Martha sniffed but began to frown uneasily, and Jenny sympathized. It was disconcerting, when you’d got a good hate going, to have your foundations for dislike given a hearty wallop.
The clearing away done, Jenny left, intending to go to her
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