Read Online Death in High Heels by Christianna Brand - Free Book Online
Authors: Christianna Brand
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well, you see, the truth is, Inspector, that I didn’t want my daughter to go to the shop this morning so I rang up and told Miss Gregory that she was not well.”
“Isn’t she ill at all, then?”
“Oh, Inspector, you won’t say anything to Mr. Bevan, will you? Judy will be so cross with me if you do. The girls aren’t very busy there just now, it being August and so forth, and I really didn’t think it would matter for once if she didn’t go; I ought to explain to you perhaps, Inspector, that my daughter doesn’t really need to work; she likes to have a job and be what she imagines is independent, but it isn’t as if it mattered very much to her, and I’m afraid, when anything else crops up—well, I do feel that she can take a day off if she wants to.…”
“And what cropped up to-day, Mrs. Carol, if you’ll forgive my asking?”
She looked at him from beneath lowered lashes, and then said, laughing, that what had cropped up was a young man. “He used to be a great friend of my daughter’s,” she explained, “and now he’s turned up again. She—she happened to ring him up last night, and as it was too late for him to call round then, he came along first thing this morning. He’s a very great friend, Inspector, and though Judy was quite prepared to go off to work after she’d had a few words with him, I really couldn’t bear that, and I took it upon myself to ring Miss Gregory. Judy was quite horrified at first, but she soon reconciled herself to the deception!” She laughed again.
“Is your daughter in? Can I see her now?”
“Yes, of course, if you won’t be cross with her about the not being well part of it. I’ll tell her to come in here to you.” She went off beaming.
Judy was Sergeant Bedd’s favourite all through the case. He liked her frank, round face with its halo of deep-gold hair, her downright speech and her general air of health and cheerfulness. “Gimme a bit of a figger, sir,” he would argue when Charlesworth raved about the ethereal charms of Victoria. “That Miss Judy’s the one I like, a nice, straightforward English girl, comes from the North I shouldn’t wonder… Yorkshire or something like that.”
Judy shook hands with them both in her pleasant way: “I’m sorry to have dragged you round here. I ought to have gone to the shop but Mummy rang up and told Gregory some tarradiddles about me, so I thought I might as well stay at home.”
“You were there yesterday?”
“Oh, yes. Yes, I was.” She looked at them a little anxiously.
Once more Charlesworth outlined his mission. “You weren’t concerned in bringing this oxalic acid into the shop, were you?”
“Well, no, I wasn’t,” said Judy, almost as though she would have liked to own up that she had been. “I went and talked to the girls while they were cleaning a hat with it, but I didn’t actually have any of it.”
“I believe that at lunch-time you went downstairs and helped to serve out the vegetables on to the different plates; is that so?”
“Yes, Inspector, I did, though I don’t see what—well, anyway, I did do a few plates, because Rachel, Mrs. Gay, that is, was talking to Cissie, and we wanted to get on with our lunch.”
“Were you very friendly with Miss Doon?”
“Good lord, no, I loathed her,” said Judy, with a sort of cheerful abandon that was quite a relief after the guarded answers so many of the others had given. “I didn’t see anything of her outside the shop, of course, and I never had anything to do with her while I was there, if I could possibly help it.”
“Your staying away to-day had nothing to do with her death?”
“No, how could it?”
“It’s rather a coincidence, isn’t it?”
“Well, it isn’t at all, actually. You see, last night, when Doon was so ill I thought—I thought a friend of hers ought to know, so I rang him up and told him about it in case he might want to go to the hospital or anything, especially as the doctor had made it
“Isn’t she ill at all, then?”
“Oh, Inspector, you won’t say anything to Mr. Bevan, will you? Judy will be so cross with me if you do. The girls aren’t very busy there just now, it being August and so forth, and I really didn’t think it would matter for once if she didn’t go; I ought to explain to you perhaps, Inspector, that my daughter doesn’t really need to work; she likes to have a job and be what she imagines is independent, but it isn’t as if it mattered very much to her, and I’m afraid, when anything else crops up—well, I do feel that she can take a day off if she wants to.…”
“And what cropped up to-day, Mrs. Carol, if you’ll forgive my asking?”
She looked at him from beneath lowered lashes, and then said, laughing, that what had cropped up was a young man. “He used to be a great friend of my daughter’s,” she explained, “and now he’s turned up again. She—she happened to ring him up last night, and as it was too late for him to call round then, he came along first thing this morning. He’s a very great friend, Inspector, and though Judy was quite prepared to go off to work after she’d had a few words with him, I really couldn’t bear that, and I took it upon myself to ring Miss Gregory. Judy was quite horrified at first, but she soon reconciled herself to the deception!” She laughed again.
“Is your daughter in? Can I see her now?”
“Yes, of course, if you won’t be cross with her about the not being well part of it. I’ll tell her to come in here to you.” She went off beaming.
Judy was Sergeant Bedd’s favourite all through the case. He liked her frank, round face with its halo of deep-gold hair, her downright speech and her general air of health and cheerfulness. “Gimme a bit of a figger, sir,” he would argue when Charlesworth raved about the ethereal charms of Victoria. “That Miss Judy’s the one I like, a nice, straightforward English girl, comes from the North I shouldn’t wonder… Yorkshire or something like that.”
Judy shook hands with them both in her pleasant way: “I’m sorry to have dragged you round here. I ought to have gone to the shop but Mummy rang up and told Gregory some tarradiddles about me, so I thought I might as well stay at home.”
“You were there yesterday?”
“Oh, yes. Yes, I was.” She looked at them a little anxiously.
Once more Charlesworth outlined his mission. “You weren’t concerned in bringing this oxalic acid into the shop, were you?”
“Well, no, I wasn’t,” said Judy, almost as though she would have liked to own up that she had been. “I went and talked to the girls while they were cleaning a hat with it, but I didn’t actually have any of it.”
“I believe that at lunch-time you went downstairs and helped to serve out the vegetables on to the different plates; is that so?”
“Yes, Inspector, I did, though I don’t see what—well, anyway, I did do a few plates, because Rachel, Mrs. Gay, that is, was talking to Cissie, and we wanted to get on with our lunch.”
“Were you very friendly with Miss Doon?”
“Good lord, no, I loathed her,” said Judy, with a sort of cheerful abandon that was quite a relief after the guarded answers so many of the others had given. “I didn’t see anything of her outside the shop, of course, and I never had anything to do with her while I was there, if I could possibly help it.”
“Your staying away to-day had nothing to do with her death?”
“No, how could it?”
“It’s rather a coincidence, isn’t it?”
“Well, it isn’t at all, actually. You see, last night, when Doon was so ill I thought—I thought a friend of hers ought to know, so I rang him up and told him about it in case he might want to go to the hospital or anything, especially as the doctor had made it
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