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gathered,’ Pollchuckled. ‘And I’m a pretty awful housekeeper so with all these extra people living here I knew I’d have to have some help with George so that his life stayed stable, and I wanted someone who would understand. Someone, like you, who wanted to change their lifestyle too.’
    ‘Well, I’m relieved that’s all it is. I’d imagined all sorts of things, but certainly not this…’ Ella looked across the table at Poll. ‘So, as well as Ash, you’ve invited Billy, er, Booker – a failed small businessman with kleptomaniac tendencies?’
    ‘Wrongly accused,’ Poll said stoutly, her eyes growing misty. ‘Poor Billy, such a lovely man. He’s a widower and he had his own small bakery business which went bust in the recession. He was living in social housing. Awful rabbit hutch flats. Stuff went missing from the other residents, and turned up in Billy’s flat. Food mostly. Billy’s an absolute sweetheart so someone obviously planted the things on him. But he was evicted after being branded antisocial – and with no family and no income except his tiny pension and nowhere else to go, he was inches away from living on the streets and simply
needed
me.’
    ‘Poor bloke.’ Ash looked shocked.
    ‘Or, ‘ Ella said, ‘he might really be light-fingered, a liar, greedy and unpleasant to boot.’
    ‘Ella…’ Poll shook her head. ‘You don’t mean that. You wait until you meet him. You’ll adore him.’
    ‘OK, I’ll suspend judgement.’ Ella smiled at Poll. ‘I just hope you’re not being taken for a ride. So, that’s Billy. What about Trixie?’ She looked down at the next sheaf of papers. ‘Oh, yes – Trixie Pepper, a middle-aged woman who’s –
What
? No way! An
arsonist
… ?’
    Ash laughed.
    Ella looked at him. ‘It’s not funny. That’s what it says here.’
    ‘Alleged – nothing proved – and you’ll really like her,’ Poll interrupted quickly. ‘Poor Trixie. She lived in a grace and favour cottage in the grounds of some big house – she was the cook/housekeeper – and sadly let one of her concoctions catch on one night while she was – and this’ll make you laugh – glued to watching
Dewberrys’ Dinners
.’
    Ash frowned. ‘
Catch on
?’
    ‘Oh, yes – poor Trixie – she was absolutely entranced by the latest goings-on between Gabby and Tom Dewberry and took her eye off the ball so to speak. She was lucky to get out alive. The cottage was razed to the ground. Apparently it wasn’t the first time she’d set fire to things by lacking concentration, so they terminated her employment just like that.’
    ‘Not surprising,’ Ella said sharply. ‘Pyromania is probably not one of the top qualities anyone would be looking for in a cook/housekeeper.’
    Poll giggled. ‘I know – maybe we’ll have to keep a discreet eye on her when she’s here if she’s a tad forgetful in the kitchen.’
    ‘Or be burned alive in our beds.’
    ‘That won’t happen. I’ve got George to think about. The whole thing was overexaggerated anyway,’ Poll said firmly. ‘Goodness me, haven’t we all done the same thing when we’ve been distracted while cooking?’
    ‘Not destroyed an entire house, no,’ Ash said doubtfully.
    Ella sucked in her breath. ‘Dear God!’
    ‘What?’ Poll frowned.
    Ella’s finger jabbed at the page. ‘This Trixie, not only is she an arsonist – OK,
alleged
arsonist – but it says here in the newspaper cuttings that she blamed the
fairies
for the fire… She must be completely mad.’
    ‘No, she isn’t. Don’t take things so literally. Just some nasty chit-chat around the village she lived in. Trixie was well known for believing in the little folk… and where’s the harm in that? Plenty of people do. Apparently everyone said she brewed herbal tinctures and experimented with a few fairy-led incantations when she was cooking. When we met, she said that the wicked fairies had given her the wrong measurements which meant her timings were all awry