Read Online Three Little Maids by Patricia Scott - Free Book Online
Authors: Patricia Scott
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her, I think. She was obviously attracted to him but he wasn’t keen.’
‘Sometimes they’re only interested in sports at that age. Michael’s like Simon my eighteen -year-old. They play cricket together occasionally.’
‘And as it was Aiden’s birthday , he’d come over with a dinner invitation from his father. The Berkley’s want us to meet their prospective son-in-law Hugh Manderville. His parents are wealthy landowners, his father is the Lord of the Pealinghurst Manor, and it promises well for a very happy marriage, I think. The Berkleys are pleased with the match. Brenda Berkley, I know, is pulling out all the stops to make the wedding a success and the marriage is to take place in the old Norman church at Pealinghurst.’
‘They must be highly delighted then if Debbie’s happy with her choice of husband. I hope you and the children enjoy your day out in the Park.’
Afterwards, during her coffee break, Viviane wondered why Mrs Ludlam was telling her so much about Maureen and the Berkleys. Was it perhaps because she was worried about them for some reason? Or was it something that she knew about Maureen. She couldn’t have made a play for Aiden Ludlam surely. Gwynith obviously knew that her husband was the main attraction for the women in the chapel even if he never gave her any cause for jealousy. And a teenager like Maureen was looking for someone like Michael. He was an especially pleasant boy and Simon had brought him home for a meal several times.
She wondered how the investigation was going. Were things moving on well in the incident room? She’d heard Jon Kent leave again just after eight that morning. Another early start for him. And during her lunch break spent on the sea front shelter she recalled once again how she had first met up with him in the pier ballroom three weeks previously - at the Antique Fair. He collected Toby Jugs and she collected Vintage underwear
Viviane happened to be holding up a pair of split cambric panties that a Jane Austen heroine might have worn, in one hand and a silk corset in the other, when Jonathan Kent passed by with his latest acquisition, a china Toby jug under his arm.
His sly chuckle and comment; ‘They won’t do you justice,’ invited a sharp reply from her and they exchanged more words and conversation afterwards over a cream tea in the pier cafe. And he’d mentioned that he was new to the Harcombe Police Force from the London Met and had met Bill when he was attached to Homicide. Bill had died shortly afterwards.
And she had no idea that she would acquire a tenant for her flat after she made an innocent inquiry, ‘Are you staying in police accommodation?’
‘Sort of.’ He grinned. I’m staying with one of my Sergeant’s; Stan Turner. A nice bloke. A good family man. But it’s only temporary, like I said, I must have a rented place of my own. Till I can find a suitable property to buy, I suppose. I guess I’ll be here for quite some time.’
She swallowed and thought for a moment. She could be making the biggest gaffe of her life by suggesting this. After all, this man had been a colleague of Bill’s but she didn’t want him to take her offer the wrong way.
She put down her cup, and said cautiously, ‘This is only a suggestion. Look, I have a self-contained unfurnished top apartment in my house and it’s large, it has two bedrooms. Has a lovely view of the park and it’s practically sound proof. My schoolteacher aunt had it adapted for a colleague of hers. I hadn’t thought of letting it out, up to now that is.’ She paused delicately. ‘I don’t like the thought of having the wrong kind of tenant I can’t get out.’ She smiled nervously. ‘My children are independent now and leaving the nest but I’m working and I don’t want any complications.’
He studied her quietly for a moment or so. By now he knew quite a bit about her. Knew that she’d been widowed for six years now. He could be thinking that there was a man
‘Sometimes they’re only interested in sports at that age. Michael’s like Simon my eighteen -year-old. They play cricket together occasionally.’
‘And as it was Aiden’s birthday , he’d come over with a dinner invitation from his father. The Berkley’s want us to meet their prospective son-in-law Hugh Manderville. His parents are wealthy landowners, his father is the Lord of the Pealinghurst Manor, and it promises well for a very happy marriage, I think. The Berkleys are pleased with the match. Brenda Berkley, I know, is pulling out all the stops to make the wedding a success and the marriage is to take place in the old Norman church at Pealinghurst.’
‘They must be highly delighted then if Debbie’s happy with her choice of husband. I hope you and the children enjoy your day out in the Park.’
Afterwards, during her coffee break, Viviane wondered why Mrs Ludlam was telling her so much about Maureen and the Berkleys. Was it perhaps because she was worried about them for some reason? Or was it something that she knew about Maureen. She couldn’t have made a play for Aiden Ludlam surely. Gwynith obviously knew that her husband was the main attraction for the women in the chapel even if he never gave her any cause for jealousy. And a teenager like Maureen was looking for someone like Michael. He was an especially pleasant boy and Simon had brought him home for a meal several times.
She wondered how the investigation was going. Were things moving on well in the incident room? She’d heard Jon Kent leave again just after eight that morning. Another early start for him. And during her lunch break spent on the sea front shelter she recalled once again how she had first met up with him in the pier ballroom three weeks previously - at the Antique Fair. He collected Toby Jugs and she collected Vintage underwear
Viviane happened to be holding up a pair of split cambric panties that a Jane Austen heroine might have worn, in one hand and a silk corset in the other, when Jonathan Kent passed by with his latest acquisition, a china Toby jug under his arm.
His sly chuckle and comment; ‘They won’t do you justice,’ invited a sharp reply from her and they exchanged more words and conversation afterwards over a cream tea in the pier cafe. And he’d mentioned that he was new to the Harcombe Police Force from the London Met and had met Bill when he was attached to Homicide. Bill had died shortly afterwards.
And she had no idea that she would acquire a tenant for her flat after she made an innocent inquiry, ‘Are you staying in police accommodation?’
‘Sort of.’ He grinned. I’m staying with one of my Sergeant’s; Stan Turner. A nice bloke. A good family man. But it’s only temporary, like I said, I must have a rented place of my own. Till I can find a suitable property to buy, I suppose. I guess I’ll be here for quite some time.’
She swallowed and thought for a moment. She could be making the biggest gaffe of her life by suggesting this. After all, this man had been a colleague of Bill’s but she didn’t want him to take her offer the wrong way.
She put down her cup, and said cautiously, ‘This is only a suggestion. Look, I have a self-contained unfurnished top apartment in my house and it’s large, it has two bedrooms. Has a lovely view of the park and it’s practically sound proof. My schoolteacher aunt had it adapted for a colleague of hers. I hadn’t thought of letting it out, up to now that is.’ She paused delicately. ‘I don’t like the thought of having the wrong kind of tenant I can’t get out.’ She smiled nervously. ‘My children are independent now and leaving the nest but I’m working and I don’t want any complications.’
He studied her quietly for a moment or so. By now he knew quite a bit about her. Knew that she’d been widowed for six years now. He could be thinking that there was a man
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