Read Online Time to Pay by Lyndon Stacey - Free Book Online Page A

and a wide, diamond-paned window over the biggest earthenware sink he’d ever seen. The uneven stone floor was scattered with rugs and supported, among other things, a range of cupboards and shelves, an oak table, three armchairs that had seen better days, and two dog beds.
    Giles was already in the kitchen and, anticipating their need, had the kettle boiling. His greeting woke the dogs, who’d been occupying both beds
and
armchairs, and for a moment all was chaos as five assorted canines pressed forward to welcome them.
    â€˜Oh, my goodness! What a crowd!’ Tilly exclaimed. ‘Are they all yours, Pippa?’
    â€˜No, one of them’s mine,’ Gideon admitted, adding, ‘the well-behaved one,’ whereupon he was immediately shouted down by Pippa and Giles.
    â€˜Hallo, sweetie, what’s your name?’ Tilly said, leaning down to fondle the ears of Pippa’s black Labrador.
    â€˜That’s Fanny,’ Giles told her. ‘The two handsome Jack Russells are Yip and Yap – they’re mine. The other two are Fanny’s pups; the black one is Bella, and the brindle monster is Zebedee – he belongs to Gideon.’
    â€˜They’re gorgeous. I love dogs but Damien’s allergic –
was
allergic – so we’ve never had one. We could have done with a couple in the house yesterday . . . But Zebedee? Why on earth Zebedee?’
    â€˜Because he bounces,’ Gideon explained. ‘You remember
The Magic Roundabout
?’
    They talked dogs while Giles made and served the coffee, but after a while they drifted inexorably back to the subject of the break-in.
    â€˜Honestly, it’s just the lowest of the low,’ Pippa said. ‘And Gideon said they let the horses out. Did you get them back OK?’
    Tilly nodded. ‘It was only two of them. Megan – she’s our Girl Friday – found one of themstraight away – he’d only wandered a little way down the lane and started eating grass – but she couldn’t find the other one anywhere. She was distraught, poor girl! I mean, what a nightmare – left in charge and twenty minutes later two of the horses go missing!’
    â€˜So where was the second one?’ Giles asked.
    â€˜Well, actually, he’d never been out at all. Whoever did it was a clever sod. I suppose he guessed that we’d find them pretty quickly in the lane, so he shut one of them in the haybarn in the corner of the field. He was tucking in happily when we eventually found him, but of course, Megan never thought to look there. You wouldn’t, would you? She’d got the Land Rover out and been all round the nearest villages – told the police and everything. All kinds of people got involved in the search.’
    â€˜But you didn’t lose too much in the house?’ Giles said.
    â€˜No, thankfully. Mostly small stuff, although that’s bad enough. Mobile phones, the two laptops and some disks and stuff. They didn’t take the PCs but the police said they often don’t – they’re so heavy, and unless they’re state of the art, they’re not worth the trouble. Damien’s digital camera had gone and they’d made pretty much of a mess of his and Dad’s offices. They turned the cottage upside down, too, and I think that’s what finally got to Mum. She kept saying she wanted to keep it nice for when . . .’ Tilly’s eyes swam with tears and she fished a handkerchief out of her pocket to mop them. ‘It was really hard on Beth. And the worst thing is that the housedoesn’t feel safe any more. It’s like it’s been defiled. I keep thinking about these people wandering round the house, touching things – our things – and I feel like I want to have it fumigated from top to bottom! I threw away everything in the fridge and larder, and put every single piece of crockery and cutlery, and all the pots and pans