False Charity Read Free Page B

us?’
    â€˜Why would he have done that? He wanted to join us, not destroy us. He won’t have told anyone.’
    Richie pointed his finger at her. ‘He might have told the receptionist.’
    Noel brushed that aside. ‘He told her he needed my number to check up on something for Saturday. She’s too dumb to work it out. I’ll take her out again, make sure she forgets.’
    Lena was frowning. ‘That reminds me. We need to get rid of his mobile phone, if it’s got Noel’s number on it.’
    â€˜What a fool he was,’ said the boy, grinning. He put on a camp accent. ‘“I know what you’re up to. I can help you, if you cut me in.”’ The boy rocked with laughter. ‘He said, “Cut me in!” and we cut him up!’
    Richie grimaced. ‘If you hadn’t lost your temper, we could have paid him off and no one any the wiser.’
    The woman shook her head. ‘I never liked the idea of cutting him in. This way is better.’ She needed to convince herself of that.

Two
    Tuesday, evening
    C oral surveyed the mess left by the party. ‘Left you to clear up, have they? Not surprised. Give me an apron and I’ll help you get things straight while we talk, right?’
    â€˜Oh, come on, now.’ Maggie put both hands on her non-existent hips, preparing to do battle. ‘Mrs Payne, you know Max said he couldn’t help you.’
    â€˜What young Max said is neither here nor there,’ declared Coral, seizing an apron, and tying herself into it with little jerks. ‘Mrs Abbot is here now, and we don’t have to take any more notice of Mr Hufflepuff.’
    Bea repressed a grin. That description of Max was all too accurate, though of course she’d never hurt him by using it to his face. ‘Coral, dear, I’m delighted to see you, but I’ve only just flown in from the other side of the world and I’m shattered.’
    Coral cleared a space on the kitchen table, though how she’d done it, Bea couldn’t imagine, for it had looked impossible a moment before. ‘I told Max, why don’t you get me and my team to cater for your mother’s homecoming? But no, he wouldn’t hear of it. That one always was penny wise and pound foolish. Maggie, make yourself useful; take a tray and start collecting glasses from the other room. Bea, you could do with a cuppa and a bite to eat, if I know anything about it.’
    Maggie squawked, ‘You can’t just come in here and—’
    Coral began to rinse glasses and stack them in the dishwasher. ‘Mrs Abbot and I have worked together more times than you’ve had hot lunches, girl. She knows I wouldn’t be invading her privacy like this unless it was important, and it seems to me it’s just as well that I did. Can’t you see she needs something hot inside her and a quiet sit down and chat before she sleeps off that terrible journey, because she didn’t eat anything on the plane, I’ll be bound? First she must eat; then we’ll talk.’
    Coral pulled out a kitchen stool, removed a couple of dirty plates, wiped the stool down, and gave Bea a gentle push in its direction.
    Bea reached for a kitchen tissue, and blew her nose. ‘Thank you, Coral. Maggie, it’s all right. Coral and I are old friends.’
    â€˜Yes, but Max said that I wasn’t to let Mrs Payne bother you now the agency is closing down.’ The girl’s chin stuck way out. Really, she was a very plain-looking creature.
    Coral slapped the door of the dishwasher shut. ‘Tip the rest of those nasty little bought canapés into the bin, and let’s see what we can find in the way of proper food in the cupboards, shall we? I remember how it was when my husband died. I kept myself so busy I forgot to eat properly, and then one day I tripped over the cat and sat down and howled for hours and hours. Then I made myself a big cottage pie, ate the