Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge by Ovidia Yu Page A

don’t know. They probably did.” Mycroft didn’t seem interested in Josephine’s fate.
    It was unlike Mycroft, who was normally punctilious about seeing things through. But Cherril had to admit a nugget of satisfaction. She could not help wondering at Josephine calling Mycroft for help without mentioning it to her. Why hadn’t she just asked Cherril to call her husband? Even as she wondered Cherril knew the answer: Josephine believed she had more insight and influence (especially with men).
    Josephine had told the police she and Cherril had arrived at the café around the same time, with Brian joining them soon after.
    â€œIt’s less complicated,” Josephine had explained in the ladies’. “The police aren’t good at dealing with complicated things.”
    When Mycroft asked her why she hadn’t told him about the threatened lawsuit, Cherril could only say that Josephine had been so certain they would easily talk Allison out of it, that she was only trying to get money out of them. But going over the police printouts of their forum posts made her see that if any of the enraged commenters on the Animal ReHomers website had killed Allison Love, they were all responsible for inciting her death.
    Her phone was flashing with updates. Aunty Lee (or more likely Nina) had sent a message telling Cherril they could manage without her if she didn’t feel up to coming in. But that day Cherril far preferred being in the shop than back home where they were so sensible and reasonable. Right now Cherril needed someone to be irrational with, like Aunty Lee.
    If Cherril had said, “If she hadn’t come here just to make trouble for us, she would still be alive now, but I can’t help thinking that if we hadn’t made such a fuss over the dog years ago none of this would have happened, which means it’s sort of our fault she’s dead, not that we shouldn’t have called her out for killing the dog, but maybe we shouldn’t have let her have the dog in the first place,” Aunty Lee would have agreed without correcting her grammar (Anne) or logic (Mycroft).
    And though Cherril dreaded the questions Aunty Lee was certain to ask (Aunty Lee had no qualms about being impolite), now she was feeling let down that Aunty Lee was not there to ask them. Instead, Cherril supposed she was looking after Allison’s sister and felt a twinge of jealousy. Just as she was wondering whether she should call Aunty Lee to see when she was coming in, Nina arrived and said that Aunty Lee was still talking with Vallerie back at the house.
    â€œYesterday’s two helpers coming in again today so it will be okay,” Nina assured her. “If you got to go and talk to the police some more I can stay here and supervise.”
    â€œThanks. I’ll manage. You can go back to the house to help with Vallerie.”
    Mark and Selina also turned up at the café right after church. They had been spending less time at the café since Mark handed over the drinks business to Cherril, but Aunty Lee’s twisted ankle had brought them back. Selina considered it her Christian duty to help the weak and incapacitated—whether or not they wanted her help—especially when there might be profits involved.
    â€œWe read about the murder in the papers and saw your names and Aunty Lee’s Delights mentioned, so we thought we better stop by just to make sure this place hasn’t been closed down—again!” Selina said brightly. There was nothing Selina loved so much as poking (helpfully, of course) through other people’s dirty laundry. This morning she was radiant in anticipation of a good gossip. “Where’s Aunty Lee? They haven’t arrested her, I hope! Ha ha! Isn’t it terrible how dead bodies seem to show up in Aunty Lee’s vicinity? Everybody was talking about it during post-service fellowship. They asked me, ‘Isn’t that Mark’s