making Bea feel even worse. âOh, this is Randolph, our wonderful doorman. Randolph, this is the cleaner that Charlotte told you about, all right?â She led the way to the lift, saying to Bea, âYou need a holiday, thatâs all.â
âYou havenât forgotten Iâve only just come back from a trip halfway round the world?â
âYes, but you were nursing your poor dear husband all the time, and for ages before, werenât you? So, why not take off for a bit? Zander says heâs been to Bruges and likes it. He thinks you should go on a package tour of some kind, so that you didnât have to go alone.â
Bea shuddered at the thought of a package holiday. Sheâd have to make an effort to be nice when she didnât feel like it, and probably have to share a bedroom with someone who snored. Not a good idea. However, Maggie had brought up a subject she hadnât thought about. What was she going to do about holidays in future? Find another widow to go around with?
The flat was on the third floor. As Bea opened the front door and sniffed the air, she knew what sheâd find; closed windows, dirty socks, inadequately cleaned bathroom and kitchen. The fridge probably had mould growing behind it, the oven would be unused and the microwave brand new. The dishwasher might work, but the washing machine probably didnât. On the other hand, there would probably be a giant television in the sitting room, plus stereo equipment capable of filling the Albert Hall.
She sniffed the air. âAh, me. It takes me back to the days when I first worked for Hamilton, cleaning, cooking, doing everything bar plumbing jobs. I could even rewire plugs in those days. Is the sitting room at the end of the corridor?â
This particular block of flats had gone up in the early years of the twentieth century. Some of the original features, such as coving, picture rails, and fireplaces, had been retained, while an attempt had been made to combine ancient and modern by introducing good quality modern furniture and furnishings. The streamlined seating arrangements in blonde leather matched the cream carpet and the Venetian blinds at the windows. Two rather beautiful Swedish rugs provided accents of colour, but their patterns were smudged with coffee and other, less easily identifiable stains. As was everything else in sight.
Bea sighed. This particular lot of tenants had not been taking good care of things, had they? A blind at one window hung askew, broken, and nobody had bothered to empty the wastepaper basket, attend to rings on the furniture left by coffee mugs and wine glasses, or to clear away the debris left after several takeaways.
âHow long did you say theyâve been without a cleaner?â
Maggie stripped off her jacket. âToo long. I couldnât start clearing up last night, or theyâd have me down to clean the place all the time. Iâll begin on the kitchen and the boysâ bathroom, shall I? Give you time to poke about, see what you can find. Our roomâs right at the other end of the corridor, you canât miss it. The ugly duckling says she could have moved into a single and made two of the boys share but no one else wanted to share, and anyway our roomâs enormous, almost like a little flat in itself, and she keeps that and our shower room next door clean enough. She wonât let the boys anywhere near it, so you can forget our bit. Zanderâs room is next to the living room, and the other bod, the one who went out early, heâs opposite. Which means that Philip must be â¦â
Bea tried doors. The boysâ bathroom was going to need Mr Muscle himself to make an impression on the grime, the same went for a toilet next door ⦠and the one after that was Philipâs room.
Bea donned apron and rubber gloves before touching anything. There was a mixture of modern and Edwardian furniture in Philipâs room, which was not large and
âYou havenât forgotten Iâve only just come back from a trip halfway round the world?â
âYes, but you were nursing your poor dear husband all the time, and for ages before, werenât you? So, why not take off for a bit? Zander says heâs been to Bruges and likes it. He thinks you should go on a package tour of some kind, so that you didnât have to go alone.â
Bea shuddered at the thought of a package holiday. Sheâd have to make an effort to be nice when she didnât feel like it, and probably have to share a bedroom with someone who snored. Not a good idea. However, Maggie had brought up a subject she hadnât thought about. What was she going to do about holidays in future? Find another widow to go around with?
The flat was on the third floor. As Bea opened the front door and sniffed the air, she knew what sheâd find; closed windows, dirty socks, inadequately cleaned bathroom and kitchen. The fridge probably had mould growing behind it, the oven would be unused and the microwave brand new. The dishwasher might work, but the washing machine probably didnât. On the other hand, there would probably be a giant television in the sitting room, plus stereo equipment capable of filling the Albert Hall.
She sniffed the air. âAh, me. It takes me back to the days when I first worked for Hamilton, cleaning, cooking, doing everything bar plumbing jobs. I could even rewire plugs in those days. Is the sitting room at the end of the corridor?â
This particular block of flats had gone up in the early years of the twentieth century. Some of the original features, such as coving, picture rails, and fireplaces, had been retained, while an attempt had been made to combine ancient and modern by introducing good quality modern furniture and furnishings. The streamlined seating arrangements in blonde leather matched the cream carpet and the Venetian blinds at the windows. Two rather beautiful Swedish rugs provided accents of colour, but their patterns were smudged with coffee and other, less easily identifiable stains. As was everything else in sight.
Bea sighed. This particular lot of tenants had not been taking good care of things, had they? A blind at one window hung askew, broken, and nobody had bothered to empty the wastepaper basket, attend to rings on the furniture left by coffee mugs and wine glasses, or to clear away the debris left after several takeaways.
âHow long did you say theyâve been without a cleaner?â
Maggie stripped off her jacket. âToo long. I couldnât start clearing up last night, or theyâd have me down to clean the place all the time. Iâll begin on the kitchen and the boysâ bathroom, shall I? Give you time to poke about, see what you can find. Our roomâs right at the other end of the corridor, you canât miss it. The ugly duckling says she could have moved into a single and made two of the boys share but no one else wanted to share, and anyway our roomâs enormous, almost like a little flat in itself, and she keeps that and our shower room next door clean enough. She wonât let the boys anywhere near it, so you can forget our bit. Zanderâs room is next to the living room, and the other bod, the one who went out early, heâs opposite. Which means that Philip must be â¦â
Bea tried doors. The boysâ bathroom was going to need Mr Muscle himself to make an impression on the grime, the same went for a toilet next door ⦠and the one after that was Philipâs room.
Bea donned apron and rubber gloves before touching anything. There was a mixture of modern and Edwardian furniture in Philipâs room, which was not large and
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