Murder in Mind by Veronica Heley Page A

about paying her, for it’ll cost me far less than sending everyone to a hotel.’
    â€˜But . . .’ said Ellie. And then smiled and sighed. ‘You’re right, of course. I have much more than housekeeping to worry about, don’t I?’
    â€˜Stop right there. We’re taking time out, right? Now, the immediate question is: will it rain while we’re out? Let’s take umbrellas, and then it won’t even drizzle.’
    She opened the front door and checked on the weather. ‘Just wait while I tell Rose we’re going out. By the way, you haven’t ever come across a Mrs or Ms Topping, have you?’
    â€˜Doesn’t ring a bell. Is it important?’
    â€˜Probably not.’ She bustled out to the kitchen with the rejected curtains and put them out with the rubbish. Rose was dozing in her big chair so Ellie collected the shopping list, which looked a little on the thin side, but never mind; she could pick up some more things as they occurred to her. Yes, it would be really good to get out and feel the breeze. Blow the cobwebs away.
    Thomas had the umbrellas ready and the front door open. ‘Out you go, woman, on pain of feeling my deepest displeasure!’
    She laughed and obeyed. What a blessing this man was!
    Tea and cake. No conversation. Excellent coffee. Wonderful cake.
    Topping . . . She knew the name from somewhere. She asked the owner of the café. He shook his head.
    Thomas gave her a look. ‘No work for at least half an hour, right?’
    She nodded and thrust her worries to the back of her mind. On her return she would ring Stewart’s wife Maria, who ran an excellent cleaning service . . . and she would look through her old telephone address book, to see if she could find Mrs or Ms Topping, which did mean something to her, though she couldn’t think what.
    â€˜My treat,’ said Thomas, paying the bill. ‘Shall we go back the long way? Do we visit the Co-op or Nisa on the way back? Where’s the shopping list?’
    It was an even greater blessing to have a husband who’d help you carry the shopping home.
    They walked along, content with one another’s company, keeping in step with one another. Ellie stopped abruptly outside the new pet shop.
    Thomas said, ‘You want a toy for Midge? Is he into toys? I thought he preferred living toys. Mice, frogs . . .’
    â€˜Birds,’ said Ellie, ‘and other cats. I’ve just remembered that someone called Caroline Topping had cats. Four? One had only three legs. She’s a friend of a friend whom I met some years ago. She had a baby or a toddler called . . . Can’t remember. But surely he’d be too old to go to the play centre now, wouldn’t he?’
    â€˜You’ve lost me completely.’
    â€˜She – or someone of the same name – was at the play centre when the youngest Hooper child ate some biscuits given her by a visiting clown. The biscuits contained peanuts; the child had an allergy to them and died. Ms Milburn called on me today to ask if I could find the clown for her, which is not reasonable. She wants me to contact everyone I know who might know anything about it, but I don’t see why she’s asking me to do police work for her. Why doesn’t she go round and see Caroline Topping herself? She said I could save her time by whittling down the number of people who were at the play centre when the child died. Does that sound reasonable to you?’
    â€˜Depends how busy she is, I suppose.’
    â€˜Let me carry some of those bags. There’s something lurking at the back of my mind about this whole nasty affair, though I can’t think what. Can you bear to listen while I tell you what’s happened so far?’
    Thomas grinned. ‘Anything to avoid work for another half an hour or so.’ Thomas was a good listener.
    When she’d finished, he said, ‘Two deaths in one family. I don’t like the