Murder in Mind by Veronica Heley Page B

sound of that.’
    Diana, she thought. But no, it’s not her style at all. And yet . . .
    She said, ‘I really don’t want to poke my nose into police business. Only think what Ms Milburn’s boss would have to say about it! “Stupid woman,” he’d say. “Who does she think she is?” And rightly so. Besides, the Caroline Topping that I remember may not be the same person as this Mrs Topping, if you see what I mean.’
    He looked at his watch. ‘It’s not a common name. Put your mind at rest; give her a ring as soon as we get back, and after supper I’ll run you round there in the car. I need to fill up with petrol, and I can do that while you have a chat with the lady.’
    â€˜But,’ she said, and stopped. ‘Oh, this is ridiculous. Why should I go around doing the police’s work for them?’
    â€˜Ellie? What’s the matter? You’re usually only too eager to get involved. It’s the hunter in you.’
    She tried to laugh. ‘A hunter? Me? Oh, no. I can see you as a hunter, but not me. I’m just a housewife who’s been promoted above her capabilities but, God willing, and with help from friends and neighbours – and from Him above – I muddle through. I am not a hunter.’
    â€˜You could have fooled me. What’s wrong, Ellie? You’re really worried about . . . Is it something to do with Diana?’ He stood directly in front of her, so that she had to face him.
    She dropped her eyes. ‘Of course not. How could it be?’
    â€˜If you say so, but . . . you’d tell me if . . .?’
    She swung round to continue their walk. ‘It’s nothing to do with Diana. It’s just that I don’t like being used by Ms Milburn. I feel I’m being manipulated. I don’t like that, and I’ve too much on my plate already to bother with anything else.’
    He nodded without comment. ‘What’s for supper? Oh, and don’t let me forget, I’m supposed to be on Skype to my daughter this evening some time.’ He’d recently added the Skype camera to the computer in his study so that he could see his children and grandchildren during their weekly phone talks.
    As soon as they were back, Ellie checked that Rose had in fact got out of her chair and was putting the supper on to cook, which might or might not be the case nowadays. This time all was well and Rose was preparing to bake some mackerel for supper with diced courgettes, spring onions and a few potatoes. Rose had been reading recipe books and thought they’d try a mustard sauce with it. It sounded odd, but would probably be delicious.
    Ellie unpacked the shopping and put it away before she phoned Stewart’s wife Maria at the cleaning agency, to ask if she could think of someone who could sort out the beds and bedding and, well, everything for the forthcoming visit.
    â€˜Mm,’ said Maria. ‘Let me think. I might have been able to do it myself, but we’re very busy at work, and it’s half-term next week. I wonder if someone in Stewart’s office might . . . No, that won’t do, they’re all working flat out as it is.’
    Which led to a discussion about Ellie wanting to promote him and get someone else in to take over some of his workload, which Maria said was not before time, though she quite understood how Ellie was placed. That was nice of her, but made Ellie feel she ought to have done something about it earlier.
    â€˜Moving on to something more important,’ said Maria, ‘the children and I are going to my parents for the weekend where they will no doubt be horribly spoiled, but little Frank has been asked to play in some football match or other tomorrow morning. He was only a reserve before, so it means a lot to him to have got into the team. Stewart’s taking him, and I gather Thomas said he’d try to get along too.’
    Ellie hit her head. Of course, the