Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges

Author:Carol Hedges [Hedges, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0BMZ8BGPN
Goodreads: 63832282
Publisher: Little G Books
Published: 2022-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

It is said that walls have ears. If so, then the walls of the Cambridge Union Workhouse are privy to a certain conversation that happens after Lucy Landseer, fortified by tea and crumpets, is back on the train to London. The conversation takes place in the comfortably furnished private back parlour and is between the unpleasant overseer and his equally unpleasant partner.

It goes like this: “I always said those children were trouble from the moment they arrived,” the overseer says. “Remember the fuss they kicked up when they had to leave their ma? And the boy had a way of looking at me. Didn’t matter how much I beat him he’d keep on with that face. Staring me down as if I was the one in the wrong.”

“The girl was no better,” his shrewish spouse responds. “Ooh, she was a sly one. You’d give her a job of work and next minute, she was nowhere to be found. Kept trying to break into the women’s section to look for her ma.”

“It’s my view that we deserve every penny of that reward for what we had to put up with from them two.”

“I agree. But how are we going to get our hands on it, that’s the problem?”

“I been thinking about that, my love. You have a sister, don’t you? Runs a public house in London, I believe. Maybe it’s about time you paid her a visit. The parish owes us some time off. I think your sister is about to suffer a serious accident ~ one that means her nearest relative has to go and nurse her back to health.”

The woman nods slowly. “And you’d have to come with me, coz I ain’t going to make the journey all the way to London on my own. Wouldn’t be proper at my time of life.”

“That’s exactly the way I’m seeing it.”

“But London is a very big place, innit? How’d we begin to find them?”

“I thought of that too. What we do, see, is the moment we arrive, we tell the police that we were looking after the boy and his sister out of the goodness of our hearts as they were orphans. And they repaid us by stealing all our life savings and then legging it. Lay it on thick, we will. Make sure you pack your oldest clothes ~ we don’t want them to think we’re anything but poor people.

“That way, we’ll have every policeman in the city on the lookout. Save us tramping the streets ourselves. We won’t mention any reward, nor that some private detective, or whatever she calls herself is also looking for them. Once they are handed over to us, we take them round to her and collect the reward. After we’ve punished them for causing us so much trouble, that is.”

There is a pause. Husband and wife stare into the fire, their faces alive with avarice as if already seeing the golden fruits of their plan in the bright flames licking the coals.

“Well, when all’s said and done, it’s no more than we deserve.

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