A Medal For Murder by Frances Brody Page A

pieces?’
    ‘I’ll have a go.’
    ‘Good, because I’m hopeless. What did you ask?’
    ‘They must have made new friends through being in the play. I’d better not hammer the toffee until I’ve finished my tea.’
    ‘Good thinking. And it’s funny you should say that about the play. Daddy would certainly not have approved of theatricals and on that account I was notentirely enthusiastic about the venture, but something good may have come of it.’ She smiled a secret smile.
    ‘Oh?’
    ‘Just between us, I think that play may have cemented a friendship, a friendship that has ripened into courtship, if I dare say so?’
    ‘For Alison or Lucy?’
    ‘Alison. I do think that she and Rodney Milner became close during rehearsals. It was thought that Rodney and Lucy at one time . . . but really, those two were always more like brother and sister.’
    Rodney Milner. He had been part of the little group encircling Lucy: Rodney, Alison and one other young chap. I hoped that wherever Lucy was, she would be safe, and in company. Perhaps there was a party afoot and it had gone on until the early hours. That would be something to keep quiet about among the polite society of parents and guardians.
    I transferred the toffee to the tea tray, set it on the floor, knelt down and began to tap-tap with the confectionery hammer.
    ‘Thank you so much, Mrs Shackleton. It’s unusual for me to be on my own on a bazaar day. I do half expect the girls may surprise me and come along this afternoon after all. They love the church bazaar.’
    ‘I’m sure the bazaar will be great fun,’ I said.
    ‘I hope so. But of course there’s a very serious side to it. We split the takings between church funds and a charity. This year our charity is the home for unmarried mothers.’
    ‘A very worthy cause.’
    ‘I’m glad you think so. Personally, I would have preferred widows and orphans. They at least cannothelp their predicament. But perhaps you’ll call in? We open the doors at two o’clock.’
    ‘Right, thanks for telling me.’ I returned the hammered toffee to the table, and remained standing, to indicate departure. She did not take the hint.
    She stuck to her chair. ‘Of course not all the committee ladies were entirely happy about our choice. Some of us argued that by supporting such unfortunates we would be condoning immorality, slack values, rewarding sin, not to put too fine a point on it. But there we are. Charity is as charity does. The vicar was all for the fallen women. What about those who don’t fall but stumble along as best they can? That’s what I’d like to know.’
    ‘I’ll put the book over here, shall I?’ I set the copy of
Anna of the Five Towns
on the sideboard beside the peacock. ‘I’m sorry to have missed Alison.’
    ‘You see at one time, I would have had an ally in Mrs Milner. She was a practical, down-to-earth woman, and very fond of poor motherless Lucy. Of course with Captain Wolfendale and Mr Milner having fought side by side, and Lucy and Rodney being close in age, the families were quite in each other’s pockets at one time. Two old soldiers. Though Mr Milner not so old of course, and now a widower . . .’
    So she had not heard about the murder. At the thought of it, I stopped hearing what she said. I placed a hand on the table to steady myself. What was going on that both Lucy and Alison had disappeared around the same time as Lawrence Milner’s murder? According to Mrs Hart, Alison and Rodney Milner were in love, and Lucy was like a sister to Rodney.
    Something stank, and I did not know what. This wasnot up to me. I should tell the police. It was possible that last night’s shock, which set my every nerve on edge, was making me see connections where none existed. Information. That was what I needed before wasting Inspector Charles’s time with red herrings. Was there some connection between the murdered man and the captain?
    ‘Mrs Hart, I believe you have a telephone.’
    ‘I would not