Murder in Style by Veronica Heley

in for a few days. She said not to worry about her as she was going to be well looked after. She wouldn’t tell Clemmie where she was going, but we think she’s booked herself into a spa hotel for some peace and quiet.’
    Ah-ha! thought Ellie. Now that makes sense.
    Clemmie ducked her head. ‘Two more coffees coming up.’
    Ray swung round on her. ‘What time did she ring? Why didn’t you tell us? Where’s this place she’s gone to? What’s the phone number?’
    Clemmie stonewalled that. ‘She didn’t want to say. She said not to worry, and that she’d ring me again soon.’
    â€˜Well, ring her back, now! I’ve got to speak to her!’
    Gordon was angry. ‘She had no right to ring you instead of me!’
    Eyelids lowered, Clemmie said in a soft voice, ‘But you always take a sleeping pill at night.’
    â€˜Well, ring her back, now!’
    â€˜She said she was turning her phone off. No business, no worries. She said not to contact her. Actually, I did try this morning because I wanted to ask her about a stock delivery, but her phone was off. Coffee coming up.’
    Gordon appealed to the room, ‘How dare she not ring me! She’s no right to behave like this. When she gets back …’ He choked on his next words, caught himself up, and turned down the volume. ‘She must have realized I would need to speak to her.’
    No one answered that. There was, perhaps, a feeling that if they’d been Juno, they might have wanted to avoid speaking to him, too.
    â€˜I’ll get her, now!’ Ray got out his own phone, and pressed buttons. Trying to raise Juno? They could all hear that the phone at the other end was not taking calls. He chewed his lip.
    Clemmie moved smoothly round the room, offering more coffee. She didn’t raise her eyes from her tray until she got to Ellie, when she lifted them in one long, searching glance.
    Clemmie was trying to tell Ellie something?
    Ellie nodded. Perhaps they’d talk later?
    The matron with the moustache said, comfortable in the knowledge that her own world was still intact, ‘Well, there it is. Your wife will come home when she’s had a little time to herself. When my husband was alive, I wouldn’t have minded being pampered in a spa hotel every now and then.’
    The businesswoman came in from the back with the red suit. ‘I’ll take this, thanks. And I’d like to look at that red handbag up there, as well.’
    Mother and teenage girl also emerged from the back. The mother said, ‘That outfit you’ve found for her is just right. Here’s my card.’ And, to her daughter, ‘You’ll be quite the belle of the ball, won’t you? Though I still say that dress is on the short side.’
    Predictably, the girl blushed and said, ‘Oh, Mum!’
    Once one of the customers had stirred themselves to depart, others either got down to business, or left. The businesswoman frowned over the handbag she’d thought might go with the suit she was buying. The woman with the moustache took another phone call, and left without making a purchase. Clemmie removed coffee and tea things, and then began to replace discarded items on the rails. Ellie took a seat in a corner, and watched Ray and Gordon trying to decide what to do next.
    Brothers-in-law. Without anything much in common.
    Ray got on the phone again. This time to his father-in-law. ‘Look, Gerald; I’ve got to see you. I’ll be round in, what, half an hour? … Trixie? I’ve no idea where she … She’s been with you? Only just left? Why …? Well, that’s one of the stupidest …! No, of course I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’ll be round in … No, I know you said Juno wasn’t with you, but she phoned Clemmie and I don’t understand why she didn’t phone you as well … She did! Well, of all the … I can