Vince had never known when to keep his mouth shut.
“Or else what?”
Seconds after the answer was delivered, Vince was nursing a bloody nose, lying on his back, and struggling to extricate himself from the spiny clutches of the Christmas tree. When he finally managed to scramble to his feet, he lunged at the front door, claiming grievous bodily harm and threatening to summon the police and his solicitor. As he slammed out of the house, Carrot’s head appeared from behind the study door and he barked just once, but very sternly, at Vince’s vapor trail. The three of them stared at the dog in astonishment. It was his first bark since coming to Padua.
“Well done, fella!” said Freddy, reaching down to stroke Carrot’s ears. “That certainly saw him off.”
The sound of the doorbell sent Carrot scuttling back to the study. Freddy charged across the hall and flung open the door to find a rather startled-looking young man with a plastic identity card strung around his neck and holding a black tool case.
“I’m Lee,” he said, flashing his card. “I’ve come to sort out your broadband.”
Freddy stood aside to let him in and Laura guided him round the still-prone Christmas tree and through to the study, which was immediately vacated by a supersonic Carrot. Sunshine trotted along behind them, thinking with all her might and still trying to work out exactly what was happening. Eventually she rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.
“You’re the bored van man!”
She checked her watch.
“You came in the window.”
Lee smiled, uncertain what to say. He’d been to some strange jobs before and this one was shaping up nicely to be right up there with them.
“Shall I make you the lovely cup of tea?”
The young man’s smile broadened. Maybe things were looking up.
“I’d love a cup of coffee, if that’s okay?”
Sunshine shook her head.
“I don’t do coffee. I only do tea.”
Lee snapped open his tool case. It might be better to just get the job done and get out after all.
“Of course you can have coffee,” Laura intervened hastily. “How do you take it? Come on, Sunshine, I’ll make it and you can watch, and then next time you’ll know how to make it yourself.”
Sunshine considered for a moment, and remembering Vince’s threats, she allowed herself to be persuaded.
“Then when the police get here I’ll be able to make them the lovely cup of coffee too.”
CHAPTER 28
“The Very Thought of You.”
The song broke Laura’s sleep, although whether it was part of her dream or real music coming from the garden room downstairs she couldn’t be sure. She lay still and listening, snuggled in her duvet cocoon. Silence. Reluctantly she crept out into the cold, rose-scented air, threw on her dressing gown, and went over to the window to let the winter morning in.
And saw a ghost.