Bones in High Places by Suzette Hill Read Free Book Online Page A

squarely on the bonnet grooming his whiskers. He gave us a cursory glance and then continued his task with dedicated attention. Regarding him intently from below, and surprisingly silent, sat Bouncer. I wondered why the dog hadn’t set up a hue and cry at the creature’s sudden appearance; but there’s no accounting for animals and I was in no mood to ponder the matter. Thus I marched up to Maurice, gripped him firmly by the scruff and, shoving the dog in ahead, resumed my position on the back seat. Here, comfortably ensconced on my lap, the stowaway gazed up impassively as I parried the grumbling brickbats from the front.
    ‘Well, that’s not going to endear us to any hostelry when we turn up asking for rooms plus a special boudoir for the cat and dog,’ said Nicholas testily.
    ‘No need to exaggerate,’ I replied. ‘There’ll be no bother. If necessary I’ll leave Bouncer in the car – he’s quite good like that, you know. And as for the cat, I shall simply carry him in under my arm with a nonchalant air. No one will say anything.’
    ‘Hmm – fine in theory, unlikely in practice,’ said Primrose. ‘I remember you trying to appear nonchalant as a boy – you simply succeeded in looking furtive and sinister.’
    ‘Tell you what,’ suggested Nicholas, ‘we could at least shove the cat into Primrose’s handbag, it’s big enough!’
    ‘You’ll do no such thing,’ she cried. ‘I’ll have you know this bag cost innumerable guineas from Bond Street. It’s not silk-lined and initialled just to be a cat-carrier!’ Despite her protests, it struck me as quite a good idea and not one to be immediately discounted …
    There was a silence. And then Nicholas exclaimed, ‘But how on earth did he get himself into the boot at all? You must have had something to do with it, Francis. He couldn’t have hitched a lift in two cars unaided.’
    ‘I’ve told you,’ I protested, ‘I know nothing about it. You don’t think I’d want to bring him on this joyride, do you? And if we’re searched on the way home they will both have to stay in quarantine for months.’ I stared down in dismay at the bundle of fur on my lap, and it stared back with unblinking eye.
    ‘That creature moves like greased lightning,’ observed Primrose. ‘I saw him stalk and ambush a mouse once. Not exactly a pretty sight. But he’d got the whole thing down to a fine art all right. Mouse didn’t stand a chance … He obviously slept in your motor last night. And then when we were all jawing in the car park with the doors open and messing around with the bags, he must have slipped out, lurked under the chassis, and jumped into the Citroën’s boot at the last moment.’ She laughed. ‘I expect those absurd vestments were a godsend.’
    Nicholas gave a whistle. ‘Little blighter!’
    Conversation lapsed, and worn out by the traumas of the ferry crossing and the animals’ charade, I fell into a light doze.
       
    I awoke with a jolt to the sound of a curse from the driving seat and an anguished protest from Maurice. We were on some minor side road overhung with trees and strewn with potholes, one of which the Citroën had clearly encountered.
    ‘Hell’s teeth!’ exclaimed Nicholas. ‘That was near, almost got the back axle.’
    ‘If you went a little slower,’ observed Primrose pointedly, ‘such hazards might be better avoided.’
    There was a pause, and then he said mildly but carefully, ‘Unlike your Morris Oxford, this car was not built to be driven at hearse-like speed by octogenarians through the purlieus of Lewes and Eastbourne.’
    She didn’t like that. ‘At least their owners don’t harbour delusions of being Fangio,’ was the tart response. ‘And if you imagine that –’
    ‘I say,’ I said brightly, ‘the sun’s come out over there. You can see it through the branches. Things are looking up – how about stopping for a coffee?’
    ‘Good idea,’ said Nicholas, ‘and then your sister will have time to