Murders in the Blitz by Julia Underwood Read Free Book Online Page B

moral support, I expect they’ll be upset afterwards.’
    ‘Oh, you really think it might be Zoya then?’
    ‘Almost certainly. She hasn’t turned up for work for two days and you haven’t seen her here, have you?’
    ‘No. I’ve been surprised at her absence. Zoya is the last of them I would expect to go AWOL. She at least seemed to be sensible and reliable. It’s all most unfortunate.’
    That’s a bit of an understatement, thought Eve. ‘Well, if you could arrange for them to be at the morgue at two thirty, I’d be most grateful.’
    She gave Miss Archer the directions and left to find Charlie. She hadn’t seen him since yesterday afternoon and needed to bring him up to speed; he’d want to know what was up.
    She found him on a china stall in Shepherd’s Bush market.
    ‘Come on, ladies,’ he was yelling with his most beguiling costermonger’s sales patter, balancing fans of cheap crockery in his hands like packs of cards. ‘Just today; special offer! A complete tea set - half price. Can’t say fairer than that, ladies. Just four quid. Buy now and I can let you have the teapot free. Thank you, madam. Take your box from the pile over there. Now, sir, what can I do for you...?’
    Eve watched his skilled performance for a while and then wandered off to peruse the other stalls. She bought some fruit and vegetables and was returning to find Charlie when a hand fell on her shoulder.
    ‘Hello, hello. And what are you up to, young lady?’
    ‘Shut up, Charlie. Come on. Let’s go and get a pie in the caff. I’m starving and I’ve stuff to tell you.’
    They skirted the market stalls and entered the steamy interior of Gladys’s Cafe. Many of the stallholders were already eating their lunch, but a table at the back had room for two. Eve pushed her shopping under the seat and Charlie sat opposite. He leaned across the table, eager to for news.
    His face fell, disappointed, when she had divulged the information she had.
    ‘What? Is that all? I’d have thought you’d have some idea of who’d done it by now. They haven’t even identified the body. You don’t know the result of the PM. What’s the good of that? You’re not much of a sleuth. Haven’t you got any idea who might ‘ave done it?’
    ‘Not yet, Charlie. We haven’t got enough information, have we? But by the end of today we may know a lot more.’
    ‘I bet you that baker knows more than he’s telling. And what about those girls –jealous, you can be sure. Maybe one of them did it. Or the secretary, she doesn’t like them, does she? Come on, Eve, it’s got to be someone you’ve met.’
    Eve deflated by his attitude, realised how right he was.
     

 
    Chapter Nine
     
    When she arrived at the mortuary, slightly late, Eve saw that the others were waiting. Two of the Polish girls were there - the little blonde, Anna, had another, dark-haired girl anxiously towering beside her. Eve was surprised to see Borys with them as well.
    ‘Thank you all for being on time,’ said Eve. ‘I didn’t know you were coming, Borys.’
    Boris stared at her with a strange expression that might have been fear, sorrow or malice. Eve couldn’t make it out.
    ‘I come for the ladies,’ he said simply. ‘Is very sad for them if is Zoya. She was friend. I help.’
    Eve nodded understanding and pushed open the morgue’s door. They were directed along cold, tiled corridors to where identifications occurred.
    A man in a buff coloured overall ushered them into a bare room. A body covered in a sheet lay on a wheeled stretcher.
    ‘Are you ready?’ asked the man.
    ‘Yes,’ Eve answered for everyone, thinking, let’s get this over with. She knew that the girls were quaking with nerves and probably couldn’t utter a word.
    The Polish girls approached the covered body; their hands entwined in fear. Borys followed and Eve went to the other side, hoping to observe their reactions when the body was revealed.
    The technician pulled back the sheet. The victim’s