After collecting Kenneth’s prescription and popping it through June’s letter box, Fiona and Partial Sue hurried back to the charity shop, bursting through the door and startling Daisy, who happened to be serving a customer at the till. The woman, buying a garish red satin blouse, swung around, scowling at the cacophonous interruption of her purchase.
Fiona and Partial Sue attempted to be calmer and more sedate, although this was scuppered by Simon Le Bon. He scurried out of his bed and hurled himself at Fiona’s legs, bouncing around, tail wagging. Fiona made a fuss of him, bending over to let him lick her face.
The customer tutted her disapproval then left. The three of them gathered around the coffee table.
“How did it go with Malorie and June?” Daisy asked.
“June’s an outside possibility, but we’ve got something on Malorie.” Partial Sue opened the box, still wrapped in tissue paper and slowly upended it, letting the dominoes gently tumble out onto the table. Daisy reached out a hand to pick one up.
“Don’t touch them!” Partial Sue commanded. “Sorry, but that’s evidence, that is.”
“We should be wearing gloves for this,” Fiona said.
“Good idea.” Partial Sue disappeared into the storeroom at the back.
“Where did you get these?” Daisy asked, keeping her hands firmly by her sides.
“From the community centre,” Fiona replied.
“What? They gave them to you?”
Fiona winced. “Not exactly. Sue may have, er, borrowed them. No one knows we have them.”
“You mean you took them.” With a disgusted look on her face, Daisy folded her arms, clearly not approving of their methods.
“Sometimes the end justifies the means,” Fiona said weakly. “I know it’s a bit dodgy but there are two pieces missing. Domino sets normally have twenty-eight pieces. This one only has twenty-six. If the two pieces that are missing match the two found on the bodies, we’ve got evidence against Malorie.”
Partial Sue emerged from the storeroom, holding up a couple of packets of Marigolds. “Pink or yellow?”
“I don’t think it really matters,” Fiona replied.
“Let’s go with yellow.” Partial Sue handed Fiona the gloves. They snapped them on and began turning the dominoes over, revealing their numbered sides.
When they’d finished, Daisy asked, “What dominoes were found on the bodies again?”
“A two and a one, and a one and a one,” Partial Sue informed her.
The three women scanned every domino on the table desperately seeking a match, or more precisely, a lack of one.
“I can’t see a two and a one,” Daisy said.
“Neither can I,” Partial Sue replied.
“And there’s no one and one either.” Fiona got an effervescent hit of adrenalin. For the first time since embarking on this investigation, they had something concrete that firmly pointed the finger in Malorie’s direction. Fiona would never high-five anyone, but she could have slapped her co-workers’ palms right now until they stung. “Oh my,” she said. “The missing pieces match the ones found on the bodies. I think we have her.”
Partial Sue thrust two hands straight into the air, as if she’d scored against Germany. Thankfully, she didn’t attempt a knee slide. “I knew it. I bloody knew it. We’ve got the Domino Killer. I can’t wait to tell DI Fincher. She’ll want to sign us up as part of PIP.”
“PIP?” Daisy asked.
“Professionalising Investigation Programme,” Partial Sue replied. “The police hire members of the public to assist them on hard cases. She’s going to be so chuffed with us, she’ll want us on the team, helping her solve murders and the like.”
Holding her tongue, Fiona couldn’t quite imagine that the young DI would be happy that three retirees had found the killer before she had. “Hold on a second. Let’s be realistic. This evidence is inadmissible,” Fiona pointed out. “We can’t use this, and neither can DI Fincher. It’s been taken from the community centre.”
“Stolen,” Daisy corrected.
“Which makes it as good as useless to get a conviction.”
Partial Sue looked offended. “I didn’t steal it. I borrowed it. I’ll sneak it back in there. Send DI Fincher an anonymous tip-off. Nobody will have even noticed it’s gone. I mean, who’s going to notice a missing domino set?”
The door flew open, slamming against one of the displays. In stomped Malorie, her face red all over and ready to roar, followed by Sophie, whose stupid velvet cape swooshed along behind her as if she were the Charity Shop Inquisition. Gail brought up the rear, timid as a dormouse.
Simon Le Bon growled at them from the safety of his bed. The adrenalised excitement pumping around Fiona’s body turned to dread and shame.
Reaching the back of the shop, Malorie extended an accusing finger at the three ladies seated around the table. “Thieves!” she snarled. “Thieves! That domino set belongs to the community centre. How dare you steal it?” She barged forward, scooping up the pieces and stuffing them back into the box. “You’ll be lucky if I don’t press charges.”
When the pieces were safely back inside, she snatched up the lid and slid it on the box, then marched back out of the shop, briefly stopping to thank Sophie and Gail. “I really appreciate your help. You’re both upstanding members of the community, unlike this lot of reprobates.” She gestured over her shoulder.
Sophie gave a saccharine smile. “Just doing our duty, aren’t we, Gail?”
“’S’right,” said Gail, not looking totally sure what she was agreeing to.
Malorie spun around and glared at Fiona, Partial Sue and Daisy. “You three — all of you are banned from the community centre! For life!” She slammed the door behind her, making the bell above wobble wildly, adding to the ringing already rising in Fiona’s ears.
Sophie approached them, taking long, slow, deliberate steps. She cast a pitying eye over the three women assembled around the table. “Well, well, well. The staff of Dogs Need Nice Homes resorting to common thievery, and from a community centre of all places. This must be a new low. What has become of you?” She held up a hand just in case any of them had the audacity to answer. “I’ll let you work that out for yourselves. However, I will be keeping hold of this little gem of gossip to wield at a later date, when the need arises. You can be sure of that.”
She turned to go and then looked back. “Oh, I suppose you’re wondering how I knew about your light-fingeredness. Well, it’s all thanks to Gail here.” Sophie gripped Gail’s shoulders and thrust her forward, parading her almost like a child prodigy, the discomfort on her face intensifying. “Gail saw you in Southbourne Grove on a bench, huddled around a scruffy domino set. Of course, she didn’t know they were stolen until I received a curious call from Malorie, asking if I had a spare domino set in the shop because theirs had gone missing. Gail told me how she’d seen you two waving a box of dominoes around in broad daylight. Not the best look if you’ve just stolen them. Naturally, being a concerned law-abiding citizen, I felt it was my duty to inform Malorie about the misdemeanour. Malorie wanted to confront you by herself, but I said no. Not on my watch. You need backup if you’re dealing with lowlife criminals. Who knows what those three are capable of? So we accompanied Malorie just in case things turned nasty. Isn’t that right, Gail?”
“’S’right,” Gail replied with more than her usual reluctance, clearly uncomfortable at being portrayed as Sophie’s unwitting snitch.
Sophie’s self-satisfied grin beamed brighter than phosphorus. “So, now you’re all caught up. I do like the rubber gloves, by the way, gives you a very subservient look. Oh, and I had a visit from that ethnic policewoman the other day.”
Partial Sue spoke through gritted teeth. “Her name is Detective Inspector Fincher.”
“Whatever, dear. Anyway, please don’t spin any more of your lies about me leaving bloody knives outside your shop. The policewoman saw right through it. What with that and stealing domino sets, instead of Dogs Need Nice Homes, you might have to rename this shop OAPs Need Arresting. Come on, Gail. Our work is done here. Toodle-oo.”
They watched Sophie saunter towards the door, clutching the edge of her cape so it didn’t catch on anything. Just before she left, Sophie swept around theatrically, sending it billowing out and swatting Gail in the face. With a curious expression, Sophie regarded the interior of their shop. “I do love what you haven’t done with the place. But tell me, why do you have a table in here? You don’t sell furniture, do you?”
Fiona and Partial Sue were too angry to answer. Daisy stepped in. “It’s for coffee mornings. For the folk who can’t make it to the community centre.”
Sophie sniggered smugly to herself, then swished out of the shop, followed by Gail.