A Brush with Death: A Penny Brannigan Mystery - By Elizabeth J. Duncan Page 0,54
and uniformed police officers, backed up by yellow crime-scene tape, prevented the growing crowd of onlookers from getting too close.
At the edge of the perimeter, just outside the yellow tape, Victoria was reaching for her mobile when Penny hurried up to her.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here,” Victoria said. “This is unreal. They’d just begun work”—she pointed to a pile of boards with nails sticking out of them, rusted pipes, the cistern from an old toilet, and a broken chair—“when one of the men apparently found a pile of bones in the ductwork. And we were just getting started!”
“That’s exactly what I said!” replied Penny. “I guess Gareth is inside, is he? And we’re not allowed to go in?”
“That’s right.”
“Do they know if the remains are human?”
“I didn’t see them, but apparently from the look of them it’s pretty obvious. Oh, and there’s more, and you’re really not going to like it.”
“You mean I’m not going to like it any more than I like that there’s a dead body in the ductwork of our new building?”
Victoria looked around and then lowered her voice.
“There are two skulls, the workman said. One he thought was human and the other was much smaller.”
“Oh, no!” said Penny. “A child?”
Victoria shook her head. “It’s not that shape. He thinks it might be a dog or cat.”
Penny gasped. “You’re right. I don’t like it.”
She glanced at her watch. “Right, well, you stay here and you can tell me everything that happens. If I hurry, I can just about make it back to the salon.”
“You don’t have to worry about the salon,” Victoria assured her. “I had a word with Eirlys, and she’s happy to carry on.”
“I’m sure she is,” Penny agreed, “but today’s Thursday, so Mrs. Lloyd’ll be coming in for her appointment. I want to take care of her myself so I can talk to her.”
“Ah,” said Victoria, getting it. “Pick her brain, you mean.”
Penny shuddered.
“I hate that expression! But you were right when you suggested that Mrs. Lloyd would be a good source of information. I’ll ask her today what she can remember about this building—she’s got a memory like a steel trap that goes back a long way, and she was well aware of just about everything that went on.”
Victoria nodded and Penny walked quickly back to the salon.
Eirlys, who was setting out bottles of nail varnish on the worktable, jumped when Penny walked through the door.
“Oh, Penny! We’ve just heard the news about the discovery of the dead bodies in the new spa. Really shakes you up, when something that awful can happen here.”
Penny nodded as she set down her handbag.
“Now, Eirlys, you’re not to worry yourself over this. I’m sure it happened a long time ago—before you were even born, probably—so you’re as safe as houses. No one’s going to hurt you, I promise. Now, Mrs. Lloyd will be coming in soon, and I’m going to do her nails myself today. So I’d like you to take your break now. Did you have lunch?”
Eirlys nodded.
“Victoria came in and closed the shop over the lunchtime.”
“Well, then, why don’t you text a friend and see if you can meet up for coffee for an hour or so.” She checked the appointments book. “Then, when you come back, we’ll finish up for the afternoon. The discovery at the new building could very well affect us all over the next few days.”
With an obliging nod, Eirlys went through to the back and collected her bag. As she passed through the salon on the way to the door, she gave Penny a worried look.
“Do you think this business at the spa will mean we can’t open? I know you and Victoria wanted the place open by Christmas. Will this delay things, do you think?”
“It might, for a day or two, but I’m sure Inspector Davies will have it all sorted quickly, and really, once the body has been taken away, there’s nothing to stop us from getting on with the renovations, is there?”
“No, I guess not,” said Eirlys as she opened the door. “But clients might not want to come there because of this. They might find it too weird and creepy.”
Penny gave a light, ironic laugh.
“Oh, I think you’ll find it will work quite the opposite way, Eirlys. You know what people are like. They’ll want to come to the spa because of what happened there.”
As Eirlys was about to leave, Mrs. Lloyd burst in, her eyes radiating intense excitement.