The Piano Man Project Page 0,37

on top of the bundle of clothes.

‘Change of image?’ she joked, and then raised surprised eyebrows when Nell nodded.

‘Something like that. I just feel like I need more colour in my life, you know?’ She arched her black shirt-clad back to stretch it out. ‘Why was the door locked?’

Honey’s shoulders slumped. ‘Christopher came to call a staff meeting, which can only possibly mean one thing. Bad news.’

Mimi and Lucille appeared from the staffroom. ‘We’re not invited,’ Lucille sniffed. ‘Paid staff only. Hello Nell, dear.’

‘Pah. As if we’d want to go anyway.’ Mimi scowled ominously. ‘We’ve got bigger fish to fry this afternoon. You should probably call Old Don’s son, Honey, see if he can get a journalist down here.’

‘Mimi … are you sure about this? I don’t know what you’re planning and I’m worried.’

Mimi patted Honey’s hand on the counter. ‘Better that you don’t know, then you can’t be incriminated,’ she said darkly. ‘I don’t suppose anyone has donated any handcuffs lately, have they?’

Honey rolled her eyes, and then Nell silently opened her handbag and withdrew a pink fluffy pair, dangling them in the air by one cuff, her cheeks a good match with the fur.

‘My goodness, handcuffs have come a long way since my day,’ Lucille said. ‘The police only ever carried silver ones, nothing pretty like those. Although, I’m not sure I agree with them making things too comfortable for criminals.’ She frowned with disapproval at Nell’s fluffy cuffs, and Honey glanced at the floor to hide her smile, as Nell looked horrified with herself.

‘Are these some of those sex aids, dear?’ Mimi asked, squinting to get a closer look at them. Catching Nell’s mortified look, Mimi lifted her shoulders. ‘What? You think I’m too old to know about these things? I’ll have you know I read that Fifty Shades on our coach holiday around the Peak District last year, didn’t I, Lucille?’

Lucille nodded. ‘I prefer a good murder, myself,’ she said.

‘You might get one this afternoon,’ Mimi said dramatically, taking the handcuffs from Nell and dropping them into Lucille’s handbag.

‘You better carry these. If Billy sees me with them Lord only knows what might go through that head of his.’ Mimi smiled sweetly and linked arms with Lucille. ‘Come, sister. There’s much to be done and little time to do it in.’

‘I see what you mean about adding a little colour to your wardrobe now, Nellie,’ Honey murmured as they watched the two old ladies leave, and Nell laughed and covered her face with her hands.

‘What was I thinking of? I just heard Mimi ask for handcuffs and flicked into helpful teacher mode.’

‘I’m actually afraid to ask why you have them in your handbag,’ Honey said, wincing in anticipation of Nell telling her something so lurid it would make it impossible to ever look at Simon in the same light again.

‘I didn’t know what else to do with them. The cleaning lady comes on Tuesdays! What if she found our new things? She might polish them or something, and think of the skin irritation you could get from that. Or worse, she might resign.’

‘So … you have other things in your bag beside the handcuffs?’

Wide eyed, Nell opened her bag and gestured for Honey to look inside. Beside Nell’s phone and sunglasses lay a vibrator, a long feather and a string of pearls.

‘I don’t think they’re meant to go around my neck, are they?’ Nell squeaked. ‘Simon left them for me this morning! Honey, I don’t even know what to do with them. Help me!’

‘Uh-uh. You’re asking the wrong person. You need Tash.’ Honey laughed at the askance expression on her friend’s face. The last few weeks must have been a real period of revelation for Nell, and in all that she’d still given enough thought to the piano man mission to arrange Friday’s date with Robin. She really was the best kind of friend, and probably a good person to talk to about Hal, if Honey ever felt it was time to share. Now was definitely not the time though, not with Christopher waiting over in the home, itching to deliver more bad news.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Sitting down to listen to Christopher an hour or so later, Honey found herself distracted by worrying thoughts of Mimi and Lucille. What were they up to? Or rather; what was Mimi orchestrating and Lucille being accomplice to? Whatever it was, she was certain of two things: Billy would involve himself as much as he could, and Christopher was likely to go