7.2.16

35 - The end is the beginning

The fire chief took a close look at the tower on Sunday afternoon. Nothing had changed since his team had left in the early hours. The collapse was presumably completed. On Monday morning he took care to be present when the surveyor arrived.

34 - Laura's plight

Meetings at the vicarage had a tendency the bring out the worst in anyone who had an axe to grind, so it was with some trepidation that Edith laid out an appetizing selection of homemade cookies and cakes on the sideboard and instructed the five boys not to be a nuisance on pain of death. As usual, the vicar had stuffed himself at lunch and had to take an afternoon nap for it all to sink a bit. He was sorry he had allowed a meeting to take place. His digestion was uncomfortable. He would rather lie down and forget the world.

33 - Life goes on

After a hung over Thursday and Gloria’s departure on Friday morning, things were, in Dorothy Price’s opinion, about to get back to normal for most people who had been involved in any way. She was sure that Cleo and Robert would get married eventually. For a moment she had thought Cleo was going to walk out on the proceedings in the vestry, but she had eventually come round to believing that things were exactly as Rita had said they were.