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‘Is it indeed?’ she said. ‘Well, Kelly Tunwick, what would you be doing this evening?’

‘I have no current plans,’ Kelly said, a little concerned about what the old woman might suggest.

‘Well, in that case,’ the woman said, ‘how’s about you come over to mine for a little bit of dinner? Five o’clock sharp should do it.’

‘Thanks,’ Kelly said, seeing no reason to refuse, even though the old woman was a little creepy.

‘Five o’clock sharp,’ the woman repeated, this time emphasising the final word in a way that sounded as though she were sharpening a knife.

Hopefully, Kelly thought, just to slice some vegetables.

‘My name is Glynnis,’ the woman said. ‘Glynnis Flowers. It would be my great honour to have a journalist called Kelly Tunwick come to my house for tea.’

18

A Mystery from the Past

Kelly had a couple of hours to kill, for want of a better word, before going to meet Glynnis Flowers for dinner. So, feeling a little too nervous to go up to the Hanging Tree—or indeed even as far as the aqueduct—she instead decided to go up to the Carnival of Horrors to thank Edward for taking her home the previous night.

There were a few cars in the car park, but she paid her entry fee anyway and then wandered around the park in search of him.

However, after half an hour of trudging around an empty park, she bit the proverbial silver bullet and asked one of the sullen teenagers if they had seen Edward.

‘Didn’t show up this morning,’ the kid said, without offering even a smile, clearly keen to get back to the comic book he was reading behind the gift shop counter.

‘Is there anyone who might know where he is?’ Kelly asked.

The teenager gave a shrug. ‘Could ask Old Ned.’

‘Old Ned? Who’s that?’

‘Gardener,’ the kid told her.

‘And do you know where I’d find Old Ned?’

The kid looked at her as though she were from another planet. ‘Garden,’ he said.

Kelly could only assume that it was extremely hard to find willing staff in a place like Briar Speckles, but she thanked the kid anyway then headed off in search of the aforementioned Old Ned.

Unwilling, for the time being at least, to venture into the woods, she constrained herself to looking around the garden areas surrounding the rides. There was no sign of any gardeners, however, so she decided to head back into the village.

Just as she was leaving the main entrance, she caught sight of an old grey-haired man kneeling in the weeds near the welcome sign. With grass knee-deep around the sign, she assumed that he was doing some weeding, but as she went over to talk to him, he caught sight of her, put up a hand, and said, ‘Stop right there. Don’t move. Stand with your legs apart, just like that. A fraction more, if you don’t mind.’

Kelly, feeling rather like a dog on a podium at a prize show, was too stunned to do anything other than what he said. She stood with her legs slightly spread just back from the grass verge.

‘Just stay right there,’ the old man said, shuffling forwards through the grass. ‘If you see a big brown thing, don’t be alarmed. He’s harmless.’

Kelly opened her mouth, but no words would come out. She just stared at the old man as he lowered himself into the grass and then jumped forwards with a sudden gasp of excitement.

‘Gotcha, lad!’ he cried, sitting up in the grass with something large and brown held in his hands.

To Kelly’s surprise, he was holding an enormous toad, not unlike the one she had found sitting on her windowsill only that morning.

‘Good work there, girl,’ the old man said, patting the toad on the head.

Then, as Kelly stared, openmouthed, he leaned in and gave it a big kiss on the back, as though it were a mischievous kitten that had gotten itself lost.

‘Nice work cornering Larry here,’ the old man said, finally looking up at Kelly. ‘Been looking for him all morning. He loves to go walkabout, you know. Now was there something I can help you with?’