Page 47

A Tale of Too Many Pugs

Littleslade. Littleslade. Littleslade….

Kelly racked her brains, trying to remember where she’d heard the name. It had been somewhere recent; she was sure of it, but she just couldn’t put her finger on where or when it was, or under what circumstances.

She decided to head back to the inn, but when she got there, she found that the television crew had taken over the dining room in order to do some test screenings and practice readings for some of the minor parts in their planned drama.

Kelly went up to her room, but when she tried to use her computer, she found that the signal was so weak she couldn’t get anything to load, probably due to the television company overloading the servers with all their machines.

She decided to go out to the garden to see if the signal was stronger. But as she came out of her room, the door at the end opened and the two new guests emerged, dressed up as though they were going out for a walk too. They gave her a polite nod and then headed down the stairs.

Kelly froze.

That was it. She remembered now. On the suitcase in the hall, she had seen the name Littleslade. The two people staying in the hotel were Mr and Mrs Littleslade.

The coincidence was too great.

They had to be here for a reason.

Kelly grabbed her notebook and phone and hurried after them, hoping to trick them into an interview under the guise of asking their thoughts about the upcoming festival. Once she got them talking, she would try to angle them around to talk about what she really wanted to know, and that was whether or not they had any connection to the village.

However, as she reached the top of the stairs, two men from the film crew had just started up, carrying a heavy piece of camera equipment. Kelly had to wait for them to come past, and by the time she got down to the car park, it was just in time to see the Littleslades’ car disappearing into the distance.

She had left her own car keys in her room, and knew that by the time she made it back down, they would be far out of sight and she would have no chance of catching them.

However, they had only been going out with a couple of light bags, so they were definitely still staying at the hotel. That meant she would have a chance later to try to corner them again.

In the meantime, she went looking for Martin, but he was in the middle of doing something with the television company.

Frustrated, she decided to take her theories to Edward, so headed up through the village to the Carnival of Horrors. Not that she just wanted to see him, of course, but she hoped that he wasn’t off work again as he had been yesterday.

Just as she arrived, however, she saw Old Ned pulling shut the gate. She glanced at her watch and was surprised to see that it was only three o’clock.

‘Hang on,’ she said to Ned. ‘I need to come inside. Why are you closing so early?’

‘Winter closing hours,’ Old Ned said. ‘Last people in the park, two-thirty. Last people out, half past three.’

‘But it’s only five to three.’

‘I’m sorry, love, but—’

‘I want to see Edward. I don’t want to go on any of the rides.’

‘Why didn’t you say so?’ Old Ned said. ‘But you’ll have to climb over. I’m not allowed to open up the gate.’

Frustrated, but not in the mood for an argument, Kelly ungainly climbed over the gate and headed into the park in search of Edward.

She passed a couple of the sullen teenagers on their way home, but none of them paid her any attention until she stopped one to ask if he knew where she could find Edward.

The teenager just shrugged and nodded towards the restaurant building.

‘Late lunch,’ he muttered, and then went on his way.

The restaurant was locked, so Kelly went around the back and peered through the windows until she spotted Edward sitting alone at a table, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper.

She banged on the window loud enough that he almost fell off the chair.

When he saw who it was, he came over to the window, slid it open, and frowned at her.