Simon Brett [Simon Brett] - Mrs. Pargeter’s Package

First published in Great Britain in 1990

by Macmillan London Ltd

eBook edition first published in 2011 by Severn Select an imprint

of Severn House Publishers Limited

Copyright 1990 Simon Brett.

All rights reserved.

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

A CIP catalogue record for this title

is available from the British Library.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0015-0 (epub)

Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.

This ebook produced by

Palimpsest Book Production Limited,

Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland.

SIMON BRETT is a scriptwriter and radio and television producer, the acclaimed author of thirteen Charles Paris mysteries, and the author of the new Mrs. Pargeter series. Mr. Brett is the former president of the British Crime Writers Association.

The Mrs. Pargeter Mystery Series

A NICE CLASS OF CORPSE

MRS., PRESUMED DEAD

MRS. PARGETERS PACKAGE

MRS. PARGETERS POUND OF FLESH

MRS. PARGETERS PLOT

MRS. PARGETERS POINT OF HONOUR

To Nigel, Sue, Charles and
Olivia I want my armbands Bennett

A Mrs. Pargeter Mystery

chapter

ONE

As the coach zigzagged through the darkness in a grinding of gears, Mrs. Pargeter reflected that this was not her preferred style of travel. She knew that she had been spoiled by the late Mr. Pargeter, but felt strongly that his insistence on first class facilities at all times had been more than mere pampering. Travel, it had always been his view, was a tedious necessity, the important part of any journey was what one did on reaching ones destination, and therefore the less strain the actual business of transportation involved, the better. The cost of attaining such comfort, however high, was money well spent. It had been particularly important in the late Mr. Pargeters line of work that he always arrived anywhere with all his wits about him.

However, one will suffer a lot in the cause of friendship, and it was a mission of friendship that had brought Mrs. Pargeter to Corfu in these atypical circumstances. Joyce Dover, now tense beside her, peering anxiously through the coach window at the occasional light on the hillside, had been in a bad state when she first suggested the mutual holiday. Mrs. Pargeter could not but sympathize; the void left in her own life by the death of the late Mr. Pargeter was still a daily ache of melancholy; and Joyce had recently lost her husband, Chris. Though Mrs. Pargeter had never met the man in question, she knew what her friend was going through, she knew how much nerve proposing the trip must have required, and had been happy to agree to the proposal.

She had offered to make the arrangements herself. As well as taking the burden of such details off her friends troubled shoulders, this would also have ensured a level of resort and accommodation in keeping with her ownadmittedly rather highstandards. Money never appeared to have been a problem for Joyce, but if there had been any difficulty, Mrs. Pargeter would have been happy to subsidize her.

Joyce, however, had been adamantly opposed to this offer of help. Activity, she insisted, was the therapy currently required, and arranging a holiday would be an ideal distraction for her. She and her husband had never been to Greece, it was therefore an area without prompts to painful memories, so it was to Greece that they would go.

And before Mrs. Pargeter had had time to drop a few hints about the parts of Greece she thought most suitable and the hotels she thought most comfortable, the bookings were made. A fortnights package tour in early June to Agios Nikitas on the northeast coast of Corfu. Self-catering in the Villa Eleni.

Self-catering? It was remarkable, Mrs. Pargeter reflected, what one would do in the cause of friendship.

So it was in the cause of friendship that she had turned up at Gatwick Airport two hours early to check in for their charter flight. It was in the cause of friendship that she had sat at Gatwick Airport for the five hours that that flight had been delayed. Friendship had made her pretend enthusiasm for plastic food in a cramped Boeing 727 full of screaming children, and friendship now found her shaken about in the back of the coach that wheezed along the switchback coastal road from Corfu to Agios Nikitas.

But Mrs. Pargeter did not repine or complain. Hers was a philosophical nature. Life with the late Mr. Pargeter had taught her not to set too much store by anticipation. Dont waste energy in fear of the future, he had always said. Wait and see what happens, and when it does happen youll be surprised at the resources you find within yourself to cope with the situation.

So Mrs. Pargeter smoothed down the bright cotton print of her dress over plump thighs, let the warm air from the coach window play through her white hair, and waited to see what the next fortnight would bring.

chapter

TWO

Could I have your attention, please? The tour rep, who had identified herself in a fulsome English-girls-public-school accent at Corfu Airport as Ginnie, shouted above the groaning of the coachs engine.

It took a moment to get the attention of all the party. After the discomforts of their journey, and in spite of the lurches of the coach, a good few had dozed off. Keith and Linda, the young couple from South Woodham Ferrers in Essex, who had just got their eighteen-month-old Craig off to sleep, complained of the interruption. Mrs. Pargeter, who had provided Craig with an unwilling target for airline-food-throwing practice during the three-and-a-half-hour flight, also regretted his return to consciousness.

Sorry, said Ginnie, in a voice that didnt sound at all sorry. Presumably she too was feeling strained after five hours waiting for them at Corfu Airport. I just wanted to say that we are very nearly there. In a couple of minutes, we turn off the main road down to Agios Nikitas. I should warn you, the track down to the village is pretty bumpy.

What, bumpier than this one? Must have more bumps than the mother-in-laws car, said the retired man in the beige safari suit, who at Gatwick check-in had appointed himself the life and soul of the party. Mrs. Pargeter had decided at the time that a little of him would probably go a long way; the total lack of reaction to his latest witticism suggested that ten hours in his company had brought everyone else round to the same opinion. Even his weedy wife, in matching beige safari suit, was unable to raise even the wateriest of smiles.

Anyway, Ginnie continued, because were rather later in arriving than we expectedGrumbles of the you-can-say-that-again variety greeted thisand you may be hungryThis was endorsed with varying degrees of enthusiasmwhen we get to the village, some of you may want to go and have something to eat, and others want to go straight to your accommodation. So what well do is stop first at Spiros taverna and offload those who want to eat, while the coachll take the rest to their villas.