Frozen Grave

Chapter 28

Monday was Diane’s first day helping at the Faith and Light hostel. It went so well that she stayed on for the evening service. They were short-staffed for cooking dinner. Zoe was having the evening off to spend with her boys. Diane had been looking forward to it. It felt different to working. Everyone was grateful and took time to explain things to her. Simon helped to cook the dinner. Diane found herself peeling spuds for the mash and packing sausages on trays. She met some interesting people and they treated her as a person in her own right, not a widow, not a grandmother or mother. She was Diane, the volunteer. Sheila and Lyndsey were very friendly.

The time flew by; it was so busy. When they had finished serving dinner there was the tidying and washing up and then the preparation for breakfast. Diane sat down for a cup of tea with Lyndsey and Sheila.

It was ten o’clock when she went to find Simon to say goodnight. She knocked on the door of his office.

He opened the door and Diane could see he had company: a woman who quickly hid her face in a handkerchief. She looked upset.

‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.’

Simon smiled, embarrassed.

‘Thanks for your help, Diane. Can I ring you tomorrow and we can catch up on how things went?’

‘Of course.’

Diane dropped in on Zoe on her way home and heard the wonderful peaceful sound that meant the kids were asleep. She knew she’d find Zoe sitting at the kitchen table on her laptop.

‘How did it go?’

‘It was great, love. So many interesting people. You wouldn’t believe people’s stories – how they end up on the street. Just bad luck, most of them.’

‘Keep an eye on your purse.’

‘Tut-tut. That’s not a good attitude. You’re becoming a very cynical young lady.’

‘Yeah, well, I’m really glad it will work out, Mum. Tea?’ Zoe got up to put the kettle on. ‘Did you see much of Simon?’

‘Yes, I did. He’s quite the chef in the kitchen. Except he doesn’t shout at anyone.’

‘I should hope not.’

‘There were lots of people asking what would be happening now about someone called Lolly.’

‘I saw that on the board at work. She was left in the lorry park at Shadwell.’

‘What’s going to happen now?’

‘Well, we’ll do our best. We’ll investigate it like we do all unexplained deaths but the truth is, we don’t hold out a lot of hope of solving it. She was always vulnerable.’

‘Yes, but they say this is the second time someone has tried to kill her. The first time the gang from the estate tried to set her on fire whilst she was sleeping.’

‘We will investigate it, Mum. I’ll have a look into it myself, see if I can find out what’s happening for you.’

‘Yes, because, after all, these people are her family. They are the only people she had left in the world. They deserve to know what happened.’

‘Yes, I know, Mum. I will do it, I promise. Did you get any gossip on Simon?’

‘I didn’t ask. I’m not going to be a spy for you. I would hate them to think I was.’

‘They won’t, Mum. I’m just interested, that’s all.’

‘Mmm, not falling for that, but anyway – he’s difficult to work out. No one mentioned a girlfriend to me.’

‘Did you learn anything about him at all? Was there talk about Toffee – the man in hospital?’

‘The other volunteers can understand why he’s spending so much time at the hospital. According to Sheila and Lyndsey, Simon and Toffee spent a lot of time in his office and they seem to have a special bond.’

‘Did you meet any of the other regulars to the hostel? Did you meet a young woman called Martine?’

‘I heard her name mentioned.’

‘If you get the chance to talk to the people who come in – just listen out for anything that seems worth remembering.’

‘I told you, I’m not spying for you.’

‘Just helping people, that’s all. Not spying.’

‘There is something – nothing really but when I left there I went to say goodbye and there was a woman in his office.’

‘Who was it?’

‘I didn’t ask. But she wasn’t one of the clients in the hostel. She was smartly dressed. She was crying her eyes out when I went in there and he clearly didn’t want to talk to me. She hid her face in a hanky.’

‘When are you going back in, Mum?’

‘I was thinking of going in tomorrow, to help out in the day, if they need me; I can make tea, talk to people. I think that’s what I’ll enjoy doing the most, just listening. But Simon is going to ring me first.’

‘Be good to go in as much as possible.’

‘Trying to get rid of me?’

Zoe smiled. ‘When you’ve finished your duties here, that is.’

‘Simon can’t be intending to go into the hospital tonight, can he? Maybe he knows that you’re not going in.’

‘I wouldn’t get your hopes up of having a vicar as a son-in-law, Mum. I don’t think we’re suited, do you?’

‘Who knows? But you couldn’t help out at the hostel – you’d probably have everyone strip-searched just to get a cup of tea. And you certainly wouldn’t believe anything they said to you – you’d be like, why did you say you did that but then you said the other…?’

‘I’m not that bad.’

‘Mmm. You don’t notice it. I saw you interrogating the postman the other day. What made you leave your trolley outside number 36 while you delivered letters to 44?’

‘Now you’re exaggerating.’ Zoe laughed.