TRISHA ASHLEY
A Christmas Cracker
Copyright
Published by Avon
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2015
Copyright © Trisha Ashley 2015
Trisha Ashley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9781847562807
Ebook Edition © October 2015 ISBN: 9780008133719
Version: 2018-02-08
Dedication
For Grace
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1: Bottled
Chapter 2: Picture This
Chapter 3: Bang to Rights
Chapter 4: The Prisoners Friend
Chapter 5: Engagements
Chapter 6: The Quality of Mercy
Chapter 7: Life of Pye
Chapter 8: Clouded Mirrors
Chapter 9: Rumbled
Chapter 10: Crumbs!
Chapter 11: Cat Flight
Chapter 12: Christmas Lists
Chapter 13: Sleeping Beauty
Chapter 14: Cat-Flap
Chapter 15: Ghost Mice
Chapter 16: To the Point
Chapter 17: Reanimated
Chapter 18: Potent
Chapter 19: Brief Encounters
Chapter 20: Fishy
Chapter 21: Well Spiced
Chapter 22: Thin Air
Chapter 23: Fine-Tuned
Chapter 24: The House of Mirth
Chapter 25: Going Spiral
Chapter 26: Lukewarm
Chapter 27: Queen for the Day
Chapter 28: Winding Up
Chapter 29: Thrown
Chapter 30: Unfettered and Free
Chapter 31: Four-Legged Friends
Chapter 32: Out of the Box
Chapter 33: Give Peace a Chance
Chapter 34: On the Tiles
Chapter 35: False Start
Chapter 36: Charm Offensive
Chapter 37: An Absolute Cracker
Chapter 38: Give Me a Ring
Chapter 39: Sweet Liberty
Chapter 40: Missed Connections
Chapter 41: Spats
Chapter 42: Not Waving
Chapter 43: Christmas Every Day
Chapter 44: Snowed Under
Chapter 45: Guilt-Edged
Chapter 46: Picture Perfect
Chapter 47: True Lovers Knots
Chapter 48: Santas Little Helper
Chapter 49: On the Case
Chapter 50: Fireworks
Chapter 51: True Lies
Chapter 52: Daggers Drawn
Chapter 53: Advent
Chapter 54: Box of Delights
Chapter 55: Hasty Pudding
Chapter 56: The Big Picture
Chapter 57: Crowned
Recipes
Keep Reading
About the Author
By the same author
About the Publisher
Chapter 1: Bottled
You mean youve known for ages that your boss at Champers&Chocs was passing off bottles of cheap fizz as vintage champagne, and you havent done a single thing about it? Kate exclaimed incredulously, her pale blue eyes wide and a cup of herbal tea the exact colour of cat pee suspended halfway to her rose-tinted lips.
Kate was my opposite in looks, being small, fair and cute, though she wasnt as cute as she thought she was, unless you were really fond of rabbits. And speaking of rabbits, she should long since have put her penchant for pale pink fluffy jumpers behind her, even if the angora had been ethically sourced, which I doubted.
I sighed and stirred my Americano, starting to wish I hadnt said anything about it because, after all, she and her husband were Jeremys old friends, not mine, and shed been less than welcoming when wed first got engaged. But sometimes Kate and I would meet up for coffee and, that day being one of those occasions, my worries had spilled out of me the moment wed sat down.
It wouldnt have happened if Id been able to tell my best friend, Emma, but since shed remarried shed increasingly been having problems of her own with her husband, Desmond, so I hadnt wanted to burden her with mine.
Still, at least she wouldnt have gazed at me in the sad, accusing way Kate was, when I looked up.
The idea that anything fraudulent was going on never crossed my mind until I found out by accident, I explained. I mean, I dont think Id even seen a real bottle of champagne, other than on the TV, until I got engaged to Jeremy.
No, I dont suppose there are champagne bars on every corner of council estates, she said snidely. Just cheap booze shops.
For the last years of her life, Mum and I had shared a specially adapted council bungalow on a very nice estate, but Kate always talked as if I was dragged up in a slum and had made some giant social leap by getting engaged to a member of the teaching profession.
Oh, forget it, I snapped.
No, you cant just leave it there without telling me how you found out and why you didnt report it to the police, she insisted.
Because I thought it had stopped. It was before last Christmas, when I was packing special orders one evening and my boss and I were the only people there. There was a phone call and I walked into his office to tell him
I have wondered about those late nights, just the two of you she said suggestively.
I stared at her in astonishment. You dont mean you thought I was having a fling with Harry Briggs? I mean, apart from his being twenty years older than me and not my type, Im in love with Jeremy and wouldnt dream of cheating on him.
Well, you have to admit it looked a bit odd.
I dont see why. Harry said I had the nicest handwriting for the personal messages that went in the box with the champagne and chocolates, and I was the most careful packer for the expensive orders.
It was a pity, I thought, that those had turned out to be the fraudulent ones.
Jeremy said you started doing casual evening packing work there while your mother was still alive, she said. Harry paid you cash in hand.
Yes, because luckily our lovely neighbour was always happy to sit with Mum in the evenings for a couple of hours and the money was useful. A carers allowance doesnt go very far.
I suppose not, she said disinterestedly. But go on, you walked into Harrys office and then ?
He was sticking labels onto bottles, which seemed odd, but he explained that sometimes they got damaged and then he had to replace them.
And you believed that? she asked pityingly. You think its that easy to get hold of extra labels?
Not when Id thought about it a bit, especially since it was the most expensive champagne we stocked. Most of what we sell isnt actually champagne, its Prosecco, but thats made clear on the website.
So, did you say anything to him at the time?
I nodded. When I was going home and he came out to lock up after me, I told him Id realised he was fraudulently passing off cheap booze as expensive stuff. He said his supplier had forgotten to label one batch and hed had to do it himself, but he was very sorry Id seen it
I bet he was! she interrupted.
And hed only started the scam when the firm was going through a rocky patch, I finished.
Yeah, right.
Well, call me naïve, but when he swore he was going to stop that very night, I believed him, I said defensively. He was very contrite so in the end I said I wouldnt tell anyone if he really did mean it.
That was so wrong of you, Kate said censoriously. I would have got my coat and gone straight to the police the moment I realised what was happening. Not that Id have been doing a packing job at a factory anyway, she added, unable to refrain from another dig.