Chapter 24
I HAD a full morning of clients and a lunchtime presentation on our services at the local neighbourhood centre, so it was three o’clock before I turned up at the house in Burwood. I breathed a sigh of relief when I spied a station wagon emblazoned with ‘Clean as a Whistle’ parked in the street. The house was a double-storey brick with elaborate carved columns over the front porch. The front door was wide open, so I walked in.
‘Hullo!’ My voiced echoed – the house was cavernous without furniture. A vacuum cleaner hummed from somewhere on the top floor.
A woman appeared from a room up the hallway. Large and homely, hair tied back with a scarf and a cloth in her hand.
‘Hi, I’m Will. Are you Ellen?’
‘Sure am. Frankie told me you’d be dropping by.’
‘Great. Is she upstairs?’
‘Y
