Charters and Caldicott Read Online Free PDF Page B

relieved, I must say.’
    â€˜Amen to that,’ said Charters.
    â€˜There was no resemblance, then? You see, I hardly saw her face. I just saw her lying there and...’
    Charters patted her hand awkwardly. ‘Don’t upset yourself, my dear.’
    â€˜I’m sorry, but I think I’ve got plenty to be upset about.’
    â€˜Of course you have, after an ordeal like that,’ said Caldicott. ‘No I don’t think there was any resemblance at all, Jenny. The thing was, we both knew we’d seen her before but couldn’t place her. When the poor girl was identified as you, of course, the penny dropped – or we thought it had.’
    â€˜The question that arises now – this tea is disgusting. It tastes like detergent – is who the unfortunate woman was, and what she was doing with your papers,’ said Charters.
    â€˜She was called Helen Appleyard. Or, at least, that’s the name on her papers.’ Jenny produced a driving licence and a couple of letters. ‘I switched handbags,’ she explained, seeing that Charters and Caldicott were baffled.
    Caldicott struck his forehead. ‘I see. Simple when you know how, isn’t it.’
    Charters didn’t pretend to understand. ‘What do you mean, you switched handbags?’
    â€˜Oh, really, old man, you’re a bit slow on the uptake today,’ said Caldicott. ‘Jenny let herself in with the spare key from the lobby – we’ll inquire into the whys and wherefores of that in a minute...’
    â€˜I did have a reason,’ Jenny put in.
    â€˜I’m sure you did, my dear.’ Caldicott turned back to Charters, elaborately patient, delighted to get his own back for the mathematics lecture. ‘You savvy? Lets herself into flat, finds body, swaps handbags.’
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜Come along, Charters, wakey, wakey. Oh dear, oh doctor,’ he gloated as Charters continued to look blank. ‘You may be hot on the price of lamb cutlets, old man, but logic seems to defeat you. Look – watch closely.’ Caldicott, having a whale of a time, doubled his fists and crossed them one over the other, demonstrating what he believed to have happened. ‘This is Jenny. This is the body. Jenny swaps places – as you were, handbags – with dead girl. Whereupon what’s-her­name, Helen Appleyard, becomes Jenny Beevers and Jenny becomes Helen Appleyard. Switch of personalities. Savvy?’
    Charters, who had watched this elaborate pantomime with grim patience, said, ‘Yes, I’ve understood that all along.’
    â€˜Well then.’
    â€˜But why?’
    â€˜Why what?’
    â€˜Why switch personalities?’
    â€˜Well because,’ Caldicott began, then stopped, frowning. ‘Yes, dash it, why?’ he demanded, turning to Jenny.
    â€˜Can I tell you first what I was doing in your flat? I knew Dad had sent you a trunk brimful of diaries and notebooks and stuff.’
    â€˜Yes, it’s in my custody as it happens,’ said Charters.
    â€˜I wanted to read them.’
    â€˜My dear girl, they’re your property now,’ said Caldicott. ‘You only had to ask.’
    â€˜Yes, I know – and that’s what I meant to do when I first called round to Viceroy Mansions and you were out. But then I got to thinking that you mightn’t let me see what you mightn’t wish me to see.’
    â€˜What a bizarre idea!’
    â€˜Why on earth should we prevent you reading your own father’s diaries? See them whenever you like,’ said Charters.
    â€˜Now?’ Jenny asked.
    â€˜Well, I am in the country, you know.’
    â€˜Of course. I remember seeing a snap of you and your wife in the garden.’
    â€˜Ruth died, you know.’
    â€˜I’m sorry – I never heard.’
    â€˜No, I didn’t want a song and dance made of it. They were happy years, the few we had.’
    Jenny took a deep breath.