Come Clean (1989) Read Online Free PDF Page B

mark, there was something fine, even noble, about his profile, like a cut-price and darker Charlton Heston. She had noticed that before, in the
Monty. Ralph’s were the sort of bony good looks her mother had always fancied and found trustworthy, because they were so different from her husband’s, Sarah’s father. Some of
that taste must have been inculcated in Sarah. As if to confirm that life had brought him down a rung or two he said: ‘I’m not free to act as I would like, you know, Mrs
Iles.’
    ‘Who is?’
    ‘Well, quite,’ he said peaceably, ‘indeed, who is?’ And then his voice suddenly lost its gentleness and became edged with stress and venom. ‘Mrs Iles, this is not
some fart-arsing dreamy philosophical discussion, you know.’ He turned violently in the seat to face her again. ‘I’m trying to tell you something, something real, that counts. Do
you understand that, you – well, you wife?’
    She drew in at the kerb. ‘Would you like to push off now?’
    ‘Oh, don’t come that, the big, other-age dignity. It went out with the Stanley Steamer.’
    ‘Goodbye,’ she screamed at him. The windows were closed but her voice must have reached the pavement, and a couple of old ladies in plastic macs, one pulling a shopping bag on
wheels, stared through the glass, in the searching way people looked into ambulances. He was probably right: she had started to act stupidly, putting on the class, like Mrs Desmond Iles of Idylls,
Rougemont Place, instead of finding out why he had come, and what he had to say about the situation of Sarah Iles, mistress, and sometimes troublesome guest at his cruddy club. Nerves had done it,
nothing else.
    He did not leave the car and when he spoke again his voice was back to considerateness and a sort of amiability. ‘Believe me, this is not how I see myself, not at all, Mrs Iles, coming out
here to frighten someone like your good self. I’m on your side, very much so, I hope that goes without saying. Oh, you have your views of the Monty and of me, I don’t doubt it, but
there’s nothing untoward about the club or myself, nothing dubious or malfeasant, I hope you’ll accept that. I’m a family man through and through, doing what I can to give those
dear to me a decent life. When I say “on your side” you’re going to reply that you have no side, I understand that, but what I mean is I’d do everything I could to save you
distress, and Ian.’
    She drove on.
    ‘Did you and he discuss that matter of last night, I mean, afterwards?’ Ralph asked.
    ‘Not really.’
    ‘Understandable. You have better things to talk about, for heaven’s sake. Just an episode, wasn’t it, what’s called an aberration?’
    She felt stifled by the seeping verbiage, desperately looked for a sentence or phrase that meant something to her, like seeking footholds in a swamp. ‘Who were those people?’
    ‘At the club?’
    ‘Of course at the club.’
    ‘What I have to tell you is that they’ve made an identification.’ He sighed and turned towards her. ‘Yes, I’m sorry.’ The tone was as if he had informed her
of a death.
    ‘What? What does that mean, an identification? Who of? Look, we’re nearly back to your car. I don’t want to go into Rougemont Place again.’
    ‘Understandable, entirely. Park here, briefly. Then I’ll walk.’
    She drew in again.
    ‘Yes, I had another visit,’ he said.
    ‘From one of them?’
    ‘One or two.’
    ‘Which one or two? The one with the false teeth? The grey-haired, balding one?’
    ‘You’re observant,’ he said, sadly. ‘I don’t know whether one really wants to stare at people as closely as that.’
    ‘I couldn’t help staring, for heaven’s sake. Think what was going on.’
    ‘Well, perhaps. Put it another way: best not to be shouting these descriptions around. I mean, wildly. Such glimpses can be very subjective, misleading. We were all under stress.
Distortions do take place.’
    ‘When?’
    ‘When