Dead Man’s Shoes Read Online Free PDF Page A

Larkin, but I’ve heard, of course, what has happened.”
    â€œMost unfortunate.”
    â€œYou know that he was suspected of killing my uncle?”
    â€œYes. I hadn’t realized the connection though, Mr Willick. I remember you coming home with us from Tangier last year, but the name never linked up. I’m sorry to hear about your uncle.”
    â€œDamned shame. He was a grand old boy.”
    â€œDo you think it was this Larkin who murdered him?”
    â€œWell, I didn’t, but it does begin to look like it, doesn’t it? If it was suicide, that is.”
    â€œLarkin, you mean? What else could it have been, Mr Willick?”
    â€œIt could have been murder.”
    It was the first time that the Captain had heard the word in connection with the events of last night and he did not like it.
    â€œI hardly think so. There are too many practical considerations which make it virtually impossible.”
    â€˜I hope you’re right. If the police take that view it will be fairly clear that Larkin murdered my uncle and that at least will be one thing cleared up. I’m anxious to get back to Tangier. I live there, you may remember, and have onlyjust come across to settle up matters connected with my uncle’s estate.”
    â€œDid you know Larkin well, Mr Willick?”
    â€œI was probably the only person who did know him well. Why?”
    â€œHe behaved in such an extraordinary way on this ship. Offended all the passengers.”
    â€œHe was like that. Took a delight in being rude. I expect you found his voice rather trying, too. Most people did.”
    â€œVery trying. What we could not understand was that he had a reputation of being a recluse in Tangier. On board he was just the opposite. Insulting though he was to the other passengers he would never leave them alone.”
    â€œComing out of his shell, I suppose.”
    Lance Willick stood up. He was a spare man with greying hair brushed straight back. He was clean-shaven and rather elegantly dressed.
    â€œNice to have seen you again, Captain Bidlake. I wish it was in happier circumstances. I expect you’ve had hell today from police and the Press. Don’t I know it? I’ve had a fortnight of it now, since my uncle Gregory was murdered.”
    He shook hands and left the Captain, who saw him go down the gangway and with an easy walk make his way towards the dock gates.
    â€œI hope that’s the last of them,” Bidlake told Appleyard.
    â€œWe’ll make it. I wouldn’t have let him on board if I’d seen him coming. I told the quartermaster not to let any more up the gangway, but that chap travelled with us last year, you remember, so he’s known on board. But we’ll have no one else. The ship’s been like a bedlam this afternoon.”
    The passengers went their ways. For Jerry Butt and Ronald Ferry the annual party was over and they must return to something like sobriety and their wives tonight. They had ‘one last one’ at a pub near the docks which wenton till closing time. They then shared a taxi as far as Bays-water, where Butt alighted uncertainly while Ferry drove on to West Kensington. On Monday they would both return to the office and work for forty-eight weeks till it was time for another month’s bat.
    Gerard Prosper went first to his club to collect his mail.
    â€œHad a good holiday?” he was asked by a fellow-member.
    â€œVery, thanks.”
    â€œNice trip home?”
    â€œQuiet,” said Prosper and walked on. He would have to answer a little more fully when it was known that he had come home as a fellow-passenger of Larkin, the murder suspect who had apparently committed suicide, but for the moment that would do.
    Kutz went ashore that evening. A friend and compatriot of his came on board to find him and they went to the tenement block near the docks in which their respective wives had flats. The four of them ate together that evening, but