Gently with the Ladies (Inspector George Gently 13) Read Online Free PDF Page B

have cost four figures, and three Kashmir rugs which would have totalled little less. A settee and set of six chairs and a bow-fronted cabinet were Sheraton, and there was a Chippendale bureau-bookcase faced by a Chinese Chippendale chair. Some other good pieces had been quietly added. There was glass and lustre in the cabinet. A single large picture, apparently a Wilson, occupied the end wall above a Sheraton side-table. But in all, though these furnishings would have set a connoisseur’s eye roving, the general impact of the room was of expensive restraint.
    ‘You have come about poor Clytemnestra again?’
    A woman had risen from the settee to meet him. She was tall, in her forties, and had straight black hair, and the hair was parted in the centre and drawn into brackets round her face. She wore a severe green dress with a square neck and no sleeves. She was appraising Gently with intense, chocolate-brown eyes.
    ‘Mrs Bannister?’
    ‘Yes. But I don’t think I know you, do I?’
    Gently shook his head. I’m from the Central Office. I’m merely advising on the case.’
    ‘The Central Office! Isn’t that the Yard?’
    ‘Until they build us new premises.’
    ‘But I thought—’
    ‘We sometimes confer with our colleagues on a case.’
    Her brown eyes regarded him challengingly. She had intelligent, patrician features; a straight nose, rather lank cheeks, and a firm, though delicately-rounded, chin. She used no make-up. On her dress was pinned a large silver brooch set with an agate.
    ‘Of course, I know nothing of these affairs, and I should prefer to retain my ignorance, but isn’t it unusual for you to be consulted on such a straightforward case?’
    Gently shrugged. ‘Is it straightforward?’
    ‘I don’t see how you can make it a mystery. It isn’t a mystery to me, I assure you, and I made a plain statement of what I know of it. Have you caught him yet?’
    ‘He came to my office.’
    ‘Ah, that explains it – trust Siggy to be devious!’
    ‘Siggy?’
    ‘His second name is Sigismund. For some reason, Siggy seemed to suit him.’
    ‘I take it you didn’t like him, Mrs Bannister.’
    She made a beautifully controlled gesture. ‘In the end I didn’t care either way, because I saw very little of him. He was about as conspicuous as an outdoor cat and had much the same place in Clytemnestra’s household. She fed him and gave him a corner on a wet night. That was all.’
    ‘They were completely estranged.’
    ‘If you wish.’
    ‘She didn’t care what he did with himself.’
    ‘Oh dear! Do you need me to make it plainer? If he’d done it quietly, he might have gone and hung himself.’
    ‘That’s been my impression,’ Gently said.
    ‘I’m glad, so glad. I thought you had missed it.’
    ‘But doesn’t that make it a little strange that they should quarrel violently over another woman?’
    Her bold eyes challenged him again, implying an impertinence to be stared down.
    ‘Well,’ she said, ‘you’d best take a seat. If you want to be clever, it will take time.’
    Gently silently chose a Sheraton chair and turned it back to the windows. Mrs Bannister frowned at him for some seconds, then went to give a tug to a tasselled bell-pull. Albertine entered. Mrs Bannister addressed her in a stream of resonant French. Albertine curtseyed and withdrew. Mrs Bannister took her seat on the settee. She caught Gently’s eye.
    ‘Well?’
    ‘I was wondering . . . is your maid’s name really Albertine?’
    ‘It most certainly is. There would be no satisfaction in having a false Albertine.’ Her stare held for a moment, then she grudgingly gave him a smile. ‘For a policeman,’ she said, ‘you seem to be a very determined reader.’
    ‘Did you get her by accident?’
    ‘Oh no. One must take trouble over worthwhile things. We interviewed maids by the dozen in Paris before we discovered
our
Albertine.’
    ‘We?’
    ‘Does that surprise you? Clytemnestra was no illiterate. And here’s a little