Gently With the Painters Read Online Free PDF Page A

my wife was going out. I did not ask her where she was going as we had agreed not to ask one another this. I found some eggs in the larder and poached two for my tea. Then I got out my car again and drove first to the Halford Ferry public house and afterwards to several public houses, including the Lordham Dog and the Porter Haynor Falgate. I returned to the Ferry and remained there till closing time, fetching my drinks from the bar to a table by the river. I arrived home at eleven o’clock or soon after. I went straight to bed withoutvisiting my wife’s room, and I did not know that she was missing until I was informed of it by the police.’
    Hansom sneered: ‘He was playing it close to the chest, don’t you think? The innocent wronged husband who doesn’t know a thing! We checked at the pubs which he condescended to mention, and like I told you, they don’t remember him after half past nine.’
    ‘Is he fairly well known to them?’
    ‘You bet. He’s that type. His MG would do the circuit with him blind drunk in the dickey.’
    ‘Halford Ferry is that large pub …?’
    ‘Yep. He’s a regular clever boyo. It’s big, and rushed off its feet at this time of the year. Naturally, they won’t swear that he wasn’t there till closing, especially with him claiming that he sat at an outside table. He may have sat nursing a pint for an hour.’
    ‘It’s either true or very clever.’
    ‘Cobber, you’ve put him in a nutshell.’
    The Super, feeling perhaps that he was being ignored, now filled in some details of their investigation of Johnson. His service record was good, they knew nothing against his character, and though he owned a fast car his licence was virgin of endorsements. He had friends in his own profession and was generally well thought of. His business was honestly conducted and had a good reputation. That he was estranged from his wife was no secret to his acquaintances, but the subject was painful to him and he became abrupt if she was mentioned.
    ‘Can anyone vouch for the time he arrived home?’
    ‘No, and that and the time he gives seem to lend support to his good faith. If he had known at what time his wifehad been killed, he could have sworn that he was home by ten without fear of contradiction. Inspector Hansom here thinks that it’s an example of Johnson’s cunning, but failing evidence to the contrary one is bound to allow him the doubt. It was small things like these which made us uncertain about Johnson, and I suggested that we should turn our attention elsewhere.’
    ‘Elsewhere’, of course, was the Palette Group and its members, and from Hansom’s bored expression Gently could judge what luck they had had. From his folder the local man produced a sheaf of bitty statements, the result of many hours of unprofitable labour.
    ‘Perhaps you could give me the overall picture.’
    ‘Sonny, I’d be delighted! They all had a “thing” about her.’
    ‘Infatuation, you mean?’
    ‘Hell, no – these are painters! There were some who thought she could paint, and the rest who thought she couldn’t. Apart from some guessing about times, there’s damn-all else.’
    Gently paused for an instant before putting his next question; he wasn’t confident that Hansom could give him the answer.
    ‘Did it strike you as being the … usual relation, as between artists, or was there a little bit more of a point to it?’
    ‘How the devil should I know!’ Hansom stared his disgust at Gently. ‘They’re queers, the whole bunch, and that’s putting it mildly. The fact that she was croaked didn’t seem to have penetrated – they were only concerned with the way she lashed paint on.’
    ‘But they were concerned about that – they held strong opinions?’
    ‘I couldn’t get them to talk about anything else. And yesterday it broke out again, when they opened the exhibition. We had to grab that picture to save ourselves a riot.’
    The picture was produced and displayed on the top of a