Manhattan in Reverse Read Online Free PDF Page B

need one. Ask me what I was doing every night this past week, and I’d be hard pressed to find witnesses.
    Christine Jayne Lockett bustled into the interview room. I say bustled because she had the fussy motions that put me in mind of some formidable maiden aunt. When she came into a room everyone knew it. When she spoke, she had the tone and volume which forced everyone to listen. She was also quite attractive, keeping her long hair in a high style. Older than the others, in her mid-twenties, which gave her a certain air . Her lips always came to rest in a cheerful grin. Even now, in these circumstances, she hadn’t completely lost her bonhomie.
    ‘And it started out as such a beautiful day,’ she said wistfully as she settled herself in the chair. Several necklaces chinked and clattered at the motion, gold pagan charms and crucifixes jostling against each other. She put a small poetry book on the table. ‘Do you have any idea who did it, yet?’
    ‘Not as such,’ Gareth Alan Pitchford said.
    ‘So you have to ask me if I do. Well I’m afraid I have no idea. This whole thing is so incredible. Who on earth would want to kill poor Justin? He was a wonderful man, simply wonderful. All of my friends are. That’s why I love them, despite their faults. Or perhaps because of them.’
    ‘Faults?’
    ‘They’re young. They’re shallow. They have too many opinions. They’re easily hurt. Who could resist the company of such angels?’
    ‘Tell me about Justin. What faults did he have?’
    ‘Hubris, of course. He always thought he was right. I think that’s why dear Bethany loved him so much. That First Era saying: “differences unite”. Not true. She’s a strong-willed girl as well. How could a strong person ever be attracted to a weak one – tell me that. They were so lucky to have found each other. Nobody else could win her heart, not for lack of trying you understand.’
    ‘Really?’ Gareth Alan Pitchford couldn’t shade the interest in his voice. ‘She had admirers?’
    ‘You’ve seen her. She’s gorgeous. A young woman of beauty, complemented by a fiercely sharp mind. Of course she had admirers, by the herd.’
    ‘Do you have names?’
    ‘Men would ask to buy her a drink every time we went into a tavern. But if you mean persistent ones, ones that she knew . . . Alexander and Carter were both jealous of Justin. They’d both asked her out before she and Justin became lovers. It always surprised me that they managed to remain friends. A man’s ego is such a weak appendage, don’t you think?’
    ‘I’m sure. Did this jealousy last? Were either of them still pursuing her?’
    ‘Not actively. We were all friends, in the end. And nothing I saw, no wistful gazes, no pangs of lust, would cause this. I do know my friends, Detective Pitchford, and they are not capable of murder. Not like this.’
    ‘Who is, then?’
    ‘I have no idea. Somebody from the First Imperial Era? One might still be alive.’
    ‘If so, I’ve not heard of them, but I’ll enquire. Do you know if Justin had antagonized anyone? Not necessarily recently,’ he added, ‘but at any time since you knew him.’
    ‘His self-confidence put a lot of people off. But then all of us have that quality. It’s not a characteristic which drives someone to murder.’
    ‘Mr Kenyon claims he was with you after the dinner at the Orange Grove. Is this true?’
    ‘Perfectly true. We went back to my apartment. It was after ten, and baby-sitters are devilishly expensive in this city.’
    ‘The baby-sitter can confirm this?’
    ‘Your officers already took her statement. We arrived back at about quarter past ten.’
    ‘And after that? You were together for the rest of the night?’
    ‘Right up until Carter got the phone call, yes. We drank some wine, I showed him my latest piece. We talked. Not for long, mind you. We hadn’t even got to bed before he dashed off.’ Her fingers stroked at the book’s leather cover. ‘What a dreadful, dreadful