March Violets Read Online Free PDF

twisted round to look at me, poker still in hand, and face slightly flushed. It was all the answer that I needed, but still he tried to throw some sand in my eyes. ‘Why ever do you ask such a question?’ he demanded.
    â€˜Really, Herr Gunther,’ said Schemm, affecting shock at my asking such an insensitive question.
    â€˜We had our differences of opinion,’ said Six. ‘But what man can be expected sometimes not to agree with his son-in-law?’ He put down the poker. I kept quiet for a minute. Eventually he said: ‘Now then, with regard to the conduct of your investigations, I would prefer it if you would confine your activities specifically to searching for the jewels. I don’t care for the idea of you snooping around in the affairs of my family. I’ll pay your fees, whatever they are — ’
    â€˜Seventy marks a day, plus expenses,’ I lied, hoping that Schemm hadn’t checked it out.
    â€˜What is more, the Germania Life Assurance and Germania Insurance Companies will pay you a recovery fee of five per cent. Is that agreeable to you, Herr Gunther?’ Mentally I calculated the figure to be 37,500. With that sort of money I was set. I found myself nodding, although I didn’t care for the ground rules he was laying down: but then for nearly 40,000 it was his game.
    â€˜But I warn you, I’m not a patient man,’ he said. ‘I want results, and I want them quickly. I have written out a cheque for your immediate requirements.’ He nodded to his stooge, who handed me a cheque. It was for 1,000 marks and made out to cash at the Privat Kommerz Bank. Schemm dug into his briefcase again and handed me a letter on the Germania Life Assurance Company’s notepaper.
    â€˜This states that you have been retained by our company to investigate the fire, pending a claim by the estate. The house was insured by us. If you have any problems you should contact me. On no account are you to bother Herr Six, or to mention his name. Here is a file containing any background information you may need.’
    â€˜You seem to have thought of everything,’ I said pointedly.
    Six stood up, followed by Schemm, and then, stiffly, by me. ‘When will you start your investigations?’ he said.
    â€˜First thing in the morning.’
    â€˜Excellent.’ He clapped me on the shoulder. ‘Ulrich will drive you home.’ Then he walked over to his desk, sat down in his chair and settled down to go through some papers. He didn’t pay me any more attention.
    When I stood in the modest hall again, waiting for the butler to turn up with Ulrich, I heard another car draw up outside. This one was too loud to be a limousine, and I guessed that it was some kind of sports job. A door slammed, there were footsteps on the gravel and a key scraped in the lock of the front door. Through it came a woman I recognized immediately as the UFA Film Studio star, Ilse Rudel. She was wearing a dark sable coat and an evening dress of blue satin-organza. She looked at me, puzzled, while I just gawped back at her. She was worth it. She had the kind of body I’d only ever dreamed about, in the sort of dream I’d often dreamed of having again. There wasn’t much I couldn’t imagine it doing, except the ordinary things like work and getting in a man’s way.
    â€˜Good morning,’ I said, but the butler was there with his cat-burglar’s steps to take her mind off me and help her out of the sable.
    â€˜Farraj, where is my husband?’
    â€˜Herr Six is in the library, madam.’ My blue eyes popped a good deal at that, and I felt my jaw slacken. That this goddess should be married to the gnome sitting in the study was the sort of thing that bolsters your faith in Money. I watched her walk towards the library door behind me. Frau Six - I couldn’t get over it - was tall and blonde and as healthy-looking as her husband’s Swiss bank account. There