The Killing of Olga Klimt Read Online Free PDF

his cigar. ‘Do allow me to ask you a question, Payne, if I may, but you must try to give me an honest answer. Does your wife wear high heels?’
    ‘I believe she does at certain times, on special occasions.’
    ‘My wife wears high heels at all times – even in the country! Says she feels uprooted and destitute without her high heels – says the backs of her legs start hurting if she takes them off for more than five minutes. That sounds like another addiction, don’t you think? Then there’s her conversation. Deirdre’s conversation is marked by what – for want of a more precise phrase – I’d call “magnificent irrelevancy”. And she seems to entertain some truly extraordinary ideas – I’m not boring you frightfully, am I?’
    ‘No, not at all,’ Major Payne assured him.
    It was eleven-thirty in the morning and the two men were sitting in the smoking room at the Military Club in St James’s.
    ‘Deirdre’s been pestering me to get a butler. Each time I say no, over my dead body! Butlers don’t go with an urban setting. In the country yes, in Park Lane, no. I know people do have butlers in London but I am not one to go with the flow, Payne, as you may have gathered. I told her she would only get a butler over my dead body. She is also convinced that Charlie’ll flood Sloane Square with his bath water should Bedaux let him out of his sight for one single moment, so she has instructed Bedaux to keep to Charlie’s side at all times. Bedaux apparently follows Charlie like Mary’s lamb. Charlie’s my stepson,’ Lord Collingwood explained with a scowl.
    ‘Who’s Bedaux?’ Major Payne asked.
    ‘Charlie’s man. He’s the sort of fellow that deserves to be flung over a precipice or, failing that, tarred and feathered. However, my wife won’t accept any criticism of him. Bedaux is one of Deirdre’s blind spots.’ Lord Collingwood’s face was very red now. ‘He’s been boasting about the regime he’s managed to establish chez Charlie – that’s the latest thing – every meal served at a precisely preordained moment, no dish on the menu ever repeated and every foodstuff of the highest quality!’
    ‘Nothing wrong with that, is there?’
    ‘No, but I doubt if any of it’s true. The fellow’s the worst slacker and scrounger who ever lived, Payne. Bedaux also told Deirdre he buttered and sliced Charlie’s toast into convenient fingers every morning at breakfast. Deirdre’s terribly impressed. Bedaux has her eating out of his hand. He’s been overstepping the mark in the most outrageous manner, Payne. He is a malignant creature. Your wife writes crime, doesn’t she?’
    ‘She does, yes.’ Payne blinked, somewhat startled by the change of subject. ‘Very old-fashioned crime.’
    ‘I understand her plots sometimes go wildly beyond the probable but not beyond the possible, that correct? Perhaps she may write a short story about someone like Bedaux one day? “The Enigma of the Nefarious Factotum” – something on those lines? Or she may be inspired to pen a novella about the facades most villains take such care to maintain?’
    ‘Antonia does that quite a lot, actually. The characters in her books are rarely what they seem. Is Bedaux a villain?’
    ‘Oh, without the slightest shadow of a doubt. Shall I tell you what’s behind villainy, Payne? Bad blood, that’s what. Bad blood has a lot to answer for. You’d never believe this,’ Lord Collingwood went on, dropping his voice, ‘but a couple of months ago I discovered that an early ancestor of mine had been one of the signatories to the death warrant of Charles I. Gave me quite a turn, I must admit. Couldn’t sleep a wink for quite a while. Haven’t had much peace since. Keep thinking about it. Still struggling to make sense of it.’
    ‘A republican Collingwood, eh?’
    ‘Just your saying it sends shivers down my spine. He was unquestionably mad. I find myself in a furnace of shame each time I think about it.’ Lord