The Last Girl Read Online Free PDF

the top end of the bar. He had a fine Yorkshire accent, and I warmed to him immediately for no good reason except that I liked the sound of it and I respected anyone who hadn’t lost the accent they were brought up with.
    ‘Bad luck,’ Derwent said.
    ‘Not the worst I’ve had lately.’ He smiled very slightly to take the sting out of the words. ‘I can prove how it happened, if you’re concerned. The paramedics were there when I did it. I got to my feet and staggered through it before they could stop me. They can be my witnesses.’
    ‘To be honest, you’d have to have pretty bad aim to cut your foot while you were slashing your daughter’s throat and stabbing your wife to death.’
    Godley and I swung round as one to glare at Derwent. Kennford raised one eyebrow but otherwise didn’t react at all.
    ‘Mr Kennford, we wanted to interview you now but we’ll try not to keep you for very long.’ The superintendent was sounding very solicitous, trying to make up for his inspector’s tact-free remark. ‘I’m sorry we can’t give you more time to yourself, but you know better than anyone how important it is to get the ball rolling with a murder investigation.’
    ‘Of course. You must ask me anything you need to know, though I’m not sure I can be of much assistance.’ He frowned a little, stubbing out his cigarette in an ashtray that was already getting full. ‘I would ask you to make yourselves comfortable, but I’m afraid I don’t have enough chairs for all of you. I don’t usually have visitors in here.’
    A matching armchair stood on the other side of the fireplace but Kennford’s was the only one that looked as if it got any regular use.
    ‘We don’t mind standing,’ Godley said, just as Derwent made a move towards the other armchair. A rising growl came from the dog’s direction. That or the note of warning in the superintendent’s voice was enough to make him stop short. He made a big show of leaning forward to read the spines of the nearest books, as if that had been his intention all along. It wasn’t what you could call a convincing performance.
    ‘The obvious question is the first one to ask. Do you have any enemies, Mr Kennford? Ever received any death threats?’
    ‘Yes.’ He let the word stand for a moment before he gave a wry smile. ‘But none of my enemies would go to these lengths.’
    ‘We’re still going to need names, Mr Kennford.’
    ‘I’ll draw up a list. Not now. I’ll need to check contact details and so forth, so I’ll do it tomorrow in chambers.’ He shifted in his chair. ‘I’m not trying to tell you your business but you’ll be wasting your time following them up. They’re not murderous, most of them. And certainly none would target Vita and Laura if they had the chance to deal with me.’
    ‘You were attacked,’ Derwent pointed out.
    ‘Not seriously. A knock on the head.’ He gestured to the back of his skull, to what I assumed was a bruise, but the damage was invisible because of his thick hair. ‘I’d just come out of the shower and I was towelling myself off. So much for natural instincts – I had no idea anyone was in my room. Then, whack. Something hit me and I fell forward. The last thing I remember is the realisation that I was going to hit the mirror. And I did.’
    ‘Which is where you got the injury on your forehead.’
    ‘Indeed. When I woke up, I was staring into the eyes of a very pretty paramedic named Aileen while lying stark naked in a pool of my own blood and a whole lot of glass.’
    It struck me as odd that he could comment on the paramedic’s looks while his wife’s body was being loaded into a mortuary van outside, but then maybe he hadn’t understood what the noises from the hall meant. Then again, maybe he was just that sort of man.
    ‘Did you hear anything strange before that?’ Godley asked.
    ‘Nothing. But I was in the shower.’
    ‘The dog didn’t bark?’ It was the kind of dog that went into paroxysms of rage