The New Eastgate Swing Read Online Free PDF Page A

promise, are you?’
    ‘Maybe some work. That was Mark Fox’s wife. They might have a job for us.’
    ‘Him?’ He snorted. ‘There were all sorts of rumours about him when he first appeared up here. I’d trust him as far as you can throw him.’
    ‘I’ll be seeing the wife,’ Markham said. ‘Evidently he’s out of the country. Can’t hurt to hear what she says.’
    ‘As long as she’s picking up the bill.’
    ‘Always. Still, I’m glad I wore a decent suit.’
    ‘While you’re eating I’ll go back up to Headingley and ask a few more questions. Maybe have another look in that room de Vries had. See if we can find an answer or two.’
    ‘Two days. We’ll give de Vries that long. Then it goes back to the police. Sooner if you discover anything nasty.’
    ‘You’re the boss,’ Baker said amiably.
    Yes, Markham thought. He was. And he wasn’t going to be sucked into anything bad again. Once had been too much. Too deadly.
    ***
    ‘I’m sorry,’ she said breathlessly as the waiter pulled out a chair for her. There was a shhh of nylon as she sat. ‘Have you been waiting long?’ The woman held out a hand and he shook it lightly.
    ‘Not really, Mrs Fox.’
    ‘Amanda,’ she told him. ‘Please.’
    ‘Amanda,’ he echoed as she pulled a cigarette from her handbag and he flicked his lighter. ‘Now, what’s all this about?’
    She’d arrived late, escorted over by the waiter. In her early thirties, he judged, and wearing a close-fitting grey jersey dress that reached to her knees. It flattered her and she knew it, moving easily on high heels. Dark hair in an Italian cut, subtle makeup and a graceful, Audrey Hepburn face.
    He’d had time to sit, staring around the restaurant and smoking. The place was new, fitted out in leather and oak, wanting to appear expensive, solid and timeless. The year before it had been different. Another couple of years it would be something else again.
    ‘Let’s wait a few minutes for that.’ Her eyes were bright, a deep, mysterious blue. ‘We’ll eat first. I always like pleasure before business, don’t you?’ It was a gentle tease. ‘I’m surprised we’ve never met before.’
    ‘It’s just how things are, I suppose.’
    She carried an air of sophistication, assured, in control. Next to her he felt juvenile, provincial. She ordered quickly, as if she knew the menu by heart. He decided on steak and kidney pie. Very English. Very filling and plain.
    ‘Then I’m glad to finally change that.’ She flashed a brilliant smile, very white teeth and blood-red lips.
    ‘You said your husband’s abroad?’
    She nodded.
    ‘Germany. We do quite a bit of business over there, he’s gone a few times each year. Bonn, West Berlin.’ She shrugged. He tried to place her accent. Somewhere in the Home Counties, a good education. But grammar school, not private he decided. Then plenty of polish.
    ‘I wouldn’t have thought there was much for an enquiry agent over there.’
    ‘Oh.’ She lit a cigarette and waved the words away in a thick plume of smoke. ‘Still the fallout from the war. Tell me about yourself, Mr Markham.’
    ‘Dan.’
    Amanda Fox nodded her acknowledgement, staring at him coolly.
    ‘You must have started in this game when you were young.’
    ‘Seven years ago. I was twenty-one.’
    ‘Are you good at what you do?’
    ‘I like to think so,’ he replied with a soft smile.
    ‘There was some business a while ago, wasn’t there?’ She tapped her cigarette in the crystal ashtray. ‘Before we moved here.’
    ‘Yes.’ He wasn’t about to say more. If she knew, she’d already read the newspaper clippings and heard the gossip.
    The food arrived and they made small talk – the weather, the way traffic grew worse each month – until the plates had been cleared and coffee sat in front of them.
    ‘Do you know Germany at all?’ Amanda Fox asked as she lit another cigarette and blew smoke towards the ceiling. He tried to read her face but she was giving