Wexford 22 - The Monster In The Box Read Online Free PDF

wonder, then as now, how women could take more than a couple of steps in them without falling over. She knew we were coming and I think she'd dressed up for us, not because we were policemen but because we were men.
       'She took us into her sitting room and offered us tea which Ventura refused. You always think of Latins as being warm and effusive but he was a taciturn devil, dour and brusque. Accepting tea might have put her at ease. She was very nervous. As well she might have been in the circumstances.'
       'In the circumstances? You mean she was involved with Elsie Carroll's death?'
       'Well, no, rather the reverse. Or so it seemed. What happened next was extraordinary, Mike. It was the first time I'd ever come across anything like it, but more to the point, it was the first time Ventura had. He told me so in the car afterwards and mostly he hardly opened his mouth with lowlife like me.'
       Burden laughed. 'So what was it? I can't bear the suspense.'
       'She hadn't heard anything about the murder. Or said she hadn't. You have to remember that there was nothing like the proliferation of news then that there is now. Radio, yes, and TV, of course, but only two channels and no breakfast television. Newspapers, but no use to you if you didn't have one delivered by nine in the morning. It was half past when we got there and there was no paper to be seen. Ventura asked her if she had heard about the murder of Mrs Elsie Carroll and she just stared, her eyes went as big as saucers, and she whispered something about not knowing. Her hands had started to shake.
       'Ventura gave me a look which indicated I was to say something, so I asked her if Mr George Carroll was a friend of hers. She nodded and whispered yes and Ventura told her to speak up. No one used that term "relationship", meaning "affair" in those days and Ventura asked her what was the nature of her friendship with Mr Carroll. This time she did speak up. "He's a good friend," she said. 'There's nothing wrong." That was the way people spoke then when they meant there was nothing sexual. Neither of us had told her when Elsie Carroll's death had taken place. Ventura asked her when she last saw George Carroll and she said she couldn't be sure, not very long ago. "Did you see him two evenings ago?" Ventura said. She drew herself up and looked shocked. I suddenly began to see that she was no shy violet, she was a clever woman. Ventura ignored that stuff about not seeing Carroll in the evenings. "Did you see him between seven thirty and nine thirty?"
       'She shook her head quite calmly. "Please answer the question, Miss Malcolm," Ventura said. With a slight smile she said, "I have already told you I never saw Mr Carroll in the evenings. That wasn't the nature of our friendship. The answer's no." She was just a touch indignant by then. Another glance from Ventura and I said, "Are you absolutely sure of that, Miss Malcolm?" I got a nod and an impatient shrug.
       'Ventura believed her. What astonished him was what he called the barefaced effrontery of Carroll trying to set up an alibi with an entirely innocent woman whose loyalty he thought he could count on. I thought it was a classic case of a woman who was happy to be having an affair with a married man when all went smoothly but the sky changed when a bad storm came up. I didn't say so, however. I knew it would be useless. Still, he was too good a policeman to leave this without further confirmation and I was left behind to call at all the flats in the block and ask if anyone had seen George Carroll on the previous night. In about three-quarters of the flats a woman was at home, a man in only one of them. I questioned them but no one had seen George Carroll or any man go into Tina Malcolm's flat. Or maybe I should say no one said they had.
       'People like publicity these days, they're hungry for it. But not then. That fifteen minutes of fame – or is it fifteen seconds? – no one wanted it then. Then