A Coffin for Charley. Gwendoline Butler

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ his head. ‘Know the name.’

      ‘She looks like a hard-faced bitch, but when you get to know her she’s one of the best.’

      ‘I don’t suppose Titus is a security risk?’

      ‘No,’ said Archie Young regretfully. ‘Not much chance. He’s not in the government nor likely to be. He might be a killer, though.’

      ‘Worth having a look round at Karnival. Marianna might have run into someone there who killed her.’

      ‘Or she could have met a man anywhere and taken him home. Or it might be an old friend that we know nothing about yet. Or she might have been watched and followed, as she said. If Titus didn’t make that up.’

      ‘Interesting that he was seen talking to young Creeley.’

      ‘I’m told that the young Creeley is a reformed character and could never harm a woman. That’s the latest word on him.’

      ‘The entry book is wide open,’ said Coffin, ‘and we don’t know the names of the runners.’

      ‘She auditioned for a production at the St Luke’s Theatre; an amateur affair. Do you think Miss Pinero would know anything about her?’

      They were all careful how they brought in Stella’s name; the Chief Commander had been known to be savage, and he was not a man whose bark was worse than his bite.

      ‘She has nothing to do with that production,’ said Coffin. ‘But I did ask her.’ He added: ‘I’m worried about her.’

      ‘I had heard. Don’t you worry, sir. We won’t let anyone touch her.’ If there was an ‘anyone’ and it wasn’t Job Titus.

      Stella had said no, she had not been present when Marianna was auditioned, the producer of the play with a colleague from the Drama Department at the University had that task. A lot of hopefuls were coming to be auditioned because it was known a Drama School was being established and that this was a kind of pre-run.

      The news had been on the local radio, and she herself had been interviewed on Docks TV. In a time of recession it was good news. Yes, she was able to say all the groundwork had been done, the constitution of the school settled: it was to be registered as a charity, the Rector of the University was going to be one of the trustees, and Lady Barningham, another. The school had already been accepted by the local education authorities so students would be eligible for grants. Yes, they expected some mature students also. The name was going to be the Pinero School of Dramatic Art.

      Yes, they had the premises: the old Rectory of St Luke’s which had housed a private secretarial school, now defunct, would be converted. Later, they would build.

      ‘Might be a lot later,’ said Letty gloomily. She flexed her hands nervously, she had long delicate fingers which she loaded with rings. She favoured heavy smooth gold. ‘Money’s tight.’

      Her gloom might have been entirely due to the economy but Stella knew her sister-in-law better. ‘No news about Elissa?’

      ‘No, I am having an interview with Tash tomorrow and he’s going to report progress but from what he said on the telephone there isn’t any.’

      ‘I am sorry.’

      ‘I do miss her so, I loved her even when we quarrelled.’ A tear appeared in her eyes.

      ‘Here.’ Stella went across to the drinks table and poured out a gin. ‘Drink it up, mother’s ruin but I reckon it helps.’

      Letty looked at the glass. ‘Is there any ice?’

      ‘Oh, you Americans. Yes, I’ll get some.’

      She came in with a bowlful of ice lumps and some sliced lemon. ‘I’ll have one with you. I don’t feel too jolly myself.’

      ‘Your daughter? How is she?’

      Stella’s daughter was in The Profession but had recently married.

      ‘She telephoned from Edinburgh this morning to say she is expecting twins. I can’t believe it. I didn’t even know she was pregnant. I’ve only just got used to her being married.’

      Letty dabbed the tears from her eyes and managed a grin. ‘Hello, Grandma.’

      ‘Yes. I won’t be called Gran or Granny.’

      ‘What will John say?’

      ‘Grandpa?’ Their eyes met and they both began to laugh. ‘Serve him right for marrying a woman of my age.’

      She was slightly, very slightly, older than her husband whom she had first met as a raw young detective, had loved, quarrelled with, and left. Only to meet him again and repeat the process. They had met for the third time and this time had married. It had to last.

      ‘He’ll probably be very, very pleased.’

      ‘He’s lucky, very lucky, to have you,’ said Letty. ‘You keep him this side of sanity.’

      ‘Oh, he’s very sane.’

      ‘I don’t think his is a job you stay sane in, you see so much that’s corruptible and devious and horrible. I’ve seen him have terrible rages.’

      ‘Not so much as he used to have.’

      ‘They were nearly all inside, I don’t suppose he let them show. We’re a very odd family.’

      ‘That diary,’ said Stella.

      ‘Exactly.’

      A few years ago a diary kept by the mother of the three, John, Letty and brother William, had been discovered in an attic. It revealed a life even more full of lovers, strange adventures and alarming anecdotes than anyone had suspected. None of the three had memories of their mother, whose habit had been to see each child was looked after by someone else as she moved on. Moving on was her speciality.

      Letty had handed it over to Coffin to read and edit with the idea of publishing it. A film had been talked about. She might put money in herself. That was when she had money, she thought regretfully, that lovely liquid stuff.

      Stella had her regrets too. ‘I read some of it when there was this idea of a film. I wouldn’t have minded getting the part of Ma but I thought she was a liar. Did you believe it?’

      ‘Believe, what’s believe?’ Letty nodded tolerantly. ‘But it was fantastic and a marvellous read. I thought: Well, if that’s my mother, I hope I have inherited some of her flair. She could live, that woman.’

      ‘Several lives at once,’ said Stella.

      Letty leaned forward. ‘You know the thing I dread most … and it’s why I gave up the idea of a film: she might still be alive. She might be alive and come forward and say, That’s me. I began to have dreams, nightmares, in which she came back; she tapped me on my face and I woke up and there she was, standing by my bed. That was when the nightmare began.’

      ‘I think John has a nightmare like that,’ said Stella. ‘Perhaps that’s why he married me.’

СКАЧАТЬ