0719807336 by Roger Silverwood

Author:Roger Silverwood [Silverwood, Roger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780719814631
Publisher: Robert Hale
Published: 2014-11-11T22:00:00+00:00

TEN

It was 8.30 a.m. the following day, Tuesday, December 13th, another very cold morning, when Angel drove the BMW along Pine Avenue, through the big gates and up the late Haydn King’s drive to the front of the mansion. He kept the engine running to keep him warm while he tapped out SOCO’s direct number on his mobile phone.

DS Taylor answered. ‘Good morning, sir. I know exactly what you’re phoning about. You want to know about that book, The Interpretation Of Dreams.’

‘Spot on, Don.’

‘I have it here, sir. Fortunately it was a new book in virtually pristine condition. There were three partial sets of prints. There was Nicholas Fitzroy Meredith, that’s that butler chappie, Selina Johnson, the housekeeper, and very clear thumb and first finger prints of one other on the cover which we are unable to identify.’

‘Don’t those last ones belong to Haydn King?’

‘Oh no, sir. His prints are nowhere at all on the book.’

Angel raised his head. His eyes flashed in surprise. In that fact, there was much food for thought. ‘Thank you, Don,’ he said.

He cancelled the call, put the mobile back in his pocket, got out of the car, walked up the front four stone steps to the door and rang the bell. He was still thinking about the fingerprints when Meredith answered the door.

Angel explained that he wanted to ask him a few questions, whereupon the butler suggested that they retire to the small sitting room which they had used before. This exactly suited Angel’s purpose. He sat down in the well-upholstered chair by the fire facing the door, and Meredith sat opposite him.

‘There are just a few questions that I need to clarify, Mr Meredith,’ Angel began. ‘Firstly, that book about dreams, found on Mr King’s bedside table. Where did it come from?’

‘I really don’t know, sir. It just … well, it arrived. I noticed it by the side of his bed about a week before he died.’

Angel rubbed his chin. ‘He died on the 9th, so you must have seen it about the 1st of the month?’

‘Yes, sir. Something like that.’

‘And you have no idea where he had bought it from?’

‘No idea, sir.’

‘There’s something else,’ he said. ‘Mr Fleming had dinner with his uncle the evening before his tragic death, didn’t he? Were you present?’

‘Indeed I was, sir. I waited at table and served the meal to them both.’

‘You could hardly avoid hearing what they were talking about.’

‘You are perfectly correct, Inspector, but I am not in the habit of repeating the bits of conversation I may overhear between my employer and his guests, particularly when the guest is a member of the family.’

‘Nevertheless in this instance, Mr Meredith, I trust you will break the habit? It could have a bearing on your late employer’s frame of mind only hours before his death. If I know that, it may assist me in discovering who murdered him.’

Meredith lowered his eyebrows, pursed his lips, rocked his head to one side and then the other and then gave a very slight shrug.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.