A Fatal Affair by Faith Martin

Author:Faith Martin [Martin, Faith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-12-07T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Mortimer Crowley’s house was a handsome Georgian building, typically square and with elegant proportions, built out of the local Cotswold stone which glowed in the morning light. An ancient wisteria had colonised nearly all of the south-facing façade. It had a large, well-tended garden, and a small stable block had been converted into garages.

Trudy couldn’t imagine living in a place like this.

‘Let’s hope he’s home,’ Clement, less impressed, said mildly as they walked up the thickly gravelled driveway. On the front step, he reached for a black, wrought-iron bell-pull and yanked on it. In the distance, behind the solid oak door, they could just hear a faint tinkling sound.

The man who opened the door nearly a minute later looked distinctly hungover, and was barely out of his twenties. Rumpled clothes matched his rumpled brown hair and unshaven chin, and his bloodshot eyes blinked blearily. He regarded them without interest for a moment and absently scratched himself on the chin.

‘Huh? Yeah? Wannah-you-wan’?’ he slurred.

‘We’re hoping to have a word with Mr Mortimer Crowley,’ Clement said clearly and slowly.

For a second the young man continued to look at them blankly, but then slowly nodded. ‘Oh. Morty? Yeah … he mus’ be around somewhere …’ So saying, he stepped back and beckoned them in, revealing a rather lovely hall.

It had the usual black-and-white tiled floor, and housed a fine example of a late-eighteenth-century grandfather clock, that was standing flush to one wall. Although it was ticking ponderously, it was running late. A small but charming wooden staircase swept in an elegant curve off to the left, inviting the visitor upstairs, but the young man gestured vaguely past it and into the darker far corner. ‘In there somewhere, pro’bly,’ he said, and then left them somewhat abruptly.

Trudy and Clement just had time to see that he’d plunged into a downstairs lavatory before the door swung back behind him. A moment or two later came a vague sound of retching.

‘Well, so far our party-loving friend seems to be living up to his reputation,’ Clement said with a slight smile of distaste.

‘You think he often has friends over who get too drunk and have to stay the night?’ Trudy asked, part-scandalised, part-intrigued. ‘Do you think they all come from London?’ She had never been to London in her life and regarded it as almost a foreign country – slightly dangerous and unknowable.

Clement shrugged. ‘I’d imagine so. Well, shall we see if we can find the man himself?’

Trudy nodded, and set off towards the far side of the hall that had been indicated by their not-very helpful friend. As she moved, her head swivelled from side to side, taking it all in. As befitted an art dealer, there were indeed a lot of paintings hung on the various walls, but somewhat to her disappointment, none of them were of nude women – or men, for that matter. For the most part, they were landscapes, or dark portraits of various men and women in period costume, but she had no idea if they were great works of art or cheap reproductions.

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.