Debts of Dishonour (Imogen Quy Mystery 3) by Jill Paton Walsh

Author:Jill Paton Walsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Recent July 2014, Crime
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2012-11-22T00:00:00+00:00

When the policeman had gone, Imogen called Andrew again, and at last got a reply.

‘Sorry to have left you in the dark,’ he said. His voice sounded weary. ‘I’ve been put through the mangle. Two sessions, two inspectors and a sergeant, not much sleep. I’m going to bed now.’

‘Where are you?’

‘In my own flat. I’ve just got here. They haven’t detained me, they’ve let me go home, but they’ve told me emphatically to stay around. They may be keeping an eye on me, I don’t know. There are people hanging about outside; I don’t know who they are and I’m not answering the door. But the cottage is where the action is; police have been crawling all over it. And I’m sorry for Fiona; she’s been heavily questioned too, and the press are on to her, as you might expect. Nobody’s been charged, so they have a free hand. The whole world will know that she’s Max’s current mistress – was, I should say – and you’ll be seeing her face all over the papers tomorrow.’

‘They can’t suspect her, surely?’

‘I shouldn’t think so. She wasn’t even the last person to see him alive – that was me – but of course there was plenty they wanted to know from her. And, Imo, I’m scared. One protection for me is timing; with any luck they’ll know, if they don’t already, that Max’s death couldn’t have happened before I left to drive to your house. You and your lodgers are my alibi, so to speak. But it’s a nightmare. And although I detested Max I wouldn’t wish him or anyone to be brutally murdered.’

‘You realise, Andrew, that your suspicion of Max goes out of the window. It’s hardly likely that Max got rid of Julius and then in turn somebody got rid of Max.’

‘Unlikely but not impossible. It’s a dog-eat-dog world they both lived in. However, I must admit that if somebody did get rid of Julius, then probably it was the same person who’s done for Max.’

‘In which case there’s a double murderer at large. Does that thought frighten you?’

‘Perhaps not as much as it should. I haven’t room for any more fright at the moment. But, Imo, I think we should be out of contact in the next few days. It was my fault, not yours, that I got into this mess, and I’d like to keep you out of the picture if I can. And there’ll be financial ramifications, terribly hush-hush, that I don’t want to involve you in. You don’t by any chance hold shares in Farran Group?’

‘No. Or any others, for that matter.’

‘And you don’t read the financial pages?’

‘No.’

‘Farran shares are slipping.’

‘They slipped when Julius died, didn’t they, and then recovered?’

‘Yes. But the City wasn’t really worried. The general view was that Max was up to the job and might even be an improvement on Julius. The City thinks differently now, with both of the top men gone and no obvious successor. And, Imo, there were rumours beginning to float around before this latest disaster.

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