Invisible Weapons by John Rhode

Author:John Rhode
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008268824
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2017-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

PART TWO

Death Visits Cheveley Street

CHAPTER I

Christopher Portslade completed the shaking of a third cocktail, and with a not over-steady hand poured a generous portion of the concoction into his glass. He was a weedy youth of twenty-two or thereabouts, with carefully-waved hair and an unpleasantly cunning expression. His evening dress, though immaculate, was cut with vulgar exaggeration. His tailor, no doubt, believed in the adage that the clothes should suit the man.

The time was ten minutes past eight on Wednesday, August 4, of the same year that had witnessed Mr Fransham’s murder, the mystery of which was still unsolved. The scene was the lounge of Sir Godfrey Branstock’s house, No. 3 Cheveley Street. The other two occupants of the room were girls, sitting side by side on a sofa, each with a half-empty cocktail glass in her hand. The eldest of these was Nancy Lanchester, who was to become Lady Branstock three weeks hence. Her age was thirty-six, but it was impossible to guess this under her elaborate make-up. She was of medium height, with a well-thought-out figure and a shrewd, rather cruel expression. The other girl was her cousin, Violet Portslade, Christopher’s sister. She was twenty-four, willowy, innocent looking and even more sophisticated than most girls of her age. She was to be one of Nancy’s bridesmaids, and the two were discussing, not very affably, some detail of the forthcoming ceremony.

Christopher turned round glass in hand, and for a few moments listened contemptuously to the conversation.

‘Damn it all, what does it matter what the hell you wear?’ he burst out suddenly. ‘That isn’t what the old boy is interested in, as you know well enough. All you’ve got to do, Nan, is to take care that the fish doesn’t wriggle off the hook before the twenty-fifth.’

‘Oh, shut up, Chris!’ exclaimed his sister angrily. ‘Nan knows perfectly well what she’s about. Godfrey’s much too keen to back out at the last moment like that. It makes me feel quite sick to think of such a thing.’

‘You’d feel sicker about it if you were as broke as I am,’ Christopher replied. ‘As it is, I don’t know how I’m going to survive the next three weeks. I say, Nan, don’t you think you could touch the devout lover for a nice fat cheque in advance? A deposit on account of favours to be rendered later, so to speak?’

Nancy Lanchester drained her glass and held it out to be replenished. ‘I’m not such a fool as to try that on, Chris,’ she replied quietly. ‘Ours is a love match, you must remember. The mutual passion of the virgin and the world-weary knight. You will have to manage as best you can for a bit. Just you leave Godfrey to me. I know perfectly well how to manage him.’

‘Well, don’t waste any more time than you can help,’ Christopher grumbled. ‘Talking about time, what’s come over the old boy this evening? It isn’t like him to keep his guests waiting for dinner.’ He glanced in Nancy’s direction.

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