Silver City Scandal by Gerald Hammond

Author:Gerald Hammond [Hammond, Gerald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2018-08-08T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

She managed to be voracious and demanding without forsaking her subservient role, but they went well together. Jenny made breakfast for him in the morning. His clothes had dried, so he dressed before sitting down to her eggs in a blue and white kitchen.

‘One thing,’ he said. ‘If anyone ever asks, I caught that man this morning, not last night. I wouldn’t want it known that I kept him prisoner in the car while you and I . . .’

She looked up from her cornflakes and blushed, but there was the shadow of a complacent smile. ‘I understand,’ she said.

‘And you’ll remember?’

She nodded and turned her eyes away to the snowbound scenery beyond the window. ‘If we can find the money,’ she said dreamily, ‘I’d still like to get away. Somewhere warm, with somebody loving.’

Keith jumped. ‘Not me,’ he said. ‘I’m a happily married man.’

‘Bless us, I wasn’t meaning you,’ she said, laughing. ‘I don’t think I’d like a man around all the time. Ladies are gentler. Should I take that man out a cup of tea?’

‘I don’t think he could face it,’ Keith said. He was nettled. He thought that he had been wonderfully gentle. ‘Use my car to get to your work, if you can drive. And may I use your phone before I go? It’s a local call.’

He made his phone call and then came back to her. ‘Will you be coming back for your car?’ she asked.

‘Assume not. But I’ll be in touch when I’ve done what I can about the information on the disc.’

‘Yes, of course.’

She was not his sort of woman but it was impossible not to feel some tenderness. ‘Goodbye, little female person,’ he said.

‘Perhaps it would be better if you didn’t come back yourself,’ she said in a very small voice. ‘I don’t want to be the sort of person who does that sort of thing. You understand?’

‘I understand,’ Keith said, knowing that it was only too true.

‘Then goodbye, large male person.’ She turned away.

McHenge was still squatting, helpless and sullen, glowering out with difficulty at an equally sullen morning. He made noises through his nose which Keith did not bother to try to interpret. The car’s engine was still running but there was enough fuel left to take them where they were going.

At first, Keith drove in silence, depressed by his own frailty. He could forgive himself for his infidelity which had, after all, been in the line of duty. But he should not have enjoyed it. The change had been refreshing. This had not been his first infidelity to Molly, but the others had been with ladies whose favours he had known before his marriage so that no new precedent had been established. This time, he felt almost criminal.

But even a criminal gets time off for good behaviour. That was a cheering thought. Regarded in that light, his little lapse was no more than his just reward, a parole after years of faithful service. He brightened up and even told McHenge one or two mildly blue stories as they went along.

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