So Much Blood by Simon Brett

Author:Simon Brett [Simon Brett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
Published: 2011-11-08T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

There’s some have specs to help their sight

Of objects dim and small

But Tim had specks within his eyes,

And could not see at all.

TIM TURPIN

THE FIRST PART of the investigation to set his mind at rest was another call on Jean Mariello.

She opened the door and leaned against it uninvitingly. ‘What do you want? There’s nothing more I can tell you.’

‘Please, just a couple of questions. I think I’m on to something.’

‘Big deal. Listen, Mr Paris. I’m very busy packing. The only thing that interests me about Willy is how soon I can forget he ever existed. And I don’t want to play cops and robbers.’

‘Please give me five minutes.’

‘Oh . . .’ She hovered between shutting him out and letting him in. Then she drew back. ‘Five minutes.’ She looked at her watch.

Charles entered the hall and moved into the front room. Jean Mariello gained some of the satisfaction she would have got from slamming the door in his face by slamming it behind him. ‘Right. Ask.’

Charles looked round. There were suitcases and cardboard boxes brimful of belongings. In the corner household rubbish and decorating rubble was swept into a neat pile. ‘You’re going?’

‘Yes, the house is on the market. I’ll never come back here.’

‘You’re leaving Edinburgh?’

‘Yes. I’m moving in with a man in the folk group. In Newcastle.’

‘Won’t you miss it?’

‘Edinburgh, yes. This house I hope I never see again.’

‘It’s a nice enough house.’

‘Look, I never lived here. Willy only bought the place a few months ago. I’ve been on tour. The only times I ever saw it, it was covered with paint brushes or plaster dust or other evidence of Willy’s latest ideas of home decor. He had the knack of converting every place we lived in into a pigsty. He’d suddenly get sick of his surroundings and want to change it all—smother everything with paint, take down a door . . . and never finish the job. We got turned out of one flat after he decided to take down the partition between the bedroom and sitting-room. Living with Willy was not an experience that gave one a feeling of home. I feel nothing for this place.’

‘Oh well, it’s in reasonable condition. You should get a good price for it.’

She snorted contemptuously. ‘The building society should get a good price for it.’

‘Ah. Still, Willy . . .’

She shook her head. ‘Willy had no money. He spent everything he made with Puce, not that there was much left after all the agents and managers had taken their bites. There may be a few royalties to come, but they’ll go on the bank loan he got for the deposit on this place and the arrears on the mortgage.’

‘Arrears?’

‘Yes. Willy got the mortgage on the basis of his earnings last year and the assumption that that level of income would continue. Then the band split up and he had virtually nothing. I don’t think one single repayment has been made to the building society. Mind you,’ she added bitterly, ‘I only discover this when he’s dead and I have to go through his mail.

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