The Collector by John Maher

Author:John Maher [Maher, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Published: 2020-07-04T16:00:00+00:00

At the door, he waved to them. By the time they reached the road, the big door had closed over. Lucy glanced in the mirror to make sure it was shut. ‘Well? What’s your take on all that?’

‘Gay old gentleman, I’d say. The companion in the UK is probably some other jolly gentleman. I can see them sitting on a park bench, comparing notes on Homer.’

Lucy laughed. ‘How old?’

‘Early to mid-eighties? It’s hard to tell. He’s very well preserved. He wasn’t pissing it up against the wall for years, if you’ll pardon my expression, like his protégé, Philip Carlton, of course. And the kitchen…’

Lucy looked across at her. ‘What?’

Anna laughed. ‘Spotless. It looked more like a stage set than a house.’

Lucy thought for a moment. ‘I was hoping he might help me with the more distant past. With Derry Carlton’s days. He doesn’t seem to have much to do with the young brat. He did seem a little nervous when I brought up the subject, though. Maybe he’s afraid something will happen to him too.’

‘Maybe.’

‘Like I say, he didn’t seem to know much about Derry Carlton, anyway, Anna.’ Lucy pulled up at the T-junction and checked the road.

‘Really? That’s very odd.’ Anna Crowley sounded puzzled.

‘What?’ Lucy looked over at her.

‘Well, there’s a fairly big photo – a very old one – of him and Derry Carlton and someone else, taken, I would say, on holiday somewhere. It all looks very cosy.’

Lucy swung out onto the main road. ‘Where?’

Anna looked over at her. ‘Inside the pantry door. You can’t see it from outside.’

Lucy laughed. ‘You devil you! You were snooping on him.’

Anna shrugged her shoulders and smiled. ‘I couldn’t find the glasses, so I had a little look about.’ Anna was laughing now.

‘Because you thought the glasses might be in the pantry?’

Anna Crowley shrugged her shoulder again. ‘It’s strange, don’t you think?’

Lucy looked across at Anna. ‘What, that the glasses weren’t in the pantry? Are you serious?’

‘No. That he was so eager to deny Derry Carlton.’

Lucy said nothing. Then she turned to Anna. ‘You didn’t, by any chance…’

Anna Crowley glanced back over her shoulder at the road disappearing behind them and started laughing. ‘I did, of course. Just for the record.’ She pulled out her phone and passed it to Lucy, who glanced at it quickly and passed it back.

Lucy smiled. ‘Maybe fear, like I say. Or just the forgetfulness of an old man.’

‘Who can probably still quote you slabs of Homer?’ Anna stared down at the image on the phone of Professor Rohan, Derry Carlton and the unknown man with the thin face and the petulant look.

‘Right…’ Lucy turned right onto the main road.

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