The Devil in Disguise by Martin Edwards

Author:Martin Edwards [Edwards, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Hard-Boiled, detective, noire, petrocelli, suspense, marple, whodunnit, Detective and Mystery, death, police, morse, taggart, christie, legal, Crime, shoestring, poirot, law, murder, killer, holmes, ironside, columbo, clue, hoskins, Thriller, solicitor, hitchcock, cluedo, cracker, diagnosis
ISBN: 9780340718216
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 1998-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The telephone woke him at ten the next morning. He picked up the bedside receiver and groaned his name.

Kim said, ‘Good dinner party, was it?’

The thudding inside his head made Status Quo sound like the Swingle Singers. ‘Whoever said the rich are different was right,’ he mumbled. ‘They have the constitution of an ox. I don’t think I’m cut out for the high life.’

‘You disappoint me. I always thought you could take your drink.’

‘Beer’s one thing, but I’ve never had much practice with champagne.’ He was trying to remember. Had he been sick on the carpet after all?

‘Call yourself a solicitor?’ She was in breezy mood. A morning person, Kim, unlike himself. ‘I take it you had a wonderful time?’

‘Sort of.’ An image began to form in his mind, fuzzy at first but becoming clearer. The face of Juliet May.

‘You must tell me about it when the hangover clears.’ She paused. ‘I simply rang to beg your forgiveness.’

‘What for?’ He had an uneasy recollection of Juliet’s leg pressing against his. Even now he thought he could smell her perfume.

‘I’m going to have to cry off Vertigo. Quentin and his partners are having a meeting over dinner tonight. It’s a regular event in their calendar, but they want to talk over their offer with me. I shall have to make up my mind soon whether or not to accept.’

He sensed that she was waiting for him to respond, but he could not think of anything worthwhile to say. ‘I suppose so. Good luck.’

‘Sorry about the film.’

‘Doesn’t matter. Let me know how you get on.’

‘I will. And Harry - ’

‘Yes?’

‘Oh, nothing.’

After she had rung off, he sat on top of his bed hugging his knees for a few minutes, telling himself that he should have handled the conversation better. But his mind was jumping around like the playback on a faulty video recorder. He could vaguely recall being helped into a taxi the previous evening by Matthew whilst Inge asked if he would be all right. He had protested that he felt fine, absolutely fine whilst Juliet said something - was it about seeing him again some time? The one thing he could be sure of now was that the queasiness in his stomach was not due solely to the alcohol he had consumed. It was senseless to deceive himself. He wanted badly to see the woman again. Never mind that she was married to Casper May. For the moment, he cared more about whether in his drunken state he had made a fool of himself in front of her than the outcome of Kim’s meeting with the partners of Windaybanks.

A shower, a potful of black coffee and a couple of hours later, he was walking from his flat past the police headquarters and in the direction of the city centre. It was the coldest day of the year so far and flecks of snow were falling, but at least the raw wind coming in from the Mersey was helping to clear his head.

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