[Lambert and Hook 20] - Something Is Rotten by J M Gregson

Author:J M Gregson [Gregson, J M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780727865335
Google: SjvjlLo8x9oC
Goodreads: 6963032
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2007-04-14T23:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Michael Carey didn’t let his excitement affect his work. He was rather proud of that.

A holiday camp which now called itself a leisure park had asked the firm for some advertising material and Michael was roughing out some possibilities for them. He enjoyed playing with nineteen thirties advertising posters from railway stations. If you were clever, you could at once gently send them up and evoke a little nostalgia for the more relaxed days of the past.

He moved things about rapidly on his computer screen, amusing himself as well as throwing up some interesting possibilities for the commission. If their designs for this were accepted, his boss had said it could lead to lucrative future contracts. He hadn’t mentioned the death at Mettlesham. He hadn’t yet associated his bright young worker with the rehearsal which had preceded the murder and Michael chose not to enlighten him. As the day went on, he hugged his excitement to himself like a delicious secret, wondering how long it would be before any one of the thirty other people in the building connected him with the sensational events of the previous night.

Michael was called to the phone at lunch time, but it wasn’t the police, as he had half- expected it to be. Perhaps they were taking time to find where he worked and lived: that was one of the advantages of keeping yourself to yourself. Being a bit of a loner had a lot to be said for it.

He recognized the voice on the other end of the line immediately. It said nervously, ‘I’ve just heard about this death at Mettlesham.’

‘Yes. Bit of excitement, isn’t it? Plenty of deaths in Hamlet, but we weren’t anticipating a real one.’

‘Is it Logan?’

‘I believe it is. Just been announced on local radio, the girls in the office tell me.’

A long pause; he could hear uneven breathing for several seconds. Then the voice said, ‘Are you involved, Mike?’

He considered the question for a moment, enjoying his calm in the face of the other’s discomfort. ‘Of course I’m involved. I was at the rehearsal immediately before it happened.’

‘You know I don’t mean that.’

‘Ah! You meant did I kill him, didn’t you?’

‘Well, did you? God knows, from what little you’ve told me, you’ve ample reason to wish him out of the way.’

‘I suppose God does know, if He exists at all, which I very much doubt. He’d also know whether I killed him, wouldn’t He?’ He grinned at the mouthpiece, enjoying his teasing, visualizing the puzzled face above that other phone. Then he said seriously, ‘As a matter of fact I didn’t. Murder’s not my style.’

‘I’m glad to hear it.’

‘Are you? Yes, I suppose you are, really. Though to be the friend of a murderer would give you a certain cachet among your circle, wouldn’t it? But I suppose you will have to consider the fact that even if I had killed him, I’d be bound to declare to you that I hadn’t, wouldn’t I?’

‘I have to go now. My friends are waiting.

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