Comeback by Francis Dick

Author:Francis, Dick [Francis, Dick]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.
Published: 1991-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

VICKY DID HER best to charm Ken’s mother—Josephine—but in truth they were incompatible spirits. Vicky, spontaneous, rounded, generous, essentially young despite the white hair, was having to break through to a defensive, plainly dressed angular woman in whom disapproval was a habit.

Belinda, taking refuge in the kitchen, was knocking back a huge Bloody Mary (to settle her nerves and stop her screaming, Ken said, mixing it for her) and in consequence seemed more human.

Greg and I batted some conversation around without saying anything worth remembering and eventually we all sat down to roast lamb with potatoes, peas, carrots and gravy, the sort of meal I’d almost forgotten existed.

It wasn’t very difficult, once everyone had passed, poured and helped the food and was safely munching, to introduce the subject of Ken’s brilliant work on the colicky mare being met with suspicion and ingratitude from its owner.

“A most extraordinary man,” I said. “Wynn Lees, his name is. I didn’t like him at all.”

Josephine McClure, sitting next to me, raised her head from the forkful she’d been about to eat and paid attention.

I went on. “He showed no fondness for his mare. He didn’t seem to care about her. It almost seemed as if he wanted her dead.”

“No one could be so heartless,” Vicky exclaimed.

Josephine McClure ate her forkful.

“Some people are born heartless,” I said.

Ken recounted the story of his having got permission to operate from Wynn Lees’s wife. He chuckled. “He said she couldn’t have spoken to me in the middle of the night because she always took sleeping pills.”

Josephine McClure said tartly, “Anyone married to Wynn Lees would take sleeping pills as a matter of course.”

God bless you, dear lady, I thought, and in an amused chorus with the others, begged her to enlarge.

“Ken,” she said severely, “you didn’t tell me you’d done any work for Wynn Lees. That name! Unforgettable. I thought he’d gone to live abroad. Stay away from him.”

Ken said, bemused, “I didn’t know you knew him.”

“I don’t know him. I know of him. That’s not the same.”

“What do you know of him?” I asked in my most persuasive voice. “Do tell us.”

She sniffed. “He tortured some horses and went to jail.”

Vicky exclaimed in horror, and I asked, “When?”

“Years ago. Probably forty years ago. It was a frightful scandal because his father was a magistrate.”

Ken looked at her open-mouthed. “You never told me any of that”

“There’s never been any reason to. I haven’t heard his name for years. I’ve never given him a thought. He’d gone away. But if your man was heartless to his mare, it must be the same person come back again. There can’t be hundreds of people called Wynn Lees.”

“You have a good memory,” I said.

“I pride myself on it.”

“Ken’s also been having a spot of trouble with Ronnie Upjohn,” I said. “Do you know any scandal about him?”

“Ronnie Upjohn?” She frowned slightly. “He used to know my husband. It’s very stupid of him to complain about Ken winning with that horse. Ken told me about it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.