Dollar by Alexander Lindsay

Author:Alexander Lindsay [Lindsay, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781789313444
Publisher: JOFFE BOOKS historical crime thrillers and mysteries
Published: 2020-02-11T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Charles Flinders settled back into his seat as the lights went down and the curtain went up. A real treat in store, he mused. One of his favourite plays, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of being Earnest. An attractive woman with which to share it seated right beside him and an enjoyable supper in a cosy restaurant to follow. He glanced sideways at Rosemary. Rosemary, with her long Celtic red hair and laughing eyes. He was constantly amazed that she bothered with him. And for how many years? God, it didn’t bear thinking about. He the crusty old bachelor; she the attractive career woman. They had met at university, kindred spirits in many ways, but no sexual chemistry between them. Flinders had been obsessively in love with her best friend, Julia, but his passion was not returned. And when Julia went off and married that unconscionable bore Jimmy Anderson, Flinders was devastated, although he didn’t let it show. Since then, somehow, Rosemary always seemed to be around, and when they both fetched up in London they met regularly, for outings, dinner parties, art shows, theatre. He liked her ready wit and her quiet dignity. She would make somebody a terrific wife, he mused. Just as he would make somebody an intolerable husband.

The play was in full flow, with the formidable Lady Bracknell interrogating the foundling Jack Worthing on how he came to be found abandoned in a handbag at Victoria Station. Flinders knew the classic lines by heart, and it was all he could do to prevent his lips moving as the actress playing Lady Bracknell poured every ounce of imperiousness into Wilde’s scathingly witty lines:

Lady Bracknell: Are your parents living?

Jack: I have lost both my parents.

Lady Bracknell: To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

The audience erupted in laughter. But not Flinders. Instead, his face looked like it had been cast in stone. His brow furrowed in thought. He touched Rosemary’s arm.

‘Sorry, I have to make an urgent phone call,’ he whispered. ‘Back in a tick.’ A fleeting frown of annoyance passed over her face, but she was well used to his eccentricities by now.

Flinders ducked low as he made his way along the row of seats. He strode into the foyer. ‘Nearest telephone?’ he snapped at a uniformed commissionaire. He pushed his way into the phone booth and dialled his office. With luck, Sandy should still be in the office preparing for tomorrow’s briefing.

‘Hello, Sandy? Glad I caught you . . .’

‘Sir? I thought you were at the thea—’

‘Never mind that. You remember that American chappie at the Bank of England, whatshisname?’

‘Travis, sir.’

‘Yes, Travis. Wasn’t there something about him getting the posting here because of a hit-and-run?’

‘That’s right, sir.’

‘And then he gains the affections of the fair Claire as a result of—’

‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking, sir?’

‘Yes, Sandy. To gain advantage by one hit-and-run may be regarded as good fortune; to gain advantage by two hit-and-runs looks

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