Naked Flames by Graham Ison

Author:Graham Ison [Graham Ison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2019-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

TEN

In her telephone call on Saturday, Mrs Nina Harrison had complained that she’d been swindled by Robert Sharp. I returned her call on Monday morning, learned that she would be at home all day, and made an appointment to visit her.

Nina Harrison’s home proved to be a large, detached house in a quiet road in Bromley, Kent. Parked on the drive was a middle-of-the-range Volvo and behind it a BMW. Each had number plates showing that they had been registered this year.

‘You must be the policeman who telephoned this morning,’ said the woman who opened the door. She could have been a year or two either side of forty; it was difficult to tell. Her hair may have been naturally blonde – I’m not too good at telling the difference – but from what little I knew of ladies’ hairdressing salons, the way in which it had been styled would probably have cost a small fortune. Her white trousers were well cut and her sweater was cashmere. Overall, it would be fair to describe her as a mature, confident and elegant woman.

‘It’s Mrs Harrison, is it?’

‘Yes, please do come in,’ she gushed, forcing a smile.

We were conducted into a large, airy sitting room that looked out on to a perfect garden. The room’s few pieces of light oak furniture were low enough to enhance the air of spaciousness, and the chairs and settees looked, and proved to be, comfortable. If the Harrisons owned a television set, it was presumably in another part of the house that was dedicated to viewing. I noticed that there were one or two objets d’art in various parts of the sitting room, but they were not displayed ostentatiously.

‘I’m Detective Chief Inspector Harry Brock, Mrs Harrison, and this is Detective Inspector Kate Ebdon.’ I’d decided to take Kate with me for continuity; each interview was beginning to shape up in much the same way as the others.

‘I’m pleased to meet you,’ said Nina Harrison, and insisted on shaking hands with each of us. ‘Please sit down.’

But before we were able to take a seat, a tall, well-built man entered the room. Probably a few years older than Nina, his chinos and check shirt had the unmistakeable stamp of Jermyn Street and he was wearing Gucci loafers. His guardee moustache was neatly trimmed, as was his wavy, greying hair. He struck me as the sort of man who’d be thoroughly at home on a golf course, and was the type who probably wore red trousers when he was playing or dominating the conversation at the nineteenth hole. But he had a deceptive smile that reminded me of the limerick about the smile on the face of the tiger. Instinct, and long experience of dealing with people of all classes, made me wonder if he possessed a sadistic streak. I’m not usually wrong.

‘I’m Paul Harrison, Nina’s husband.’ He, too, shook hands, holding Kate’s hand for a little longer than was necessary while he engaged her eyes with his and smiled.

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.