Slay-Ride by Dick Francis

Author:Dick Francis [Francis, Dick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cookie429, Extratorrents, Kat
ISBN: 9780330484831
Publisher: Pan
Published: 2000-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

11

The receptionists of the Grand considered me totally mad because I was insisting on changing my room every day, but they would have thought me even madder if I'd told them the reason. I asked them just to allocate me the last empty room, or if there were several, to give me a random choice at bed time. They did it with politely glazed eyes while I thankfully put my trust in unpredictability.

When Erik dropped me at the door and took his big friend home I telephoned to Arne and Kari and asked them to dinner.

'Come here,' Kari demanded warmly, but I said it was time I repaid their kindness, and after much demur they agreed to the Grand. I sat in the bar and read a newspaper until they arrived, and thought about growing old.

It was strange, but away from her chosen setting, Kari looked a different person. Not so young, not so domesticated, not so tranquil. This Kari, walking with assurance into the bar in a long black skirt and white ruffled shirt was the woman who designed interiors as a business. This Kari, wearing perfect make-up, diamonds in her ears and hair smoothly pinned up, looked at once cooler and more mature than the casual home-girl. When she put a smooth sweet-smelling cheek forward for a kiss and gave me a pretty look from under her lashes I found I both liked her less and wanted her more; both of which reactions were disconcerting and no good.

Arne was Arne, the antithesis of a chameleon, his personality so concretely formed that it retained its own shape whatever the environment. He swept four-square into the bar and gave it a quick suspicious survey to make sure no one could listen at his shoulder.

'Hallo David,' he said, shaking my hand vigorously. 'What have you been doing all day?'

'Wasting time,' I said smiling, 'And wondering what to do next.'

We sat in a comfortable corner and drank (as for once it was the right hour on the right day) whisky.

Arne wanted to know what progress I had made.

'Not much,' I said. 'You might practically say none.'

'It must be very difficult,' Kari said sympathetically, with Arne nodding in agreement. 'How do you know what to look for?'

'I don't often look for things. I look at what's there.'

'All detectives look for things. Look for clues and follow trails. Of course they do.'

'And trudge up dead ends and find red herrings,' I said.

'Herrings are not red,' Kari said in puzzlement.

Fifty-seven varieties of herring in Norway, and not one of them red.

'A red herring is something that doesn't exist,' Arne said, but had to explain it again to her in Norwegian.

She laughed, but returned to her questions. 'How do you solve a crime?'

'Um… you think what you might have done if you'd been the crook, and then you look to see if that's what he did. And sometimes it is.'

'No one else solves crimes like David,' Arne said.

'Believe me,' I said. 'They do.'

'What do you think the crook did this time?' Kari asked.

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.