The Alphabet House by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Author:Jussi Adler-Olsen [Adler-Olsen, Jussi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, Mystery, War, Suspense
ISBN: 9780525954897
Google: jJyPoAEACAAJ
Amazon: B00L9AXWKK
Goodreads: 22571786
Publisher: Dutton
Published: 2015-02-24T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 33

That same morning Bridget had been impossible. “You’re going through menopause, dear.” Laureen tried as gently as possible to get her sister-in-law to face the facts.

She had enough to think about herself.

The days in Canterbury without Bryan had been critical. Not that his absence in itself mattered. The house was her domain and there was nothing there that she found particularly burdensome. It was Bridget who made his absence stand out. Bryan had only to cast a glance at his brother-in-law’s wife and she’d settle down. But without this decorum, Laureen’s brother’s wife was unbearable.

“Your wretched brother’s a wimp!” she could suddenly exclaim, flinging her fork down on her plate. As long as Bridget was visiting, Laureen could only use her everyday tableware.

“Don’t upset yourself . . .” Laureen seldom got any further before her sister-in-law burst into tears, began sweating and getting swollen in the face, and continued talking nonstop. Nevertheless it was difficult to avoid being affected by Bridget’s complaints about her husband’s infidelity and her displeasure about the way her body was changing.

“Just wait,” she wept, “it can happen to you, too!”

Laureen nodded neutrally.

Bryan and Laureen were not such exotic types. Both of them knew that. The need for constant erotic variation was not a big issue.

But her intuition told her something was wrong.

—

Through the years Laureen had learned that the first stage in every business project was to gather information about the market, competitors, costs, and needs. It was the same in the case of her and Bryan’s little private matter.

She thought she knew the need. She would have to barter her way to the rest.

Bryan’s secretary, Mrs. Shuster, gave Laureen a mystified look as she passed by with an authoritative nod and disappeared in the direction of Ken Fowles’s office. Never before had Mrs. Scott come to the Lambeth office in her husband’s absence.

“As far as I know, I can’t see what Mr. Scott would be doing in Freiburg, Mrs. Scott.” Ken Fowles looked at her attentively. “What makes you ask? I phoned him on Monday and he was still in Munich.”

“And since then? When did you last speak to him, Ken?”

“I haven’t had any reason to contact him since then.”

“And who are we working with in Germany? Can you tell me that?” The question made Ken Fowles tilt his head in puzzlement. He understood neither her interest nor her unusually friendly tone.

“But we haven’t any permanent business connections in Germany. Not yet, that is. It’s no more than a couple of weeks since we started serious negotiations regarding the new gastric ulcer medicine. We employed a salesman recently who is to build up our domain in northern Europe.”

“And who was this lucky man?”

“Peter Manner from Gesellschaft Heinz W. Binken & Breumann. But they haven’t established themselves in Germany yet.”

“Why not?”

“Why not? Because Binken & Breumann is a Liechtenstein company and Peter Manner is as English as you or I and is currently in Portsmouth.”

—

“I just have to do something for Bryan, Lizzie,” said Laureen, striding past Mrs.

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