The Dying of the Light: A Mystery by Michael Dibdin

Author:Michael Dibdin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Mystery, Contemporary
ISBN: 9780307822482
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 2012-06-06T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

‘Miss Travis, the officers who responded to the 999 call last week reported that you made a number of allegations concerning Mrs Davenport’s tragic death. Now under the circumstances it would be perfectly natural if you had said things which you perhaps didn’t really mean. If that’s the case, just say so and this need go no further.’

They stood in a ring, Jarvis, Anderson and his sister, looking down at the elderly lady sitting bolt upright on the edge of the armchair. To mitigate the effect of an interrogation, Jarvis seated himself on the wooden stool which stood in front of the writing-desk.

‘It must have been a terrible shock for you,’ he suggested in a kindly tone.

Rosemary Travis looked him in the eye.

‘Murder is always unpleasant, Inspector. So much the more so when the victim was one’s best friend.’

‘Chuck it, Travis!’ growled the woman in overalls.

She grinned coquettishly at Jarvis.

‘Brains in their bums,’ she said.

Anderson put his arm around his sister’s shoulders:

‘I think perhaps you should go and see how lunch is coming along, Letty,’ he muttered.

The woman flinched.

‘There’s no need for that, William.’

The arm encircling her tightened a fraction.

‘I believe there is.’

‘It’s Spam sandwiches with cold baked beans. What can go wrong?’

Anderson smiled thinly.

‘Nevertheless, I feel quite strongly that you should go.’

‘But I don’t want to.’

They stared at each other. After some time the woman’s breathing became loud and laboured, and her left cheek began to twitch uncontrollably. Anderson smiled and withdrew his restraining arm. His sister turned and ran out of the room, slamming the door loudly behind her.

Anderson sighed and shook his head.

‘Poor Letitia!’

He looked at Jarvis.

‘Our father was exceptionally intelligent, our mother strikingly beautiful. In an ideal world, each child would have received a portion of these gifts. As it was, I inherited Papa’s brains and Mamma’s looks, while Letitia got the latter’s muddle-through-somehow mind installed in a superficially feminized version of Pater’s burly bod. It is an unenviable not to say frankly repellent combination, and one which perhaps goes some way towards explaining her often startlingly abrupt manners. My apologies for the interruption, Inspector.’

He drifted over to the writing-desk and refilled his tumbler. Jarvis turned to the elderly lady perched on the edge of the armchair. Her expression was full of mild determination, but held no clue as to her feelings about the scene which they had just witnessed.

Jarvis got out his notebook, turned to a blank page and licked the lead of his pencil.

‘Right, let’s have it.’

Rosemary Travis frowned politely.

‘I beg your pardon, Inspector?’

‘What makes you think Mrs Davenport was murdered?’ Jarvis demanded.

‘I don’t think so,’ Rosemary replied.

Jarvis narrowed his eyes.

‘You don’t?’

‘Certainly not. I know she was murdered. And so you jolly well should too. The evidence is clear enough, for heaven’s sake.’

Anderson gave Jarvis a look which said ‘Now do you see what I mean?’ Perhaps he has a point at that, thought Jarvis with a sudden flash of irritation. He’d been willing to give the old biddy the benefit of the doubt, but enough was enough.

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.