Read Online A New Lease of Death by Ruth Rendell - Free Book Online

jeans sprawled on a haystack. Yes, this had been the best of all possible environments for the murderer’s orphan.
    The door was pushed open and the girl in the portrait came in pushing a tea trolley. Archery who was too hot and troubled to feel hungry, saw with dismay that it was laden with home-baked pastries, strawberries in glass dishes, fairy cakes in paper cases. The girl looked about fourteen. She was not so beautiful as Tess and she wore a bunchy school tunic, but her father’s vitality illuminated her face.
    ‘This is my daughter Jill.’
    Jill sprawled in a chair, showing a lot of long leg.
    ‘Now, sit nicely, dear,’ said Mrs Kershaw sharply. She gave the girl a repressive look and began to pour tea, holding the pot with curled fingers. ‘They don’t realize they’re young women at thirteen these days, Mr Archery.’ Archery was embarrassed but the girl didn’t seem to care. ‘You must have one of these cakes. Jill made them.’ Unwillingly he took a pastry. ‘That’s right. I’ve always said to both my girls, schooling is all very well in its way, but algebra won’t cook the Sunday dinner. Tess and Jill are both good plain cooks …’
    ‘Mummy! I’m not plain and Tess certainly isn’t.’
    ‘You know what I mean. Now don’t take me up on everything. When they get married their husbands won’t be ashamed to have anybody for a meal.’
    ‘This is my managing director, darling,’ said Jill pertly. ‘Just cut a slice off him and put it under the grill, will you?’
    Kershaw roared with laughter. Then he took his wife’s hand. ‘You leave Mummy alone.’ All this jollity and family intimacy was making Archery nervous. He forced a smile and knew it looked forced.
    ‘What I really mean is, Mr Archery,’ said Mrs Kershaw earnestly, ‘is that even if your Charlie and my Tessie have their ups and downs at first, Tess hasn’t been brought up to be an idle wife. She’ll put a happy home before luxuries.’
    ‘I’m sure she will,’ Archery looked helplessly at the lunging girl, firmly entrenched in her chair and devouring strawberries and cream. It was now or never. ‘Mrs Kershaw, I don’t doubt Theresa’s suitability as a wife …’ No, that wasn’t right. That was just what he did doubt. He floundered. ‘I wanted to talk to you about …’ Surely Kershaw would help him ? Jill’s brows drew together in a small frown and her grey eyes stared steadily at him. Desperately he said, ‘I wanted to speak to you alone.’
    Irene Kershaw seemed to shrink. She put down her cup, laid her knife delicately across her plate and, folding her hands in her lap, looked down at them. They were poor hands, stubby and worn, and she wore just one ring, her second wedding ring.
    ‘Haven’t you got any homework to do, Jill?’ she asked in a whisper. Kershaw got up, wiping his mouth.
    ‘I can do it in the train,’ said Jill.
    Archery had begun to dislike Kershaw, but he could not help admiring him. ‘Jill, you know all about Tess,’ Kershaw said, ‘What happened when she was little. Mummy has to discuss it with Mr Archery. Just by themselves. We have to go because, although we’re involved, it’s not quite our business. Not like it is theirs, O.K.?’
    ‘O.K.’ said Jill. Her father put his arm round her and took her into the garden.
    He had to begin, but he was hot and stiff with awkwardness. Outside the window Jill had found a tennis racquet and was practicing shots against the garage wall. Mrs Kershaw picked up a napkin and dabbed at the corners of her mouth. She looked at him, their eyes met, and she looked away. Archery felt suddenly that they were not alone, that their thoughts concentrated on the past, had summoned from its prison grave a presence of brute strength that stood behind their chairs, laying a bloody hand on their shoulders and listening for judgment.
    ‘Tess says you have something to tell me,’ he said quietly. ‘About your first husband.’ She was rolling the napkin now,