Read Online A Cornish Revenge (The Loveday Ross Cornish Mysteries Book 1) by Rena George - Free Book Online Page B

concentrated on the office, asking permission to take both computers and a batch of memory sticks for further investigation.
    Magdalene suddenly met Sam’s gaze, her large blue eyes now candid. ‘He killed himself, didn’t he?’
      The three officers exchanged glances.
      Magdalene persisted. ‘I can see by your faces that he did…he couldn’t swim, you see…had a fear of water...’ her voice drifted off.
    Sam cleared his throat. ‘What makes you think your husband killed himself?’
      She shrugged; it was a helpless kind of gesture. ‘You mean it was an accident?’
      ‘What made you think he’d killed himself?’ Amanda had taken over the questions after a nod from Sam. ‘Was he depressed?’
      ‘Who knows,’ Magdalene said flatly, ‘Paul wasn’t like other men. If he was depressed he never showed it. Had to keep up the image, you see; keep the clients happy - or they don’t pay up.’
      ‘What kind of image, Mrs Bentine?’ Will cut in.
      Magdalene frowned, as though she had to rack her brain for an explanation. ‘Paul is a solicitor…was a solicitor.’ She produced the ball of hankie and pressed it to her nose while the others waited for her to continue. ‘He had a practise in Cambridge. She reached for the tea that Amanda had previously made, and began sipping from it apparently unaware, or not caring, that it had grown cold.
      ‘My father was Judge Henry Carruthers,’ a faint smile touched her lips and she looked around the three faces for any sign that the name would be familiar to them. Amanda nodded encouragingly and Magdalene went on. ‘He was very well respected in Cambridge…everywhere, really…a bit of an icon of the legal world. Anyway, he took Paul under his wing…put in a good word in the right places.’ She paused, staring into the room again, apparently at memories of another life in Cambridge. ‘We were happy then.’
      ‘Why did you come to Cornwall?’ Sam asked
      Magdalene sighed, ‘It was Paul’s idea. I still can’t understand why we had to move. We were settled in Cambridge. Admittedly his practice wasn’t doing particularly well, but I’d set up an interior design business and things were really working for me.’ She shrugged. ‘But Paul decided it was time for us to leave…come to Cornwall…enjoy the fruits of his labour, he said.’
      ‘What did you feel about that?’ Sam asked.
      ‘Magdalene shrugged again. ‘My father had died by then, but I still had all my friends in Cambridge, people I’d grown up with. I didn’t want to leave. Our marriage had been going through a sticky patch. Paul was always edgy, there were rows, his business was causing him problems but he would never tell me what they were. Anyway, he came up with this idea about moving to Cornwall…a new start, he said.’  She looked round the room. ‘I had to give our marriage that chance, didn’t I?’
      ‘And did it work?’ Amanda’s question took Magdalene by surprise.
       ‘Of course it didn’t. In fact, things were a lot worse between us after we came here. Paul had planned to retire, but then he decided that he needed to work after all. He took on a few consultancies with some of the big companies around here, but he was never what you could call happy.
      ‘My business, on the other hand really took off. A lot of my old friends in Cambridge had connections here…you know, holiday properties…yachts…things like that. And they were more than happy to recommend my services as an interior designer to their friends down here.’
         She put the cup she had been nursing carefully back on its saucer. ‘Paul didn’t like that, of course. He didn’t want me keeping up with my old friends, said we needed to make a complete break. But I knew he was jealous. My business was a success, you see…and his wasn’t.’
      The picture she painted was not one of domestic bliss. Sam went to the window. He could see the gravel drive sweep down to the