Archie, don’t be so bloody naive. How can I not blame myself when the very last time that you and I stood together in this room was after an inquest into another death that would never have happened had it not been for that wretched play?’
45
‘We’ve been over this a thousand times. Elliott Vintner killed himself because he was a ruined man. He got lucky with one novel and spent the next ten years trying to do it again. When he found he simply didn’t have the talent, he tried to take advantage of yours. Nobody in their right mind would accuse someone of plagiarism over a piece of history – let’s face it, if that were a viable legal argument, Shakespeare would have spent his whole life in the dock. Vintner gambled by taking you to court, and he lost – end of story. If his life was so miserable that he had nothing else worth living for, that can hardly be laid at your door. By all means mourn for a girl you liked who died too young, but don’t waste a minute on that bastard’s memory.’
‘I know you’re right, but it doesn’t alter the fact that this afternoon I’m supposed to be signing a contract to license a tour of Richard , and perhaps even to make a film, when I really feel like putting a stop to the whole thing before anybody else gets hurt. I know it’s making everybody rich and famous, but I’m beginning to believe that the play is cursed and I don’t see why we need to inflict that on theatres all around the country. God, they’d be safer with Macbeth . Perhaps all doomed dramas come out of Scotland. It’s still not too late to pull out and knock this nonsense on the head once and for all. Everyone will be furious, of course, but there are more important things than taking two thousand pounds and half a dozen curtain-calls in Morecambe.’
‘Do whatever you need to about the play – that doesn’t matter.
It’s you I care about.’
‘I know, and I’m grateful – even if it doesn’t always sound like it. But you surely can’t believe – if everything was as carefully planned as you say it was – that the murderer would have overlooked the small matter of getting the right victim?’ Archie said nothing, acknowledging the logic of Josephine’s reasoning but unable to let it overcome his instincts as she continued, more gently this time. ‘You don’t need to waste time worrying about me but I will be careful, I promise. And there is something else you can do to make me feel better.’
‘And that is?’
46
‘I’d like to see Elspeth’s family. Can I come with you this afternoon?’
‘What about your meeting with the boys?’
‘Like I said, there are more important things and I need to decide once and for all what I’m going to do before I see them. I’m sure Ronnie and Lettice would go for me if I asked them to, so at least I’ll know what happens. Look, I know it’s not normal procedure and I don’t want to be in the way, but I’d like to talk about Elspeth to someone who knew her, and it might help her family, too.’
Archie stood up, ready to leave. ‘I’ll pick you up at two.’ He kissed her briefly at the door. ‘It’s nice to see you,’ he said, smiling for the first time that morning.
47
Four
It was turning into the sort of day that made even the most faithful of Londoners question their devotion to the city. An unyielding stretch of cloud settled heavily over the rooftops, draining the colour from everything it touched before dissolving, at street level, into a half-hearted, depressing mist. Even so, as he left the house in Queen Anne’s Gate, Bernard Aubrey savoured the rush of freedom that accompanied any departure from the four walls which were, but rarely felt like, home. This picturesque relic of Georgian London, built in the eighteenth century by the founder of the Bank of England, was an appropriate reflection of the aesthetic taste and sound financial judgement which had made Aubrey one of the West End’s most prosperous and
Max Allan Collins
Max Allan Collins
Susan Williams
Nora Roberts
Wareeze Woodson
Into the Wilderness
Maya Rock
Danica Avet
Nancy J. Parra
Elle Chardou