Read Online Cast in Order of Disappearance by Simon Brett - Free Book Online

he’ll take the heat off you. And turn it on Sweet, where it belongs.’ He laughed. ‘I must say, Jacqui, I don’t care for your boy-friend’s methods.’
    Jacqui laughed too, a weak giggle of relief. ‘Yes, he can be a bastard. You think it’ll be all right?’
    â€˜Just as soon as I can get to see him. I mean, I don’t know about the emotional thing—that’s between the two of you—but I’m sure he’ll stop the rough stuff.’
    There was a pause. Jacqui breathed deeply. ‘Oh, it really hurts. My throat, from all that crying.’
    â€˜Yes, of course it does. You’re exhausted. Tell you what, I’ll get you pleasantly drunk, tuck you up in bed, you’ll sleep the sleep of the dead. And in the morning nothing’ll seem so bad.’
    â€˜But my flat . . .’
    â€˜I’ll help you tidy it up, when we’ve got this sorted out.
    â€˜Oh, Charles, you are great. I don’t know what I’d do without you, honest.’
    â€˜S’all right.’ He took her hand and gripped it, embarrassed, like a father with his grown-up daughter. Then suddenly, brisk. ‘Right, I’m hungry. Have you had anything to eat?’
    â€˜No, I . . . I’ve felt sick. I—’
    â€˜Haven’t got anything here, but—’
    â€˜I couldn’t go out.’
    â€˜Don’t you worry. It was for just such occasions that fish and chips were invented.’
    â€˜Oh no. I’d be sick.’
    â€˜Don’t you believe it. Nice bit of rock salmon, bag of chips, lots of vinegar, you’ll feel on top of the world.’
    â€˜Ugh.’
    It’s strange how fish and chip newspapers, out of date and greasy, are always much more interesting than current ones. It’s like other people’s papers in crowded tubes. You can’t wait to buy a copy and read some intriguing article you glimpse over a strap-hanging shoulder. It’s always disappointing.
    In the fish and chip shop Charles noticed that his order was wrapped in a copy of the Sun . On the front page was the tantalizing headline, ‘Virginity Auction—see page 11’. The fascination of page 11 grew as he walked home. Who was auctioning whose virginity to whom? And where?
    This thought preoccupied him as he entered his room. Jacqui was lying on the bed, fast asleep. Curled up in a ball on the candlewick, she looked about three years old.
    He made no attempt to wake her. In her state sleep was more important than food. The Virginity Auction—he settled down in front of the fire to find out all about it. He slipped a hot crumbling piece of fish into his mouth, placed the warm bag of chips on his knees and turned to page 11.
    Bugger. He’d only got pages 1 to 8, and the corresponding ones at the back. He’d never know where virginities were knocked down, or how one bidded. A pleasant thought of nubile young girls being displayed at Sotheby’s crossed his mind.
    There wasn’t much else in the paper. It was the last Wednesday’s—all bloody petrol crisis. The titty girl on page 3’s midriff was stained and transparent with grease from the fish and chips. It looked rather obscene, particularly as the word ‘Come’ showed through backwards from the other side of the page.
    Charles turned over and stopped dead. There was a photograph on the page that was ominously familiar. He had last seen it on a dresser, surrounded by brass souvenirs.
    Fiercely calm, he read the accompanying article.
    M4 MURDER VICTIM IDENTIFIED
    The man whose body was found early on Monday morning by the M4 exit road at Theale, Berks, has been identified as 44-year-old William Sweet, a photographer from Paddington, London. Sweet was found shot through the head at the roadside beside his grey Ford Escort, which appeared to have run out of petrol.
    Interviewed at his Paddington studios, Sweet’s wife, Audrey, could suggest no