Read Online False Diamond--An Abbot Agency Mystery by Veronica Heley - Free Book Online Page A

book herself in for a manicure tomorrow. He said, ‘Leave it with me.’
    So she did.
Thursday evening
    Bea hoped that Maggie would return before Leon came to collect her for the evening, but there was no sign of the girl by the time the office closed for the evening.
    Oh well. Time for a shower and to decide what she should wear. Nothing too flashy, something warm but of good quality.
    Bea took care with her make-up, reminding herself yet again to make another appointment with her manicurist. She decided that a fawn and white cashmere sweater with a cowl neck would be warm enough for a casual winter date, teamed with her favourite caramel skirt, which was long enough to cover the tops of her boots.
    Bea loved boots. She had a collection of them, long, medium and short. These particular boots were new and in suede, soft as silk. She zipped them up to the knee and checked that her skirt hung correctly. She hesitated about whether to wear jewellery or not. She always wore the wedding ring Hamilton had given her, and during work hours she wore costume jewellery: a stickpin on a collar and a string of beads, or a modern pendant to match whatever it was she was wearing. Now she pinned on an antique gold brooch in the shape of a flower and, not without hesitation, pushed her diamond engagement ring on to her finger. She was aware that she was sending various messages to Leon by wearing her engagement ring. She was reminding him that she still thought of her deceased husband, and she was also reminding him that Dilys’s ring was not all that it ought to be.
    As she left her bedroom, she thought she heard a door close overhead. She hadn’t heard Maggie come in. Surely the girl wouldn’t have crept up past Bea’s door without popping in to say she was back?
    Bea hesitated. The front doorbell rang. Leon was on time, and it would be rude to keep him waiting. Bea decided to deal with Maggie later and went to open the door.
    There was a good steakhouse not far away, on the main road. A trifle on the noisy side because the wood floor had been left polished and waxed, without carpet or rugs. But, the service was good, and Bea was hungry. As was Leon.
    He asked, ‘Wine or beer?’
    She remembered that he liked beer. She hadn’t had beer for a long time. So why not? ‘Beer would be fine.’
    They both declined starters and ordered steaks.
    â€˜Well,’ he said, ‘have you had time to check up on me?’
    â€˜Some. More to come.’
    His eyebrows quirked. ‘Confess: you wouldn’t have bothered if I hadn’t made that stupid joke about being an undischarged bankrupt.’
    She smiled. He was right, of course. ‘No comment.’
    â€˜I’m an idiot. I’ve been trying to work out why I lied to Benton and, well, I’m not liking myself very much. I thought I had got over it, but the rejection by my family seems to have gone deeper than I thought. I invented the first lie I could think of in order to avoid being dragged into their machinations. I’m
conflicted
. Is that the right term?’
    â€˜You mean that, despite yourself, you share some of your sister’s feeling for the family?’
    He pulled a face. ‘Duty. Such a dull word.’
    â€˜How about reinventing yourself as a white knight, riding to the rescue?’
    â€˜Like Don Quixote, you mean? Tilting at windmills?’
    She had to laugh, thinking he was excellent company. He held her gaze. His eyes were definitely hazel, with pronounced crow’s feet around them. She half-smiled, feeling the pull of attraction … and then lowered her eyes to break the spell.
    Her pulse was a little too fast. She had put all that side of herself to sleep when Hamilton had become ill and died. Her first husband, Piers – who was still around and who flitted in and out of her life now and again – had tried to reawaken her recently, but she’d resisted. It was uncomfortable to be