they hung him for having a little bit of weed on him.”
“You believe that?”
“No, I don’t believe most of what I’m told. What’s with Leonora then? Come on, you’re going to tell me, you might as well come out with it. She getting married, is that it?”
It was unpleasantly near the bone. He said stoutly. “She won’t do that. Well, not unless it’s to me. I want to ask you, Dan, I mean, if I want to …” Guy looked round. There was no one within earshot, but he lowered his voice, “… get someone out of the way, could you—well, fix things?”
The irises of the yellow eyes didn’t change but the pupils did. They seemed to elongate, becoming black stems instead of spots. Danilo touched a red tongue to his thin lower lip.
“The boy-friend?” he said.
Guy was taken aback. “How d’you know there’s a boyfriend?”
“There’s always a boy-friend. You want him wasted?”
Again Guy made that impatient gesture with his shoulders. “I don’t think so. I don’t know.” He saw that table in the hotel again, planted Maeve there instead of old Mrs. Chisholm, put William Newton in the place of Janice and her fiancé. “There’s someone poisoning her mind against me, Dan, but I don’t know who. I don’t know which one. I thought I did. If I knew, I’d … I just don’t know.”
“It can be done,” Danilo said calmly. “For a friend I could get a nice neat job for three grand.”
“And ten nice neat jobs for thirty grand? I can’t have a massacre, can I? I can’t blast the lot of them off the face of the earth. Dan, I know there’s just one of them that’s turning her against me, one or at the most two, one or two she wants to please and be in good with. They’ve told her every lie they can fabricate about me.”
“The fiancé it’ll be.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know. Christ, if I only knew. I’m all sorts of a fool, Dan. I’ve brought you here for bloody nothing. I don’t know who to name to you. I’ve brought you here for nothing.”
“The steak was magic,” said Danilo. “I’ll break my rule and have a small Chivas Regal.”
Guy said, “Dan, why did you say that? Why did you say that about Newton?”
“What did I say?”
“You called him ‘the fiancé.’”
“You must have said.”
“I didn’t. I said she wasn’t, she wouldn’t. I mean, this Newton, he exists, of course he does, but he’s just a chap takes her about, he’s no more to her than Celeste is to me.”
Danilo gave him a hard look, penetrating but not unkind. “Okay, I remember now. Tanya told me. She saw it in some paper. Yesterday or the day before. She said to have a look at this and wasn’t it the Leonora Chisholm I know. It said the usual stuff about the engagement being announced and the marriage shortly to take place. Leonora Chisholm and William Newton. That’s how I know the guy’s name, it must be, you never told me. That’s why I thought it was him you wanted disappeared.”
C HAPTER F IVE
G uy’s bed was a four-poster, japanned, with canopy in the Chinese style, made by the firm of William Linnell in 1753. Gilded flying dragons seemed just to have alighted on the curving scarlet horns of its pagoda-like top. Its curtains were of yellow silk. There was one very much like it in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The bedroom walls were covered with a Shiki silk paper. There was no carpet on the wood-block floor but Chinese pillar rugs with dragons and animal masks and cloud motifs.
At eight-thirty on Saturday morning Guy was in his four-poster bed with Celeste Seton. She was still asleep but he was awake, contemplating the making of coffee, eating some small light thing, as yet undecided on, and then going for an hour or two to his health club. Guy looked at Celeste’s exquisite face on the pillow, like a precious delicate bronze, and thought how beautiful she was but avoided otherwise thinking about her. As soon as he thought about her he was filled with guilt.
“You believe that?”
“No, I don’t believe most of what I’m told. What’s with Leonora then? Come on, you’re going to tell me, you might as well come out with it. She getting married, is that it?”
It was unpleasantly near the bone. He said stoutly. “She won’t do that. Well, not unless it’s to me. I want to ask you, Dan, I mean, if I want to …” Guy looked round. There was no one within earshot, but he lowered his voice, “… get someone out of the way, could you—well, fix things?”
The irises of the yellow eyes didn’t change but the pupils did. They seemed to elongate, becoming black stems instead of spots. Danilo touched a red tongue to his thin lower lip.
“The boy-friend?” he said.
Guy was taken aback. “How d’you know there’s a boyfriend?”
“There’s always a boy-friend. You want him wasted?”
Again Guy made that impatient gesture with his shoulders. “I don’t think so. I don’t know.” He saw that table in the hotel again, planted Maeve there instead of old Mrs. Chisholm, put William Newton in the place of Janice and her fiancé. “There’s someone poisoning her mind against me, Dan, but I don’t know who. I don’t know which one. I thought I did. If I knew, I’d … I just don’t know.”
“It can be done,” Danilo said calmly. “For a friend I could get a nice neat job for three grand.”
“And ten nice neat jobs for thirty grand? I can’t have a massacre, can I? I can’t blast the lot of them off the face of the earth. Dan, I know there’s just one of them that’s turning her against me, one or at the most two, one or two she wants to please and be in good with. They’ve told her every lie they can fabricate about me.”
“The fiancé it’ll be.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know. Christ, if I only knew. I’m all sorts of a fool, Dan. I’ve brought you here for bloody nothing. I don’t know who to name to you. I’ve brought you here for nothing.”
“The steak was magic,” said Danilo. “I’ll break my rule and have a small Chivas Regal.”
Guy said, “Dan, why did you say that? Why did you say that about Newton?”
“What did I say?”
“You called him ‘the fiancé.’”
“You must have said.”
“I didn’t. I said she wasn’t, she wouldn’t. I mean, this Newton, he exists, of course he does, but he’s just a chap takes her about, he’s no more to her than Celeste is to me.”
Danilo gave him a hard look, penetrating but not unkind. “Okay, I remember now. Tanya told me. She saw it in some paper. Yesterday or the day before. She said to have a look at this and wasn’t it the Leonora Chisholm I know. It said the usual stuff about the engagement being announced and the marriage shortly to take place. Leonora Chisholm and William Newton. That’s how I know the guy’s name, it must be, you never told me. That’s why I thought it was him you wanted disappeared.”
C HAPTER F IVE
G uy’s bed was a four-poster, japanned, with canopy in the Chinese style, made by the firm of William Linnell in 1753. Gilded flying dragons seemed just to have alighted on the curving scarlet horns of its pagoda-like top. Its curtains were of yellow silk. There was one very much like it in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The bedroom walls were covered with a Shiki silk paper. There was no carpet on the wood-block floor but Chinese pillar rugs with dragons and animal masks and cloud motifs.
At eight-thirty on Saturday morning Guy was in his four-poster bed with Celeste Seton. She was still asleep but he was awake, contemplating the making of coffee, eating some small light thing, as yet undecided on, and then going for an hour or two to his health club. Guy looked at Celeste’s exquisite face on the pillow, like a precious delicate bronze, and thought how beautiful she was but avoided otherwise thinking about her. As soon as he thought about her he was filled with guilt.
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