Read Online Pardonable Lie by Jacqueline Winspear - Free Book Online

who had clearly been in deep crisis, her grief so deep that common sense could not prevail. The thought of a third such visit was almost too much to bear, but Maisie tried to shake off all preconceptions as she drove to Balham, where she would visit Madeleine Hartnell.
    After parking alongside Dufrayne Court, a modern block of flats surrounded by landscaped courtyards, Maisie stood for a moment, leaning with her back against the MG to observe the white building. Designed to resemble an ocean liner, each of the building’s three floors seemed enlarged by a wraparound balcony in the same white finish, though portholes in the balcony allowed glimpses of the floor-to-ceiling French windows of each flat beyond. Maisie imagined the occupants as rather well-to-do people who entertained, who enjoyed being at the forefront of life on the outskirts of London. They were people who might have been thought to be going places, though the speed with which they made progress may well have been curtailed by the depression that now gripped the country. It seemed an unlikely choice of accommodation for a woman who, according to the claims she made to Agnes Lawton, kept company with the past.
    Maisie located the bell for Hartnell’s apartment, alongside her surname on a glass-fronted directory of residents. She pressed the button, and an intercom crackled.
    “Who is it?” The voice was difficult to discern, given the sputtering line.
    “Maisie Dobbs to see Miss Hartnell.” The line crackled again.
    “I’ll ask Miss Hartnell.”
    There was more noise on the line as Maisie waited; then she heard the receiver being picked up once more.
    “Miss Hartnell will see you now, Miss Dobbs. You’ll hear a buzz, then a click, and all you do is push the door and walk in. All right?”
    “Yes.” The buzzer sounded and Maisie entered a light, airy entrance hall with a carpeted staircase in front of her. The main door to each flat was only accessible from an inner courtyard.
    Maisie climbed the stairs to the second floor, where the door to number 7 Dufrayne Court was open and the housekeeper stood waiting.
    “Good afternoon, Miss Dobbs. Lucky for you Miss Hartnell had a cancellation this afternoon. Do come in.” She closed the door behind Maisie, then walked ahead.
    For her part, Maisie hoped for a moment or two of solitude before meeting Hartnell. Though it began as only the whisper of sensation while she regarded the building from outside, she now felt a stronger prickle across her neck, her most vulnerable place. A chill air seemed to embrace her, just for the briefest moment, as they walked along the hallway. Maisie knew only too well the source of such chills, though she was not afraid. Hartnell may have misled Agnes Lawton, may have encouraged her to believe that her son was not dead, but even when the housekeeper had left for the day, Hartnell was never completely alone in her home.
    A large drawing room was visible through glass double doors ahead, and Maisie could see a red brick fireplace against a white background. The polished wooden floors were covered with rugs and a shaft of light seemed to sweep from the left, where Maisie imagined the French windows and balcony to be. Before reaching the drawing room, the housekeeper stopped and indicated a smaller room, also on the left.
    “Miss Hartnell will be with you directly. I’ll bring tea in a moment.”
    “Oh, that’s not necess—” Maisie began, but was interrupted.
    “Miss Hartnell always has a cup of tea at three.” The housekeeper pressed her hands together, nodded, and left the room, closing the door behind her.
    Maisie quickly appraised the room. There was no circular table, no heavily fringed lamp that she had seen in the rooms of others plying their trade as mediums and psychics. Instead, two armchairs were set in front of a window, and a low table with just enough room for a tray was positioned at an angle to the chairs. There were no curtains, only blinds partially drawn