Read Online The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis - Free Book Online Page A

someone’s nearside
     
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    wing. Just a little bit of damage apparently but she was rather confused about the procedure with the insurance companies and the man in the car had been rather unpleasant. I made a few phone calls for her … sorted things out. There was no problem, but with the other driver’s aggressive attitude and…’
    ‘Are you certain there was no damage to her car, sir?’
    ‘Quite sure. I had a good look. It was fine.’
    ‘What was Ms Larsen like?’ asked Wesley. Mr Questid had clearly known her better than his wife had.
    ‘A lovely woman … very, er, cool, very beautiful, but with a sense of humour. Always a twinkle in her eye, if you know what I mean.’ There was certainly a twinkle in Questid’s eye as he described her. She had made quite an impression.
    ‘Sexy?’ suggested Wesley, sensing Rachel’s disapproval of this cool, beautiful creature who flirted with other women’s husbands.
    A wide smile appeared on Questid’s face. ‘Oh, very, Sergeant. That’s exactly the word I’d use.’
    ‘And did she talk about what she was doing in Devon … about her life in Denmark … anything that might help us?’
    ‘She taught English in some kind of college. She’d been to Devon before, when she was young, and she’d always wanted to come back.’
    ‘What did she do while she was over here?’
    Questid shrugged. ‘Sightseeing mostly. She said she’d been to the castle and been on one of the river cruises. The usual tourist stuff.’
    ‘Did she say that she’d met anyone here she knew?’
    ‘She never mentioned it to me if she had,’ he said regretfully. ‘And before you ask, she never said when she was here before or where she’d stayed.’
    ‘And was she married?’ asked Rachel.
    ‘She was divorced. But she’d just moved into a flat with her brother. I had the impression the divorce was fairly recent. In fact she said that was why she decided to come back to Devon now. She needed a break and she remembered that this part of Devon was very beautiful. She came on impulse, she said … a spur-of- the-moment decision.’
    ‘Did the divorce cause much ill feeling, do you know?’
    ‘Oh, no. Ingeborg said they’d been separated for a while and it
     
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    was all very civilised. You know what the Scandinavians are like … very modem,’ Questid said regretfully.
    Wesley pictured Questid’s own marital circumstances. The brassy Barbara would probably not have approved of ‘modem’ arrangements. In fact he wondered how Ralph had managed to become so well acquainted with the ins and outs of Ingeborg Larsen’s life in such a short time under his wife’s roof.
    ‘So you were getting to know Ingeborg quite well before she disappeared?’
    ‘I wouldn’t say well. We passed the time of day.’
    ‘You seem to know her better than your wife does,’ Rachel said, watching for a reaction.
    ‘Well, I think Ingeborg’s more of a man’s woman, if you know what I mean. Nothing wrong in that. Some women just seem to get on better with men than with other women.’
    ‘Quite,’ said Wesley. He was building up an interesting picture of Ingeborg Larsen - the beautiful, neat, sexy woman with a twinkle in her eye who enjoyed her power over men. She had probably been more than capable of sorting out her own insurance, but she knew how to play the helpless foreigner when it suited her. But last Monday Ingeborg, for once, might have encountered a situation that she couldn’t control.
    ‘You said the driver she backed into was aggressive. Did she tell you his name, by any chance?’
    ‘Yes. It was Proudy … Laurence Proudy. Youngish, address in London. He said he was here on holiday, but I don’t know where he was staying.’
    Rachel frowned for a moment, deep in thought. ‘I’m sure I’ve heard that name before … but I can’t remember where.’
    The journey back to the station was a silent one as Rachel dredged her mind for the elusive information. Where had she heard