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Authors: Colin Forbes
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with no qualms when he gets fed up with one Behind the hail-fellow-well-met flamboyancy I detected a ruthlessness.'
`And Crystal?' she asked, keeping her expression blank.
`Led me into her bedroom, saying the view was best seen from there. Then she tried to seduce me. She's strong but I managed to push her off.'
`And she was furious, even ferocious?'
`Oddly enough, no. She was calm, perfectly controlled. She took me along the corridor to show me Pike's Peak. A very unusual mountain — well, a huge hill. Shaped like a cone at the summit. Sheer sides. Nothing grows on it. I most certainly wouldn't attempt to climb it, not for a thousand pounds.'
`Lavinia?'
`Well...' Tweed paused. 'Certainly with the exception of Bella, the cleverest, most controlled person there. I must admit I had trouble reading her. Staring into those enormous glowing blue eyes I couldn't see what was behind them. Strong-willed.'
`And very attractive,' Paula suggested. 'Clever? She is a forensic accountant. The tops.'
`So is Crystal, and she's younger,' he remarked.
`What about the other director, Warner Chance, the father of Leo and Crystal? He's so quiet.'
`Again, excluding Bella, possibly the strongest and the most enterprising character in the whole set-up. I do suspect that he secretly despises Marshal.'
`Two incidents keep coming back into my mind,' Paula mused. 'I was struck by Bella's last comment — "to come and protect our treasure".'
`I noticed that wording.'
`But when you quoted Bella downstairs Snape was appalled. He almost shouted hysterically, "She said that to you!" Most odd, I thought.'
`So did I.'
`What does it all mean?' Paula wondered.
`Haven't a clue. Place is like a time bomb ready to explode.'
`Well, we won't be there if it happens. What about Snape?'
`Something odd there. I phoned a friend at the MoD while you were out. He served in Bosnia, was accused of shooting two unarmed Muslims in the back. The only witness was discredited and Snape was exonerated. Soon afterwards he voluntarily transferred to the Engineers. May have felt he was under a cloud. One thing I'm sure of — he knows more about what is going on there than anybody.'
And that weird business about the gold,' she went on.
`I'll know more about that when I've consulted Bob Newman. After all, he is a reporter, or was before he joined us.'
Tweed suppressed a yawn and Paula realized she'd been asking him questions for a long time. She got up to clear the table and Tweed insisted on helping her. When they had arrived at the house he had taken off his jacket and tie to feel more relaxed.
`Time for bed,' she told him when they had completed the clearance.
`I think so,' he agreed, suppressing another yawn. `When you can I'd like you to draw an Identikit picture of the head of Mr Evelyn-Ashton, who you met at the Duke's Head. You did spend time at art school in the evenings once.'
`I'll do it first thing tomorrow while he's fresh in my mind.'
Forcing himself to undress, Tweed flopped on the bed. The moment his head hit the pillow he was fast asleep.
Paula was restless. The nerve-racking episode with Evelyn-Ashton kept intruding. She could see his face perfectly, the weird change in his attitude before he confessed why he was really there. She crept into the drawing room. From a drawer she took out an artist's pad of cartridge paper, some sticks of charcoal. She sat down in front of a desk and began. She worked confidently and the sketch was completed in half an hour. She stood up, studied it under the shaded desk light.
`Got you, Mr Evelyn-Ashton,' she murmured to herself. 'First time.'
Which was when she heard a car crawling along the street below. She parted the closed curtains carefully. A brown Ford was stopped. She saw the driver jump out, then arch his right hand back like a cricketer about to lob a ball. Under the light of a street lamp she saw the face clearly. Mr Evelyn-Ashton. She heard the shattering of glass as the object crashed through
`And Crystal?' she asked, keeping her expression blank.
`Led me into her bedroom, saying the view was best seen from there. Then she tried to seduce me. She's strong but I managed to push her off.'
`And she was furious, even ferocious?'
`Oddly enough, no. She was calm, perfectly controlled. She took me along the corridor to show me Pike's Peak. A very unusual mountain — well, a huge hill. Shaped like a cone at the summit. Sheer sides. Nothing grows on it. I most certainly wouldn't attempt to climb it, not for a thousand pounds.'
`Lavinia?'
`Well...' Tweed paused. 'Certainly with the exception of Bella, the cleverest, most controlled person there. I must admit I had trouble reading her. Staring into those enormous glowing blue eyes I couldn't see what was behind them. Strong-willed.'
`And very attractive,' Paula suggested. 'Clever? She is a forensic accountant. The tops.'
`So is Crystal, and she's younger,' he remarked.
`What about the other director, Warner Chance, the father of Leo and Crystal? He's so quiet.'
`Again, excluding Bella, possibly the strongest and the most enterprising character in the whole set-up. I do suspect that he secretly despises Marshal.'
`Two incidents keep coming back into my mind,' Paula mused. 'I was struck by Bella's last comment — "to come and protect our treasure".'
`I noticed that wording.'
`But when you quoted Bella downstairs Snape was appalled. He almost shouted hysterically, "She said that to you!" Most odd, I thought.'
`So did I.'
`What does it all mean?' Paula wondered.
`Haven't a clue. Place is like a time bomb ready to explode.'
`Well, we won't be there if it happens. What about Snape?'
`Something odd there. I phoned a friend at the MoD while you were out. He served in Bosnia, was accused of shooting two unarmed Muslims in the back. The only witness was discredited and Snape was exonerated. Soon afterwards he voluntarily transferred to the Engineers. May have felt he was under a cloud. One thing I'm sure of — he knows more about what is going on there than anybody.'
And that weird business about the gold,' she went on.
`I'll know more about that when I've consulted Bob Newman. After all, he is a reporter, or was before he joined us.'
Tweed suppressed a yawn and Paula realized she'd been asking him questions for a long time. She got up to clear the table and Tweed insisted on helping her. When they had arrived at the house he had taken off his jacket and tie to feel more relaxed.
`Time for bed,' she told him when they had completed the clearance.
`I think so,' he agreed, suppressing another yawn. `When you can I'd like you to draw an Identikit picture of the head of Mr Evelyn-Ashton, who you met at the Duke's Head. You did spend time at art school in the evenings once.'
`I'll do it first thing tomorrow while he's fresh in my mind.'
Forcing himself to undress, Tweed flopped on the bed. The moment his head hit the pillow he was fast asleep.
Paula was restless. The nerve-racking episode with Evelyn-Ashton kept intruding. She could see his face perfectly, the weird change in his attitude before he confessed why he was really there. She crept into the drawing room. From a drawer she took out an artist's pad of cartridge paper, some sticks of charcoal. She sat down in front of a desk and began. She worked confidently and the sketch was completed in half an hour. She stood up, studied it under the shaded desk light.
`Got you, Mr Evelyn-Ashton,' she murmured to herself. 'First time.'
Which was when she heard a car crawling along the street below. She parted the closed curtains carefully. A brown Ford was stopped. She saw the driver jump out, then arch his right hand back like a cricketer about to lob a ball. Under the light of a street lamp she saw the face clearly. Mr Evelyn-Ashton. She heard the shattering of glass as the object crashed through
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