Susan speared a wafer-thin slice of dark purple meat and popped it into her mouth. Chewing with her eyes closed. ‘Delicious!’
Roberta pushed the cold-looking lump of orange stuff about her plate. Whatever it was, it looked extremely dodgy. ‘How well do you know the rest of the guests?’
‘Well, Mortimer’s the firm’s senior partner, so he’s all right, and you’ve met Agatha. Adriana’s a good assistant – very thorough when she gets her teeth into something.’ A shrug made Susan’s cleavage do very naughty things. ‘The rest are a mixture of clients and strangers. I’d know them to talk to, but that’s it.’
Quick look left and right to make sure no one had sneaked into the dining room when they weren’t looking. ‘What about Sir Reginald Wibbly-Whatnot?’
‘Robbie! The poor man’sdead.’
‘Aye, aye, boo hoo, stop the clocks and cover the budgie,etcetera. What about his shady dealings? Your firm involved in any of that?’
Susan went in for another slice of venison. ‘Well,Mortimermostly deals with Sir Reginald’s business affairs and I’m sure they’re not in the least bit shady, thank you very much.’
OK, nothing else for it, Roberta was going to have to try the slippery orange whatever-it-was. It slithered away from her fork, but she finally managed to dig out a chunk and stuck it in her gob. Strangely cold and sweet and earthy, all at the same time. ‘What makes you think they’re no’ shady? There’s sod-all...’ Why did the whatever-it-was taste familiar, but wrong at the same time? ‘Is thiscarrotice cream?’
‘Sorbet aux racines. Eat up.’
Roberta stared at the closed kitchen door. ‘What kind of sick weirdo makescarrotice cream?’
‘And for your information: I know Sir Reginald’s business dealings aren’t “dodgy”, because our firm wouldn’t be handling them if they were. Beresford, Ackroyd, and Edgware isveryhighly respected in corporate law circles.’
She shook her head. ‘Carrot ice cream.’ Then tried a wee bit more. Actually, it wasn’t so bad once you got used to the idea.
Susan scooted her chair forward, dropping her voice to a whisper. ‘If you ask me, it’s Lord Fitzroy-Galbraith you should be looking at. I hear he wanted to develop a planned village on the estate – high-end villas and holiday homes. You’d make a killing from the London get-away-for-the-weekend set.’
‘This turnip mousse is OK too.’
Maybe Gérard de Larosière wasn’t as daft as he looked?
Susan’s eyes widened. ‘I hear Sir Reginald had the deciding vote on the planning authority. What if he said no, and Lord Fitzroy-Galbraithkilledhim?’
Roberta sat back and smiled at her. ‘Aye, all right, MissMarple. You leave the detecting to the professionals or I’ll have to ask you to assist me with my inquiries.’ Topping that one off with an extremely dirty wink, sending Susan into blushing giggles.
Susan stood and leaned across the table for a kiss. ‘You’ll never take me alive, copper.’
Roberta levered herself out of her seat and wasjustabout to join her when the kitchen door banged open and Weird Janey poked her head into the dining room again.
‘Who’s ready for their main course?’
Some people’s timing was utter bollocks.
Roberta kissed Susan on the forehead – just a wee peck, not enough to wake her – and slipped from the room.
The corridor outside ‘LAPHROAIG’ was dark as a lawyer’s soul. NotSusan’ssoul, obviously: she was the exception that proved the rule. But the rest of them could fester in the gloomy heat of Satan’s bumhole for all eternity and it still wouldn’t be long enough.
‘Let there be light.’ But when she flicked the switch in the hallway, nothing happened. So, just to be on the safe side, Roberta clicked it up and down a half dozen more times.
Still nothing.
OK...
She pulled out her mobile and called up the torch app. Swinging the thin cold beam across the corridor, where it glittered back from the long-dead eyes of stuffed animals. OK, that was more than a little unnerving.
Turning her back on them, she followed the phone’s torchlight to the end of the corridor, freezing just inside the doors. Listening.
Voices, muffled in the darkness, wafted through from the other side. Low and conspiratorial.
Roberta put her hand on the door and pushed through into the gloom beyond.
