Battle for Inspector West Read Free Page A

forget it for a while,’ said Grant. ‘Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we fly!’
    So he wasn’t going to explain any more yet.
    â€˜Fly where?’
    â€˜Almost anywhere,’ said Grant. ‘I’m determined to have an uninterrupted honeymoon,’
    â€˜Darling,’ said Christine, pressing the bell with great deliberation, ‘we are not going to run away. What kind of honeymoon would it be if we worried in case we were coming back to—well, to whatever this is? We’re going to stay here until it’s all over, then we’ll have a guaranteed trouble-free honeymoon!’ She looked up at a tap at the door. ‘What I’d love is a drink, I’ll feel better then.’
    A white-coated lad came in, with oily, black hair and a sallow, unsmiling face.
    â€˜A gin-and-lime, a double-whisky and some soda-water,’ Grant ordered.
    â€˜Yes, sir.’ The lad went out.
    â€˜I wonder if you’re right about staying,’ Grant mused. ‘Chin-chin might not stay in England very long, because he has a police record as long as that waiter’s face.’ Then how had the man come to know Michael? ‘We might go away for two or three weeks, then come back to find that all is well. Let’s dine on it, we’ll talk more about it afterwards. How long will it take you to change?’
    â€˜About half an hour.’
    â€˜I only want ten minutes,’ said Grant. ‘When we’ve had our drinks, I’ll take a look round the hotel grounds and see what they’ve really got to offer.’
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    Twenty minutes later he went out, and walked briskly along the passage towards the lounge-hall. No one was there, except the porter; even the lounge itself was empty. But there were voices outside, a girl laughed, and the party who had been riding came in, two young men and two young women. Engagement rings were glittering on the girls’ hands. Both glanced at Grant, as most women did. He appeared oblivious of them, and went out to the drive, looked at the parked cars, then walked round to the back of the bungalow.
    Uplands was not only perfectly situated, but admirably run. The building itself was large; he knew that there were thirty bedrooms. There were two wings, east and west, as well as the centre block, where he and Christine had their room. There were paths through the shrubberies, as he remembered, and they stretched for over a hundred yards, towards meadow-land on either side and the orchard beyond.
    For a while he walked up a gentle slope, but beyond the swimming-pool the hillside became steeper and the going heavier. He lengthened his stride until he drew near the top of the hill, which was crested by a copse of beech and oak. Then he turned and looked down over Uplands. He could see not only the farmhouse but several cottages on either slope of the valley.
    A car came into sight, heading from the main road. The slanting rays of the sun shone on its green sides.
    Grant stood quite still, one hand in his pocket, the other clenched in front of him. The car seemed to move very slowly, as if making sure he could recognise it as a green Mercedes. As it drew near the bungalow Grant’s teeth clamped together.
    It went past.
    He relaxed a little, although still watching it. Beyond Uplands a thick belt of trees hid the road, and when the car had disappeared behind them he did not see it again. He waited for some minutes, then took out a slim gold cigarette-case, put a cigarette to his lips and flicked his lighter.
    â€˜Excuse me,’ a man said; ‘will you be so good as to give me a light?’
    Grant spun round; the light went out and the cigarette dropped from his lips. The man who had approached him so silently stood a couple of yards away, small, plump, pink-faced, middle-aged. He had pale blue eyes, a snub nose, a rose-bud of a mouth, and no chin to speak of. At first, he had been smiling; the smile disappeared as he added: