False Charity Read Free Page A

must be Maggie? Have you come to help me clear up? That’s kind of you.’
    â€˜Welcome home, Mrs Abbot. You can safely leave everything to me, you know. Max said you might be glad of a hand after your journey.’ The girl couldn’t be more than twenty, but had the bossy manner of a good nanny. She bustled around, making a little too much noise for Bea’s tired brain. Bea thought that anyone watching might imagine Maggie was the hostess, and Bea the guest.
    Bea said ‘Thank you,’ and tried not to wince as the girl clashed glasses together. Bea was so tired that her head was buzzing but she told herself that the girl meant no harm, and with jet lag it was better to keep going till bedtime if she could, allowing her body to recover its natural clock the quickest way.
    The doorbell rang again downstairs, and the girl said, ‘Tsk! Can’t they read? Didn’t they see the notice I put on the door?’
    â€˜I’ll get a tray,’ said Bea. She went through to the kitchen at the back of the house to fetch a tray and an apron. The kitchen, she noticed with resignation, was in a mess. Now that
would
need cleaning up before she went to bed. She could never sleep easily if her kitchen were in a mess.
    Maggie came through with a double handful of dirty glasses, which she plonked down on the sink. ‘It’s probably that awful woman again. Nothing for you to worry about. I’ll pop down and tell her to get lost.’
    Someone was already coming up the stairs, someone who didn’t mean to be fobbed off by Maggie or anyone. ‘She’s back, isn’t she? Out of my way, girl.’
    â€˜Now wait a minute …!’ said Maggie.
    A head of curly blonde hair hove into view, and Bea smiled. ‘Well, well. A voice from the past. How are you, Coral? Long time no see.’
    Coral Payne was no more than five foot tall, with a big bust and the organizational ability of a sergeant major. She was also an excellent caterer who’d been on the agency books for years.
    â€˜Bea Abbot, you’re a sight for sore eyes. I’m really, really sorry to hear about poor Hamilton but now you’re back, you can put everything right again.’
    Which was when alarm bells began to ring for Bea.
    Tuesday, early evening
    Lena seated herself on the settee, removing her earrings. ‘He was gay, wasn’t he?’
    The body still lay where it had fallen. A fly droned around the room.
    Richie shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t have said so, no.’
    The boy picked up the hint she’d given them. ‘I’m sure he was. Gay men often go cruising and meet with trouble, don’t they? Of course he played the field. I overheard him saying so, the day I was at the hotel—’
    â€˜Mixing business with pleasure,’ said Richie. ‘If you hadn’t given the receptionist your phone number, he’d never have known how to contact us.’
    â€˜How was I to know he’d recognized me? It was just bad luck that he’d worked at a place we’d done before. He shouldn’t have tried to blackmail us. It’s his own fault that this happened.’
    Richie persisted. ‘You should have walked out as soon as he recognized you. We could have cancelled the function, got clean away.’
    â€˜That’s enough,’ said Lena.
    Noel turned a sunny smile on his mother. ‘So what do we do with the body, then?’
    â€˜We’ll wrap him in a shower curtain and in a couple of hours’ time when everything’s quiet we’ll carry him down to the garage. We’ll pretend he’s drunk if anyone sees. Put him in the boot of the car, and dump him on Hampstead Heath. Being gay, it’ll cause no surprise if he’s found up there, beaten to death.’
    A dark stubble was beginning to show on the older man’s chin. ‘Hang about, Lena. He’ll have taken some precautions, maybe told someone about