Shrine to Murder Read Free Page A

needed a button sewing on, for instance, he would phone me and ask me if I knew a good tailor. Then I’d ask him why and he’d say it didn’t matter, but eventually he’d let me wheedle out of him that a button had come off his shirt. Then I’d get in my car in Sheffield and come over here to sew the button on. He knew I wouldn’t let him go out looking unkempt.’
    ‘ Have you any brothers or sisters, Mrs Krill?’
    ‘ There’s just me, Inspector.’
    ‘ Did he have a housekeeper or a daily or any domestic help?’
    ‘ He did have. Several. Well, more than several, but he couldn’t keep them. He was too pernickety and too critical. And he was downright rude to them, as well. He thought he was living in the days of Dickens. He was also very house-proud. Even though he was eighty-two, he did the housework himself. Look round. Everything is spotless and in its place. I have a fulltime housekeeper but I swear this house is cleaner and tidier than mine.’
    Angel glanced round the room and he had to agree that everything that had a smooth surface glistened and reflected back at him, it was also noticeably tidy and uncluttered. ‘Did he have any friends, or worse, any enemies? Have you any idea why anyone would want to kill him?’
    ‘ Certainly not. He was Mr Charm himself to everyone except Cyril and me. You never heard a bad word said about him. You have to remember, Inspector, that he lived in this town all his life. He worked at the Northern Bank for forty-three years. He worked his way up from clerk to branch manager and then on to local group manager. He may have upset one or two people in all that time but not sufficient to give them a reason to…to…’
    She had seemed to have been in control, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to use the word ‘murder’.
    ‘ There must have been somebody,’ Angel said quickly. ‘What were his interests?’
    Mrs Krill frowned. ‘He hadn’t any. He was fond of gardening. He enjoyed the house.’
    ‘ No hobbies or sports?’
    ‘ No. He had plenty of interests in his younger days. Football. Photography. Am-dram. Golf. He was into all sorts of clubs and activities in his younger days, but as he got older he lost interest and then my mother was ill. He spent more time with her and his outside interests were neglected.’
    ‘ Did he have any money troubles?’
    ‘ Certainly not. He was well off, I understand. He was always talking about his portfolio of shares, which were coming to me…that I had nothing to worry about…and then there’s this house.’
    ‘ You are the sole beneficiary?’
    ‘ Yes.’
    There was the sound of a doorbell. Angel glanced towards the door to the hall. He thought it was the front door.
    Mrs Krill looked anxious.
    ‘ When did you last see your father alive?’ he said.
    ‘ Friday afternoon. I came to see that he was all right and to tell him that I was going down to Gloucestershire to visit my daughter. You see, my husband was going to be away at the Solar Heating and Power Exhibition in London. So I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to take a break. If I had thought that this was going to happen, of course, I would never have gone.’
    A PC peered into the drawing room, looked at Angel and said, ‘Excuse me. There’s a Mr Krill, sir. Says he’s looking for his wife.’
    ‘ That’s all right, constable. This is Mrs Krill.’
    ‘ In here, sir,’ the PC said. ‘This is the inspector.’
    He stood back to allow a man to enter and then he went out.
    A man in an expensively sculptured suit saw his wife, went over to her, took hold of her outstretched arms, gave her a quick kiss and said, ‘Oh darling. Are you all right?’
    She smiled and nodded. He turned to Angel. ‘I hope you’re going to get this madman, Inspector.’
    Angel gave him his best non-committal nod of the head, several times, then said, ‘Have you any idea who might have wanted Mr Redman dead, sir?’
    ‘ Not the slightest. He was a great man.