Troubled Deaths Read Free

Lady Glass, after a third brandy, had praised it in no uncertain terms. He crossed the Santa Barbara carpet to the cocktail cabinet and poured himself a gin and tonic. That reminded him that he’d half promised Mabel he’d have a drink with her and Caroline in the Port. Her real name was Mabel Striggs - which just about suited her since she looked the dried-up old spinster she was.
    He sat on one of the softly upholstered armchairs. Some people couldn’t take a hint if it was spelled out to them and Mabel was one such. Nothing he could say or do would stop her fluttering around him, to become all coy whenever the occasion warranted it. . .
    He finished the gin and poured himself out another. Caroline could have been fun if only she’d been more sophisticatedly experienced - the world was made for the sharp, not the sweet.
    As he sat on one side of a table in a back bar - here the prices were less than half those in the front bars - Edward Anson ran his fingers through his tangle of tight, curly brown hair. ‘Yes, I saw Ramon this morning.’
    Caroline studied his face. ‘Well - aren’t you going to tell me what it was all about? I’ve been so excited thinking about it.’
    ‘You could have saved yourself the trouble.’
    ‘Stop being so mournful. Really, Teddy, sometimes you try to paint everything so black. Where did you see him?’
    ‘In his office. Being Ramon, he produced a bottle of expensive brandy and poured out a drink big enough to float a yacht.’
    ‘But did he offer you any kind of a job? For heaven’s sake, that’s what I want to hear about. He’s such a nice man and I’ve been hoping and hoping on your behalf.’
    ‘He didn’t offer me a job. He offered me a partnership.’
    She stared at him, utterly amazed. ‘A. . . a partnership?’ She shook her head. ‘But that’s much more than you ever dared hope for. Why, it’s even more than I ever dreamt about! How can you sit there with a face a mile long, looking as if you’d just heard bad news?’
    He shrugged his shoulders. He had a broad, very strongly-featured face, with light blue eyes that could often express more of his emotions than he wanted, and his complexion was weathered. It was easy to imagine him at sea, challenging wind and wave. ‘It’s not as simple as it sounds. Ramon will take me on because he reckons I’m good at the job and I’m English and so can deal with all the English-speaking people who want work carried out. He says I’d get a work permit because he can truthfully say I’d be doing a job no Spaniard could do because I’ve English contacts.’
    ‘Then what isn’t simple about that? I can see the nameplate on the side of the boatshed. “Mena and Anson, yacht designers and builders.” You’ll build a whole lot of super yachts and win all the big races and every rich yachtsman in the world will be rushing to you to get you to build him one.’
    ‘Carrie, there’s just one small condition to me being a partner. Ramon wants a million and a half pesetas to pay for the partnership.’
    ‘Oh!’ She stared at him. ‘A million and a half. . . Is it worth that much?’
    ‘Every time. If he’d doubled it to three million I’d still say it would be worth it. That place is a potential goldmine and he’s a bloke who one can trust all the way . . . But a million and a half or three million, it doesn’t make any difference. I don’t know what that sort of money looks like.’
    ‘You’ve just got to find it.’
    ‘Under my pillow?’ His tone became bitter. ‘Carrie, I’d have to scratch around really hard to find ten thousand right now. A million and a half is like talking about me getting a degree in Greek.’
    ‘Stop being so defeatist. There’s always a way.’
    ‘Not always, not in real life.’
    ‘I just won’t listen to you being gloomy. When an offer you’ve dreamed and dreamed about like this turns up it’s because it’s meant to happen. Therefore, it’s going to happen.’
    ‘It’s a