All My Enemies by Barry Maitland Read Free Book Online Page A

way.”
    “No coffee, thanks. But perhaps you could let me speak to someone called Rhona, a friend of Angela Hannaford. Do you know who that would be?”
    “Rhona Clement. She works on the seventh floor with Angela. Whatever is it about?”
    “You didn’t notice in the paper this morning? I’m afraid Angela was murdered on Saturday night.”
    “No! Oh my . . .” The woman went pale and sank into a seat.
    “Look, I’d like to speak to one or two people who would have known of Angela’s movements on Saturday night, beginning with Rhona. Is there a room I could use?”
    “Well . . . I suppose the boardroom. I don’t think it’s booked this morning.”
    “Thanks. Could you ring Rhona and ask her to come down here? You don’t need to say what it’s about. I’ll tell her.”
    The woman nodded.
    “When Mr. Ferry comes in you could explain to him that I’m here.”
    “Of course.”
    Incongruous within the featureless modern office building, the boardroom was panelled out in dark wood like a medieval manor house. It reminded Kathy of the hall in Angela Hannaford’s home. Rhona Clement was obviously apprehensive about beingsummoned there. She too had not seen the brief report of Angela’s death which had appeared in several of the morning papers, and was devastated when Kathy broke the news to her.
    “Angela’s boyfriend, Adrian, told us that he thought you were going with Angela to the theatre on Saturday night. Is that right?”
    She nodded, wiping tears from her eyes and struggling with her sobs. “She’d managed to get two tickets for us to see
Macbeth
at the National. It’s had such wonderful reviews . . .”
    Rhona gulped and blew her nose before continuing in a rushed whisper. “She was really lucky to get them, and she was so excited about going. Anyway, on Thursday night Darren—that’s my boyfriend—heard that his brother had had a bad accident on his motor-bike. He was in hospital, up in Manchester. Then on Friday afternoon Darren phoned me at work. His brother was worse, apparently, and Darren was ever so upset. He was going to drive up to Manchester that evening, and he wanted me to go with him.”
    Rhona’s face crumpled again. “Darren’s brother died on Saturday night too!” She gave a little howl of grief. She had a sweet face, framed in fluffy curls, which looked as if it had never had to come to terms with any bad news. Suddenly it was all being dumped on her at once.
    When she recovered her voice, she gasped, “I came back on my own last night, on the train. Darren’s still in Manchester, with his family. I’m going back up tomorrow for the funeral. I’ve never been to a funeral before, ever. Now there’ll be two in one week!”
    While she was immersed in another fit of sobbing, there was a knock and the secretary put her head around the door. She hesitated, seeing Rhona’s state, then said, “Er, Mr. Ferry’s here now, Sergeant. He says he’ll see you as soon as you’re free.”
    “Thanks. I’ll be ten minutes or so. How about a cup of tea for Miss Clement?”
    The woman nodded and left.
    “Rhona, I’m so sorry about this. Do you think you could go onwith telling me what happened? Are you saying that you didn’t go to the theatre with Angela?”
    “I’m sorry . . . Yes, that’s right. It was all such a rush on Friday afternoon. I realized we probably wouldn’t be back from Manchester in time to go out with her on the Saturday night. I can’t afford to throw money away, and I tried to find someone else who would buy my ticket from me, only none of the other girls up here are into that sort of thing. It was almost the end of the day before I eventually managed to get rid of it.”
    “Who took it?”
    “Mr. Gentle, the boss of our section—Sales and Marketing. He overheard me telling his secretary about it. I was really desperate and he suddenly said that he’d take it.”
    “I see. Is he a single man?”
    “Oh no!” Rhona coloured slightly. “He