Find the Innocent by Roy Vickers Read Free Book Online Page B

wrong to give way and neglect myself.”
    Jill nodded and suppressed a smile. She had noticed before that Veronica regarded her own well-being as a kind of Good Cause.
    Jill Aspland was twenty-five, daughter of William Brengast’s only sister, with whom he had quarrelled. When his sister and her husband were killed in an aircrash Brengast was conscience-stricken and anxious to “do something for Jill”—which was not easy. Her course was already set. She took a business B. Sc. and tactfully landed a good job before Brengast could press her to take one in his organisation.
    Secretly he had thought her a fool to go into business, when she could so easily have married without it. Like most of his kind, he tended to assess women on their physical appearance—thereby substantially under-estimating his niece. He would have described her as a middle-sized light-weight, well sprung, with superb finish. Being her uncle, he noted objectively that dark hair and violet eyes looked just right with a fair skin and a mouth that knew what it was talking about.
    The reports in the early editions of the evening papers ended at seven in the morning—before Peasebarrow Lock had become a focal point … Over lunch, Jill toned it all down to a broad outline without emphasising the “mystery hitch-hike”. Veronica had told her a rather confused tale about missing WillyBee at Diddington and being unable to hire a car.
    â€œShall I run through it again?” offered Jill.
    â€œI couldn’t bear it, darling. I shall just tell the police what they want to know about WillyBee and put all the horrid details out of my mind.”
    So poor Veronica had already promised herself that everybody would be charming and considerate and shield her from all unpleasantness! She herself had already signed on as a cushion. Why? She was fond of Veronica but did not esteem her, nor envy her the sheltered life. She had already learnt through her business contacts that a rich husband may create as many problems as he solves … It would be very nice for a month every year, perhaps.
    At Renchester Jill booked a suite at the Red Lion while Veronica waited in the taxi. Jill helped her unpack. In the rush to catch the train, the dressing case with which Veronica had arrived from Salisbury was brought along unopened. There was a second one hastily packed with garments which Veronica believed to be more appropriate to a sudden bereavement.
    â€œYou won’t be wearing this woollen crepe?”
    â€œThat wretched coat!” Veronica had come up from Salisbury in a tailormade, the woollen crepe being packed. “I forgot it was in that case. It’s quite unsuitable now.”
    The intercom. buzzed. Detective Inspector Curwen was asking to see Mrs. Brengast.
    â€œShow him into our sitting-room, please,” ordered Jill. She found a dark scarf and draped it on Veronica’s shoulders.
    â€œDon’t touch your make-up—it’s just right. You’ve taken off your wedding ring—remember to put it back. Come along as soon as you’re ready.”
    Curwen and Jill made the right impression on each other. She saw him as large, rotund and homely, looking like a successful local auctioneer who contemplates retirement. To Curwen, Jill seemed to have stepped out of one of those advertisements in Top-People papers showing a wise young beauty persuading her chief to buy her an electronic filing cabinet. For immediate purposes, he accepted her as a girl with a clear eye who would come to the point without playing her sex.
    The old coaching inn had been taken over by a progressive company and turned into a modern hotel of fifty bedrooms. The furniture was superior mass-produced—one settee, two armchairs, four uprights, a standard lamp, a table and a small desk holding intercom. and the telephone.
    When Veronica came in she made an entrance of it, to Jill’s annoyance. There was too much business with