Gently French by Alan Hunter Read Free Book Online Page B

so many million francs.’
    ‘And Quarles was so different?’
    ‘Oh, but yes. I think you do not understand. Freddy also was rich, very rich. It is all tucked away in a little Swiss bank. So what did Freddy care about marrying rich girls? No, my friend, this was love. He picked me up one night in Montparnasse. He was a thief. I let him steal me.’
    ‘Did you know he was a thief?’
    ‘Not that first night. But he didn’t know I was a rich girl, either. Then it was too late. We make these grand discoveries when it would be disagreeable to let them interfere. So, we ignore them. He doesn’t want my money, nor do I wish to reform Freddy. After all, he is brilliant in his line. What chance has he ever given you to catch him?’
    ‘Somebody did catch him.’
    ‘Aha. But that somebody was not a policeman. In the end perhaps he catches himself. Or it is just that the little crooks grow envious.’
    ‘Which little crooks?’
    ‘Why not Rampant?’
    ‘It wasn’t Rampant who tipped the police.’
    ‘No, you are sure?’
    I popped the head of a daisy. ‘So if not Rampant, who would it be?’
    She drew her stalk through her teeth. ‘Well, it wasn’t me. I had no reason to shop Freddy. Was it a woman’s voice?’
    ‘That’s not important. It wouldn’t exclude a woman’s having been behind it.’
    ‘Ah, ah, it was a man, then. The rest is guessing. You are just trying it on, my friend. I think you had better stick to this little pig, Rampant. Because, after all, who is going to believe him?’
    She elevated a knee, and admired it. The action slid her hem down her thigh. She had a strong, distinctive leg that flowered from an athletic foot and ankle. She smiled and let the knee slowly unflex: leaving the hem where it was.
    ‘You think I was tired of Freddy, huh?’
    ‘Were you ever really in love with him?’
    She made a small mouth. ‘I think so, at first. Those first few weeks were formidable. It was like bubbles up my nose, I could scarcely get my breath. Better than my husband, oh yes. It is a shame to kill a man like Freddy.’
    ‘But you were through with him by Friday.’
    ‘You are right.’ She sighed. ‘So then it may not really have been love. I am swept off my feet, as you say. Freddy took me on the bounce. But still I am fond of him, huh? He was such an interesting man to live with. Such a wide acquaintance. They knew he was a crook, but it didn’t matter. He was always welcome.’
    ‘He was jealous of you.’
    She gave her gurgling chuckle. ‘All men are jealous, more or less.’
    ‘Perhaps you’d given him cause.’
    ‘But why not? We are only young for you once, my friend.’
    ‘Then he resented it.’
    ‘And I killed him?’
    ‘Well?’
    She rolled on her stomach and squirmed closer to me. ‘No.’ It was spoken as though to a child. ‘You are trying so hard, petit. So hard.’
    I thrummed another daisy-head at the meadow. Mimi picked daisies and thrummed one, too. Hers landed squarely on my chin. She giggled and lined up another. Two bull’s-eyes. I shifted further off; Mimi squirmed after me like a seal. She rested her chin in her hands and stared up at me, her breasts pendant among the daisies.
    ‘Forget it,’ she said. ‘I didn’t kill him. Even though he was so stupidly jealous. Even though he threatened me with violence. There he was weak. And he knew I knew it.’
    ‘And you, of course, weren’t jealous of him.’
    ‘Shall I tell you the truth?’
    ‘If it isn’t being old-fashioned.’
    ‘Yes, I was jealous. Isn’t that strange? I couldn’t bear him eyeing another woman.’
    ‘Which sometimes he did?’
    She nodded. ‘Sometimes. And that made me so angry. Perhaps I am thinking I am much the most beautiful, so why does he insult me like that, huh?’
    ‘Was there any particular woman?’
    ‘Oh no. I would have left him on the spot.’
    ‘Please think carefully. It could be important.’
    ‘I tell you for certain. No particular woman.’
    ‘Just