Malice Aforethought by J. M. Gregson Read Free Book Online Page A

might be thrown a little by her if she could preserve this apparent serenity. ‘Would you care for a coffee? It’s a little too soon after breakfast for me, but no doubt you both begin work early.’
    ‘No coffee, thank you. We have to make up for lost time — normally, as I said, we should have already interviewed the spouse of a suspicious death, as our first move in the investigation.’
    It came out like the rebuke he had not intended, but it did not ruffle Sue Giles. ‘Of course. I identified the body as that of my husband last night. You are convinced, then, that Ted was killed by person or persons unknown. That’s the jargon, isn’t it? That’s what you mean by a suspicious death?’
    ‘That is the phrase that will probably be used in the Coroner’s Court, yes. Unless, of course, we have found who did this by the time of the inquest.’ Lambert found that he was less confident than usual, despite all his experience. When you came expecting grief, prepared to walk on eggshells of diplomacy, it was disconcerting to find a calm widow, bringing herself up to date with their progress, ticking off the identification of the remains of her dead husband as if it was no more than one item in a list of household tasks.
    Sue Giles looked at him coolly. ‘And do you think you will have a man arrested for the murder of Ted before the inquest?’
    It’s possible. We are pursuing several lines of enquiry.’ Yet he knew as he spoke that both of them realised it was most unlikely. Stonewalling techniques were not likely to be effective with this woman. ‘We shall need the full details of your stay in Ireland at the weekend.’
    ‘Yes. We were in Killarney. We flew to Shannon Airport on Friday night.’
    ‘We?’
    She looked for the first time slightly disconcerted, as if she had made her first tiny mistake in the game she had set up for herself with them. ‘I spent the weekend with a male companion, Mr Lambert. He flew back to Heathrow on Sunday night, but I stayed on with friends until yesterday.’ The small smile she allowed herself was edged with mockery. ‘I have been separated from Ted for five years, you know. The important thing from your point of view was that I was several hundred miles away in Eire when he was killed.’
    Lambert answered her smile with one of his own, trying to mirror exactly her degree of sardonic amusement. ‘And how do you know exactly when your husband was killed, Mrs Giles?’
    ‘I don’t. But I read in yesterday’s paper that the body had been found in Broughton’s Ash churchyard shortly after the Remembrance Day service on Sunday. I naturally presumed that Ted died on the Saturday night — indeed, that is the impression I was given when I went to identify the body. Are you telling me that I was misinformed?’ She looked at him confidently, even challengingly, her head a little on one side, her expensively cut red-brown hair framing a face that was handsome rather than pretty, with its strong nose and clear, blue-green eyes.
    ‘I think you are very well informed, Mrs Giles. I am reassured by it. We need to ask you some questions, you see. We are engaged in filling in the background of a murder victim. You have already showed us one important fact: that we can eliminate you from any direct involvement in your husband’s death.’ He emphasised the word ‘direct’ lightly, enough he hoped to plant the idea that she was not completely in the clear yet. She must have picked it up, but she looked neither irritated nor threatened. ‘However, we need to know something of your own relationship with him, as well as your knowledge of any other associations he had.’
    ‘There was no animosity between Ted and me. Our marriage had failed. We both came to terms with that several years ago.’ For the first time, she seemed a little on edge. Embarrassment, he wondered, or something more? These terse pronouncements had the air of a prepared statement. But why not? Not many people took