Model Murder by Nancy Buckingham Read Free Book Online Page B

resting.”
    “Alone for the entire time?”
    “Well, one of the waiters brought me my tea at four o’clock.”
    “The waiter’s name, please, sir?” asked Boulter, ready to jot it down.
    “Let me see ... it would have been Higgs. Yes, that’s right— Higgs.”
    “Thank you, sir.”
    Kate took a breath. No way could this next question be put discreetly. “How would you describe your relationship with Miss Saxon?”
    He flinched visibly. Kate allowed him a little time to find his answer.
    “Our relationship, as you put it, was of employer and employee. A very senior and trusted employee.”
    “And that was all it amounted to, sir?”
    “We ... we were on friendly terms. Corinne was an intelligent woman, and I found her interesting to talk to.”
    Kate adopted a patient expression that held only a dash of scepticism. “You have to look at this from my point of view, sir. A woman whom you had met only once before, many years ago, approached you with a business proposition in a field for which it seems she had no special qualifications. Yet you were persuaded to employ her on an exceedingly generous salary, and provide her with accommodations that can only be described as luxurious. All on the strength of her personality and enthusiasm. Is that a fair summary of what you’ve told me?”
    “I have also told you, Chief Inspector, that my faith in Corinne Saxon has been fully vindicated. The hotel is a great success. She earned every penny of her salary.”
    “But I can’t help asking myself if the relationship between you was perhaps closer than you have suggested.”
    “Madam, you are being offensive.”
    “I’m sorry, sir, I have no wish to be offensive. But I must insist that you answer the question. Was your relationship with Miss Saxon one of intimacy?”
    He said with great vehemence, “No! There was nothing like that. Absolutely not! Corinne and I ... no, not at all. Beyond the fact that I employed her, we were friends, you might say colleagues. Partners. But that was all. I repeat, Chief Inspector, that was all. I swear it.”
    “Thank you, sir. I won’t trouble you any more at the moment.”
         * * * *
    On their way back to the Incident Room, Boulter said with a chuckle, “Talk about protesting too much! You wouldn’t think the old boy had that much go left in him.”
    But Kate shook her head. “No, Tim, they weren’t sleeping together. I believe him about that. All the same, he’s hiding something.”
    “Why didn’t you press him harder, then, guv?”
    “He’s a man with iron self-discipline. His naval training, I suppose. We’ll find out what it is he’s not telling us if we play it softly, softly.”
    In her newly set-up office, Kate waved Boulter into the second chair.
    “Before you and I head for home tonight, Tim, I want to run through exactly what we’ve got on this enquiry so far.”
    “Bloody little.”
    “Let’s try making a few suppositions, then. See where they lead us.” Kate wanted to find a sense of direction, ready for the report she’d need to make to her superintendent in the morning. Luckily for her, Jolly Joliffe had been tied up all day on a budget meeting at Force HQ, and she’d only spoken to him briefly over the phone. Tomorrow, he’d be on her back demanding to know what progress she’d made.
    “Can we believe, Tim, that within minutes of leaving Streatfield Park for a few days’ holiday, Corinne Saxon stopped her car and went for a stroll in the woods, where she was attacked by a prowler? It just doesn’t add up. In smart clothes like that? In those high-heeled shoes? And why was she carrying a flashlamp when it would still have been daylight?”
    “Maybe she was taken short, guv, and stopped for a pee.”
    “I can’t buy that. No one would feel the need to walk so far into the woods for modesty’s sake. Besides, if she had felt the need for a pee so soon after starting out, I think a woman like Corinne Saxon would have hung on till she