St Kilda Blues by Geoffrey McGeachin Read Free Book Online Page B

standing beside the front door. The two detectives crossed a portico and went in through the unlocked door, Berlin carefully wiping his shoes on a thick coir doormat before stepping inside. The interior of the house was just as modern as the outside. There was light-coloured, almost white, wood panelling and the pale beige carpet made Berlin glad he had wiped his feet. In the living room two detectives he vaguely recognised were sitting on a leather sofa. A coffee pot and cups were on the glass coffee table in front of them. Berlin could smell the coffee and it smelled good.
    He turned around as a woman came into the living room carrying a plate of biscuits. Maybe forty, Berlin judged, with close-cropped hair, dark once but now patchy with flecks of grey. She was tall and slim, with a pale face and eyes red-rimmed from crying. Her neat, grey, tunic-style dress Berlin guessed was a uniform designed not to look too much like a uniform, and she was wearing flat, nicely polished shoes. She put the plate of biscuits on the coffee table in front of the detectives and turned to Berlin.
    â€˜I assume you’re the new detective they said was coming to help. My name is Vera Minchin. I’m Mr Scheiner’s housekeeper. I also look after . . . I look after Gudrun.’
    As Berlin put out his hand he looked for a ring on her left hand. He couldn’t see one. ‘My name is Detective Sergeant Berlin, Charlie if you like. Is that Miss or Mrs Minchin?’
    The housekeeper’s handshake was firm. ‘It’s Vera, just Vera.’
    Berlin decided Vera Minchin might not be the marrying kind.
    â€˜Can I get you gentlemen a cup of coffee or tea?’
    Berlin shook his head. ‘No thank you, Vera, I think we should get started right away. Why don’t you tell me what happened so we can get on with finding Gudrun.’
    Vera looked over at Roberts. ‘Well, as I told your detective friend here last night, Mr Berlin . . .’
    Berlin stopped her. He spoke gently. ‘You’re telling me now, Vera, so why don’t we pretend I don’t know anything and start from the very beginning. Would you like to sit down while we talk?’
    He glanced across at the two detectives on the couch and tilted his head in the direction of the front door. The detectives looked up at Roberts, who smiled.
    â€˜You heard the man, boys, hop it.’
    The younger of the pair started to get up and from the look on his face Berlin sensed there might be trouble.
    â€˜Listen, mate . . .’
    The older detective reached over and put his hand on the younger man’s arm. ‘Let it go, Reg, these bastards aren’t worth it.’
    The older detective stood, bending down to put a couple of biscuits on the saucer of his coffee cup before straightening up again. He did it slowly enough to show he was making a point and Berlin saw that he kept his eyes fixed on Roberts’ face as he moved past him. For a brief moment Charlie Berlin almost wished he was back in the reliable boredom of the fraud squad. Toes were getting stepped on here, that was for sure, and for once he wasn’t the only one doing it.

FIVE
    Vera sat on the vacated couch and Berlin sat down beside her. It was a very comfortable couch. There was an open fireplace at one end of the living room with logs crackling on a stainless steel grate, oval and very modern looking. Split logs were stacked in a neat pyramid next to the fire. From somewhere towards the rear of the house Berlin could hear the sound of an axe on timber.
    The housekeeper saw that he had heard the sound. ‘It’s Mr Scheiner, cutting firewood. He likes to do it, for the exercise, he always says.’ She looked away, towards the rear of the house and then back at Berlin. ‘He’s been chopping away for hours this morning, ever since he got up. I don’t think he slept, really.’
    Charlie Berlin had chopped a lot of firewood in his