The Dungeon House (Lake District Mysteries) by Martin Edwards Read Free Book Online Page B

on his own. Robbie did too, for that matter, in the cottage where his grandfather had brought him up after his parents died. Why bother with a hotel, unless the sheer danger of it all was part of the appeal? He thought the culprit must be someone else, someone he’d never even met, until it occurred to him that her hotel visits might coincide with times when Josh Durham was at home from school.
     
     
    The sound of the Alfa pulling up outside jerked him back to consciousness. Hearing someone fling open the front door, he called out, ‘Amber, is that you?’
    His daughter looked into the study. She was wearing a party dress that showed far too much flesh. Her hair was tangled and her cheeks were stained with tears.
    ‘You’re pissed. The stench in here is disgusting.’
    ‘What’s up? Who made you cry?’
    ‘What do you care? I hate you. And I hate Mum.’
    She turned away, and ran up the stairs. He heard the click-clack of Lysette’s heels as she came inside, and struggled to his feet. Okay, it was now or never. His life wasfalling apart. Time to start putting it back together again.
    ‘Lysette!’
    She appeared in the doorway. Her face looked stretched, her expression unnatural, like a woman who’d undergone too much cosmetic surgery. ‘What do you want?’
    Anyone would think he was the one at fault. ‘Who upset Amber?’
    ‘She’s fallen out with Nigel, that’s all. She finally woke up to the fact that he’s more interested in Joanna. We were in the restaurant at the Eskdale Arms, but she was an embarrassment. In the end, Nigel went off with Joanna, and Amber’s wailed all the way home.’
    ‘Who else was there?’
    ‘Gray, and Ben Kind, and Cheryl, why do you ask? Robbie was drinking in the bar, and playing darts. Oh, and Scott Durham turned up later on, after he’d taken Josh back to the cottage.’ Her green eyes were cold. ‘Happy?’
    ‘It’s you I want to be happy, Lysette.’
    ‘That’s not true, is it?’ Her voice trembled with anger. ‘What you want is for Malcolm Whiteley to be happy. The man with the big house and big dick. Successful in business, and brilliant in bed. Adored by his family, and …’
    ‘Lysette!’ He put up his hand. She was needling him into doing something he’d regret. ‘We need to talk.’
    It was a good line, the sort of shit peddled by those women’s magazines she lapped up in the hairdresser’s, but she shook her head. ‘You’d never listen to me.’
    ‘I’m all ears.’
    She breathed in, as if summoning up her courage. ‘Okay, Malcolm, you asked for it. Tomorrow, I’m leaving. My solicitors will be in touch. I want a divorce.’
    He swallowed. ‘I don’t think I’m hearing you right.’
    ‘I said you wouldn’t listen.’
    ‘You haven’t even got any fucking solicitors!’
    ‘As a matter of fact, I have. It’s one of many things you don’t know about me.’
    He grabbed her by the shoulder. ‘What else don’t I know? Tell me that. I know you’re shagging Scott Durham, you little whore.’
    ‘Let go of me!’ She struggled, but his grip was too strong for her to escape.
    ‘You seriously think I’d surrender you to that pathetic toerag?’
    ‘Surrender me? You talk like I’m something you bought in a raffle.’
    He was breathing hard. ‘Lysette, you’re not leaving me.’ The instant he relaxed his hold on her, she wriggled free. She was panting, and her cheeks were crimson.
    ‘You’re so wrong. Tomorrow, I’m off, and I’m never coming back. We’re finished, Malcolm, and if you don’t sort yourself out, you’ll be finished too. Look at you. Your life’s a mess. Everybody thinks you’re a swollen-headed oaf. They only tolerated you because you had money, and now that’s dribbling away, you’ll soon find out who your friends are. The real question is whether you’ll find any at all.’
    She ran out into the hall, and up the staircase. He hesitated before following. She’d reached the half-landing and was staring back at