The Murder Room by P. D. James Read Free Book Online Page A

mother-in-law moving in for months. Jim and Mavis plan to travel. Mavis’s brother Jack will be with us, so we’ll be four, and I won’t feel
de trop.
A party of three never works.”
    He thought,
I’m listening to the break-up of my marriage.
He was surprised how little he cared.
    She went on, “We can afford it, can’t we? You’ll have your retirement lump sum?”
    â€œYes, it can be afforded.”
    He looked at her as dispassionately as he might have studied a stranger. At fifty-two she was still handsome with a carefully preserved, almost clinical elegance. She was still desirable to him, if not often and then not passionately. They made love infrequently, usually after a period when drink and habit induced an insistent sexuality soon satisfied. They had nothing new to learn about each other, nothing they wanted to learn. He knew that, for her, these occasional joyless couplings were her affirmation that the marriage still existed. She might be unfaithful but she was always conventional. Her love-affairs were discreet rather than furtive. She pretended that they didn’t happen; he pretended that he didn’t know. Their marriage was regulated by a concordat never ratified in words. He provided the income, she ensured that his life was comfortable, his preferences indulged, his meals excellently cooked, that he was spared even the minor inconvenience of housekeeping. They each respected the limits of the other’s tolerance in what was essentially a marriage of convenience. She had been a good mother to Stephen, their only child, and was a doting grandmother to his and Susie’s children. She would be more warmly welcomed in Australia than he would have been.
    She had relaxed now, the news given. She said, “What will you do about this house? You won’t want a place this size. It’s probably worth close to three-quarters of a million. The Rawlinsons got six hundred thousand for High Trees and it needed a lot doing to it. If you want to sell before I get back, that’s all right by me. I’m sorry I won’t be here to help but all you need is a reliable firm of removers. Leave it to them.”
    So she was thinking of coming back, even if temporarily. Perhaps this new adventure would be no different from the others except in being more prolonged. And then there would be matters to arrange, including her share of that three-quarters of a million.
    He said, “Yes, I’ll probably sell, but there’s no hurry.”
    â€œCan’t you move into the flat at the museum? That’s the obvious plan.”
    â€œCaroline wouldn’t agree. She sees the flat as her home since she took it over after Father died.”
    â€œBut she doesn’t actually live there, not all the time. She’s got her rooms in the school. You’d be there permanently, able to keep an eye on security. As I remember it, it’s an agreeable enough place, plenty of room. I think you would be very comfortable there.”
    â€œCaroline needs to get away from the school occasionally. Keeping the flat will be her price for cooperating in keeping the museum open. I need her vote. You know about the trust deed.”
    â€œI’ve never understood it.”
    â€œIt’s simple enough. Any major decision regarding the museum, including the negotiation of a new lease, requires the consent of the three trustees. If Neville won’t sign, we’re finished.”
    And now she was roused to genuine indignation. She might be planning to leave him for a lover, to stay away or return as the whim took her, but in any dispute with the family she would be on his side. She was capable of fighting ruthlessly for what she thought he wanted.
    She cried, “Then you and Caroline must make him! What’s it to him anyway? He’s got his own job. He’s never cared a damn about the museum. You can’t have your whole future life ruined because Neville