The Secret House of Death

The Secret House of Death by Ruth Rendell Read Free Book Online

Book: The Secret House of Death by Ruth Rendell Read Free Book Online
Authors: Ruth Rendell
in between that van and the Mercedes.’
    Heller wasn’t very quick. Twice he bungled the reversing manœuvre. The pub was tucked between an Indonesian restaurant and a strip club. Heller gave the pictures of nudes on leopard skin a sick look.
    Over the entrance to The Man in the Iron Mask was a sign depicting this apocryphal character, his head encased in a cage. David went in first. Inside the place was cosy and overheated and with its black and white tiled floor and walls panelled in dark wood, suggested a Dutch interior. But the hunting prints could only be English and nowhere but in England would you see the facetious slogans and the pinned-up cartoons.
    The area behind the bar was suffused with red light, making it look like the entrance to a furnace, and this same light stained the faces of the man and the girl who sat there. Her fingernails showed mauve when she moved her hands out of the red glow to caress her boy-friend’s shoulders. The discerning would have recognised his grey tunic as the upper half of a Confederate uniform.
    â€˜What are you going to have?’ David asked, anticipating the usual. ‘No, let me.’
    â€˜Lime and lager,’ Heller said only.
    â€˜Big stuff. What are we celebrating?’
    â€˜It’s just that I have to drive.’
    David went up to the bar. He was trying to remember where Heller lived. South London somewhere. If he was going to have to make conversation with this semi-conscious man, he would need something strong.
    â€˜Double scotch and a lime and lager, please,’ he said to the barman.
    â€˜You mean lager and lime.’
    â€˜I don’t suppose it would matter at that.’
    Heller rubbed his big forehead as if it ached. ‘D’you often come in here?’
    â€˜Off and on. It’s quiet. You see some interesting characters.’ And as he spoke, the Confederate kissed his girl on her oyster-coloured mouth. The door opened with an abrupt jerk and two bearded men came in.
    They advanced to the bar and, because it was for an instant unattended, knocked sharply on the counter. The taller of the two, having given their order with a scowl, resumed an anecdote. The red glow turned his beard to ginger.
    â€˜So I said to this bank manager chappie, “It’s all very well you moaning about my overdraft,” I said. “Where would your lot be without overdrafts?” I said, “That’s what I’d like to know. That’s what keeps you banks going. You’d be out of a job, laddie,” I said.’
    â€˜Quite,’ said the other man.
    Heller didn’t even smile. His florid skin was puckered about his eyes and the corners of his mouth turned down.
    â€˜How’s work?’ David asked desperately.
    â€˜Just the same.’
    â€˜Still operating in the Wembley—Matchdown Park area?’
    Heller nodded and mumbled into his glass, ‘Not for long.’
    David raised an eyebrow.
    â€˜I’m going abroad. Switzerland.’
    â€˜Then we are celebrating. I seem to remember your once saying that’s what you wanted. Haven’t Equatair got a footing out there?’
    â€˜Zürich.’
    â€˜When do you go?’
    â€˜May.’
    The man’s manner was only just short of rude. If he went on like that it was a wonder he ever sold anyone a thermostat replacement, let alone a whole central heating system. It struck David suddenly that May was only two months off. If he ever wanted to see his projector again he had better look sharp about it.
    â€˜You’re fluent in German, aren’t you? Bi-lingual?’
    â€˜I went to school in Switzerland.’
    â€˜You must be excited.’ It was a stupid thing to say, like asking a shivering man if he was hot.
    â€˜Oh, I don’t know,’ Heller said. ‘Might have been once.’ He finished his drink and a spark of something fierce flashed momentarily in his dark eyes. ‘People change, you get

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