Gently with the Ladies (Inspector George Gently 13)

somehow.’
    ‘Do you know how?’
    ‘It was several years back, and I never did know the details. Ask Siggy or La Bannister. It’s just that her name came to mind.’
    ‘Where did she live?’
    ‘I’ve no idea.’
    ‘What was her job?’
    ‘I don’t know that she had one. Honestly, I wouldn’t have remembered her now if you hadn’t got me thinking with your questions. Does it matter?’
    Gently shrugged. ‘We’d like a reason for a row the Fazakerlys had. You say it couldn’t have been just his playing around with a woman, so naturally I’m looking for something else.’
    ‘It was during this row that Siggy killed her?’
    ‘She was killed at about that time.’
    ‘And it was over the Sarah woman?’
    ‘In substance, yes.’
    She shook her head slowly. ‘No, it doesn’t make sense,’ she said. ‘Clytie just wouldn’t have cared about that, there must have been something else behind it. But I’m beginning to understand why he did it. He was quite infatuated with this woman at Rochester. If Clytie provoked him about her and threatened to ditch him then she was asking for what she got.’
    Gently said: ‘He didn’t know it, but his wife had willed her money away from him.’
    Brenda Merryn fumbled a section of apple. ‘Of course, you’ll have seen the will,’ she said.
    ‘It’s very much what you might expect. The housekeeper gets a small legacy.’
    ‘And – the rest?’
    ‘To Mrs Bannister. They made their wills in each other’s favour.’
    The section of apple fell to the plate. ‘The bitch!’ Brenda Merryn exclaimed. ‘The dirty bitch! And not a penny to her own sister – oh my God, can you credit it?’
    Gently permitted his brows to rise. ‘But you weren’t very intimate, were you?’ he asked.
    ‘Not very intimate – she’s my sister! Oh! I’m glad now what Siggy did to her!’
    ‘It doesn’t make so much difference, Miss Merryn.’
    ‘I’ll fight that tramp. She shan’t have it.’
    ‘Neither of those wills is in existence.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Mrs Bannister has destroyed them.’
    Brenda Merryn stared at him, her eyes narrowed, her mouth drooped at the corners. She snatched a cigarette from a packet on the table.
    ‘Just what are you trying to tell me?’ she demanded.
    ‘The will is destroyed,’ Gently said. ‘Mrs Bannister burned it in my presence. Which means that the money will go to your brother-in-law, unless he’s found guilty of killing his wife.’
    ‘
Unless
he’s found guilty!’
    Gently hunched his shoulders. ‘In that case, it will follow the rule of succession.’
    ‘Meaning me?’
    ‘Your father or you.’
    ‘He won’t touch it. It’ll come to me.’
    She snapped a lighter, lit the cigarette, rose and began pacing up and down. She seemed for the present to have forgotten Gently: her eyes were fixed and seeing nothing. The dressing-gown, its skirt swinging, showed belted thighs pressing past each other. As she paced she smoked fiercely, expelling the smoke through her teeth.
    ‘But why did she do it – what’s her game?’
    ‘Mrs Bannister . . . ?’
    ‘Of course! Don’t tell me she’d throw away money like that without some dirty trick behind it. So what is it?’
    Gently said nothing.
    ‘Listen – what was that bitch doing on Monday?’
    ‘She was in her flat.’
    ‘Yes – and I’ll tell you something: the maid has every Monday off! Don’t you see? She was alone in there. She could have done it as well as Siggy. And they weren’t so sweet together, those two, they had their rows like everyone else.’
    ‘And you’re suggesting . . . ?’
    ‘She destroyed the will – that was an act put on to impress you. She could see you weren’t quite swallowing Siggy, so she had to duck out from under the will. Because Siggy might not have done it, might he? That’s why you’re still asking questions!’
    ‘You’re a perceptive woman, Miss Merryn.’
    ‘Oh, I’ve got La Bannister taped. And Siggy denies it?’
    ‘He denies it.’
    ‘I suppose he’d have to, the poor fool.’
    She leaned her hip against the table and stared scathingly at Gently. Her body moulded in an elegant foundation garment, emerged through the separating dressing-gown.
    ‘Watch La Bannister,’ she said. ‘She’ll put one over you unless you’re careful. You’re only a man, understand me? She’ll know how to kid you along all right. A woman can always kid a man because he’s always ready to believe her: there’s always a bed just behind