Gently with the Ladies (Inspector George Gently 13)

said.
    ‘Oh, Mr Johnny!’ she said, with a melting smile.
    ‘Run along now, beautiful. We’ll see more of each other.’
    ‘It is to help you, Mr Johnny.’
    ‘You’re an angel.’
    Albertine was suddenly coy again and she giggled and blushed as she rose to go. Her sophistication was an ornament that sat upon her very precariously. At the door she turned again to give Fazakerly an awkward wave.
    ‘Well, well,’ Fazakerly said grinning. ‘I never knew Albertine cared. But of course, I’m a different character as of last night. This morning it’s me who’s wearing the cheque-book.’ Then his grin faded. ‘So that’s it,’ he said. ‘I knew I had to be right, but I didn’t think we would prove it. And I’m not sure now I wanted it proved. There was a time, once, when Brenda meant something to me.’
    ‘Miss Junot has told us nothing fresh,’ Gently said.
    Fazakerly stared. ‘You mean you knew about Brenda?’
    ‘I saw her last night. She admitted calling on your wife. You are right. It was she who told your wife of Miss Johnson’s connexion with Beryl Rogers.’
    ‘She – admitted it?’
    Gently nodded.
    ‘And you didn’t arrest her?’
    He shook his head. ‘It would be a curious thing for her to admit if in fact she were the murderer.’
    ‘But . . . hell and all!’ Fazakerly sat forward. ‘Isn’t that just the way you’d expect her to reason? That you wouldn’t believe it if she came to you admitting she was the likeliest alternative suspect?’
    Gently shook his head again. ‘It isn’t the way people work. They’re rarely so devious when they’re guilty of murder. If they’re in the clear they try to stop there.’
    ‘But perhaps she knew Albertine saw her.’
    ‘If she knew that, would she have continued with her plan? In any case, her being there is no proof of her guilt; any more than your being there is proof of yours.’
    ‘But I know I didn’t do it!’
    ‘That’s an advantage you can’t share.’
    ‘But I do know. And Albertine is proof for me.’
    ‘Perhaps Miss Merryn is arguing along the same lines. She knows she didn’t do it, so she is certain that you did.’
    ‘And you – you think that’s the most likely?’
    Gently shrugged. ‘It’s the more convincing. I mean from the point of view of a jury. It has the merit of simplicity.’
    ‘Nothing will shake you. I’m guilty.’
    ‘I didn’t say that either.’
    Fazakerly’s hand went to his forehead. ‘Oh God,’ he said. ‘The nightmare again!’ He sat still for a few moments, the hand pressed to his head. Then he said huskily: ‘Lock me up and take my shoe-laces away. I want an end, some sort of end. I can’t stand dangling any longer. It doesn’t matter whether I did it or not, just bring the chopper down and end the nightmare.’
    ‘Where did you put the necklace?’ Gently said.
    ‘Don’t torture me with that bloody necklace! Give me a hint of where you found it and I’ll swear to heaven I put it there. Look, I’ve nothing to stay outside for. Even the money is damn-all. All that matters is a bit of certainty. Just help me: help me believe I did it.’
    ‘Why don’t you talk matters over with Miss Johnson.’
    ‘She’s dead. You killed her some while back.’
    ‘You’ll have to see her.’
    ‘I don’t like corpses. And we played our curtain on Monday.’
    ‘I still think you should talk to her,’ Gently said. ‘She’s on your side, it’ll do you some good. What you want mostly is to talk your head off to someone as sure as you are you didn’t do it. If you didn’t do it.’
    Fazakerly said weakly: ‘How I love you.’
    ‘And maybe she’ll talk to you too,’ Gently said, rising.
    Fazakerly said nothing.
    Gently went.

 
     
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    S OMEBODY MUST HAVE noticed Gently’s interest in the rubber plants because since his last encounter with them their leaves had been sponged and the fibre they grew in had been damped and raked. He paused a step to admire them then glanced casually at the desk; but the desk-sergeant was busily engaged in leafing through a bunch of forms. Gently fingered an immaculate leaf and left it imperceptibly nodding.
    He found Reynolds with Buttifant in the office. They were both poring over a file of literature. They were so intent with whatever it was that they didn’t notice Gently come in and both straightened up suddenly when he closed the door with a slight slam. Reynolds said:
    ‘Chief, I think we’re on to