Gently with the Ladies (Inspector George Gently 13)

something!’
    Gently nodded and pointed to the file. ‘That’ll be United Press’s house magazine, will it?’
    ‘Yes. It’s just come in by messenger. I had Buttifant wait on purpose. I had a wild hunch, Chief, so wild I didn’t like to mention it, but I think it’s going to pay off. I think we’ve found Beryl Rogers.’
    Gently smiled. It wasn’t such a wild hunch. Do you have a recognizable picture?’
    ‘You mean – you know?’
    ‘I couldn’t help guessing. Once I knew Miss Rogers had returned from New Zealand.’
    Reynolds looked a little injured, but he made room for Gently at the table. The file was open at a page captioned: Fashion Parade’s Staff Party. Opposite the letterpress was a half-plate photograph of men and women in evening dress but it was printed in coarse screen because the block had been borrowed from
The Holborn Advertiser.
Buttifant’s yellowed forefinger pointed to a woman.
    ‘That’s her, sir. I’m ready to swear to it.’
    Gently looked. ‘That’s perhaps Sarah Johnson. But she says she worked for United Press too.’
    ‘But her name isn’t here sir,’ Buttifant pointed to the letterpress, at the foot of which was a list of names. ‘There’s twenty-four names and twenty-four people. Beryl Rogers is down here, but no Sarah Johnson.’
    Gently peered again at the uncertain photograph. It had probably been taken by an amateur. The people in it had made an informal group and not all of them were within range of the flash. The woman in question was on the fringe of the group and only the plan-line of her face was shown effectively; but such as it was it suggested Sarah Johnson, and the slim figure beneath it was similar to hers.
    ‘Check through some other entries. See if a Sarah Johnson occurs there.’
    Reynolds said: ‘But you’ve seen her, Chief. You recognize her don’t you?’
    ‘I think it’s her. But if there was a Sarah Johnson we’d better know about it. That’s a poor photograph, and house magazines are not noted for accurate reporting.’
    ‘It’s her all right,’ Reynolds said confidently. ‘It fits the facts too well for it not to be. All along we’ve wanted a reason for Mrs Fazakerly’s being so angry and now we’ve got it. Someone tipped her off that her husband’s girl-friend was Beryl Rogers. And this follows, Chief. Whoever tipped her was able to recognize Beryl Rogers. They’d have to know the old story and how much it meant to Mrs Fazakerly. If you eliminate Mrs Bannister, and I think you can do that safely, it leaves us with only one person – and Fazakerly fingered her for us.’
    ‘Has Mrs Bannister’s maid been here yet?’
    ‘Albertine?’ Reynolds shook his head.
    ‘I’ve been talking to her. She’ll make a statement. She saw Brenda Merryn going up to the flat.’
    ‘She saw that!’ Reynolds’ eyes sparkled. ‘That’s a bit of luck for a good detective. I was wondering how we could tie her in, Chief. Now we’ve only to play our cards right.’
    Gently got out his pipe and began to fill it. ‘Go on.’ he said. ‘Let’s have your version.’
    ‘She did it, Chief. It fits everything. There’s not a point it doesn’t cover. Look at the set-up. She’s the poor relation, and her step-sister’s rolling in the family money; money that might and ought to have been hers, because it was her uncle who left it. What does she do? She seduces the husband, who may one day be left a widower; and that’s how it stands until the husband drops her because he’s become infatuated with another woman.’
    ‘She might just simply have been in love with him,’ Gently puffed.
    ‘Do you really believe it was innocent, Chief?’
    Gently shrugged. ‘It’s hard to tell. We’ll carry on with your hypothesis.’
    ‘She goes to look at this woman who’s taking Fazakerly away from her, and she recognizes her as a woman who is obnoxious to Mrs Fazakerly. She can put the squeak in and get rid of her – Mrs Fazakerly was bound to blow her top – but she realizes it needn’t stop there: she has a chance for the jackpot. There’ll be a row. Fazakerly will clear out. If his wife’s found dead, we’re sure to suspect him. Then, if he’s convicted, she collects the money by the rule of succession.’
    Gently puffed some more. ‘It sounds almost plausible,’ he said. ‘But.’
    ‘Just wait a minute, Chief. I’ve been doing some thinking. This answers every one of your objections. Look, she knows when Fazakerly returns from