Gently with the Ladies (Inspector George Gently 13)

looking out with her back to them. The policewomen were attending to Mrs Bannister, who they had carried to the settee. She was groaning to herself, her eyelids flickering, her hand fluttering about her bosom. As still as Sarah Johnson stood John Fazakerly. His wide eyes were on her back.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘My God!’
    Fazakerly jerked and his eyes seemed to fade. In a taut, brittle voice she continued:
    ‘At least, I was until five years ago. Then I became Sarah Johnson. I’ve been Sarah Johnson ever since. It isn’t my name on the record. But it’s my name except to the family.’
    ‘Only you were involved in that incident with Mrs Fazakerly.’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘There was no friend as you described.’
    ‘No. All invention.’
    ‘And you hid your true identity from John Fazakerly, knowing who he was.’
    Her head nodded.
    ‘Can you add to that?’
    ‘Yes.’
    Brenda Merryn said: ‘Don’t be a fool. It’s all right with me if you put your head in a noose, but there’s no need to make it so easy for George.’
    ‘You’re the woman who talked to me on Sunday,’ Sarah Johnson said, turning. ‘Yes, you followed me into the toilets and asked me for a light. And now you’re here. I’m beginning to see. Who are you – a policewoman in plain clothes?’
    Fazakerly laughed harshly. ‘That might be a description, but Brenda didn’t make her report to the police.’
    ‘Who is she, Johnny?’
    ‘She’s Clytie’s step-sister.’
    ‘Clytie’s . . . oh.’
    ‘Has the penny dropped?’ He dug his hands savagely in his pockets. ‘She had the advantage of me,’ he said. ‘She knew what Beryl Rogers looked like. I just knew she was a bint of Sybil’s.’
    ‘That’s not fair, Johnny!’
    ‘It’s fair and it’s true – and just about the sort of bum’s luck I’d have. You were special. You were my one woman. For you I went overboard. Sybil’s bint.’
    ‘Oh, you’re so unfair! I love you, Johnny.’
    ‘You hated Clytie is more like it. I was some luck, a perfect innocent. I’d never have known but for Brenda.’
    ‘I love you. Believe it.’
    ‘I’d never have known. I’d have gone on living in my world of dreams. I’d have believed ever after I’d found the one exception among women, the one who saved all the rest, who redeemed the general rottenness. And Brenda’s saved me from that anyway. There’s no exception. Women are crap.’
    ‘Thank you so much, Siggy,’ Brenda Merryn said. ‘I’d hate to leave you with romantic illusions.’
    ‘All I care about now,’ Fazakerly said, ‘is who is responsible for this bloody mess. I thought it was Brenda till a moment ago and it fits Brenda best. But Sybil’s bint would go after that necklace. And Sybil’s bint was here on Monday.’
    ‘Johnny, you can’t think—’
    ‘The necklace!’ he jeered. ‘The necklace you wanted to know so much about. It vanished on Monday, so I’m told, and I’m sure you’d think stealing it a fine revenge. But you should have hidden it or thrown it in the Thames. Because Monsieur has found it. And it probably has prints on it.’
    ‘Does it have prints on it?’ Brenda Merryn asked.
    Gently met her glance stonily.
    ‘Of course it does,’ Fazakerly said. ‘It’ll have prints all over it. The prints of the thief. Of the killer.’
    ‘Which would let you out, would it?’ Brenda Merryn said. ‘I ask purely for information.’
    ‘Yes it would let me out.’
    ‘Isn’t that splendid. A pity everyone knows jewellery doesn’t take finger-prints.’
    Sarah Johnson said: ‘Johnny, you’re angry. This isn’t really you speaking at all. You’re accusing me of this because I deceived you and not because you believe I’m guilty. And it’s terribly unfair. I’ve been trying to protect you. I love you sincerely whatever you think. I’m not the one who’s to blame for all this, I’m the one who’s suffering for it.’
    ‘How she talks!’ Fazakerly snarled. ‘A woman’s answer isn’t far to seek. I was your cat’s-paw, Sybil’s bint: try to talk that off the record.’
    ‘Johnny, I swear I was sincere!’
    ‘Yes, in the manner of women – for yourself. But you were here on Monday, that’s fact, and you didn’t tell me about it later.’
    ‘I didn’t have a chance, Johnny. You did all the talking. And I’d only been up to see an editor.’
    ‘Who else would pinch the necklace?’
    ‘Johnny, you’re angry. I swear this is all in your imagination!’
    Reynolds said aside to Gently: