Chapter 24

 

“Just yourself, doctor, if it’s all the same to you, no need to trouble your sister.

Edith determined to stand her ground. She had a fair idea why they were here. Archie despised this man. If there was a chance that her presence might help calm the situation, she was going nowhere.

This is the second time I’ve stuck my nose in when the inspector’s wanted a quiet chat. Well, tough, as they said in the pictures. “I’ll stay, if you don’t mind, Archie?”

Archie shook his head. “No need go anywhere on my behalf.”

Greene sighed. “It’s come to my attention that you and Mrs. Etherington have been conducting a relationship.”

Edith saw a movement in Archie’s jaw.

“Can I make you some tea, Inspector, Sergeant?” She glanced at Archie. He gave her a look and threw his eyes up at the heavens, obviously unable to understand why she would want to make tea for them all. That’s men for you, they’re a different species.

Greene hesitated. “That would be very civil of you, Miss Horton.”

“And sit down for goodness sake.”

They were all standing, like some uncomfortable still life. There was a scraping of kitchen chairs, but Edith could sense the loosening of tension, brought about just by sitting down and the sound of the whistling kettle.

It didn’t last for long, however.

“Mrs. Etherington, for her own reasons kept this information to herself. Very foolish of her.”

Archie was gripping the handle of his teacup very tightly. “Maybe she didn’t think it was relevant, Inspector. We all know you have a job to do. No doubt a difficult job, but surely it must allow a line to be drawn between investigating what’s likely to have some bearing on a case and being prurient.”

Edith saw the white line around her brother’s tightly drawn lips that spelled danger and wished so much that he didn’t have to be so belligerent.

“By prurient, I mean, delving into the private and the personal for some sort of…I don’t know, let’s say, satisfaction of your own.

“I’m well aware of the meaning of the word, Doctor Horton, and I find your attitude offensive.” Greene’s voice was hard but his tone was low.

Edith admired his calm. With the provocation Archie was dishing out she wouldn’t have blamed the man for losing his temper. Archie shrugged, a sort of grim satisfaction in his face. Her brother could be a bloody fool sometimes, not to mention, a snob.

“Well, tough luck Inspector. I find you grubbing about in people’s private business also offensive, especially when it happens to be mine. Again.”

Edith tried to catch his eye, to shake her head but she couldn’t manage to make him look at her. Probably he was deliberately avoiding eye-contact. But, she’d tell him her thoughts later, in no uncertain terms. Trouble was, it would be too late to salvage anything from this mess by then.

“Look, Doctor Horton, though you seem to find it very difficult to be civil with me for some reason, I have no intention of trading insults with you. The thing is sir, with all due respect…”

The heaviness of that phase, as he droned it out, had never struck her so forcefully, nor that it often meant the direct opposite.

“I don’t have the ability to tell the difference between grubbing about in people’s private and personal business and listening to facts which might be highly important to a murder enquiry. I wish I had.”

First round goes to Inspector Greene. At this point she decided she was going to remove herself from the scene; sitting it out like this wasn’t helping the situation and it struck her that it might be even be making it worse. It was a stupid thought, no doubt, to think that a grown, intelligent man might even be showing off before any female who might be at hand, but that’s what it was beginning to look like.

She stood up. “If you’re all right for tea, I’ll take myself off now and let you continue your talk in private.” She ignored Archie’s eyes this time as she let herself out of the kitchen.

She would wait until the inspector and sergeant left and ring Julia. If her interview with the inspector had been half as uncomfortable as the one with Archie, Julia would be looking for any support she could get.