“And then?” demanded Jane. She was sitting on the sofa reading when Patrick arrived back at Reynard’s, with a Rachmaninov record playing, waiting to hear how he had employed the evening.
“Gerald and Helen Ludlow came up after dinner. He seems a decent sort of chap; hidden fires, I’d say - not much visible on the surface but plenty there in fact. She’s rather reserved.”
“You’d be reserved if you’d just got married and found yourself in the midst of a murder,” said Jane. “What’s her history? Cathy doesn’t seem to know much about her.”
“So you’ve been giving way to vulgar curiosity too, have you?” Patrick teased her.
“We had this conversation some time ago, when Cathy first heard about the marriage,” Jane said primly. “It didn’t matter then. We weren’t mixed up with melodrama.”
“She was a widow,” Patrick said. “You knew that. Presumably an impecunious one, since she was companion to some wealthy American woman. But there may have been a particular reason for her to want that sort of job;’ she may have had a yen for travel or something. I can’t see her as a go-getting career girl per se, but she might be a scholarly type. Her relationship with her husband intrigues me; he’s badly smitten, there’s no doubt of that, but it’s less easy to observe her feelings.”
“If she’s reserved, as you say, she probably saves her demonstrations for when they’re alone, and quite right too,” said Jane austerely.
“She may have married for security,” Patrick said. “It’s been known.” He mused. “She’s not a girl - I’d say she’s about thirty-four.”
“Do you find her attractive?” Jane inquired with interest. She had often wondered what sort of woman appealed to her brother.
“I’m not sure,” Patrick said. “She’d be a challenge - she seems so well controlled. She has potential, shall we say?”
“Hm. Well, who’s your favourite candidate for the role of murderer?” Jane asked.
“I’m still guessing,” Patrick said. “I have an idea, but it needs some facts to back it. I’m still in the dark about the motivation behind all this, and I haven’t yet met Derek Ludlow. I saw him at the inquest, but I haven’t spoken to him.”
“You should tell the police that those two grandsons were at Pantons on Saturday night,” Jane said. “It’s their job to decide what’s relevant, not yours.”
“The boys must have a chance to account for themselves first,” said Patrick. “No one seems to know where Tim is, but Martin’s address is no secret. I shall go and call on him tomorrow.”
“What do you hope to find out from him?”
“The truth about his marital problems. His mother seems to think things are dicey there. He may have money worries, or problems connected with his work. The most obvious thing is that he wanted to touch his grandmother for a loan. I gather from Cathy that she holds the purse- strings pretty tightly. She’s a rich woman, but she controls everything herself. Cathy’s father has done very well in business, but without any help from his mother.”
“So I should hope,” said Jane.
“Yes. But Derek has been through some rough times. It might have been reasonable to expect a little rescue operation, when the children were young and he was finding it hard to get going after the war. However, nothing doing. And Cathy doesn’t think Phyllis has much cash. Of course, she doesn’t need a lot, living free.”
“Free, but not independent,” Jane said. “Cathy seems to have waxed very confidential.”
“She did,” Patrick said happily.
Jane gave him a look.
“I wish you wouldn’t interfere,” she said. “It’s your duty to tell the police all you know, instead of poking about quizzily on the edge of this affair.”
“Ah, but it’s so interesting,” Patrick said. “And I’m managing to work my way into the middle of it. I’m really helping the cause of justice by finding out things they’d never think about.”
“The police would get there in the end,” said Jane. “How do you suppose they manage when you aren’t around? And they’ve got all the equipment - fingerprint kit and so on. You’re only equipped with curiosity.”
“You forget my trained mind,” Patrick said. “This case is a question of character. Personalities are what matter. Is it a crime of passion, or of greed?”
“Hardly passion, surely, with a woman of nearly eighty in the centre of the web?”
“I’m not so sure. There is passion here. Gerald’s for his wife, Betty’s for her son, perhaps even Phyllis is affected by passion of a kind,” said Patrick. “We shall have to wait and see.”