False Diamond--An Abbot Agency Mystery (30 page)

Bea picked up the phone and pressed buttons. ‘I'd better let Max know that you're safe here with me. He'll be worrying himself stiff.'

‘It would serve him right if he were worried about me.'

Bea ignored that. ‘Max? It's Mother. I have Nicole and Pippin here, and we're having a good old talk. Since it's so late, they may stay the night and return to you in the morning. Any message for her?'

Max shouted, ‘Tell her to go to hell!'

Bea winced. ‘Very well, dear. I'll give her your love.' She put the phone down. ‘He sends his love. He does love you, you know.'

Nicole inclined her head. Yes, she knew. With a sigh, she shed her coat and hat and ran her fingers back through her hair. ‘I must look a mess.'

‘It takes extra grooming to look good when you're pregnant.'

‘At least I'm not being sick all the time, as I was with Pippin.'

‘Max adores Pippin. Do you know yet whether the baby is a boy or a girl? I think he'd be a doting father for a little girl, but I don't suppose he really cares which it is.'

‘I don't know yet. He'll probably want a DNA test to prove it's his.'

‘Well, if that's all it takes … Will you stay the night here? I leave Pippin's cot ready in the spare bedroom for the odd day that he spends with me, and the bed is always made up. Or would you like me to summon a taxi for you?'

‘I couldn't cope with another shouting match tonight.'

‘Of course not. You need a spot of pampering, and I'll see that you get it. Max is a good lad, at bottom. Not perhaps as clever as you in some ways, but you've always known that, haven't you?'

A grimace. ‘Yes, I suppose so. Daddy always said that Max would go far with me behind him.'

‘A perfect partnership. Men like Benton come and go, but you can't rely on them to pay the bills every month.'

Nicole managed a smile. ‘Benton might have accepted Pippin, but not a second child. The new baby would have been one too many.'

‘You'll do,' said Bea. ‘Now, let's get you up to bed. Did you bring a toothbrush with you? Do you want to borrow a T-shirt or nightdress? Luckily I keep extra clothes and nappies here for Pippin.'

She carried the sleeping toddler upstairs and saw her guests safely ensconced in the spare bedroom before she turned her attention to what was going to happen next. There was a light on upstairs, but no sound of music. Maggie must have come back and gone to bed. And Zander? Was he up there with her? Mm. Possibly. Better not to enquire.

Descending the stairs, Bea wondered if she'd imagined Leon slipping into the house after Nicole. Bea had told him to leave. She'd heard the front door shut, but on which side of that door had he been at that point?

Also, she must re-set the house alarm.

B
ea reset the alarm and sniffed the air. Upstairs there'd been a trace Nicole's scent and Pippin's baby talc. Downstairs there was something else. Aftershave. Alcohol?

So Leon was still on the premises. Why?

She was afraid she knew the answer only too well.

She went into the living room and shut the door behind her. As she'd guessed, Leon was lounging in the big chair by the fireplace, one leg over the other, his overcoat thrown on the settee nearby.

He held his arms open in a welcoming gesture. ‘What a partner you'll make!'

‘Not I.' She went to check the phone to see if there were any messages. An unnecessary movement, but it took her to the opposite side of the room from him. No messages, thank goodness.

She said, ‘I assume from your air of triumph that you've cracked the mystery of the memory stick and that your accountants are even now beavering away to get the stolen money back into your hands.'

‘Mr Adamsson is back from his holidays, crowing with triumph. Everything he's always said about our erstwhile chief accountant and about Benton has been proved true. He's working twelve hours a day to get everything shipshape and tickety-boo again. Yes, he really does talk like that. He puffed up his chest and smiled so widely when I reinstated him that I could have hit him. I can't think how I refrained. But there … He's indispensable now his boss is dead, and when he talks figures, we listen.'

‘The police have cleared him of Benton's murder?'

‘And of complicity in arranging his superior's dive off the roof. He really was out of the country at the time. I have to thank you for finding the password for us. Without it, and the details of Benton's overseas accounts, Adamsson couldn't even begin to untangle the mess.'

‘I'm glad you're pleased. Well –' with a glance at the clock – ‘it's getting late. I've had a hard day and need to get my head down. I thought you'd have left by now.'

‘I couldn't resist. Your personal skills are remarkable.' Again, he opened his arms wide. ‘Come here!'

She supposed most women would obey him. They would sit on his knee, and he'd go straight into seduction mode. There was a soft rug on the floor, and he would expect her to lie down there and strip off. She shook her head. ‘You mistake me for a quick lay.'

‘I don't make that kind of mistake. I've known since the moment we met that we'd end up in bed together.'

‘Don't be ridiculous! I am not that kind of woman.' It had been a mistake to take that high tone with him, but she was tired and wanted to go to bed. Alone.

He sprang to his feet and had his arms around her and his mouth on hers before she realized what he intended to do. His arms were strong, and he held her so tightly she could hardly breathe. He was trying to get inside her mouth with his tongue, but she would not – not! – allow him to do so. She could smell whisky on his breath. So, he'd already been drinking. Bad news.

She thought of swooning away so that he would have to let her go. But no; he'd probably just pick her up and throw her on to the settee or down on to the rug to have his wicked way with her.

So she stood still, rigid in denial, waiting for him to come up for air.

‘Come on, now. Loosen up!'

‘I am not going to spit at you, or bite you, or scrape the heel of my boot down your leg. I am not going to pinch your thigh, which I am told is exceedingly painful and recommended for use on any man who tries to rape a woman, but—'

‘I'm not trying to rape you! What do you think I am?'

‘A man who's had everything too easy where women are concerned.'

‘I've had only one partner for—'

‘And how many one-night stands?'

‘I'm offering you—'

‘You don't have anything to offer which I'd wish to have.'

‘You don't realize—'

‘That the price of your helping your brother out of a nasty hole is that he retires and you take over?'

He loosened his hold but retained his grasp of her upper arms. ‘Who told you that?'

She didn't reply that it was obvious, because to her way of thinking it was.

His eyes switched from right to left. He was the alpha male and not accustomed to being refused. In a moment he would switch from lust to rage.

She modified her tone in an effort to divert him. ‘I'm too old for you, Leon. You need someone in her thirties, intelligent enough to argue with you but still young enough to give you children.'

‘Do you think I hadn't realized you were too old to give me children? I want you for your bright mind
and
your admirable body. I want you by my side, sharing in my triumphs, advising me when I miss something important. I'm prepared to pay—'

She lowered her eyelids and turned her head away.

He shook her, hard. ‘Don't you understand that I could ruin your precious son with the evidence Benton had on him and his love affairs!'

‘You could try, though I must point out that the public doesn't seem to be all that troubled about the extramarital affairs of their members of parliament. But you can't force someone to love you. Also, I must warn you that my arthritis restricts bedtime acrobatics.' She didn't have much arthritis yet, but he wasn't to know that.

He threw her away from him. She staggered back, ending up on the settee.

He said, ‘I need …' With jerky movements, he forced himself back on to his chair. ‘Do you have any alcohol on the premises?'

‘No.' She did keep some in the cupboard for the odd occasion when an old friend was visiting, but she considered Leon had had more than enough to drink already. ‘Shall I make you some coffee before you leave?' She flicked a glance at the clock. Past midnight, Cinderella. Time for bed.

He ground his teeth. ‘You think I'm drunk? I'm not, you know. I could make you—'

‘If you touch me again I'll have you for assault and rape.'

‘Who'd believe you?'

‘Inspector Durrell, who is currently investigating Benton's murder and his links to the dead accountant.'

‘She killed herself, and most of the money is on its way back to our coffers. As for your inspector, what action could he possibly take that would disturb me?'

‘Leak information to the press which would cause a run on your brother's shares. That's why you didn't want to ask the police for help when Benton died, isn't it? That's why it was so important to find his passwords before the police did? You used me, Leon. I don't like that.'

A shrug. ‘You proved your worth, yes.'

He
was
an arrogant so and so, wasn't he? She relaxed, as far as she could with a tiger in the room.

He started to pace up and down. ‘Now you're going to say that a man who is in charge of others should first be in control of himself. I assure you, I do not normally drink more than one or two glasses a night, but today …'

She was, almost, amused. He did seem to know his strengths and weaknesses. ‘As your hostess, I am happy to provide you with some coffee. I will even do you some ground coffee in a cafetière if you wish, rather than offer you a mug of instant. I am assuming you will then summon a taxi to take you back to your hotel, and that you don't intend to drive anywhere tonight.'

‘Car and chauffeur waiting. I only have to make a call on the phone and he'll be here.'

Oh, the delights of being a multimillionaire. ‘How late do you intend to keep the poor man waiting?'

He took out his smartphone, rang a number and said, ‘You can go home now. I don't need you again tonight.' Switched off.

Which meant her hint that he should leave had fallen on stony ground. Before he could return to the attack, she said, ‘Tell me. Did you and your partner never think of getting married?'

He winced. ‘She brought the subject up now and then. I was always too busy … and then she got cancer. I asked her to marry me then, and she refused. Said she'd lived alone and would die alone.'

Bea understood that his partner had taken her revenge on him by refusing an offer of marriage when he finally got round to it. Now he was feeling guilty about not having asked sooner. Serve him right.

She said, ‘When my dear husband died—'

‘Don't pull that one. You're divorced.'

Did he think that entitled him to jump her? She sharpened her voice. ‘One of the first things you should do when you take over your brother's organization is to sort out your information department. I've been married twice. I divorced my first husband, who was Max's father, yes. He was tom-catting around within a year of our marriage. We are now good friends and see one another regularly. Some years later I married Hamilton Abbot, who was my dear love and best friend for thirty-odd years till he succumbed to cancer. I still grieve for him.'

That gave him pause. He stopped pacing, leaned against the mantelpiece. ‘What was he like, this Hamilton of yours?'

‘Loving and caring, practical. Commonsensical, funny. He could make me laugh in the most difficult of situations. A good father to Max. He was a Christian, much further along the road than I.'

‘She was, too.'

His partner? That was interesting. But not him, presumably?

He flung himself back into his chair, relaxed, staring at the ceiling. ‘You don't think I'm capable of taking over from my brother, do you?'

‘I have no opinion on the subject.' But, now he'd come to mention it, perhaps not. And was that really what he wanted out of life? She supposed he might want to take over from his brother to assuage some long-held resentment of the way he'd been treated in his early years, but was he really the stuff from which Captains of Industry are made? Had he the cutting edge of a good diamond? Could he put the trauma of his partner's death behind him?

On the other hand, he'd started a number of other projects and carried them through to a successful conclusion, and a man of principle could do a lot of good in the world if he took over a powerful organization.

She had a vivid memory of him working over Dilys's body, trying to save her life. ‘Was it you who lifted Dilys from the hospital?'

‘Sybil and I arranged it between us. We asked Maria, my brother's housekeeper, to collect Dilys from the hospital and take her to a private clinic. She needed peace and quiet. Sybil's been visiting her, and so have I. The doctors didn't think she ought to be told about Benton and the boys at first, but she's getting better, slowly. Sybil did tell her that Benton's dead. We hope she'll soon be strong enough to hear the rest, but for the moment we've let her assume that the boys are with their sister and that Sybil is looking after them all.'

‘Bernice knows that the boys are dead?'

‘She does. Sybil's taking Bernice to see her mother tomorrow, if she's had another good night. Bernice is an oddly mature little person, isn't she? Most impressive. It's almost as if Dilys is the child, and she the parent.'

‘Does Dilys know that Benton might have been married before?'