mine.'
'Flowers or furniture,' I asked.
'Music,' he replied, as if everybody made the same mistake.
'Genghis did the score for the Pedro Wallis commercial,' Natasha said.
'Really.'
'You won't have seen it,' he said. 'It hasn't been released yet.'
'I'll look out for it. Now, no doubt you realise that I'm here in connection with the death of Dr. Jordan. I'd like to go over a few things with you, if you don't mind, Miss Wilde.'
'Please, Natasha,' she insisted.
'Thanks, and I'm Charlie. First of all can I say how sorry I am. It must have been a shock to you.'
'Oh, we were all devastated, weren't we, Genghis? We'll help all we can, Charlie, but we told that Mr. Makinson everything we know. He was ever so kind.'
Genghis nodded his agreement.
'I know, and I've read his reports. Unfortunately he's broken his leg, skiing…'
'Oh no!' she exclaimed, and Genghis looked stricken.
'… and I've taken over the investigation.'
'What about that drugs man?' she asked. 'Haven't you found him yet?'
'Yes, we've found him, but he has an alibi. We've eliminated him from enquiries. He's called Ged Skinner — I don't suppose the doctor ever mentioned him, did he?'
'No, I'm afraid not.'
'When did you last see the doctor?'
'The weekend before. He stayed here, and was supposed to be coming over on Christmas Eve. We were having a house party. When we heard that poor Clive was dead it ruined the whole thing.'
Natasha had known Dr. Jordan about three years. She met him at the clinic when, she said, she was having her nose fixed. Since then they'd been very close but she knew little about his other acquaintances or his work. It looked as if the doc lived in parallel universes: one at weekends with his showbiz friends, and in the real world from Monday to Friday.
A mobile phone warbled on a bookshelf. Genghis picked it up and took it out of the room. I don't know whether it was for privacy or because he was well-mannered, but I suspected the latter and warmed a little towards him. I was asking Natasha if Dr. Jordan had ever told her about any problems with the anti-abortionists when Genghis returned. He hovered close to her, like a humming bird, as she said: 'No, I'm afraid he never mentioned anything like that.'
When she finished speaking he said: 'Shall I make us all some coffee?
How do you like it, Charlie?'
'Black please,' I replied, 'with nothing in it.' I was trying to cut down on the sugar, so I might as well impress them with my sophistication.
'That was Curtis,' he told Natasha. 'They can't come this weekend.
Ewan has lost a filling. He's had a temporary one done but he's to see his orthodontist on Saturday.'
'Oh, the poor darling,' Natasha sympathised.
'Did you notice,' I began, trying to drag the conversation away from Ewan's molars and back to my murder enquiry, 'any changes in the doctor's moods or behaviour at any time? Was anybody putting any pressure on him in any way?'
'Who, for instance?'
'Well, were any ex-girlfriends causing him aggro? Then there's the drugs thing. Do you think he was under any pressure to supply anyone?
Did he have any worries that he wouldn't discuss with you?'
She was silent for a few seconds, looking passably thoughtful. 'He was screwing someone at the clinic,' she declared, as indifferent as if she were disclosing the colour of his eyes.
'Who?'
'I don't know. I told him I didn't want to know.'
'Someone single or someone's wife?'
'I think she was married.'
'Well, that's something for us to look at. Anything else?'
'There was something. I remembered after Mr. Makinson called and wondered if I ought to mention it, but he said you were looking for this drugs man and we were fairly certain it was him, so I didn't.'
'And what was it?'
'I think someone must have reported Clive formal er mal'
'Malpractice?' I suggested.
'That's it malpractice sometime in the past. I hadn't known him very long a few months and Ewan was doing the pilot for Emergency Doctor.
Did you see it?'
'No, I'm afraid I didn't.'
'It was ever so good. I can't think why they didn't go ahead with the series. Well, apparently, he'd been reported to the General Medical what sit for doing a really dangerous operation on the captain of this boat, during a storm. He'd had a heart attack, and the doctor revived him by giving him an electric shock from a table lamp. It was terribly dramatic' 'It sounds it,' I said. 'And was he all right?'
'Who?'
'The captain.'
'Oh, him. Yes. And they were all saved. We've a copy of the video somewhere, if you'd like to borrow it.'
'Video? Oh, I see. Er, some other time, perhaps, when we've solved this, er, case. So what had this to do with Clive?'
Genghis came in with the coffees and a plate of biscuits and stood near me. 'I brought the cream and sugar,' he said, 'so you can put your own in.' His crotch was level with my face and it was impossible not to notice his preferred side for dressing. The right, just for the record. But he knew how to make good coffee. I told him so and he blushed.
'He's a darling,' Natasha said. 'He's been very good to me since… since poor Clive was murdered.'
For a second or two I thought she was going to show some emotion. 'You were telling me about this video,' I said, reaching for a biscuit.
'Oh, yes. Well, Ewan asked Clive about how a doctor would feel if he was charged with mal er mal.'
'Malpractice.'
'Malpractice. Clive threw his hands up and said: 'Tell me all about it!'
'As if he'd been through it himself?'
'That's right. He was a big help to Ewan, first-hand experience and all that, but you'd have to ask him about it. I was rehearsing for Humpty Dumpty and didn't need the distraction.'
'Of course not.'
I was hungry so I had another biscuit and finished my coffee. 'That's been very useful, Natasha,' I said. 'I'd better be on my way before I'm snowed in with you. Was there anything else?'
'No, except…'
'Go on.'
'No, it's nothing.'
'Now you'll have to tell me.'
'Well, I thought of all sorts of things at first. You do, don't you, when someone's been murdered. Who could have done it? And all that.
Should we have noticed something and perhaps prevented it happening?
And then, when Mr. Makinson told us about this drugs man, it all seemed so obvious.'
'I see what you mean,' I said. 'So what was it?'
'It's just that… he used to play squash. He was mad about it. Even took me, once. I was hopeless!' She giggled at the memory of it.
'And what happened?'
