Agatha Raisin and The Murderous Marriage

demanded sharply.

'It's that health farm,' said his wife. 'Horribly pricey. The Pomfrets went there but they've got money to burn.'

'But you were there yourself,' said James. 'You were both there at the same time as two people we know, Mrs. Gore-Appleton and Jimmy Raisin.'

'We have never been there and I have never heard of them,' said Sir Desmond evenly. 'Now if you will forgive me...'

He stood up and walked to the door and held it open. His wife looked surprised but did not say anything.

He strode out angrily back into the gardens followed by Agatha and James and then turned to face them. 'I'm tired of scum like you. You are not getting a penny.'

He rushed off, cannoned off a pair of surprised visitors, and disappeared around a corner of the house.

Agatha made to go after him but James held her back. 'He must have been there with someone else, someone who wasn't his wife. Leave it, Agatha. Someone was blackmailing him, probably Jimmy. It's time to tell Bill Wong what we know.'

They left a message for Bill Wong when they returned home, but it was the following day before they saw him again.

He arrived in the afternoon. When she opened the door, Agatha could see the dreadful Maddie sitting beside him in the car. Bill followed Agatha into the living-room. 'Coffee?' said James.

'No, thank you. I haven't much time. What did you want to see me about?'

They told him about their investigations, ending up with the visit to Sir Desmond Derrington.

Bill Wong's chubby face was severe. 'I've been there all night,' he said sternly. 'Sir Desmond is dead. It appears to have been a shooting accident. His shotgun went off when he was cleaning it. But he was cleaning it in the middle of the night, you see, and it now seems to me he thought you were taking over where Jimmy Raisin left off. We roused the health farm at two in the morning. Sir Desmond stayed there at the same time as Jimmy Raisin with a woman who gave her name as Lady Derrington. The real Lady Derrington is the one with all the money. Had she divorced Sir Desmond, he would have been virtually penniless. He had been paying out the sum of five hundred pounds a month for a year, probably the year Jimmy Raisin was sober, and then the payments stopped. He was proud of his position in the community - local magistrate, all that sort of thing. Does it dawn on you interfering pair that you might have killed him?'

'Oh, no,' said James, horrified. 'Surely it was an accident?'

'Why decide to clean a gun in the middle of the night, and the night after your visit?' said Bill wearily. 'It's dangerous to interfere with police work.'

James glanced sideways at Agatha's stricken face. 'Look,' he said, 'we were about to give you all this information anyway. So what would happen? You would start with the health farm and then you would call on Sir Desmond. Would you think of asking them to describe the woman who said she was Lady Derrington? No, you would not. So you would have approached him and he would know his wife was going to find out all about it and the result would have been the same.'

'We thought of that. But Maddie pointed out that a visit from the police might not have tipped the balance of his mind the way the appearance on the scene of what appeared to be a couple of blackmailers would do.'

'Maddie says, Maddie says,' jeered Agatha tearfully. 'You think the sun shines out of her arse!'

There was a shocked silence. Agatha turned red.

'Go upstairs and put some make-up on or something,' said James quietly. When Agatha had left the room, he said to Bill, 'Agatha heard an unfortunate conversation between you and Maddie in the pub in Mircester. The toilets are behind where you were both talking. Maddie was manipulating you into calling on us to find out if we knew anything. I gather her remarks about Agatha were pretty insulting. Had Agatha not been so badly hurt and had I not sympathized with her, we might have told you all this earlier. Friendship,' said James sententiously, 'is a valuable thing. All you had to say to Maddie was that you would be calling on us anyway as part of your investigations. Do you not feel she is using you to find out extra facts which might help her to solve the case?'

'No,' said Bill hotly. 'Not a bit of it. She is a hardworking and conscientious detective.'

'Oh, really? Well, let's return to the question of Sir Desmond's death. His wife held the purse-strings. So how did he manage to pay out this five hundred a month, if that was blackmail money and not some money to a young mistress, without his wife finding out?'

'He had a monthly income from Lady Derrington's family trust. It was generous, but Sir Desmond had quite an extravagant life-style in a quiet way. Hunting, for example, takes a bit of money, not to mention the shirts from Jermyn Street and the suits from Savile Row. Lady Derrington never checked his bank account. It was overdrawn each month. That came as a surprise to her.'

'So I gather you insensitive cops put her wise to the mistress. How did Lady Derrington take it?'

'Coldly. She said, 'Silly old goat'.'

'And who was this charmer who seduced Sir Desmond?'

'A secretary from the House of Commons, secretary to an MP friend of Sir Desmond's. We're trying to get her. She's on holiday in Barbados at the moment. Called Helen Warwick. Not young. Blonde, yes, but in her forties.'

'Married?'

'No.'

'So no blackmail there?'

'We'll need to wait and see. She is a respectable lady and might not want to feature in a divorce case. Look, I'd better talk to Agatha. Things overheard are always worse than things said direct.'

'Leave it for the moment,' said James curtly. 'I'll speak to her.'

'Well, don't do any more detecting without telling me. In fact, don't do any detecting at all.'

Bill left and climbed into the car beside Maddie. 'Well, did you tell that interfering pair what you thought of them?' she asked.

'I was the one that was made to feel guilty. Agatha overheard a conversation between us in the pub where you were urging me to sound them out to see what they knew and she also heard some of your unflattering remarks.'

'Serves her right.' Maddie shrugged.

For the first time, Bill's mind made a separation between lust and love. For a brief moment, he wondered if he even liked Maddie, but when she crossed her legs in their sheer black stockings, lust took over and rationalized all his feelings back into romance.

Agatha came back into the living-room and said in a weary voice, 'Has he gone?'

'Yes, and very guilty about having hurt you, too.' James surveyed Agatha. Her face was scrubbed free of make-up and she was wearing an old sweater and a rather baggy skirt and flat heels. He had always considered privately that women did not need to plaster their faces with make-up, but he found himself missing the Agatha of the high heels, make-up, French perfume and ten-denier stockings. He had not forgiven her for having made such a fool of him on the wedding day. Somewhere in his heart he knew he would never forgive her and therefore he did not want to get romantically involved with her again, but he did not like to see her so down and crushed.

'Bill has asked us to butt out, as usual,' said James, 'but I say, let's go on with it. That'll cheer you up. We'll have an easy day and then try the next on the list, Miss Janet Purvey.'

'And have her kill herself?'

'Now, Agatha. Sir Desmond would have been found out anyway and the result would have been the same. Do you want to go out for dinner tonight?'

'I'll see. I promised to go to Ancombe with the Carsely Ladies' Society. We're being hosted by them. They're putting on a revue.'

'Well, well, the delights of the countryside. Have fun.'

'At the Ancombe Ladies' Society? You must be joking.'

'Why go?'

'Mrs. Bloxby expects me to go.'

'Oh, in that case...'