A Match Made for Murder by Iona Whishaw (top 10 best books of all time txt) 📗

“Well, Miss Van Eyck wasn’t killed, sir. That’s the main thing. You know, I have a theory about the locked car doors.”

“Just one of the things that didn’t make a lot of sense. What is it?”

“Well, typically, as Mr. Gillingham said, strychnine doesn’t kill right away, and even subduing him and suffocating him, she might have been afraid that he might somehow survive if someone found him in time. She might have thought that locking the car doors and taking the keys would slow down any would-be rescuers.”

“And identify her as his attacker. Well, she’s not talking, even to her lawyer, apparently, so it’s as good a theory as any.”

“I’ll catalogue all this stuff, shall I?”

“Yes, thanks, Constable. And good work.”

Terrell smiled, and it crossed Ames’s mind as he watched him leave the office that April wouldn’t have a chance against that smile.

“I still can’t understand how I was taken in by him,” Darling said. They were in the dining car having lunch as the train hurtled across the desert heading west. They had left the inn that morning after saying goodbye to Chela and had been driven to the station by Raúl, who had insisted on it. “It’s really shaken up my sense of myself. What other ghastly misjudgements have I made or will I continue to make? I mean, it was right in front of me. The way he talked about women, even the arson arrest. When I think about it now, I can see it was hurried. He probably thought he had the right man, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but now I see that for him arresting someone was proof of guilt. He never questioned his own judgement for a second. I feel nothing but embarrassment when I think of those things now. What did I think that was? Manliness? Or at least a kind of manliness, maybe.”

“What were the good things about him?” Lane asked. “Maybe they outweighed the bad, made it seem trivial.”

Darling nodded, digging his fork into a piece of chocolate cake. “This is quite good. One of us should learn to make it. I bet Mrs. Hughes could teach you. Or me,” he added. “That’s a kind question, so let me think,” Darling continued. “He was generous, high energy, and extremely kind to me, certainly, as the new man. It seemed as though he was loyal to the force and the men. He was quite easy to like, really. I suppose he could have changed over the years, through the war, and I wouldn’t have seen it. He certainly was not a well man towards the end. He was someone who seemed to think he had complete control of things, and then clearly began to unravel. I wondered at first how he thought he’d get away with it all. I imagine now that he’d gone down the road of kidnapping you to find out where Priscilla was, and didn’t foresee the rest of it but had supreme confidence in his own ability to ride it out. Even on the side of the road he was scheming. He would pretend he’d arrested Idaho, charge him with your kidnapping, and maybe even get rid of Martinez for insubordination. He didn’t know about the photographs, and he didn’t count on Martinez not backing down. Old Mackenzie was in charge in Nelson when Galloway was there. Had been for twenty years. Poor man had to come back and take the helm again during the war because I was in the Air Force. I wonder what he thought of Galloway.”

“I think,” Lane said slowly, “I think it is easy to like someone who is energetic and generous. They do not invite suspicion because they appear to be completely open. I do it all the time. Perhaps as one gets older one can see past that more often. Are you worried you have some innate lack of judgement that will hurt your police work?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think I’m feeling guilty because it’s clear now he was on the take in Nelson as well, though I guess we’ll never know exactly what Watts thought he had on him. According to Ames, Watts regularly ran through his pay, and was heavily in debt, which is why he was trying to get money out of Galloway. But most of all I feel guilty because he managed to carry you off like that. If I’d never brought you here, we could have had a perfectly pleasant honeymoon in Niagara Falls or somewhere. Isn’t that what normal people do?”

“On the whole, I think I like that you can suffer such self-doubt. I expect it’s what makes you more thoughtful and relieves you of the burden of always thinking you are right about everything. I’m sure it’s why I fell in love with you.”

“Good job, you two.” Darling was at his desk with Ames and Terrell lined up before him.

“Thank you, sir,” Terrell said. “Sergeant Ames is the one, if I may say so.”

“Very creditable, Constable Terrell. Ames has said the same of you. I’m not sure I can take much more of this self-effacing goo, so the two of you can run along and find some more crime to fight.” Darling waved his hand dismissively and stacked the considerable pile of papers that comprised the report on the Watts murder.

Ames, earnestly hoping for a respite from crime fighting for a day or two, collapsed on the chair in his office. He’d managed to stave off any reflection about yet another catastrophic failure in his romantic life by occupying himself with tidying up the loose ends on the Watts business and learning from Darling about the fate of Galloway in Tucson. He had felt it was only fair that Tina Van Eyck should know that the policeman who had dismissed her so cruelly had got his own comeuppance. Firmly putting aside the officiousness and insensitivity he was certain he’d shown during