Death and the Chaste Apprentice (25 page)

The policemen collected up their papers and anything they thought might conceivably be used as evidence at the trial. They told the temporary manager that the flat would be available to him in a few days, but he said he didn't fancy it and would use one of the hotel bedrooms. Then there was really nothing more to be done. Yet Charlie and Nettles felt that Dundy was oddly reluctant to be gone. He
surely wasn't getting a taste for arty people, was he? Awkwardly they made conversation.

“You'd better be booking your ticket sharpish, hadn't you, sir?” asked Nettles.

“Ticket?”

“For
The Chaste Apprentice.
You'll want to see a performance, won't you, after all we've heard about it?”

“I suppose it might be an idea. I expect they'll let me in if I say I need it to set the seal on my case. As a Ketterick man I can't think why I've never seen a play here before.”

“Personally I wish Singh was giving another performance,” said Charlie. “Someone might guess the truth at any time, and that will be the end of his career. It would be something to boast about to the sort of girl from London University who fancies a black boyfriend: ‘I'm one of the few people in the world who's heard a real castrato.' ”

“You have a twisted sense of humor.” Dundy's head jerked round. “Oh, I say, excuse me for a moment. Or actually you two can push off home.”

But they didn't push off home. They made themselves discreetly scarce and watched while Iain Dundy walked up to Gillian Soames, who had appeared down the stairs from the upper rooms, having changed into civvy clothes. If the superintendent had been a younger man, they would have said that he was chatting her up. It must be said that Dundy got somewhere in a remarkably short time. Indeed, it was almost as if she had been waiting for him to make a move.

“I did wonder if you'd care for a drink,” they heard him say after two or three minutes.

Charlie's foot moved for the last time to tap Nettles's ankle.

“I'd love one.” Gillian glanced toward the Shakespeare.

“Or even a late supper?” said Dundy, moving towards
the street door. “There's a place I know—little Indian place—where they'll still be happy to serve us.”

“That would be lovely,” said Gillian, following him out into the High Street. “After a performance I always feel I could eat a horse.”

Charlie and Nettles looked at each other.

“It has been known,” said Nettles. “Policemen marrying actresses.”

“Hope for me yet,” said Charlie cheerfully.

“Drink?”

“What else?”

“The Shakespeare?”

Charlie looked towards the Shakespeare Bar and seemed to see the ghost of Des Capper leaning familiarly over the shoulders of his guests with his quack remedies, false information, and real threats.

“The Webster,” he said firmly.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

At Death's Door

The Skeleton in the Grass

The Cherry Blossom Corpse

Bodies

Political Suicide

Fête Fatale

Out of the Blackout

Corpse in a Gilded Cage

School for Murder

The Case of the Missing Brontë

A Little Local Murder

Death and the Princess

Death by Sheer Torture

Death in a Cold Climate

Death of a Perfect Mother

Death of a Literary Widow

Death of a Mystery Writer

Copyright © 1989 by Robert Barnard
First American Edition, 1989

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

Scribner
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barnard, Robert.

Death and the chaste apprentice/Robert Barnard.—1st American ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-684-19002-8

ISBN-13 978-0-6841-9002-0 (Print)

ISBN 978-1-4767-3727-0 (eBook)

I. Title.

PR6052.A665D37   1989      89-4205    CIP

823'.914—dc19

Cover design by Christopher Lin