فصل 07

CHAPTER SEVEN

Not an Easy Relationship

The cat jumped off the chair as they entered Arnanda Grant’s house. It went out of the room, and Bowen followed to look for the kitchen. Since joining the police he had become used to making tea in strange houses. He found most people felt better after a cup if it was strong and very sweet.

Arnanda Grant took the drink and thanked him quietly. She tasted it and made a face because of the sugar, but drank it without saying anything.

She seemed quite calm again when Eliot started asking questions.

‘I’m a journalist, Inspector,’ she said. ‘I work for a magazine called Women in the World. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of it.’

But he had. Sally had started getting it, and he had looked at it occasionally, trying to understand why it interested her. Suddenly, he remembered where he had seen Arnanda Grant’s face. It was in the magazine every month, on the inside front page. He had noticed it because it was so much younger than the three other faces there. Obviously, she was a very successful woman.

‘I’m afraid I don’t have time for magazines, Miss Grant,’ he answered, not completely truthfully. ‘Have you known Mr Forley long?’

‘Almost four years,’ she said. ‘We met on December 31st, at a New Year’s Eve party. After that we started seeing each other quite often.’

‘How often?’ asked Eliot.

‘Oh, several times a week,’ she answered. ‘But not so much recently.’ She turned her face away. ‘My new job takes so much of my time that he wanted me to give it up. We had lots of arguments about it. We had one the last time I saw him.’

She put her hand over her eyes.

‘And when was that, Miss Grant?’ Eliot asked.

‘Sunday evening,’ she said. ‘Then I was away in Edinburgh till yesterday afternoon. I should have phoned during the week, but I was angry with him. I suppose he felt the same. I called yesterday when I got back, but he wasn’t in.’ Her voice seemed to change a little. ‘It was Friday,’ she said, ‘so I supposed he’d gone to see Catherine Crowther earlier than usual.’

‘But I understood he went to see both the Crowthers,’ said Eliot, a little more sharply than he had intended.

‘That’s what Ronald Crowther likes to think,’ she answered. ‘He was very kind to Alex after his mother died. Alex was alone in the world and he needed Ronald’s help at first. But then he got better, and his life changed. He needed Ronald less, but Ronald started to depend on him. Ronald’s rather lonely. He doesn’t have many friends.’ Eliot looked interested, but said nothing.

‘Alex began to find Ronald rather boring,’ she continued, ‘though he never showed it. He hated hurting people, and he couldn’t forget how kind Ronald had been to him. But Alex shared more interests with Catherine. They liked each other a lot, though Ronald never seemed jealous. Ronald’s interested in sport, and Alex wasn’t. But he used to pretend he was, to make the old man happy.’

‘And were you jealous, Miss Grant?’ Eliot wanted to ask. But this was not the right time for this question. Instead he looked thoughtfully at a photograph on her desk. It showed a tall thin man with blond hair and dark eyes which were laughing at the camera. A very handsome man. If this was Alex, it was not surprising that he was loved by women. She followed his eyes, and nodded for the second time that day. ‘Yes, that’s Alex,’ she said.

‘Do you mind if we borrow the picture?’ asked Eliot.

She gave it to him without a word.

‘Is there anything more you’d like to tell us about Mr Forley?’ Eliot asked. ‘Anything unusual or different?’

‘Well, recently he said he’d been feeling weak, and then he started getting headaches,’ she replied. ‘Before that, he’d never really been ill. He didn’t even have a doctor until this year. I suppose that was why he got so worried about his headaches. And he had a lot of time to think about his health. Alex had a lot of money, Inspector, and he hardly needed to work. He could afford to be lazy. Some people might call that lucky, but I wouldn’t be happy with a life like that.’

She looked impatient for a moment. Then she continued, ‘Anyway, for some reason he got the idea that there was something seriously wrong with his health. But he wouldn’t say what he thought it was. He even had some hospital tests a few weeks ago.’

‘And what did they show?’ asked Eliot.

‘I don’t know,’ she answered. ‘The results still hadn’t arrived the last time I saw him. I kept telling him that was a good sign. If they had found anything serious, they would have told him immediately.’

‘You have to wait for everything these days,’ said Eliot, thinking of the pathologist’s report. ‘Fewer and fewer people do more and more of the work. Well, we’ll need his doctor’s name and address. Do you know it?’

‘Philip Wilver,’ she said. ‘Alex had known him for years. He works in Blackheath, so when Alex needed a doctor, he was the obvious choice. He lives at 54 Pepys Road, in New Cross.’

‘That’s a long way from his work,’ said Eliot, thinking of last night’s traffic jam. ‘He couldn’t afford a house in Blackheath. He hasn’t been a doctor for very long. His family were poor, like mine. We’ve both had to fight for what we’ve got. Unlike Alex.’ She looked at the place on the desk where Forley’s photograph had been. Then she looked down. Eliot wished he could give it back to her.

‘Miss Grant,’ Eliot said gently. ‘can you think of any reason why Mr Forley might have wanted to kill himself?’

Her face lost all its colour. She looked at Eliot helplessly, and shook her head. ‘Would you like us to phone a friend for you?’ Eliot asked. ‘They could come and sit with you. We’ll wait until they arrive.’

‘Thank you, Inspector,’ she said. ‘But I’ll be all right alone.’

Eliot and Bowen said goodbye, but she did not seem to hear them. Eliot wondered if she knew she still had her coat on.