Simon Brett - The Stabbing in the Stables

“I’m happy to, but I didn’t do him much good last time.”

“No, but you were distracted. With Imogen around and everything. I really do think it’d be worth you having another go.”

“Okay If that’s what you want.”

“When could you come up here?”

“I thought the horses had gone back to Long Bamber.”

“Yes, most of them have. But Chieftain and Conker are still here.”

“Right. Well, I could come when you like, really…”

“This afternoon?”

After the call ended, Jude had the very firm impression that Sonia Dalrymple wanted to see her about something. And it wasn’t Chieftain.

As she walked up from the towpath towards the house, Jude surmised that she was not the only visitor that afternoon. A BMW, built on the lines of an ocean liner, stood on the gravel, and its appearance was quickly explained. As soon as she had opened the door to Jude’s ring, Sonia whispered, “Nicky’s here. He’s come back unexpectedly early from Frankfurt. He mustn’t know that you’ve come to see Chieftain.”

“Oh?”

“I’m afraid he’d be rather sceptical about the idea of healing a horse.”

“Just like my neighbour Carole. Well, look, don’t worry. I’ll just-”

“Good afternoon. I don’t think we’ve met.”

The man who stepped out of the sitting room behind Sonia moved in an aura of charm. Nicky Dalrymple was tall, dark-haired and almost unfeasibly handsome. His welcoming smile was formed by perfect teeth, and though his life seemed to be spent shuttling from one international hotel to another, he clearly spent plenty of time in those hotels’ gyms. The polo shirt, casual jacket and chinos he wore looked like a catalogue illustration. He and Sonia did make a dazzlingly attractive couple, entirely in keeping with their luxurious home and fleet of expensive cars.

“Hello, I’m Jude.” She could see the panic as Sonia searched for an alternative explanation for her arrival.

“Nicky Dalrymple.” His handshake was predictably firm and strong.

“I just popped by to talk to Sonia about a charity event I’m setting up, but I can easily call another time.” Jude had never had a problem with lying when the necessity arose.

“Nonsense. Come on in. We were just having some tea. Be easy enough to find another cup, won’t it, Sonia?”

“Yes, of course, Nicky.”

While she scuttled off to the kitchen, he led Jude into the sitting room. She had not been in this part of the house on her previous visit, but again the image was straight from the pages of an interior design magazine. The furthest wall was all glass, with a vista to a terrace, the garden-remarkably neat and sculpted for February-the paddocks, and then up towards the comforting contours of the South Downs.

Nicky Dalrymple gestured Jude towards one of the plethora of sofas.

“I gather from Sonia that you’re just back from Frankfurt.”

“Yes. A meeting didn’t last as long as it was scheduled, thank God, so I was able to get an earlier flight. Always love getting back here, but…I’m afraid what I do is very time hungry.”

“I can imagine. Banking, isn’t it?”

“In the broadest sense, yes.”

“Well, that’s a subject about which I cannot claim to know anything-and please don’t feel that you need to explain it to me.”

That prompted another of his perfect smiles. “Very well, I won’t. And what do you do…Jude-was that right?”

“Yes.” Having been tipped off about Nicky Dalrymple’s views on complementary medicine, she contented herself with, “Oh, I’m retired.”

Fortunately he didn’t have the opportunity to follow this up with questions about her past career, because Sonia came in at that moment with the required cup and saucer.

Jude commented on the beauty of the view, and some conversation ensued about the advantages of living in the Fethering area. Nicky asserted that, as soon as he got home, he felt he was shedding an accumulation of stress, like a snake discarding an old skin.

Though getting home may have had that effect on him, Jude didn’t get the impression it worked the same magic for Sonia. In the presence of her husband she seemed positively on edge, trying to anticipate his reaction to anything that was said, desperate perhaps to please. Jude received a new insight into the condition of Sonia’s marriage, and perhaps a clue to the reason why she had sought help in alternative therapy.

“I gather from Sonia that all Fethering is talking about the murder up at Long Bamber Stables.”

“Yes. Didn’t you know Walter Fleet?”

“No. Sonia does all the horsey stuff. I’m afraid I don’t have time. When we bought Chieftain I had this idea of riding him out with the hunt, but…God, life takes over, doesn’t it?” There was no doubt that Nicky Dalrymple knew how to ride. He carried an air of omnicompetence, a man who’d played all the right sports at all the right schools, and probably been captain of most of them. “Anyway, now the government’s banning hunting, that all becomes a bit academic. Perhaps we should think about getting rid of Chieftain…”

“Oh, we can’t do that,” said Sonia, shocked.

“I didn’t say we would, darling. I said we’d have to think about it.” But when he did think about it, if he decided that the horse should go, Jude knew no amount of argument would change his mind.

“Maybe the girls’ pony’s becoming surplus to requirements too.” Nicky continued. “What’s he called?”

“She. She’s called Conker,” Sonia replied, with a weary intonation that suggested her husband made a point of not remembering the name. “And we couldn’t possibly get rid of her. Alice and Laura would kill us.”

“Who knows? A bit of time at boarding school’s going to change their priorities. Entirely possible that they’ll come back for the Easter holidays without a thought of horses in their heads. They’ll probably have moved on to boy bands, or possibly”-he shuddered-“even real boys.”

“They don’t meet any real boys at that school.”

“Don’t you believe it. If they’re anything like I was at boarding school, they’ll somehow manage to arrange encounters with the opposite sex.” He laughed a man-of-the-world laugh.

“Well,” said Sonia firmly, “we’ll wait until we find out the girls’ views about Conker before we even think of getting rid of her.”

Interesting, Jude thought, how much stronger Sonia’s defence had been when her daughters’ concerns were at risk rather than her own. Chieftain was her horse, but she’d let him go if Nicky insisted. There was no way, though, that she’d let the twins be steamrollered. Jude was also getting the impression that Alice and Laura had inherited their father’s strong will, in fact that they were quite possibly right little madams. Sonia’s role in the family was that of making concessions to everyone.

Jude was also interested to note that Nicky Dalrymple was behaving as if the conversation was a kind of performance, including her in their domestic life. His ordered family circumstances were almost being paraded in front of her.

“Anyway, about this murder,” he said. “I gather from Sonia that the police have arrested someone?”

“Technically only taken someone in for questioning,” said Jude. “Some kind of itinerant horse expert called Donal.”

Nicky raised his eyebrows in the direction of his wife. “You didn’t tell me you knew the suspect’s name, darling.”

“I didn’t know it.”

Jude suspected that Sonia was lying.

“He’s not that Donal who came round once to look at the girls’ pony…erm…?”

“Conker.”

“Yes. Was it him?”

“I don’t know.” Sonia was flustered, and she looked to Jude for help. “Do you know anything more about this Donal?”