R Raichev - The Death of Corinne

… Mrs Charles Sweeney falls forty feet down empty lift-shaft… Was Mr Somerset Maugham a spy?… The Hon. Jessica Gerrad’s Lagonda stolen… Lady Mosley released from Holloway prison.

There were pictures cut from the Illustrated London News. They were brittle, crinkly and yellow with age. Dnshing debs: Miss Rosamund Cadogan and best friend the Hon. Anelie de Broke presented at court. Well, Corinne’s mother was exactly as Lady Grylls had described her: a proud beauty, head held high, almond-shaped eyes, dark and long-legged, wearing a most revealing dress. Lady Grylls had denigrated her own appearance, but she wasn’t bad-looking either. Somewhat on the plump side, true, but not unattractively so – she might have posed for Rubens. Lots of men liked that type, Antonia reflected. She had a lovely heart-shaped face, luxuriant blonde hair and a sweet shy smile. She had taken her horn-rimmed glasses off for the picture and was clutching them in her hand. There was something endearing about it.

Mrs George Keppel buried under cypress trees in Protestant Cemetery in Florence… Lady Docker’s jewels stolen… M. Francois-Enrique Coreille and Miss Anelie de Broke dining at the Cafe de Paris in Coventry Street. M. Francois-Enrique and Miss Rosamund (‘Ruse’) Cadogan dining at the Savoy.

Le falcon – if one had to call him that – did look devastatingly charming and was, in all probability, utterly rotten. Ruse was gazing at him in an adoring manner. She was wearing a shimmering sleeveless dress. Her arms blazed with diamond bracelets from wrist to elbow and she sported a striking brooch on her bosom: two ostriches attached, back-to-back, Siamese-twin fashion. It was the kind of brooch Mrs Simpson had favoured, Antonia thought.

Greta Garbo in England: ‘Please to leave me alone’… Lord Grylls to marry the Hon. Anelie de Broke… Where did Mrs Vicary go after the charity ball?

Antonia opened the second scrapbook. Sir Winston Churchill and new friend Aristotle Socrates Onassis. The two famous men were shown wearing yachting caps and smoking monstrously long cigars. Antonia gazed across at her husband. ‘I bet you don’t know what Onassis’s second name was?’

‘I do. Socrates. I know all sorts of silly and pointless things, I keep telling you.’

‘How many gardeners did it take to paint the roses red in Alice?’

‘Three.’

‘Is there really such a thing as “lion’s powder” or did you make that up?’

‘There is. You can get it at Harrods. You throw it in the lion’s face and the brute sneezes its head off, after which he leaves you alone. The Sardauna of Sokoto has a standing order for it… You don’t believe me? What are you looking for?’ Payne went round the table and stood beside Antonia. He took her hand and tried to kiss her on the lips. ‘I know that bloodhound look…’ He glanced down at the open scrapbook. ‘Fancy dress party at the Casanova Club: Princess Margrethe of Denmark as Red Riding Hood, Mr Dominic Elwes as American Cowboy… What would you look like,’ he murmured, ‘dressed up as Red Riding Hood?’ He put his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck.

‘I’d look ridiculous… Stop it, Hugh. What would your aunt say if she were to come in now?’

‘She would applaud. Aunt Nellie likes her males red-blooded and alpha-amorous…’

Antonia managed to turn another page. ‘There it is. I’ve found it! Couple abducted in Kenya… 13th May 1960. Monsieur and Madame Coreille -’

‘Good lord.’ Payne relaxed his embrace. ‘Affluent Anglo-French couple… Corinne’s parents. So that’s what you were looking for!’

‘Yes… Travelling on their own… Ventured into hazardous areas

… Proliferation of dangerous gangs… Several abductions already. A Dutch couple disappeared only the week before… Foreign embassies had issued warnings. The Coreilles refused the services of a local guide… Last seen leaving the Royal Mombasa hotel in hired jeep. Jeep later discovered abandoned… Ransom note delivered at hotel early next morning… Half a million dollars requested for their release… Ultimatum given – both die if demands not met… Police warned not to take action if the Coreilles are to live… Police believe threat to be serious. Previous abductions of Western tourists ending in tragedy… Coreille relatives in England and France contacted… Shocking discovery… Bodies found by passing Masai farmer -’

‘Gosh,’ Payne said quietly. ‘They didn’t wait, did they? That’s only two days later!’

‘Yes… Bodies horribly mangled – unrecognizable – severe mutilations – PM to be held… Clothes, personal items and passports in name of Monsieur and Madame Coreille – relatives in England and in France notified… The police searching for clues.’

‘What paper is that?’

‘The Evening Post.’ Antonia went on reading, ‘The late Monsieur Coreille was in the news recently in connection with an investigation conducted by French police into his affairs. As we reported earlier, large sums of money belonging to clients of the firm where he was one of the trustees had been disappearing. The total sum amounts to four hundred and ninety five thousand pounds. The investigation continues although it is doubtful whether any of the money will ever be recovered -’

Antonia looked up as the door opened. ‘Gotcha!’ Lady Grylls’s triumphant bassoon was heard. As she entered, her eyes fixed on the scrapbook in Antonia’s hands.

Lady Grylls’s face was extremely flushed and her eyes were bright behind her glasses. She appeared to be in suspiciously high spirits. ‘That young man’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant. You should have seen the way he put Peverel in his place! I didn’t hear what he told him exactly, but it knocked the wind out of Peverel’s sails good and proper. He whispered something to him. I was smoking, you see, flicking ash everywhere. As you know, Peverel always has something to say when that happens, but this time he didn’t. Dumbstruck!’

‘Did he tell you what it was he said to Peverel?’ Antonia asked.

‘No, but he promised he’d tell me later. We’d gone into Peverel’s room – part of the security checks, you know. Such fun, poking under beds and things – raising clouds of dust – we kept sneezing and coughing. I could have died of shame – made me feel like a dirty old woman!’ Lady Grylls laughed raucously. ‘I do need to have Chalfont spring-cleaned one of these days, but there’s never enough money in the kitty!’ She laughed again. ‘Who was it who said, I don’t drink to excess, I drink to everything?’

Major Payne raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you all right, darling?’

‘Of course I am all right. Never felt better. Silly question. You don’t seem to understand, Hughie. I smoked in Peverel’s room – his very private sanctum – and he didn’t say a word. Didn’t even give me one of his looks. He seemed jolly discomfited by what Andrew said to him.’

‘Andrew?’

‘You wouldn’t believe this, but Peverel ceased to be his usual superior self and became rather meek and mild, like the proverbial lamb. I’ve never seen him look like that! Never! Extraordinary. I must say I like Andrew enormously. A splendid young man.’

‘Do you mean Jonson?’

‘We can’t go on calling him Jonson. Mr Jonson is even worse. Ridiculous. By the way, I asked him to stay.’

Payne put his head to one side. ‘Darling, do correct me if I am wrong, but have you been drinking?’

‘The merest drop of Amontillado -’

‘Not Uncle Rory’s Amontillado!’

‘Don’t be a bore, Hughie. Of course it was Rory’s Amontillado. It’s more than a hundred and fifty years old -’

‘Precisely!’

‘We needed to celebrate the successful completion of the security checks and the fact we found no madman,’ Lady Grylls explained calmly. ‘Andrew had been planning to get a room at the local hotel. Those had been Corinne’s instructions, he said, but as you know the local hotel is a ghastly hole, not the kind of place where splendid young men stay, so I wouldn’t hear of it. I gave him a clean toothbrush and a pair of Rory’s pyjamas. I am sure he’ll be snug as a bug in them.’ Lady Grylls pushed her glasses up her nose. ‘Now then, Antonia. Have you found what you were looking for?’ She crossed to the table and looked down at the open scrapbook.