False Diamond--An Abbot Agency Mystery by Veronica Heley Page A

You should have seen his face!’
    Bea felt her mouth curve into a smile. ‘His research hadn’t been as thorough as yours?’
    â€˜He’s an idiot. I thought he’d brush me off and that would be the end of it, but no. After another brandy he said I must be finding life very uncomfortable, and he invited me to stay with him and Dilys. I must admit I’d envisaged a large detached house with a double garage, and guest bedrooms en suite. I thought my niece would be serving up home-cooked food and hanging on my every word. I’d never even met her children. I had nothing better to do, so I thought, why not? Just for a few days. Take them all out for a meal or something by way of payment. What he didn’t tell me was that the house is tiny, shabby, cold and uncomfortable, that the two boys are badly behaved little hooligans, and that my great niece had been moved out of her tiny bedroom to make way for me. Oh, and there’s only one bathroom for six people, though I believe there is a shower in the master bedroom.’
    His tragic expression made Bea laugh. ‘So why haven’t you moved out?’
    â€˜I ask myself that a dozen times a day. I tell myself that I am not of a sentimental disposition. I do not turn soft when confronted with stray kittens and homeless waifs. I am a hard-headed businessman who has got along very well all these years without needing any contact with my family.’
    â€˜You’re concerned about Dilys?’
    He threw up his hands. ‘The air in that house is full of cross-currents. Stinging retorts whistle past my back, morphing into smiles when I turn around. The two boys despise and taunt their mother and sister. They don’t go so far as to hit them yet. I hope. But they jostle and push them around. All this originates with Benton, of course. He tweaks the little girl’s hair. Both she and Dilys flinch when he gets close. He apologized to me for them, saying how stupid they are.
    â€˜I tell myself this has nothing to do with me, that Dilys wouldn’t thank me for trying to rescue her, that you can’t help people who are born to be victims. When Sybil dragged us along to meet you, it did occur to me that
you
could save them if you wished, though I could see that you didn’t want to. Naturally, I applauded you for that. Sensible, very.’
    â€˜But …?’
    â€˜Well, I fancy you something rotten, as you must realize. You remind me so much of my ex.’
    Bea was amused and even flattered. She told herself to be wary of a man who used the best butter so lavishly, and who had just admitted to telling a thumping lie to Benton. She repeated, ‘But …?’
    â€˜My niece was first down this morning. She switched on the toaster and got a nasty shock. It might have killed her.’
    Silence. Bea froze in mid-chew. What was it with toasters? Might she have given herself a shock when she’d fiddled with hers that morning?
    He took the last sandwich and bit into it. Poured them both out some more of the bubbly apple drink.
    Bea finished off her mouthful. ‘You think he engineered it?’ She tried to sound incredulous, and failed.
    A shrug. ‘She had to sit down. She was shaking. He was not sympathetic. He let fly with a tirade about how stupid she was with anything practical. He said he’s had to restrain her from poking into the toaster with a metal knife before now. She dissolved into tears, tried to hide them. He made her repeat after him that she was a silly little thing who ought not to be allowed out by herself. The boys almost choked with laughter. The little girl went so pale, I thought she’d vomit all over the kitchen table. Her name is Bernice, and she appears to be reasonably intelligent. Neither she nor her mother could eat any breakfast. My niece may be a silly little chit, but she doesn’t deserve what’s happening to her.’
    Bea remembered what Max had said about