The Inspector Walter Darriteau Murder Mysteries - Books 1-4 David Carter (autobiographies to read txt) 📖

‘Yes.’

‘I can give you an answer now.’

‘Go on.’

Luke smiled that charming smile of his, the one he flashed at the girl in the travel agency, and the sexy piece in the unisex cutters who clipped his hair, and the common girl with the big lashes and big jugs who served him his petrol, and the girl in the Indian restaurant, the same bit of skirt he would soon be on his way to see, that crushing smile that few women seemed able to resist.

‘Course I’m up for it, Jimmy, you know me. I’m mister reliable.’

‘Good boy! I’ll be in touch as soon as I get the green light.’

Jimmy tossed the dying cigarette to one side, kicked it into the wall, and walked away without looking back. Luke hurried back to the car, a zesty spring in his step. His mind was working overtime, pondering on who the target might be, as he headed south for the Red Rose Motel.

THERE WAS A DARK AND dusky maiden on the reception desk at the Red Rose. Luke smiled and winked at her. She played the ice maiden and looked away, as if it happened ten times a day, which it probably did. Luke grabbed the key and made his way through to the ground floor bedrooms. Found room fifty. Right then his favourite place on earth.

Sahira was there, just as he expected, naked on the king-size bed, her hands clasped behind her head, her body language one of longing. She stared up at him, that same deep unsmiling look she had given him the first time they’d met. There was something desperate about that look, something that Luke found irresistible.

He hurried to the side of the bed and sat down and said, ‘How much have I been looking forward to seeing you! I’ve missed you so much,’ as he clasped his hands around her head and stooped and kissed her tenderly and passionately on her ample lips.

A second later his whole demeanour changed.

She wasn’t surprised at that.

That was Luke all over.

He was such a moody guy, it was one of the reasons she liked him so much, as all the books on the subject confirmed. Sometimes you had to put up with the moodiness of a man to enjoy the passionate times he produced when the feeling took him. With a man like Luke Flowers sometimes you had to accept the friction that came with it. Sahira could do that, for she thought he was the most exciting individual who had ever cast eyes upon her. Fact was, she’d put up with almost anything to be alone with Luke. She couldn’t help herself.

He grasped her long dark hair and dragged her from the bed into the centre of the room. Hands on her shoulders, forced her to her knees.

Twenty

Walter tapped on Mrs West’s door. ‘Come!’ she said peering over the top of her slim-line designer specs. Walter shuffled in and tried a smile. ‘Take a seat, Walter. I can see there is something on your mind.’ Walter huffed and puffed and sat down. ‘Well?’ she said. ‘Is it the Swaythling case?’

‘In a way, ma’am, yes.’

‘Fire away, I’m all ears,’ and she set her fountain pen down.

‘We’ve been carrying out a surveillance operation.’

‘Oh yes, where?’

‘Across the street from the Masonic Lodge.’

She sat back in her seat, removed her pink specs and folded her arms.

‘Did you not think to keep me posted about this?’

‘You were busy, ma’am, and you said I was not to bother you with day-to-day matters.’

‘I’d hardly call that day-to-day, but I’ll let it pass. And what did you discover?’

‘That Langley Wells and his sons are members.’

‘The loan shark family?’

‘The very same.’

‘And? What else?’

‘Gerry Swaythling is a member too.’

‘So? You are not surprised at that, are you?’

‘No ma’am, not at all. The thing is, we think it was Wells who baled Swaythling out when his firm was in trouble, enabling him to dump his partner, Munro, and gain control of the business. If that was the case, it is quite possible that Swaythling is still paying off the debt. Maybe he was getting peed off by that, maybe he stopped paying, or imagined the debt had been paid off in full. Perhaps the pot-shots at Neil were a gentle reminder that their business had not been concluded after all.’

‘All possible scenarios, Walter, I grant you, but can you prove any of this?’

‘Not yet.’

‘Could one of the sons have carried out the shooting?’

‘No ma’am, the description doesn’t fit, and it’s not Langley’s style.’

‘So you think the Wells outfit hired an assassin?’

‘Maybe, yes. There are lots of desperate people out there who will do anything for a good payday.’

‘What does Swaythling have to say about it?’

‘Haven’t asked him yet.’

She gave him that schoolmarm look of hers, as if to say, why come telling me half a story, crack on and finish it, and then come and see me.

‘He’s the next call on the list, ma’am.’

‘Good. Anything else?’

‘One little thing. Your husband is a member of the Lodge.’

Mrs West smiled her cold smile.

‘Is that a statement or a question?’

‘It’s a fact, ma’am, he was photographed going in and coming out.’

‘It’s not a criminal offence, so far as I know.’

‘Course not, ma’am, just wondered if he ever said anything about the gentlemen in question.’

‘No Walter, he hasn’t, and before you say anything else, I’m not asking him either.’

‘No, course not, ma’am, I was just keeping you informed.’

She slipped her glasses back on, picked up her pen, and began reading and correcting some long report, and then she mumbled, ‘Anything else I can do for you?’

‘Nothing right now, ma’am.’

‘Good. On your way then.’

Twenty-One

Wazir Khan was born in the 1920s in a small village ten miles from the city of Calicut, the ancient capital of the state of Kerala, on the southern tip of India. He came from a good middle class family who took their Islamic religion seriously, but kept it to themselves. Wazir’s parents had always enjoyed good relations with