False Diamond--An Abbot Agency Mystery (2 page)

BOOK: False Diamond--An Abbot Agency Mystery
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Bea stiffened in her chair. Did Max need money? Really? Could it be true? How did this harridan know?

‘It is clear we need you to save Holland and Butcher.'

Bea pushed back her chair. ‘No.'

Sybil Holland grinned. ‘Of course, you'll take some persuading, but you'll come round in the end. I like your style. You and I between us can sort this mess out, quietly and efficiently.'

Bea thought fast. Could Max really have got himself into a financial mess with H & B? When that firm had begun to make serious overtures to Bea concerning a merger, it was he who had arranged for Bea to dine out with Benton – the newly appointed managing director – and his wife Dilys. Max and Benton had sat next to one another, detailing Dilys off to entertain Bea. A bad move, as it was Bea who owned and ran the agency while Max merely swanned around being an important personage. Important in his own estimation, anyway.

What had Max hoped to gain by introducing them to one another? Well, Max had been aiming for non-executive but well-paid directorships in both concerns. Max could talk big. Benton could talk big. Benton had a loud, braying laugh, which had made Bea shudder. Further observation had caused her to conclude that he was a Johnny-cum-lately: a backslapping, heavily-tipping, fully paid-up member of the chauvinist brigade. He'd ignored Bea and his wife throughout in order to discuss plans for a projected merger with Max.

Bea had been left to make conversation with his wife Dilys, who gave the impression of being a naive child, married too young to know what she was doing, and discouraged from thinking for herself ever since.

Something else of importance had happened that evening: Bea had gone down with food poisoning, and Dilys had been kind to her. Now that was the sort of thing which people remembered. Bea felt she owed Dilys something in return.

The girl shot a look at Bea from under shaggy eyebrows.

The child seems terrified! Why?

The mink coat lit another cigarette from her first and ground out the stub in the empty cup on Bea's desk. ‘I admit I wouldn't have chosen to introduce myself to you with a naughty child in tow, but she seemed to have formed a good opinion of your abilities. So, when she starting having hysterics in the restaurant, I thought we'd give you a chance to show what you're made of. If you will accompany the silly girl along to the nearest reputable jeweller, ask for an appraisal and stand by her when she faints at the verdict, she'll have to believe us.'

Bea didn't know whether to be amused or indignant. ‘The agency employs people who would be happy to—'

‘The less outsiders know about this the better.' She looked at her watch, which was tiny and studded with more diamonds. Naturally. ‘She's got to be home by four to fetch the children from school and prepare something for supper. Let's get this business dealt with here and now. Then she'll have to admit she's married a wrong 'un, and we can take steps to rectify the damage.'

Rectify the damage?
This was the sort of woman who, during the French Revolution, whiled away the time on the steps of the guillotine by knitting.

Dilys wailed, and hiccuped. ‘No, hic, no! He loves me! I won't go with you!'

‘Benton,' said the mink coat, investing the word with the disdain of an aristocrat dealing with a turd deposited on the carpet by a visitor's dog, ‘does not deserve consideration. He has foisted himself on to our family by fraud and, now that he has been found out, must be disposed of without delay.'

‘He's my husband!'

‘Who got you pregnant as a way to climb the ladder.'

‘He loves me!'

‘Humph!'

Bea shut down her computer and extended her hand to Dilys. ‘Come. You'll want to visit the cloakroom and get yourself cleaned up, won't you?' To Sybil, ‘Forgive us if we disappear for a while. I'll have a cup of tea sent in to you, shall I?'

Dilys put her hand in Bea's with the trust of a small child being rescued from a bully in the playground.

As they passed through the busy office, Bea smiled and nodded to Carrie, signalling that everything was under control. ‘Tea for our guests, Carrie?'

Dilys was limping. The girl was wearing high-heeled boots which made walking difficult. Her black coat with a fake fur collar was not new and was too large for her. She'd probably bought it when she was pregnant. Underneath she wore a pink blouse which didn't fit properly, over black trousers which sagged around her bottom. Nothing was new and everything looked well worn, which made Bea wonder how much money Benton gave his wife for a dress allowance.

Dilys had worn a rather fussy, costly dress to the restaurant when they'd first met, but that hadn't been new, either. The girl had probably donned her best bib and tucker today to have lunch with her formidable aunt, and she had been hit with a piledriver instead of a custard pie.

Bea ushered Dilys into the cloakroom and said, ‘When you've tidied yourself up we can have a talk, privately, just you and me.' Bea shut the door on Dilys and went to check whether or not Maggie's office was free. Maggie was not only Bea's sort-of adopted daughter, but also a project manager much in demand. Fortunately, she was out that afternoon. Good. Bea wanted to talk to Dilys in private and without interruption.

Dilys reappeared, with her coat over her arm. Not limping.

Bea ushered her into Maggie's office and showed her to a seat. ‘Milk and sugar in your tea? Did you get to finish your lunch before the sky fell on you?'

The child sat, wary, wide-eyed. ‘I wasn't hungry.' A tiny voice, barely audible.

Bea handed her a cup of tea and indicated the biscuit tin. ‘You hid the ring in your boot? It must have been painful to walk on.'

Dilys twitched a smile. ‘Yes, it was.'

‘May I see it?'

Dilys placed it on the table. Bea gave it a cursory glance and decided the old terror next door knew what she'd been talking about. The colour was wrong. The cut was flashy but didn't convince. Zircon, definitely.

‘Did you want a diamond for an engagement ring? Personally, diamond rings make my hands look dirty. I prefer sapphires.'

Dilys wriggled. ‘Daddy introduced Ben to a jeweller friend of his and arranged for him to buy me a diamond ring. And he did. It was a beauty.'

Past tense.
Was
a beauty.

‘You call your husband “Ben”?'

‘His full name is Benjamin Benton, but most people just call him Benton.'

‘You were not consulted about the ring?'

‘No, it was a lovely surprise.'

‘And a relief, too, if you were already pregnant?'

The girl ducked her head.

Bea wondered if the girl had been consulted about her options at that stage, either. As the aged Mr Holland's only child, she could have had the baby and been well looked after, without being pushed into marrying a man of doubtful quality.

Dilys breathed, ‘He loved me to distraction. He begged me to marry him. He went down on one knee. It was wonderful. I'd never thought such a thing would ever happen to me.'

Bea diagnosed a terminal lack of self-worth. ‘Your father was pleased?'

‘Oh yes. Ben was head salesman of the company and it was as if it were meant. Daddy bought us the sweetest little town house and we had a lovely wedding at our country place, but we didn't go abroad for a honeymoon because I was being sick all the time.'

Bea could see it all. The men arranged everything to their satisfaction, and the girl – pregnancy sick and immature for her age – had gone along with it. ‘When did you first notice something was wrong with the ring?'

A wriggle. ‘Nothing's wrong with it.'

‘Dilys, I can't help you if you don't come clean. Of course you noticed. Most young brides wear their engagement ring all the time—'

‘Well, I didn't because I was being sick so much. I was worried about it slipping off my finger and going down the sink.'

‘Let me guess. Ben said he'd get it altered for a better fit for you, but when it was returned from the jewellers you didn't wear it then, either, because it felt and looked slightly different.'

The girl recited, ‘He loves me, he only thinks of what's best for me.'

Bea sighed. ‘You keep saying that he loves you, but you don't say that you love him.'

A tinge of colour. ‘Of course I do.' The wide eyes became wider. Terror loomed.

Bea said, in her softest tone, ‘You're afraid of him. Does he hit you?'

‘No, no, no!' Tears threatened. ‘Of course not.'

A lie? ‘Then what are you afraid of?'

‘Nothing. He's just … He can be very sharp. If he knew that I'd let you see the ring, that you were trying to make me say awful things about him … I really do love him. Of course I do.'

‘But …?'

Dilys gulped. ‘It's not his fault. It's mine. He gets frustrated because I'm so stupid. I need to understand how silly I've been, so that I don't show him up in front of other people.'

‘He criticizes you?'

‘It's for my own good. I mean, I knew the business wasn't doing so well, and I thought that I might be able to help, because I used to go into the office and help out before I was married, but he made me see I'd be worse than useless.'

Ouch. Bea held on to her temper. She wanted to slap someone, and that someone wasn't Dilys. ‘How is he with the children?'

‘Oh, fine. At least, with the boys. They're so like him, take after him, he's so proud of them, you wouldn't believe how much he indulges them.'

‘I seem to remember you have a little girl as well.'

‘My little girl is like me, a bit stupid, you know? But he only tells her off for her own good.'

‘Does he criticize you both in front of the boys?'

Dilys wrung her hands. ‘The boys understand how silly we are. It's all in good part. They laugh, he tells them to laugh, and I don't like it much, but … I wish I were dead.' Dilys hung her head. Her arms went around her shoulders. Her hair hung over her face.

‘Your dying won't help your children.'

‘That's what I keep telling myself. I have to learn how to be a better wife and mother, I have to be honest with myself, and when I've done something awful, I must apologize and try to do better.' The girl's tears overflowed once more.

Bea was silent. Sybil's instincts were correct. Benton was a turd of the first water. Could you have a
turd
of the first water? No, that was for diamonds, wasn't it? Oh, forget it. ‘Assuming that he did substitute a fake for the original diamond, have you any idea what he did with the money? Another woman?'

Dilys mumbled into her hankie. ‘No, no! He wouldn't! He loves me.'

‘Gambling debts?'

‘Oh, no! How could you think that!' She seemed genuinely shocked at the idea.

It must have been another woman, then. Dilys would have guessed as soon as it happened, but not dared to do anything about it. She had no brothers, her father was a broken reed and her husband was a bully. What's more, Benton was now managing director of the firm which provided them all with a living.

All Dilys had on her side was an aunt. And what an aunt! Dilys ought to be grateful to Sybil, but probably wasn't.

Bea wondered what sort of mistress would have taken Benton's fancy. Someone blonde and full-bodied. A total opposite to the dumpy, badly-presented little girl he'd seduced and married.

‘He took the money from the diamond and gave it to his mistress?'

Dilys blew her nose. ‘You don't understand. It was a boy-girl thing from before we were married. He stopped seeing her when he met me but she'd got into debt and he wanted to help her out, so … Anyway, he told me all about it when I noticed about the ring, which I did straight away, and he said it was all right because everything he had was mine, and mine was his, and it had got him out of a terrible hole. Of course, I understood how it had been, and we agreed never to mention it again.'

‘How do you know the affair's not still going on?'

‘She died.'

‘Really?'

‘Oh, yes. She was run over late at night soon after that – in the October, just one year after we were married – in a quiet cul de sac. He was so shocked. He told me the next day, just gave me the facts, couldn't talk about it. He said he wasn't going to think any more about it and I shouldn't, either. He's very sensitive, you see. I have to remember that.'

‘Of course,' said Bea, not believing a word of it. ‘Now, shall we go and get that ring appraised?'

TWO

‘W
e can't!' said Dilys, delving into her handbag with fingers that shook. Trying to find a hankie?

‘Watch me!' said Bea, pushing a box of tissues towards the girl.

‘You don't understand. I can't upset things or we'll all be ruined. Auntie—'

‘What about Auntie?' said that redoubtable female, entering the room. Dilys stifled a scream. ‘I'm bored, hanging around, waiting for you to see sense. Are you ready to have the ring appraised yet? Mrs Abbot, I was sure I could rely on you.'

Dilys said, ‘Auntie, you startled me! We mustn't do anything to upset Ben or we'll all be out on the street.'

‘Tell that to the birds!' The mink coat seated herself on a typing chair. She'd been followed in by the man in the shadows, but he still didn't seem interested in taking a hand in the game.

Dilys took a tissue and began to shred it. ‘Daddy gave Ben some shares in the company when we got married. And he asked me to give him mine for his last birthday, to add to those he already had. So I did.'

‘What!' Sybil Holland's face paled under the make-up. The blusher on her cheeks stood out by contrast.

‘Yes,' whispered Dilys. ‘So you see, Ben can't be touched. Daddy will always support Ben, you know that he will, and now he can outvote you so there's nothing you can do about it. I'm so afraid that if Ben gets bored with me, he'll sue me for divorce, and we'd lose our house and have to take the children away from their schools and live in a rented flat somewhere, and I'd have to go out to work which I know I wouldn't be any good at, and then the children would run wild and get into trouble and end up in prison and I can't bear the thought of it.'

BOOK: False Diamond--An Abbot Agency Mystery
8.94Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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