Night Fall Read Online Free Page A

together?’
    It was a possibility. A jealous husband coming home unexpectedly to find his wife in bed with another man. It had certainly happened before. But Paget still held the image of Billy Travis’s broken body in his mind’s eye, and he couldn’t see a jealous husband going to those lengths no matter how enraged he might be. ‘We don’t know, Mr Travis,’ said Paget, ‘but we’ll be doing everything in our power to find out who did this. You said Billy went to a society meeting last night? What society was that?’
    â€˜Photographic society,’ Travis said. ‘Well, they call it that, but it’s really just a bunch of people who like to get together at Ted Grayson’s house on Thurston Street. Grayson used to be one of the top photographers around here. He’s retired now, but he still keeps his hand in.’
    â€˜I’ll need his address. And that of Trudy Mason as well.’
    â€˜I can tell you where Grayson lives,’ said Travis, ‘but I don’t think it would be a good idea to go round to Trudy’s, not if Gordon’s home. But I can get her to come round here if you like. Let me give her a bell.’ Before Paget could object, Travis took a phone from his pocket and punched in a number.
    â€˜Don’t say anything about Billy’s death,’ Paget warned.
    Travis stared at him blankly for a moment, then swallowed hard and nodded. ‘Trude . . .?’ he said into the phone. ‘George. Are you alone?’ He listened for a few moments, then said, ‘Good, because I’ve got a bit of a problem and I need your help. Could you pop round here now? It’s important. Right. Good girl. See you in a few minutes then.’
    He put down the phone and looked at Molly. ‘Better go to the door to let her in,’ he instructed. ‘She only lives round the corner, so she’ll be here in a couple of minutes.’
    Trudy Mason turned out to be something of a surprise. Paget had expected her to be about the same age as Billy, but this woman had to be in her middle forties if not older. Small, a bit on the plump side, she wasn’t beautiful or even what one might call good looking, but there was a vitality about her that Paget found compelling. It was her eyes, he decided. Dark, almost mischievous eyes, and the way her mouth crinkled at the corners when she smiled. But Trudy Mason wasn’t smiling now; her eyes were red with weeping. ‘I can’t believe it,’ she said for perhaps the fifth time. ‘I mean, how could that happen to Billy?’
    â€˜That is what we’re trying to find out,’ Paget told her, ‘so tell me, when was the last time you saw Billy?’
    â€˜Thursday dinner time,’ she said promptly. ‘Saw him in the street and told him Gordon would be home for the weekend, so he’d know not to come.’
    â€˜And your husband did come home?’
    â€˜That’s right.’
    â€˜When did he arrive?’
    Trudy thought. ‘Must have been about six or maybe a bit after,’ she said. ‘He’s a long-distance lorry driver and he was just back from Antwerp yesterday afternoon. He’ll be off again come Monday.’
    â€˜He was with you all last evening?’
    â€˜That’s right.’
    â€˜Did you go out at all?’
    â€˜We went round to Gordon’s mum’s for about an hour to pick up some chutney she’d made for him. I’m not all that fond of it myself, but he loves the stuff. Takes it with him on his trips.’
    â€˜What time would that be?’
    â€˜Eight, maybe a bit later. Can’t say exactly.’
    â€˜And you stayed about an hour. Did you come straight home?’
    â€˜Stopped at the Three Crowns on the way back. Stayed till about eleven, then came home.’
    â€˜Did you or your husband go out again?’
    â€˜Not till this morning, no. He went off with his mates just before George