Upon a Dark Night Read Online Free Page A

not returned.
    Having the pictures taken was more of a major production than Rose expected, but she was relieved that the photographer was a woman. Jenny, in dungarees and black boots with red laces, took her work seriously enough to have come equipped with extra lighting and a tripod. Fortunately she had a chirpy style that made the business less of an ordeal. ‘I can’t tell you what a nice change it is to be snapping someone who can breathe. Most jobs I’m looking at corpses through this thing. Shall we try the full length first? In pants and bra studying the wallpaper, if you don’t mind slipping out of your things. It won’t take long.’
    Jenny thoughtfully put a chair against the door.
    ‘Okay, the back view first. Arms at your side. Fine … Now the front shot. Relax your arms, dear … My, you’re getting some prize-winning bruises there. Sure you’re not a rugby player? … Now I think we’d better do a couple without the undies, don’t you? I mean the blue bits don’t stop at your pantie-line.’
    Rose swallowed hard, stripped to her skin and was photographed unclothed in a couple of standing poses.
    ‘You can dress again now,’Jenny said. ‘I’ll tell you one thing. Whoever you are, you’re not used to flaunting it in front of a camera.’

Three
    Rarely in his police career had Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond spent so many evenings at home. He was starting to follow the plot-lines in the television soaps, a sure sign of under-employment. Even the cat, Raffles, had fitted Diamond seamlessly into its evening routine, springing onto his lap at nine-fifteen (after a last foray in the garden) and remaining there until forced to move - which did not usually take long.
    One evening when it was obvious that Raffles’ tolerance was stretched to breaking point, Stephanie Diamond remarked, ‘If you relaxed, so would he.’
    ‘But I’m not here for his benefit.’
    ‘For yours, my love. Why don’t you stroke him? He’ll purr beautifully if you encourage him. It’s been proved to reduce blood pressure.’
    He gave her a sharp look. ‘Mine?’
    ‘Well, I don’t mean the cat’s.’
    ‘Who says my blood pressure is too high?’ She knew better than to answer that. Her overweight husband hadn’t had a check-up in years. ‘I’m just saying you should unwind more. You sit there each evening as if you expect the phone to ring any moment.’
    He said offhandedly, ‘Who’s going to ring me?’
    She returned to the crossword she was doing. ‘Well, if you don’t know…’
    He placed his hand on the cat’s back, but it refused to purr. ‘I take it as a positive sign. If there’s a quiet phase at work, as there is now, we must be winning the battle. Crime prevention.’
    Stephanie said without looking up, ‘I expect they’re all too busy watering the geraniums.’
    His eyes widened.
    ‘This is Bath,’ she went on, ‘the Floral City. Nobody can spare the time to commit murders.’
    He smiled. Steph’s quirky humour had its own way of keeping a sense of proportion in their lives.
    ‘Speaking of murder,’ he said, ‘he’s killed that camellia we put in last spring.’
    “Who has?’
    ‘Raffles.’
    The cat’s ears twitched.
    ‘He goes to it every time,’ Diamond insensitively said. ‘Treats it as his personal privy.’
    Stephanie was quick to defend the cat. ‘It isn’t his fault. We made a mistake buying a camellia. They don’t like a lime soil. They grow best in acid ground.’
    ‘It is now.’
    He liked to have the last word. And she knew it was no use telling him to relax. He’d never been one for putting his feet up and watching television. Or doing the crossword. ‘How about a walk, then?’ she suggested.
    ‘But it’s dark.’
    ‘So what? Afraid we’ll get mugged or something?’
    He laughed. ‘In the Floral City?’
    ‘But this isn’t exactly the centre of Bath.’ She took the opposite line, straight-faced. ‘This is Weston. Who knows what dangers lurk out