Read Gently in the Sun for Free Online Page B

important.
    ‘So you took the car into Starmouth.’
    Of this he had tended proof. It had consisted of a half ticket to a show running at the Albion Pier.
    ‘That’s right. I drove straight there. You can do any check-up you like. Got in there about half-six, I did, and went and had a drink at the Majestic on the front.’
    ‘What did you do after that?’
    ‘I booked my seat for Frankie Howerd. The girl there will remember me – tell her the saucy bloke what gave her a tip. Then I strolled up the front and looked at the girls. There was a blonde bit I took into the Bodega for a drink. After the show I had a snack in oneof those caffs up Regent Road, then I picked up another bint and we did some snogging in the car.
    ‘I got back here after twelve – ask Maurice, he saw me come in. I went straight up to bed and slept through till nine o’clock. I didn’t know nothing about this lark until the maid brought in my breakfast. There isn’t nothing against me – except the fact that I once did a stretch!’
    It all came out with a rush, using practically the same words as appeared in his statement. The impression was that here Mixer was sure of his ground, that these were hard facts which would bear investigation. But why, in that case, was he frowning and sweating so much?
    Did he know that Rachel might have been alive at one a.m.?
    ‘These two women you mention – did they tell you their names?’
    ‘The blondie did. It was Marilyn Lane. She was staying at the Gwalia in Dickson Road.’
    ‘How about the other one?’
    ‘I don’t know about her. She was lit up – we both were – but not so as I couldn’t drive!’
    ‘And the name of the café?’
    ‘I don’t know that neither. There’s a score of them at least up Regent Road.’
    ‘Where did you park your car?’
    ‘For the snogging? … I drove a bit. It might have been Church Plain or somewhere round there. I was going to drive her home but she said she’d rather walk … got something else in mind, I dare say!’
    Yes, it was quite a good story as far as it went. Gently finished his shandy and set the glass on the reading-table . Mixer was watching him anxiously, handkerchief in hand. For a wide boy with a good tale shouldn’t he be worrying a little less?
    ‘So we can’t check your movements after eight-thirty that evening?’
    ‘Eh?’
    One could nearly see the sweat begin to break out in fresh rivulets.
    ‘That was the time when the second house started at the Albion. After that we’ve got nothing but your word for it, have we?’
    ‘But haven’t I just said—!’
    ‘You’ve said nothing that can be proved.’
    ‘That woman – you can find her up.’
    ‘In Starmouth? Without a name?’
    The sweat was running down into Mixer’s eyes. He had to keep dashing at it with the back of a hairy hand. His beach shirt, fresh on half-an-hour ago, was streaky and patched with dark areas of moisture.
    ‘You can’t prove it’s not the truth.’
    He made it sound like a question.
    ‘You’re picking on me, too – I’ve been inside, and that’s all that matters!’
    Gently shrugged his shoulders massively and found a seat on the table.
    ‘Just listen to what I say, and don’t bother to interrupt. This is the way Inspector Dyson sees it, and personally I don’t blame him!
    ‘Rachel Campion was your mistress and you were asjealous as sin of her. She only stuck you for your money and she was unfaithful behind your back.
    ‘At Hiverton she picked up with someone – never mind who it was. She was clever at concealing such things, and his identity doesn’t matter. But the knowledge that she had a lover was eating into you like poison: you followed her, watched her, kept an eye on everyone, and on Tuesday you had a row about it and pretended to go off in a pique.
    ‘In reality you were following a plan, and the first part of it was an alibi. For this you went into Starmouth and built up the story you’ve since told. Then you returned to spy