Read The Killing of Olga Klimt for Free Online

Charlie. Head over heels in love. Would walk through broken glass for him! Heaven knows what she saw in him, but there you are. I mean, if I were a girl, Charlie’s the last chap I’d set my cap at. The boy’s a sap and a damned neurotic. In addition to being a confounded nuisance.’
    ‘He is rich, I suppose? As far as I know the Eresby fortune –’
    ‘Yes, yes. That’s a circumstance not to be sneezed at, I know, but Joanie said she loved him for himself. For my part, I’ve found dealing with him to be as difficult as dealing with hunt saboteurs. As stubborn as Balaam’s ass. Have you ever had to deal with hunt saboteurs, Payne?’
    ‘No, not for some time.’
    ‘Poor Mama’s being driven out of her mind by hunt saboteurs. Those pheasant shoots at your aunt’s place were quite something, weren’t they? Shame she’s had to sell Chalfont, but that’s the way it is these days, I suppose … I’m thinking of selling myself though not before Mama kicks the bucket, perhaps. It would be unfair otherwise … Collingwood Castle’s quite something but it costs a fortune to maintain … Shall we have some fresh coffee? This new chap’s too slow – why is he so slow? I believe he’s foreign. This place is going to the dogs, the country itself is going to the dogs, wouldn’t you say?’
    ‘The coffee’s as good as ever,’ Payne said brightly. Raising his hand, he managed to attract the waiter’s attention.
    ‘One wonders for how long! Where was I? Oh yes. Apparently things between Joan and Charlie started going wrong the moment Bedaux appeared on the scene. Joan found Bedaux’s manner towards her cold and supercilious, bordering on the offensive. Bedaux made it glaringly obvious he resented her presence chez Charlie and considered her surplus to requirements. When she told Charlie about it, he said she’d imagined it.
    ‘They were on the point of tying the knot, so they gave a party at Charlie’s place, a kind of pre-engagement bash for some of their friends. Well, only hours before the party starts, Joan learns catering is to be provided by some firm she’s never heard of before and not by the people she’s recommended to Charlie. Charlie informs her it was Bedaux who did the hiring. Then the caterers arrive and they are revealed as three girlies, all of them foreign and pretty as pictures and wearing uniforms that don’t look like uniforms at all. Poor Joan says nothing but, naturally, she is frightfully upset and cross –’
    ‘There’s our coffee,’ Payne said. ‘Jealous, was she?’
    ‘Indeed she was. She told me all about it. She regards me as a kind of father figure. She said it wasn’t just the way the girlies looked, it was also the way in which they acted – trying to catch Charlie’s eye, leaning over him, letting their hands brush against his. Charlie has no head for drink. After knocking back half a glass of champagne he starts hitting on one of the girls – engages her in a conversation that goes on for some time. For quite some time. It’s obvious he has taken a fancy to her. The girl’s name is Olga Klimt.’
    ‘Olga Klimt?’
    ‘Olga Klimt. She was wearing a name tag – all three girls were. Charlie couldn’t hide the fact he fancied her madly. Couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Hands ditto. Joanie actually heard him asking Olga Klimt for her phone number. When later that night poor Joanie asked for an explanation, he denied being smitten, but from then on nothing was the same again. The long and the short of it is that he’s ditched her since and has been seeing Olga Klimt instead.’
    ‘What is she – Russian?’
    ‘Of Baltic extraction. Latvian or Lithuanian or something. I haven’t seen her but apparently she’s something pretty special to look at. A beauty of luminous, shimmering fairness, witha figure to match, Joanie described her as. Charlie has severed all links with Joanie. And not a word of explanation! At first she couldn’t believe it and she kept