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Back The Double Save as PDF
Chapters (63)
  1. 1
  2. 2
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  63. Acknowledgements

‘Diet, daily habits, medications. Potential allergens or toxins. He doesn’t keep any poisons in the garden shed that you know of?’

‘Poison?’ She shook her head, looking chastened. The mention of poison always did the trick, though she’d already let slip Vidor’s threat to exterminate the cat.

‘What about health problems. Did he ever talk about feeling unwell?’

A twitch about the eyes.

‘So you were worried about him, before his collapse?’

‘Oh, no. He was in fine shape.’ It had grown uncomfortably warm in the narrow hallway, and she pulled a tissue from her sleeve to dab her face.

When they returned to the safe ground of the kitchen, Magda’s relief was palpable. They stood awkwardly for a moment before Gessen said, ‘You’ve been very helpful, Mrs Bartosz.’ He noted the tense set of her shoulders, the nervous flick of her eyes. She was hiding something. If only he had more time, he might get her to open up, perhaps spill the secrets only a housekeeper knew. But if he didn’t leave now, he’d be late for his appointment at the college with one of Vidor’s students. Perhaps this Farzan Rahimi would be more forthcoming.

13

For such a glorious day, unusually warm for mid-November, the quadrangle at St Catharine’s College was oddly deserted. A trio of sparrows pecking at the gravel provided the only sign of life. Though not the type to yearn for idle pursuits, Gessen felt a sudden desire to hire a punt and drift down the Cam through the falling leaves and dappled sunshine.

It was far too lovely to sit inside a stuffy office and interrogate some unwitting student about the minutiae of Vidor’s life. But duty called and having stopped at the Porter’s Lodge to announce himself, he couldn’t back out now. Mr Rahimi was expecting him any moment. He checked his watch. Vidor should be in his session with Ursula now and he wondered how she was getting on. Ursula excelled at drawing out even the most obstinate patient. Under her skilled ministrations, Vidor might finally loosen the stranglehold on his thoughts.

He headed across the wide expanse of lawn to the opposite corner of the quadrangle. Inside the vast hall, he paused to breathe in the stone-cooled air, his mind flitting briefly to his own student days at the Sorbonne. A different place and time, but the cool and musty atmosphere, suffused with the weight of history, smelled oddly the same.