Free This United State by Colin Forbes

voice she recognized. Strangeways.
    'Who the hell is it?'
    'Paula Grey. I have Mr Tweed with me. We understood you—'
    'Enter.'
    'The gates are closed.'
    'Use your eyes.'
    She caught sight of movement. The large gates were opening inwards. She ran to the car, jumped into her seat. Tweed immediately drove forward at a slow pace. Behind them the gates closed, making no sound.
    'Hinges must be well oiled,' Tweed remarked.
    Their tyres crunched on the gravel surface. High banks of rhododendron bushes masked any view on both sides. Paula was experiencing a feeling of claustrophobia - shut away from the outside world like the approach to a monastery where the monks had an evil reputation. At the end of the gently curving drive crouched the house, an ancient mansion, three storeys high and dormer windows in the mansard roof, round like ports for cannons. The style of the mansion was Gothic, grim, its dark stone bleak. Gargoyles leered down at them below the turrets flanking each end of the house.
    'Strangeways himself answered me,' Paula recalled. 'He sounded strange - no pun intended. Like a bear with a sore head. When I sat next to him at that dinner he was charming. Amiable and jokey.'
    'Interesting.'
    She realized Tweed was only half-listening to her. He was peering up at the right-hand turret. He parked the car at the foot of a wide flight of old stone steps leading up to a balustraded terrace. As he locked the car Tweed again looked up at the turret.
    'What a ghastly place to live,' Paula whispered.
    'You have to remember Strangeways spent twenty years in the army as a young man before he went into business. Prior to that he was at a public school. That sort of background does not make you aware of your surroundings. You take no interest in taste or comfort.'
    A heavy front door opened as they reached it. Framed in the doorway was Strangeways. Five foot ten tall, well built, his fleshy face was red, his nose like a hawk's, the eyes dark and forbidding, his mouth tight-lipped above an aggressive jaw. Grey-haired, he sported a trim moustache, stood ramrod erect and was wearing a blue business suit.
    'You're late,' he rapped out.
    'We're on time. Your watch must be wrong,' Tweed said mildly.
    'I pride myself on punctuality,' Strangeways barked. 'An old army habit.'
    'My watch is an Accurist. Greenwich mean time. Better buy one for yourself,' Tweed rapped back. 'Are we going to stand out here all afternoon in the cold?'
    'Of course not. Please do come in.' Their host's manner had mellowed. As he closed the door he lowered his voice. 'My apologies to you both, but my wretched son turned up out of the blue. I'll introduce you, then tell him to push off...'
    They followed Strangeways across a large stark hall with woodblock flooring. The only furniture was a large ugly oak chest stood against one wall. No pictures. Strangeways opened a door into a large room, again without a carpet or rugs. Close to the left-hand wall was a plain desk supporting an outsize globe and behind it a map of the world. A heavy oak table occupied the middle of the room and the chairs which surrounded it were hard-backed and looked uncomfortable to Paula. The interior of the house reminded her of a prison.
    'This is my son, Rupert,' their host said without enthusiasm.
    Sprawled on a couch was a man of about thirty. He wore riding kit with jodhpurs thrust inside gleaming knee-length boots. His right hand held a riding crop which he was tapping against his thigh. His boots were resting on the end of the couch.
    'Get those damned boots off the furniture,' Strangeways growled. 'This is a friend of mine with his assistant, Paula.'
    Rupert took his time about planting his boots on the floor. He stood up, five feet eight inches tall, a slim man, his jet-black hair neatly trimmed. He had his father's hawkish nose, his dark eyes alert, and a foxy chin, and he surveyed Paula insolently. She bridled inwardly as he slowly took in her legs, higher up her body and then her