Free Dead on Cue by Deryn Lake

belong to any fancy health club in Brighton.’
    â€˜You can join it if you want to. There’s nothing stopping you.’
    â€˜Oh no? What about the money?’
    Ekaterina shrugged carelessly. ‘Is your allowance too small? I can increase it if that is what you would like.’
    â€˜What I would like is a joint cheque book.’
    â€˜And that is what you are not going to get. I am staying in sole control of what I inherited.’
    Gerry came up close to her and thrust his face within an inch of hers. ‘I think you’re a parsimonious cow.’
    Ekaterina stared back at him without flinching. ‘Do you really?’ she said icily, and started to walk away.
    A big black hand approached her face and then, thinking better of it, just as quickly withdrew.
    â€˜You’re trash,’ said Gerry.
    â€˜Has anyone ever told you how becoming you look in those clothes,’ she answered coolly and, turning on her heel, made her way back into the main part of the manor.
    Inwardly she was seething, thinking that this was the final straw. She had been contemplating divorce for some months but always the thought of how much Gerry was going to make out of it had held her back. But now she felt she didn’t care. He could become a millionaire. It would be cheap at the price to get rid of him. For Ekaterina had not only changed in looks but also in personality. As the beautiful swan had emerged from the knives of surgeons, based in clinics throughout the world, she had at long last realized her own worth. She had felt lovely and as a result her entire life had been altered. She no longer regarded Gerry as anything other than someone who had been kind to her when she was a squinty-eyed, frightened girl. For nowadays her suspicions that he had been checking out exactly who he was marrying had multiplied. Still cold with anger she marched upstairs and slipped on some casual clothes designed for her by Valentino. Then she made up her glorious face and left the house in her snazzy sports car.
    Having nowhere in particular to drive to she found herself making her way towards Fulke Castle, soon to be the scene of her husband’s triumph. Or rather the hard work of the Odds would create the hit and he would take all the glory. Still furious, Ekaterina drove over the bridge and pulled up outside the castle.
    The moat was sapphire blue in the morning sunshine and dotted with water fowl. Black swans with red beaks swam alongside those of dazzling white plumage, and ducks and moorhens were establishing their place with noisy quacks. Getting out of her car she saw that the trees were turning a fiery red after the warm summer and realized for the first time that the castle was built on a tiny island. Staring at it closely it seemed to her that the lovely location was like the domain of the Sleeping Beauty, a fairy-tale place with a magical quality all its own. Ekaterina drew breath as a mauve balloon appeared in the sky, its basket full of people drinking champagne. One of them waved at her and she waved back.
    The oldest part of the castle was built out over the water and she noticed that up on the battlements of these ancient fortifications a distant figure was standing, surrounded by a clutch of girls of varying sizes. Ekaterina felt sure that it was Sir Rufus and she tentatively raised an arm in greeting. To her immense pleasure the man gesticulated back and indicated that she was to stay where she was. She did so, very happy all of a sudden. It took him several minutes to reach her side but when he finally arrived she saw that he was smiling broadly.
    â€˜Hello, Mrs Harlington. I didn’t expect to see you back so soon.’
    â€˜I didn’t expect to be here. But I was out for a drive and my car just led me. So I allowed it to go where it wanted.’
    â€˜Does it often do that? Take you on magical mystery tours I mean.’
    â€˜Sometimes,’ Ekaterina answered, and thought how fine