Free The Cinderella Killer by Simon Brett

there the next morning.’
    At that moment their sausage and mash arrived. Lilith Greenstone asked the girl who brought them for ‘a helluva lotta mustard’, and dug into the meal like she hadn’t seen food for a month.
    When they’d got to the lip-wiping stage (which inexplicably didn’t seem to affect the perfect outline of Lilith’s painted mouth), she said, ‘So, Charles, this is some kind of musical of
Cinderella
you’re doing here?’
    â€˜It’s not exactly that. It’s a pantomime.’
    â€˜What? You mean black tights and white faces?’
    Charles thought he was about to have to go through the full explanation routine he’d done with Kenny, but fortunately Lilith didn’t seem that interested in the detail. Instead she went off at a tangent, suddenly asking, ‘Is Kenny keeping off the booze?’
    â€˜Yes, he’s being very good.’
    â€˜Firmly on the wagon?’
    â€˜Squeaky clean.’
    â€˜Huh. I pity whoever’s around when he falls off.’
    â€˜You think he will?’
    â€˜Inevitable, Charles. Sure as night follows day. An addict like Kenny never stops being an addict.’
    â€˜Well, he’s trying very hard. He’s even found out where they have AA meetings here in Eastbourne.’
    â€˜Has he?’ said Lilith. ‘Damn.’
    â€˜Why damn?’
    â€˜If he was still drinking, it’d help the character assassination my lawyers are planning for him. Drink and drugs always help when you’re building up a domestic-violence case.’
    â€˜Was there domestic violence in your marriage?’ asked Charles, a little surprised. It didn’t fit with the estimation he had formed of Kenny.
    â€˜My lawyers will say there was,’ Lilith replied complacently. ‘They’re going to throw the whole lot at him. A guy beating up on his wife while under the influence of booze or drugs – that always plays well in a courtroom.’
    â€˜But is it true?’
    â€˜Charles, Charles …’ She looked at him pityingly. ‘The allegations Kenny and I are making about each other left the truth behind months ago. Hell, the stuff Kenny’s been making up about my “cruelty” you just wouldn’t believe.’
    â€˜But your lawyers have made charges of cruelty against him as well?’
    â€˜Sure they have. They’re particularly building up the number of times he threatened me with a gun.’
    â€˜And did he?
    â€˜He liked guns. He had plenty of them. Who’s to deny that in the privacy of the marital home he didn’t threaten me with one?’ She focused her shrewd eyes on to Charles’s. ‘Has Kenny got a gun over here?’
    â€˜I wouldn’t know,’ he lied.
    â€˜I’ll bet he has. Kenny feels naked without a gun. He’ll have got Lefty Rubenstein to organize one for him. You met Lefty?’
    â€˜Yes, I have.’
    â€˜He does everything for Kenny, right down to wiping his ass.’
    â€˜Is he representing Kenny in the divorce proceedings?’
    â€˜No, but lawyers from his company are doing it. Lefty’s too busy tending to Kenny’s day-to-day demands. Which is good, because Lefty’s way ahead the brightest in his company, and Kenny’s divorce case is being looked after by incompetent underlings. Which means I’ve got far better lawyers than Kenny has. So I’m going to win.’
    â€˜How do you define “win” in a divorce?’
    â€˜Purely in financial terms. The amount of money my lawyers manage to screw out of the bastard, that’s what’ll define my success.’
    â€˜But if you’ve got such good lawyers, I don’t really see why you felt the need to fly over here to see Kenny.’
    â€˜I told you. I need to see him face to face. I’ve still got enough power over him to make him agree to my terms.’
    â€˜And if he doesn’t