Free In the Teeth of Adversity by Marian Babson Page A

too.
    â€œSo, you see,” the Honourable Edytha continued, “ I knew him better than anyone. Especially” – her tone hardened – “better than Mr. Zayle, who’s been spreading this terrible rumour. There was a tremendous amount of jealousy there, you know. Professional jealousy. Tyler was so much better at his work than Mr. Zayle.”
    I decided to let that pass. If Tyler Meredith had convinced her that Zayle’s jealousy was for professional reasons only, it wasn’t up to me to make any enlightening remarks. I had a feeling, though, that Inspector Rennolds was going to have some very interesting moments in the not-too-distant future.
    â€œThe police are upstairs,” I said. “Investigating further.” She was entitled to know that much; she would have discovered it soon, in any case. “I think you ought to talk to them. They’ll want to know what you’ve just been telling me.”
    â€œPolice?” She looked startled, almost frightened. As though she had not followed her thought through to its logical conclusion. Perhaps she had persuaded herself that Meredith’s death had been an accident. It had been intended to look like one.
    â€œPolice ...” She drew a shaky breath. “Yes, yes, I suppose I must. It’s my duty to tell them everything.”
    â€œIt’s always the best course to take,” I said. “Telling the police everything, I mean.” I thought of all I hadn’t told them and restrained a wince. They still believed my presence here yesterday was due to a sudden toothache. For as long as possible, I intended to allow them to go on believing that. I couldn’t see that dragging Morgana Fane into the already complex proceedings would do anything but confuse the issue. Not to mention giving her grounds for a possible malpractice suit. Poor Zayle had enough problems without that.
    â€œBefore I do,” she said earnestly, “there’s something I’d like to attend to first.” She relaxed her grip on my arm and I felt the blood begin to flow again. I made a mental bet that I’d have bruises when I looked.
    â€œI’m sure that will be all right,” I agreed recklessly. It wasn’t up to me to chase Inspector Rennolds’s informants up to him.
    â€œThank you,” she said. She seemed to feel that I had given her some sort of official permission. “I just want to go up to Tyler’s flat. There are several things – keepsakes – I’d like to have. Also, a few belongings of my own I want to retrieve. Nothing that could possibly be of importance to anyone else.” The muscles of her face twitched, curling the corners of her mouth upward in a bright, unconvincing smile. She nodded graciously to me and still nodding, walked out into the hallway and started upstairs.
    We watched her go. The others in the waiting room paid no attention. There was no reason why they should. Our conversation had been carried on in a fairly discreet undertone.
    â€œYou know,” Gerry said thoughtfully, “I’m not so sure we should have let her go. Alone, that is. Suppose she removes a lot of stuff the police need for evidence. They won’t like that.”
    â€œAnd we’re not very popular with them as it is.” I saw his point. Although the Honourable Edytha probably only wanted to retrieve nothing more incriminating than a few wisps of chiffon, the police would undoubtedly prefer everything to remain where it was until they had had a chance to go over the flat.
    â€œPerhaps,” I suggested hopefully, “they’ll have sealed the flat so that no one can get in.”
    â€œI doubt it,” Gerry said. “It wasn’t the scene of the crime. In fact,” he added, “they haven’t even sealed that off. Zayle has been using it all day.”
    â€œYou think we ought to do something about it?”
    â€œEither stop her, or go and tell