Free Something Wicked by David Roberts Page A

been telling me the doctors have prescribed fresh air.’
    There was something so frank and engaging about Kay Stammers that Edward felt himself relax. She was the sort of woman Verity liked – afraid of nothing and no one. She might be just the person to give her a new interest in life and stop her feeling as though her world had collapsed as a result of her illness.
    Edward found that it was not altogether true that Harry knew none of his neighbours. Returning to Turton House that evening, hoping to slip upstairs and have a bath before dinner without having to chat to his host, he was collared halfway up the stairs and introduced to a couple he disliked at first sight – Jack and Una Amery. He knew perfectly well who they were. Jack was the younger son of Leo Amery – a Conservative backbench MP and a strong opponent of the Prime Minister’s policy of appeasing Hitler instead of standing up to him. Edward had met him once with Winston Churchill but his son was of quite another complexion – unstable, a constant worry to his father, anti-Semitic and a strong supporter of General Franco.
    Jack had married an ‘actress’ – a prostitute in all but name – and it was his whim not to allow her to tell people that they were man and wife. She supposed it was because he was ashamed of her. Only a woman as submissive as Una could have tolerated living with him. His sexual tastes were fetishistic and perverse and he liked to treat her as his slave and humiliate her. Edward had also heard that the man was a gambler and a cheat – a few years back he had been arrested in Paris on a Greek warrant for the fraudulent purchase of diamonds in Athens. The English papers had been full of it and Leo Amery had had to bail him out at some considerable cost.
    Edward tried to look enthusiastic as they shook hands but visibly failed.
    ‘You didn’t meet each other in Tanganyika?’ Harry asked, sounding surprised. ‘Great times, eh, Jack? No one to tell us what to do and what not to do!’
    ‘What were you doing there?’ Edward asked Jack Amery, attempting to be polite.
    ‘Making a film – Jungle Skies .’
    ‘Was it ever shown? I don’t remember . . .’
    ‘No, the bastards wouldn’t pay the money they owed me so it was never finished.’ Jack turned back to Harry. ‘I say, Henley’s the bloody limit! We stopped to buy some stuff for Una. I parked my car quite legally and then I’m fined fifty pounds – I mean fifty pounds! – and threatened with prison. I ask you!’
    ‘Fifty pounds!’ Edward exclaimed.
    ‘Don’t take any notice of him,’ Una interjected. ‘He’s had over a hundred fines for motoring offences, haven’t you, darling? And it’s never his fault.’
    ‘Well, it isn’t – not this time at any rate. Look, what I wanted to say is there’s a new club opened in Maidenhead . . .’ He stopped abruptly to address Una. ‘Teddy Bear, go and get the car, will you? I’ve just got something to say to Harry.’
    Taking the hint gratefully, Edward followed Una out to the car. ‘Why does he call you Teddy Bear?’
    ‘Oh, he’s obsessed with them. His favourite teddy goes everywhere with us. He’s in the car now.’ She giggled nervously. ‘He’s quite mad, you know.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Yes, really. He thinks everyone’s out to get him. I mean, when we get home, he’ll make me get out of the car first and check there’s no one hiding in the bushes waiting to jump on him.’ She opened the glove box. ‘See?’
    It contained a revolver. She snapped it shut as Amery came out of the front door with Harry. ‘Don’t say I told you!’ she whispered urgently.
    After the car had sped off showering gravel behind it, Harry said, ‘Well, what did you think? Una’s a nice little thing, isn’t she? Wears too much make-up of course, but she’s terribly loyal.’
    ‘Where do they live?’
    ‘A place called Ditton Lodge in Maidenhead. They don’t own it. Jack has no money. They rent it off some damned