Reckoning in Ice, page 25
‘Gil must have earned a lot of money. We had things for show, like two cars, but we never seemed to have any money to spend. Sometimes I have been two terms in arrears with school fees. I used to get desperate with Gil and all he said was that that man – he hardly ever used his name – took everything. And Gil himself – Heaven knows I tried to be on his side and help him, but I don’t think he wanted me much after we were married. The children came along and he liked the children. He stayed married mainly because of them, I suppose, and perhaps he felt that as long as he was married to me none of his other women could do much about marriage. There was nearly always some girl or other. That girl who was murdered, Caroline in his office, she had been his mistress for quite a long time. He didn’t boast, exactly. I just knew.
‘And I stayed only because of the children. They are all I have, and they are wonderful children, Mr Garston. I have dreamed sometimes of their being grown-up and perhaps of my being able to live with one of them. They liked their father, but I think in a way they saw through him. They have always been much closer to me. Now Gil is dead, and that man is dead, we can be on our own. They won’t be able to stay at their present schools, of course, and we shall have to give up this house, but we shall manage.’
I don’t know what I’d expected to hear – whatever it was, it had not quite been this. I said as gently as I could, ‘Mrs Morgan-Jones, it is not for me – or for anyone else – to attempt to judge whether you did right or wrong in sticking by your husband. You have suffered a great deal. You have spoken of your children – you must try to think only of them now. I am instructed by Mr Villeneuve to offer you the income for life which would have been yours under the company’s pension scheme had your husband died in ordinary circumstances, and I am further instructed to say that Mr Villeneuve wishes to meet all fees for your children while they remain at school. This could perhaps best be done by a capital payment to the schools concerned. If you will give me dates and details, I will do the rest. You will never need to worry about that again, at any rate.’
Then she did break down. At first she wanted to refuse the money, saying that she had done nothing to earn it, but I persuaded her to accept it for the children’s sake. As I went away from her house I confess to a feeling of primeval exultation that my fist had crashed in that oily, gloating countenance before ice became the instrument of justice.
*
The lawyers had long and fascinating complications on several fronts. The Danish authorities held an inquest on Morgan-Jones and claimed against his estate for the value of their patrol boat. As he died virtually penniless, and the money for his widow came from Mr Villeneuve, that claim could not get far. There was a similar claim against Rhys Jenkins, whose estate, at least on paper, was substantial. But how much of it was his? How much was money stolen from International Metals?
There could be no inquest on Rhys Jenkins, still less could he be brought to trial. The relevant parts of Morgan-Jones’s statement were produced at the adjourned inquest on Caroline, and I was called to say that it had been made in my presence. The coroner’s jury returned a verdict of murder against Rhys Jenkins. Paula and I had to make statements to the police on what we knew of his end, and there that file closed. It was far otherwise with the legal winding up of his affairs. He was the major shareholder in Clydach Engineering, and it was apparent, though less easy to prove, that most of the capital for that company over many years had been stolen from IM. But the Danish Navy wanted payment for its boat, and was determined to get what it could. How all this was sorted out I cannot say, for it has not been sorted out. And it may still be a matter of years before it is.
*
Paula and I spent our honeymoon, when we were able to take it, in bringing Gudrid back from Copenhagen to her own mooring on the Crouch. It was a beautiful sunny morning when we sailed from Copenhagen, the Baltic a serene blue, with little whitecaps dancing in the sun. As we cast off to go home Paula held up her hand and the sunshine sparkled on her wedding ring.
‘Do you know, Richard,’ she said, ‘this is the first time that we’ve ever really been respectable on Gudrid.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J.R.L. Anderson was an author of fourteen mystery stories and numerous works of non-fiction. He was a journalist at the Guardian for many years, before retiring to pursue his career as an author. He had a life-long interest in sailing and adventure, which results in many of his novels (as his original author biography from the 1970s puts it) ending ‘with an exciting sea chase in a small boat’.
If you enjoyed Reckoning in Ice, why not try one of our other J.R.L. Anderson titles . . .
The Nine-Spoked Wheel
A family holiday takes a dreadful turn when the Boyce family stumble upon the body of a young archaeologist crushed underneath a fallen rock.
Detective Inspector Revers declares it was murder. Dr Arbolent, the head of the excavation team that the victim worked for, says otherwise.
Then another body is found.
Another deeply suspenseful and shocking mystery by master-of-crime J.R.L. Anderson, The Nine-Spoked Wheel will keep you guessing until the very end.
Redundancy Pay
Having recently been made redundant, thirty-one year old David Grendon relocates to the coast to become a fisherman. But when a priceless gold chalice, bestowed by Sir Francis Drake, goes missing, all fingers point to the new man in town.
Fighting to clear his own name, David is joined by Elizabeth Danvers, the rector's daughter, and together they set sail to follow a suspicious group of local divers. Little do they know, there are more than just secrets hidden down in the murky depths of the sea . . .
Filled with lies, betrayal and a heart-stopping ending, J.R.L Anderson's, Redundancy Pay, will keep you guessing until the very end.
First published in Great Britain in 1971 by Victor Gollancz Ltd
This ebook edition published in 2015 by
Zaffre Publishing
80-81 Wimpole St, London, W1G 9RE
www.zaffrebooks.co.uk
Copyright © J.R.L. Anderson, 1971
The moral right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-7857-6004-4
This ebook was produced by IDSUK (Data Connection) Ltd
Zaffre Publishing is an imprint of Bonnier Publishing Fiction, a Bonnier Publishing company
www.bonnierpublishingfiction.co.uk
www.bonnierpublishing.co.uk
JRL Anderson, Reckoning in Ice
