A Meeting of Minds (25 page)

Authors: Clare Curzon

BOOK: A Meeting of Minds

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âAnd Vanessa wouldn't have stood for blackmail. She had
to be the heroine every time, not the pathetic fool,' Yeadings considered. âIn her precarious mental state that could have been aggravation enough. So can we assume she lay in wait for Wormsley coming home, then struck him with some heavy object as he went to open his door? She'd resorted to violence once before and got away with it. It's said to be easier the second time around. Her clothes would have been splashed with blood. We'll see what comes to light in her apartment.'

From a distance Yeadings watched the SOCO team at work. Vanessa's fingerprints on Wormsley's key-ring had appeared to confirm his theory. She couldn't find the photos and negatives on his unconscious body, and she couldn't get to them in his flat because of his secondary electronic entry system. Whether the single blow was meant to kill or stupefy was left to supposition, but in that way Vanessa Winter committed her second murder. If she hadn't jumped when she did that last evening, she'd have ended locked up for the rest of her life.

The final piece of jigsaw that condemned her was discovered in a black plastic bag in her waste bin: a foot-high bronze statuette of a figure Yeadings recognized as The Dancing Faun. It had previously stood on a walnut side table in her drawing-room.

There had been no attempt to wash off the blood, nor from the dress it was wrapped in. Again the photocopied fingerprints taken from her corpse were used to identify the smears on the figure's base.

âSo all's well that â¦' Z began on a cynical note. She was interrupted by the Boss's mobile phone that twittered from an inner pocket. She moved discreetly away while he took the message. When he came back towards them his face was creased in a broad smile. âThat was Angus, all the way from Kosovo,' he said happily.

âIs he coming back?'

âFor a short leave. The message kept breaking up but I thought he said something about â '

âAbout what?' she demanded, impatient to see Mott's return and the uncouth DI Salmon displaced.

âCould it possibly be â a
wedding?'
he said uncertainly. âI think Paula must eventually have given in.'

A MEETING OF MINDS. Copyright Â© 2003 by Clare Curzon. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin's Press.

www.minotaurbooks.com

First published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby Limited

eISBN 9781466823457

First eBook Edition : June 2012

EAN 978-0312-31874-1

First U.S. Edition: August 2004