A Great Deliverance - By Elizabeth George Page 0,83

a lazy smile and held the door open wider. "Do come in, Inspector." She left him in the tiny entryway among the toys and the dirty clothes and strolled to the stairwell.

"Dick!" she called again. She turned, folded her arms across her breasts, and kept her eyes on Lynley. A smile played over her features. A well-formed knee and thigh showed themselves between the folds of thin satin.

There was movement above them, a man's mumbling, and Richard Gibson appeared. He clattered noisily to the bottom of the stairs and caught sight of his wife. "Jesus Christ, put on some clothes, Mad," he said.

"You didn't want them on five minutes ago," she replied, looked him over with a knowing smile, and made her way deliberately - revealing as much of her slim body as possible - up the stairs.

Gibson watched her with wry amusement. "You should see what she's like when she really wants it," he confided. "She's just teasing now."

"Ah. Yes. I see."

The farmer laughed through his nose. "At least it keeps her happy, Inspector. For a while." He scrutinised the chaos of the cottage and added, "Let's go out in front."

Lynley thought the front garden was even less appealing a place for their encounter than the malodorous cottage, but he held his tongue and followed the other man.

"Go in to your mother," Gibson ordered his two wrangling children. With his foot, he pushed the plate to the edge of the front step. In a moment, the family's mangy cat appeared from the tangle of dry and dying bushes and began to devour the remains of the eggs and toast. It was the greedy, surreptitious eating of a scavenger, and it reminded Lynley of the woman upstairs.

"I saw Roberta yesterday," he said to Gibson. The other man had sat down on the step and was lacing his work shoes tightly.

"How was she? Any improvement?"

"No. When we first met, you didn't mention the fact that you'd signed Roberta into the asylum, Mr. Gibson."

"You didn't ask, Inspector." He finished with the boots and got to his feet. "Did you expect me to leave her with the police in Richmond?"

"Not especially. Have you arranged for a solicitor as well?"

Gibson, Lynley saw, wasn't a man who expected the police to concern themselves with the legal representation of confessed murderesses. The question surprised him. His eyelids quivered and he spent a moment tucking his flannel shirt into his blue jeans. He took his time about answering.

"A solicitor? No."

"Intriguing that you'd make arrangements to have her put into hospital but not make arrangements for her legal interests. Convenient as well, wouldn't you say?"

A muscle worked in Gibson's jaw. "No, I wouldn't say."

"Can you explain yourself, then?"

"I don't think I need to explain myself to you," Gibson said tersely. "But it seems to me that Bobby's mental problems were a wee bit more pressing than her legal ones." His swarthy skin had darkened.

"Indeed. And if she's found incompetent to stand trial - as no doubt she will be - you're in a good position, aren't you?"

Gibson faced him. "By God, I am, yes," he retorted angrily. "Free to take the damn farm, free to have the damn house, free to screw my damn wife on the dining room table if I want. And all without Bobby hulking about. That's what you want to hear, isn't it, Inspector?" He thrust his face forward belligerently, but when Lynley offered no reaction to this aggression, he backed away. His words, however, were no less angry. "I've just about had it with people believing I'd hurt Bobby, with people believing Madeline and I would be only too happy to see her put away for life. You think I don't know that's what everyone believes? You think Madeline doesn't know it?" He laughed bitterly. "No, I didn't get her a solicitor. I got one myself. And if I can get her certified mentally incompetent, I intend to do so. Do you think that's worse than seeing she ends up in prison?"

"So you think she did kill her father?" Lynley asked.

Gibson's shoulders sagged. "I don't know what to think. All I know is Bobby's not the same girl that I knew when I left Keldale.

That girl wouldn't have hurt a fly. But this new girl...she's a stranger."

"Perhaps that has to do with Gillian's disappearance."

"Gillian? " Gibson laughed incredulously. "I'd say Gilly's leaving was a relief to all concerned."

"Why?"

"Let's just say Gilly was advanced for her years, shall we?" He glanced back at the