A Great Deliverance - By Elizabeth George Page 0,92

his waist, the thumb cocked into the loop of his trousers. It was quite a pose.

His wife sat in a high-backed chair, directing her mournfully apologetic gaze alternately betweeen Deborah and Barbara. Lynley and St. James, Barbara noted with satisfaction, had managed to effect a disappearance in the direction of the stone hall almost immediately after dinner, and Mrs. Burton-Thomas had dozed off noisily on a well-padded couch nearby. Barbara reflected upon the uneven quality of Mrs. Burton-Thomas's snores and decided the woman was faking it. She couldn't blame her. Hank had been holding forth for a good quarter hour.

Barbara cast a quick look at Deborah to see how she was dealing with her husband's sudden desertion of her to Hank's clutches. The other woman's face, crossed by fire and shadow, was tranquil, but when she felt Barbara's eyes on her, a mischeivous smile touched her lips for an instant. She knows perfectly well what's happening, Barbara decided, and liked Deborah for the generosity implied behind her acceptance of the fact.

As Hank was opening his mouth to continue his description of the after-dark j-u-m-p-s at Keldale Hall, Lynley and St. James rejoined them by the fire.

"Now you gotta get the pitcher here," Hank was continuing. "I go to the window two nights ago to shut out that damned screeching. Ever hear peacocks make such a ruckus, Debbie?"

"Peacocks? " Deborah asked. "Good heavens, Simon, it wasn't the baby in the abbey at all! Did you lie to me?"

"I was obviously misled," St. James replied. "It sounded remarkably like a baby to me.

Are you telling me we warded off evil for nothing?"

"Like a baby?" Hank demanded, incredulous. "You must be lost in the throes of l-u-v, Si.

That was a peacock screeching fit to beat the band." He sat down, knees spread apart, his arms resting on his chunky thighs. "So I go to the window to either shut the thing or give the old heave-ho to a shoe and kill that damn bird. I'm one helluva shot. Did I tell you that? No? Well, we got this alley in Laguna, see, where the queers hang out." He waited to see if he would once again have to explain the denizens of Laguna Beach to his audience, but they were caught in the grip of his pictorial pun. He went on happily. "And I get puhlenty of practise heaving shoes out at them, lemme tell you. Whatsay, Bean? Truth or not?"

"Truth, honey," JoJo replied. "He can hit anything," she swore to the others.

"I have no doubt," Lynley said grimly.

Hank flashed his capped teeth. "So, here I am at the window, ready to heave it, see, when what I notice is a heckuva lot more 'an some bird."

"Someone else screeching?" Lynley enquired.

"Hell no. The bird was there all right, but I got an eyefull-a something else!" He waited for them to ask what it was. There was polite silence. "Okay, okay!" He laughed. He lowered his voice. "Danny and that fella, whatsis name, Ira...Hezekiah..."

"Ezra?"

"Yep! And they are liplocked like I never s-e-e-n. Whew! "You two gonna come up for air?' I yell." He howled appreciatively.

Polite smiles all around. JoJo gazed from one face to another like a puppy eager to be loved.

"Only, this is the best part." Hank lowered his voice again. "What we got on our hands isn't Danny at all. But it's Ezra all right." He smiled triumphantly. Their complete attention was his at last.

"More brandy, Deborah?" St. James asked.

"Thank you."

Hank squirmed forward in his seat. "But he's gettin' it on with

Angelina! Can you see it?" He barked with laughter and pounded his knee. "This Ezra's busier than a rooster in a henhouse, fellas. I don't know what he's got, but he sure likes spreading it around!" He slurped at his drink. "I made a few pointed remarks to Angelina in the A.M. , but that girl is deep. Not a twitch of the e-y-e. I'm telling you, Tom, if it's action you're looking for, you oughta get yourself down here." He sighed with satisfaction and fingered his heavy gold chain. "L-u-v.

Wonderful thing, huh? Nothing messes with the mind like l-u-v. Bet you can attest to that, Si, huh?"

"I've been distraught for years," St. James acknowledged.

Hank brayed. "Cotcher heart pretty young, did she?" He pointed a knowing finger at Deborah. "After him for a while, huh?"

"Since childhood," she replied smoothly.

"Childhood? " Hank crossed the room to slosh more brandy into his glass. Mrs.

Bur-ton-Thomas snored loudly as he passed her. "You two're school