Bolt - By Dick Francis Page 0,86

him things like that,’ Beatrice said fiercely.‘He wanted to know the least little thing, every time. He asked what was happening … he said as it was important to me for him to succeed, I should help him with details, any details, however tiny.’

I said, in Litsi’s unprovoking manner,‘To what extent was it important to you, Mrs Bunt?’

She was provoked all the same: glared at me and didn’t answer.

Litsi rephrased the question,‘Did Henri promise you … perhaps a nice present … if he succeeded?’

Beatrice looked uncertainly at the princess, whose gaze was on the hands on her lap, whose face was severe. No blandishments on earth would have induced her to spy comprehensively for her host’s, her brother’s enemy, and she was trying hard, I imagined, not to show open disgust.

To Litsi, Beatrice said, self-excusingly,‘I have the de Brescou trust fund, of course, but it’s expensive to keep one’s position in Palm Beach. My soirees, you know, just for fifty dear friends … nothing large … and my servants, just a married couple … are barely enough, and Henri said … Henri promised …’ She paused doubtfully.

’A million dollars?’ Litsi suggested.

’No, no,’ she protested,‘not so much. He said when the pistols were in production and when he’d made his first good arms deal, which would be in under a year, he thought, he would send a gift of two hundred and fifty thousand … and a hundred thousand each year afterwards for three years. Not so very much … but it would have made a useful difference to me, you see.’

A soirée for a hundred, I thought sardonically. A small rise in status among the comfortably rich. More than half a million dollars overall. One could see the difference with clarity.

‘I didn’t see any wrong in trying to persuade Roland,’ she said.‘When I came over here I was certain I could do it, and have Henri’s lovely money to spend afterwards.’

’Did he give you a written contract?’ I asked.

’No, of course not,’ she said, forgetting she was speaking to me,‘but he promised. He’s a gentleman.’

Even she, once she’d said it, could see that although Nan-terre was many things from an aristocrat to an entrepreneur, a gentleman he was not.

’He promised,’ she reiterated.

Beatrice seemed to be feeling better about things, as if full confession excused the sin.

I was anxious to know how much information she’d passed on before the dawn of realisation and the consequent change of heart: a lot of good plans had gone down the drain if she hadn’t relayed what we’d wanted.

’Mrs Bunt,’ I said diffidently,‘if Henri Nanterre told you he was going to get rid of the jockey, did he say how? Or perhaps when? Or where?’

’No, he didn’t,’ she said promptly, looking at me with disfavour.

’But did you perhaps tell him where I’d be going, and when, in the way you told him about Danielle and Litsi?’

She simply stared at me. Litsi, understanding what I wanted to know, said,‘Beatrice, if you’ve told Nanterre where Kit might be vulnerable, you must tell us now, seriously you must.’

She looked at him defensively.‘It’s because of him,’ she meant me,‘that Roland hasn’t agreed to Henri’s plans. Roland told me so. So did he.’ She jerked her head in my direction.‘He said it straight out at dinner … you heard him … that while he was here, Roland wouldn’t sign. He has so much power … you all do what he says … If he hadn’t been here, Henri said, it would all have been settled on the very first day, even before I got here. Everything’s his fault. It was he who drove Henri to do all those awful things. It’s because of him that I probably won’t get my money. So when Henri asked me if I could find out when and where the jockey would be alone … well… I said I would … and I was glad to!’

‘Aunt Beatrice!’ Danielle exclaimed.‘How could you?’

‘He has my room,’ Beatrice said explosively.‘My room!’

There was a small intense silence. Then I said mildly,‘If you’d tell us what you told Henri Nanterre, then I wouldn’t go there … wherever.’

’You must tell us,’ the princess said vehemently.‘If any harm comes to Kit because of you, Beatrice, you will never be received again either in this house or in the château.’

Beatrice looked stunned by this direst of threats.

’Moreover,’ Litsi said in a tone loaded with strength,‘you are not my sister, my sister-in-law or my aunt. I have no family feeling for you. You gave