know; they do say about a woman scorned. I’m surprised you made that mistake.”
Mrs. Skyrme’s nostrils flared but she didn’t speak. Kim went on, “I’ve a very good chance of getting a murder charge to stick on that alone. You’re done for, I fear. Unless you cooperate.”
“But as you say, cooperation would get me killed,” Mrs. Skyrme said. “Whereas telling you that I don’t know what you’re talking about—that I’ve never heard of this Leinster, that Flora Appleby is a silly hysteric—would create plenty of time in which all sorts of things might happen. Why, you might even have an accident, just like Mr. Leinster.”
“That wouldn’t get you off the hook.”
“It would make being on the hook more entertaining.” Again Mrs. Skyrme smiled; again Kim smiled back. Will looked between them and felt goosebumps rise on his neck.
Kim pulled the bow of one of the chocolate boxes and opened it. “Lucky dip?”
“I won’t, thank you. Watching my waistline.”
Kim took a chocolate, considered it, and bit it carefully. He made an annoyed noise and dropped it on the table with a little clunk. “Hard centre.”
Another silence. Mrs. Skyrme and Kim watched each other. Will just stood there. At least in the trenches he’d known what war was being fought.
Kim spoke first. “Do you know, I think we could benefit from a frank discussion. Off the record, even. Will, would you excuse us?”
Will gave him a look, but Kim nodded, and he was the expert here. “All right. Just a second, though. Stand up please, Mrs. Skyrme.” He came over to the desk, and pulled open each drawer in turn. There was a small handgun in one, loaded. He took out the bullets, dumped them in the wastebasket, and was about to drop the gun in when Kim said, “Wipe your fingerprints off it first, old chap. You never know what a nice lady like this might do with your fingerprints on a gun.”
Mrs. Skyrme sniffed. Will did as bid. “Shout if you need me.”
“Because Lord Arthur is in so very much danger from me,” Mrs. Skyrme said sardonically.
Will ignored that and went out. He didn’t know what Kim was up to, but he was welcome to deal with Mrs. Skyrme, with her cold, clever eyes. Will preferred the kind of trouble he was trained for.
He moved into the shadows outside the office, hearing the murmur of voices but no clear words, and surveyed the great main room as best he could given the bright light from the office spilling into the darkness before him. It felt cavernous, and horribly exposed. A sniper on the top balcony could control the entire room. Lucky there weren’t any here, he reminded himself, and did not pull the Messer no matter how much he wanted a weapon in his hand.
And then he saw it. A vertical line of light, up at the far end of the higher balcony.
Had that been there before, or had it just come on? He wasn’t sure. It was bright enough to be clearly visible in the dimness and there was a faint horizontal line meeting its top. The outline of a door. Was the light behind it that of daylight, or the yellow of electricity?
As he stared, it winked out. Well, that answered that.
Will started moving. He’d have liked to run, but not on a balcony which was probably not solid enough to muffle footsteps, and certainly not through a litter of chairs and tables, which he could only see in the spilled light from the office—
He stopped. He turned.
The bloody office blinds were bloody open. He hadn’t thought to pull them, like the fool he was, so anyone looking from the top balcony would have a magnificent well-lit view of the office desk, and Mrs. Skyrme’s face, and Kim’s defenceless back.
Will swore under his breath, but if he shouted he’d give away his position, and if he went back to warn Kim now, he’d be in the wrong damn place. So he kept going, picking his way along the balcony to the spiral stairs with agonising slowness, worth it not to make a racket. He had his foot on the lowest step when he heard the soft whisper of a door opening above him.
He held his breath. Fuller—he had to assume it was him—wouldn’t be able to see him from here, but if he came down the stairs...
Fuller didn’t come down. He stood unmoving for a few very long seconds, and then started forward along the upper balcony. You