Читать книгу Murder in the Museum - Simon Brett - Страница 9

‘Is this Carole Seddon?’

‘Yes.’ She was slightly mystified, trying to think who she knew with an American accent.

‘Oh, hi. My name is Professor Marla Teischbaum.’

Carole was caught on the hop. She should have been prepared for a phone call like this. As it was, she couldn’t think of anything to say.

‘From the University of California. Berkeley.’ But the voice wasn’t Californian; it carried the nasal twang of New York. ‘You probably know my name.’

‘No, I don’t think I’ve . . .’

‘Then you’re the only Bracketts Trustee who doesn’t.’

Carole felt like a naughty schoolchild, caught out in her instinctive lie. She was normally better in control of herself, but the American’s forceful directness flustered her.

‘Oh yes,’ she said feebly. ‘Professor Teischbaum. Now you’ve put yourself in context, I know exactly who you are.’

‘I’m writing a biography of Esmond Chadleigh . . .’

‘I know that too.’

‘ . . . and I’d like for us to meet.’

Again Carole was uncharacteristically tentative in her reaction. ‘Well, I’m not sure . . .’

‘Listen, I know the official line on this. All you Trustees have been told about this crass American vampire who’s out to suck the lifeblood out of Esmond Chadleigh’s reputation . . .’

‘It wasn’t quite put like that.’

‘No, but basically you’ve been told you mustn’t talk to me. And I thought – because, if you like, I’m American and pushy – why should I just accept that? Why don’t I talk to the Trustees individually, and maybe explain what my agenda is on Esmond Chadleigh, and who knows . . . some of you might realize I’m not the monster I’ve been painted.’

‘I really don’t think I should talk,’ Carole floundered on. ‘Apart from anything else, I’m a very new Trustee. I don’t know much about the Bracketts set-up. And I’m certainly not a literary person, so I’m afraid my knowledge of Esmond Chadleigh is—’

‘All I’m asking is: could we meet, have a chat? I’m still going to do my biography if I get no co-operation at all from the Chadleigh family or the Trustees, but establishing a dialogue would seem to me to be a more civilized approach to the situation. I object to being branded as a muck-raking mischief-maker by people who’ve never met me.’

‘Well, I can see you have a point, but—’

‘Listen, Carole, I’d like to talk to you. Think about it for twenty-four hours. I’ll call you tomorrow. Tuesday. Goodbye.’

And the connection was broken. Carole thought of all the more assertive things she should have said during the conversation.

Immediately she rang the number of the Bracketts Administrative Office. ‘Gina, I’ve just had this Professor Marla Teischbaum on the phone.’

‘You too.’

‘She’s working through Trustees then, is she?’

‘Oh yes. Started at the top with Lord Beniston.’

‘Presumably no one’s told her anything?’

‘No.’

‘And presumably you want me to clam up too?’

‘Well, actually,’ said Gina, to Carole’s considerable surprise, ‘I’m not sure.’

‘Really?’

‘She won’t go away. I had her on the phone for an hour yesterday. Marla Teischbaum’s a tenacious woman. I think maybe we should chuck her something.’

‘In the same way you chuck a bit of meat to a circling shark?’

‘In exactly that way, yes.’ The Director made a decision. ‘Fix to see her, Carole.’

‘But I know virtually nothing about Esmond Chadleigh. Of all the Trustees, I’m the newest and the most ignorant.’ There was a silence, which Carole filled in, ‘Which is exactly why you want me to talk to her, isn’t it?’

‘Spot on.’

‘I’m not sure I like the idea of—’

‘I’ll get a pack of stuff together for you. Some biographical articles and what-have-you, photocopies of some of Esmond Chadleigh’s correspondence . . .’

‘Though none of the important stuff?’

‘Of course not. If Bracketts and its Trustees are positively antagonistic to Professor Teischbaum, we’ll make an enemy of her. This way we maintain cordial relations . . .’

‘And really give her no help at all?’

‘That’s it, Carole. Excellent. The Trustees have appointed you to liaise with her.’

‘No, they haven’t. You have.’

‘Professor Teischbaum doesn’t know that. All requests for information about Esmond Chadleigh and Bracketts must be channelled through you. And we solve our immediate problem very neatly.’

Carole was getting a bit sick of being steamrollered by dominant women. Her own character was strong too, and it was about time she asserted it.

‘I think that’s a bad idea, Gina. I’m sorry, I’m not going to do it.’

‘Oh, please.’ There was genuine entreaty in the young woman’s voice. ‘Please, you must.’

‘Why?’

‘Because if you don’t . . .’ Gina Locke sounded young and distinctly vulnerable.

‘What’ll happen?’

‘Sheila Cartwright will do it. She said, if the Trustees didn’t appoint a spokesman today, she’d talk to Professor Marla Teischbaum herself.’

And Carole Seddon realized she wasn’t the only one being steamrollered by dominant women.

‘So what about the dead body?’ she asked, effectively conceding that she would take the role appointed for her. ‘What’s the Trustees’ official line on that?’

‘I don’t think you’ll need an official line on that. It’s all still under wraps. Nobody except the people who witnessed the discovery and the police know anything about it.’

‘But it can’t stay that way for long. The press are going to get hold of the story soon.’

‘Hasn’t happened yet. Sheila’s influence with the Chief Constable really seems to be working.’ Even a sworn enemy like Gina couldn’t completely exclude admiration from her tone.

‘You haven’t even told the other Trustees about the body?’

‘I told Lord Beniston. Couldn’t avoid that. But he, with his military background, said the information should be spread on a strictly “need-to-know” basis. At the moment, in his view, none of the other Trustees do “need to know”. Which, I must say, is a great relief for me.’

‘Oh?’ Carole picked up the potential lapse of professionalism in Gina’s words. Was the Director about to say something else diminishing about her esteemed Trustees?

She was, but she couched it in relatively diplomatic terms. ‘It’s Graham Chadleigh-Bewes. He’d be on the phone instantly if he knew about it.’

‘For a long conversation?’

‘There is no such thing as a short conversation with Graham. In fact there’s hardly such a thing as a conversation. His favoured method of communication is the long monologue.’

‘So at least you’ve escaped that.’

‘On the subject of the skeleton, yes. Don’t worry, though, he’ll be on about something else before the day is out. Phone calls from Graham Chadleigh-Bewes are one of the drawbacks of my position here. Unfortunately,’ Gina said ruefully, ‘they weren’t mentioned in the job description.’

‘Or you might not have applied?’

‘Oh no, I’d still have applied.’ There was a new grit in the Director’s voice. ‘I’m going to make Bracketts work . . . in spite of any obstacles that may currently be in my way.’

‘Right, so, going back to my position on the skeleton, you’re pretty sure Professor Teischbaum won’t know anything about it?’

‘Positive. And, for heaven’s sake don’t tell her.’

‘I’m not entirely stupid,’ said Carole with some asperity.

‘Sorry. I’m just so concerned that it’s kept quiet.’

‘There won’t be any lapse of security through me.’

‘No, of course not,’ said Gina, humbled by the continuing sharpness in the voice. Carole felt a twinge of guilt for the lapse of security she’d already committed by telling Jude.

‘So,’ she asked more gently, ‘you haven’t had any information from the police? About the identity of the body, for instance?’

‘Nothing at all. As they always say – unhelpfully – “Investigations are proceeding.” I think the skeleton’s undergoing forensic examination and tests, but we haven’t been told anything definite.’

‘So there have been no developments at all on the case?’

‘None,’ said the Director.