False Alarm by Veronica Heley Page B

she just give up and go home?
    Well, for one thing, she couldn’t abandon Maggie. And for another, Lady Ossett was afraid of something, and that something had not disappeared with her husband’s departure.
    Bea rang the doorbell and was let into the penthouse suite.

SIX
Friday noon
    L ady O was dressed in pale blue and white today. As pretty as a picture, except that lines of strain were beginning to show around her artfully made-up blue eyes.
    â€˜Oliver left half an hour ago. You’ve taken your time, I must say.’ She turned on her heel and left Bea to hang up her coat for herself.
    A certain disarray – today’s papers scattered around, a cushion on the floor, a curtain not properly drawn back – indicated that Lady O was no longer on top of her housekeeping. Ah, her cleaner didn’t come on Fridays, did she?
    â€˜Coffee?’ The offer was made in perfunctory fashion and received as such.
    â€˜No, thank you.’
    Lady O went to the window at the far end and stood there, looking out. She fiddled with the gauzy scarf at her neck.
    Bea took a seat by the table, noting that that day’s crossword had been completed. Had Oliver helped Lady O with it today? Probably.
    â€˜I’m a bag of nerves,’ said Lady O. ‘I really can’t go on like this. You really must find me someone . . . Maggie has been so unkind, refusing to help me . . .’
    Good for Maggie.
    â€˜I asked young Oliver, but he seems to think it wouldn’t be exactly . . . I’m at my wits end.’
    Bea recognized desperation when she saw it. ‘They don’t understand the strain you’re under.’
    Lady O shot Bea a haunted glance, two parts of surprise to four of hope. ‘You know, then? I haven’t said anything. I wouldn’t. I promised Lucas I wouldn’t.’
    â€˜He thinks the wire across the stairs was arranged by someone at the corporation with the help of an accomplice who lives in this building—’
    â€˜Lucas is convinced Tariq has been helping one of his vice chairmen to incapacitate him in some way, but he won’t go public with it and Tariq’s still here because he can’t find anyone to take the tenancy off him. I told Lucas to end the contract and then he’d be rid of Tariq; but he won’t. He’s penny wise and pound foolish.’
    â€˜You don’t agree with your husband on this, do you? You think that Tariq might have been responsible for some of the incidents that have been going on here, but not for the attack on your life.’
    Lady O crumpled into a nearby chair, wringing her hands. Yes, she really did wring her hands. Bea watched with interest. She’d never seen anyone actually doing it before.
    â€˜How did you guess? Oliver said you were pretty bright.’
    It had been a guess, but Bea had noted how various incidents had escalated into attempted murder and added Lady O’s almost palpable fear to the mixture.
    â€˜Tell me about it.’
    Lady O made a helpless gesture with both hands. ‘I wasn’t absolutely sure at first, but yesterday . . . As you probably know, we play bridge here on Thursday afternoons from three to five. We chose a Thursday because Lucas has meetings well into the evening on that day, so he’s not inconvenienced. My cleaner comes in three mornings a week for a couple of hours, on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. She’s Polish, but very good. Only, she does like to air the rooms. She opens the windows even on cold days, particularly in my bedroom. She says my scent gives her asthma.’
    Bea went to the nearest window and looked out.
    â€˜No, this way. I’ll show you.’ Lady O led the way back into the hallway and turned through an archway into a long corridor leading off left and right. Of course, the layout would not be the same as for the flats below.
    She opened doors on the corridor to the right. ‘This is the room where we have our bridge