Author/Uploaded by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Table of Contents Cover Also by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles From Severn House Title Page Copyright Chapter One: If You Knew Sushi Like I Know Sushi Chapter Two: Hearts and Crafts Chapter Three: Bridal Path Chapter Four: We Shall Not All Sleep, But We Shall All Be Changed Chapter Five: Degas vu Chapter Six: Dunce Inane to Burnham Woods Chapter Seven...
Table of Contents Cover Also by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles From Severn House Title Page Copyright Chapter One: If You Knew Sushi Like I Know Sushi Chapter Two: Hearts and Crafts Chapter Three: Bridal Path Chapter Four: We Shall Not All Sleep, But We Shall All Be Changed Chapter Five: Degas vu Chapter Six: Dunce Inane to Burnham Woods Chapter Seven: Asbestos You Can Chapter Eight: Dads and Dudes Chapter Nine: Lunchtime Achievement Chapter Ten: Rather Fun and Wholly Toast Chapter Eleven: Vere the Boys Are Chapter Twelve: It’s a Long Robe That Has no Turban Chapter Thirteen: Ligaments of Fire Chapter Fourteen: You Can’t Teach an Old Dog Newtonian Physics Chapter Fifteen: A Tale of Two Ditties Chapter Sixteen: Edifice Complex Chapter Seventeen: Perjury in Motion Chapter Eighteen: Gits That Pass in the Night Chapter Nineteen: Him Indoors Chapter Twenty: Above Rubies Chapter Twenty-One: The Road Not Travelled Also by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles from Severn House Novels ON WINGS OF LOVE EVEN CHANCE LAST RUN PLAY FOR LOVE A CORNISH AFFAIR NOBODY’S FOOL DANGEROUS LOVE REAL LIFE (Short Stories) KEEPING SECRETS THE LONGEST DANCE THE HORSEMASTERS JULIA THE COLONEL’S DAUGHTER HARTE’S DESIRE COUNTRY PLOT KATE’S PROGRESS THE HOSTAGE HEART THE TREACHEROUS HEART The Bill Slider Mysteries GAME OVER FELL PURPOSE BODY LINE KILL MY DARLING BLOOD NEVER DIES HARD GOING STAR FALL ONE UNDER OLD BONES SHADOW PLAY HEADLONG CRUEL AS THE GRAVE DYING FALL BEFORE I SLEEP BEFORE I SLEEP Cynthia Harrod-Eagles This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. First world edition published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023 by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd, 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE. Trade paperback edition first published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023 by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd. This eBook edition first published in 2023 by Severn House Digital an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited severnhouse.com Copyright © Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, 2023 All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The right of Cynthia Harrod-Eagles to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0619-0 (cased) ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0621-3 (trade paper) ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0620-6 (e-book) This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is purely coincidental. This ebook produced by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland. ONE If You Knew Sushi Like I Know Sushi Jenrich stuck her head – all cheekbones and burning blue eyes – round the door. ‘Mr Porson wants you in his room, guv. Right away.’ She gave him a look of dispassionate curiosity, like someone driving past a car crash, and added, ‘He’s got Mr Carpenter with him.’ ‘Bloody Nora,’ said Slider. The last thing you wanted to face of a weekday morning was Borough Commander ‘Call Me Mike’ Carpenter, Slider’s boss, Porson’s boss, everybody’s boss, who had all the warmth, charm and empathy of Vladimir Putin with a toothache. ‘I never really got the hang of Wednesdays,’ he muttered as he set off down the corridor. He tapped at the open door, and saw that Carpenter had occupied Porson’s usual prowling space between desk and window. Porson, marooned against the filing cabinet, rolled his eyes at Slider in a look that said, Run. Run like the wind, and don’t look back. Carpenter was tall, well-built, with a suspiciously luxuriant head of hair – Slider suspected plugs. He was standing with his back to the door, hands in pockets, staring out of the window – purely a piece of theatre, since the windows hadn’t been cleaned since the Thatcher premiership, so the view was of grime on grime. He did not move or turn at Slider’s tap. More power play. Well, they could stand there all day in Beckettian symbiosis, or Slider could say, ‘Sir?’ He went with that. Carpenter turned majestically, like the Queen Mary in the Hudson River. ‘Ah, Slider,’ he said. He withdrew his hands from his pockets. He smiled. Slider flinched. He had braced himself for a bollocking, but a smile was far worse. It boded no good – and in the Job you quickly became an expert at recognizing boding. ‘I have a job for you,’ said Carpenter. ‘Sir,’ Slider said again, but without the question mark. Discouragingly. ‘It’s concerning Henry Holland – do you know who that is?’ The name sounded vaguely familiar, but, ‘No, sir,’ said Slider. ‘He’s a writer. Of a series of novels, about a ship-captain in the Napoleonic Wars. I’d never heard of them, but apparently they’re quite popular. He makes a living at it, at any rate. Lives in St Anns Villas.’ It was a street just over the border in Holland Park, a posh street on the unposh north side of Holland Park Avenue. On the south side of the avenue was the park itself and Campden Hill, with some very high-end residences; beautiful old early Victorian places, some of them detached, with large gardens. The north side of the avenue was really Notting Hill, and segued into the shabbier hinterland of