Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Martin Edwards has published 12 novels. He has edited 16 crime fiction anthologies and written a book about homicide investigation. He is a well-known reviewer and commentator on that genre.

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The Arsenic Labyrinth

Poisoned Pen Press

Chapter One

Guy smiled at the landlady as she proffered a ballpoint pen with a bitten top. Her hands were chapped, her pink nail varnish flaking. He reached inside his suede jacket.

'Thanks, but I always write with my own fountain pen.'

He liked to think of the black lacquer Waterman Expert as an heirloom, though he'd picked it up less than eighteen months previously in a grubby little shop in Camden Town. The landlady opened the register with as much reverence as if it were the Book of Kells. Guy paused; hadn't Megan described him as a regular Jekyll and Hyde?

Today, no question—Dr. Jekyll.

At Haverigg, he'd studied calligraphy, an agreeable means of passing the long days. No need for artistic skill, just patience and attention to detail. Before running out of both, he'd mastered the basics of an elegant script. Bending over the page, he wrote with a flourish.

R. L. Stevenson.

Perfectly safe, this flight of fancy. He'd once made the mistake of introducing himself as Guy Mannering to a woman who proved to be a closet Sir Walter Scott fan, but Mrs. Welsby didn't strike him as bookish. Bed and breakfast places further up Campbell Road rejoiced in names like Brideshead and Xanadu, but this house, squashed at the end of a three-storey Victorian terrace, was called Coniston Prospect. Not that the name lacked imagination. A tall man looking out of the attic window would need to stand on his toes to see beyond the trees and satellite dishes and catch a glimpse of Coniston Water.

Fanned out on the table were The Daily Express, opened at the gossip page, and a local tabloid. On a scuffed sideboard squatted a Pye transistor radio, so ancient it was probably fashionable retro chic. Through the interference, he discerned Lionel Richie's breathy enquiry. Is it me you're looking for?

'Welcome to Coniston Prospect, Mr. Stevenson.'

The smell of fried bread and burned bacon lingered in the air. Guy gave a contented sniff. He preferred four-star luxury, a boutique hotel by Grasmere or Ullswater would have been more his style, but he didn't mind roughing it until he sorted himself out. No bad thing to keep your feet on the ground. He found it so easy to get carried away. After leaving Llandudno in a hurry, he was short of cash. Lucky he was adaptable—Megan's word was chameleon.

'Please, Mrs. Welsby, the name's Robert.'

Her smile revealed teeth as crooked as the Hardknott Pass. Guy winced. Dentistry counted for a lot, in his opinion. In more affluent days, he'd spent a fortune on caps and straightening.

'My friends call me Rob.'

'I'm Sarah,' she said quickly. 'I do hope you'll be happy here.'

Her eagerness to please was unfeigned and he found himself warming to this solid woman in turquoise tracksuit and downat-heel trainers. Seizing her hand, he found her grip was weak, her flesh soft. Once she'd been pretty, but she'd put on too much weight and years of disappointment had faded her blue eyes. The fair hair was dyed, the roots greying. No rings on the fingers. She could use a little excitement in her life. He pitched his voice lower.

'I'm sure I will be.'

He meant it. A threadbare carpet wasn't the end of the world. All she needed was encouragement. There was more to life than wiping cobwebs from picture rails or scrubbing ketchup stains out of your pinafore.

'I suppose you'd like to unpack?'

He nodded. It wouldn't take five minutes. He travelled light, out of habit as well as need.

'I'll put the kettle on. A cup of tea is so refreshing after a journey. Have you travelled far?'

'I'm not long back in England, as it happens.'

No less than the truth. He'd spent too long in rain-sodden Llandudno, gazing out at wind-whipped waves. The tan came courtesy of a solarium in Deganwy. No matter; the sparkle of delight in Sarah Welsby's eyes told him that she was thinking South of France rather than the coast of North Wales. It would be unkind to disillusion her and Guy hated being unkind. He was about to murmur that the world was becoming smaller when his eye caught a headline in the local newspaper, above a blurry photograph of a face he would never forget.

What happened to Emma Bestwick?

* * *

'Detective Chief Inspector Scarlett!'

Hurrying towards the entrance of Divisional HQ, coat collar raised against the cold bite of February, Hannah heard pounding feet and someone shouting her name. She stopped in her tracks and swivelled.

A man was racing across the car park towards her. As he drew closer, his shoes skidded on the rain-greased tarmac and he lost his balance. With a stifled cry, he tumbled to the ground.

She walked over and helped him rise gingerly to his feet. He was about five feet seven, but lean and sinewy, with his clothes so slickly tailored that he did not seem small. She smelled cedarwood; he'd overdone the after-shave. He squinted at the streak of mud on his cream trousers with as much pain as if he'd broken his ankle.

'All right?'

'I'll live.' Scots accent, gritted-teeth smile. 'You know, this is the first time I've ever been picked up by a senior police officer.'

Early thirties, features as sharp as his suit. Gel glistening on coal-black hair. Despite his fall, not a strand out of place.

'Tony Di Venuto, I presume?'

'So you know who I am without being introduced. Proof positive you're a top detective!'

Di Venuto knew she'd recognised his voice from their phone conversation, but still treated her to a roguish smirk. Hannah groaned inwardly. A phrase of Les Bryant's echoed in her mind. If he were a chocolate pudding, he'd eat himself.

'What can I do for you?'

'When we spoke last Friday, you promised to consider reopening the Emma Bestwick file. You're in charge of Cold Cases. It's a perfect project for ...'

'As I said, the moment you provide any new information, we'll be glad to study it.'

'Hopefully my piece in the Post will jog a few memories.'

'Hopefully. Now if you'll excuse me ...'

'I realise you're very busy.'

'Uh-huh.'

'I believe she was murdered, Chief Inspector. Emma deserves justice. Her killer is still at large.'

He even talked in tabloid headlines. Hannah summoned the stonewall smile she reserved for press conferences when she had no tidbits to offer.

'We never found any evidence she was dead. People disappear from home every day of the week. Plenty of them are never seen again.'

'Ten years have passed. Nobody has heard from Emma in all that time. It's inconceivable that she's still alive.'

Hannah cast round for the right words. She didn't want a casual remark to finish up as a sensational quote in a newspaper article. The media relations people would send her off on another press training day for punishment.

'Stranger things have happened.'

'Won't you let me take you through the facts?'

'That won't be necessary.' Hannah stepped away. 'One thing you ought to know. I was a member of the team that investigated Emma Bestwick's disappearance.'

* * *

Guy's new quarters occupied the basement at Coniston Prospect. He'd mentally re-christened it Coniston Glimpse. Mrs. Welsby advertised en suite facilities, which meant he had exclusive benefit of a chilly toilet and...