by Carola Dunn
“I suppose that’s something. I’m glad her affair with Enderby didn’t have to come out at the inquest.”
“Yes. The jury was so flabbergasted by the rest of the rigmarole, no one questioned just why Enderby was so angry with Sid. Is there anyone else you’re worried about, before I give myself up to doing absolutely nothing for the remaining day and a half of my holiday?”
“Of course, darling! There’s Mr. Baskin’s fiancée. Or rather, Nancy Enderby, but his Elizabeth will be upset too if Georgie Porgie’s bigamy becomes public knowledge.”
“No doubt Baskin will let us know what the coroner says.” Alec closed his eyes and turned his face up to the sun.
“Here comes Sid.”
Alec groaned and said softly, “I’m asleep.”
“All right. Hullo, Sid.”
The beachcomber was spruced up in case he’d had to appear in court, shaved and combed, and with a collar and tie in place of his red neckerchief. His shy smile had been replaced with a broad grin and there was a reminder of Popsy’s bounce in his walk as he dragged his cart across the sand. He looked at Alec, whose eyes remained determinedly shut, and put his finger to his lips, turning to Daisy.
Then he joined his hands like an open book and wagged his head back and forth as if he was reading. One hand became a sheet of paper, the other held an invisible pencil which wrote busily on his palm. He pointed at his chest: Me! and produced a strange sound that Daisy interpreted as a laugh of delight.
“You’re going to learn to read and write,” she congratulated him. “That’s marvellous.”
Sid nodded, beaming. He took out his mouth-organ, looked at Alec, and put it away again in favour of playing an invisible instrument while he danced his clumsy little dance.
Daisy clapped silently. With a bow and a wave, Sid went on his way, the cart trundling behind him.
Gazing after him, Daisy wiped away an unexpected tear.
Alec’s eyes were still closed. She suspected he might have actually fallen asleep, so she picked up her book. As she opened it, she glanced towards Belinda and Deva. Julia Bellamy was kneeling beside the girls, enthusiastically digging in the sand. Young Vernon stood hands on hips looking down at her, his stance eloquently expressive of scorn and disgust. But just at that moment, with a resigned shrug, he took off his shoes, rolled up his flannels, and joined the construction party.
Daisy laughed. Alec opened his eyes. “Wha … ?”
“Never mind, darling. Go back to your forty winks or you’ll only fit in thirty before lunch.”
She had read only a few pages when Alec was jerked awake again by a hail from behind them. Donald Baskin came striding down from the house, his knapsack on his back.
“I’ve come to say goodbye,” he announced. “The coroner’s given me a letter for Dr. Wedderburn, giving permission for him to issue a second death certificate, so I’m off to Abbotsford. I’ll be going straight back to Wiltshire to give Bethie the good news.”
“I’m so glad,” said Daisy, “for you and both Mrs. Enderbys.”
“That could have been better phrased,” Alec grunted, “but I second your sentiments. Glad I didn’t have to arrest you, Baskin.”
“Not half as glad as I am, believe me! Well, so long. Perhaps we’ll meet again some day. It’s been a delight knowing your girls—I must go and say goodbye to them.”
“I’ll walk over with you.” Alec heaved himself out of his deck-chair with another grunt. “I suppose it’s my paternal duty to admire their works. I haven’t had time so far on this singularly exhausting holiday.”
The two men went off together and Daisy returned to her book. When she looked up a few minutes later, Alec was on his knees in the sand, building a castle.
Also by Carola Dunn
The Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries
Death at Wentwater Court
The Winter Garden Mystery
Requiem for a Mezzo
Murder on the Flying Scotsman
Damsel in Distress
Dead in the Water
Styx and Stones
Rattle His Bones
To Davy Jones Below
The Case of the Murdered Muckraker
Mistletoe and Murder
Die Laughing
A Mourning Wedding
FALL OF A PHILANDERER. Copyright © 2005 by Carola Dunn.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address
St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
eISBN 9781429951906
First eBook Edition : April 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dunn, Carola.
Fall of a philanderer: a Daisy Dalrymple mystery / Carola Dunn. p. cm.
ISBN 0-312-33589-X
EAN 978-0-312-33589-2
1. Dalrymple, Daisy (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Hotelkeepers—Crimes against—Fiction. 3. Women journalists—Fiction. 4. Seaside resorts—Fiction. 5. Police spouses—Fiction. 6. England—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6054.U537F35 2005 823’.914—dc22
2005046563
First Edition: September 2005
