‘Drink?’

‘Not now thanks, perhaps after a few questions?’

She looked bored, sat down and waved me into a chair.

‘ ‘Kay. Up to you.’ She sighed and a lot of big bosom under cream silk went up and down and some Bacardi fumes drifted gently across towards me.

‘You should ask my mother about all this shit,’ she slurred. ‘She’s the one who keeps the shrine, not me.’

‘That could be an interesting angle. Was Sir Clive a harsh parent? He had a reputation for severity on the bench.’

‘I can believe it.’ She sipped. ‘Christ yes, he was tough on me. Course, I’m the same with my kids so I can’t talk. He used his belt on me plenty of times. Can’t print any of this, you know.’

‘Why?’

‘Can’t afford to offend the old girl. She’s got the money. We never seem to have enough.’

‘What’s your husband’s business, Mrs Selby?’

‘Bettina. He makes weight lifting stuff, gym equipment, all that. He does all right but we eat it up. School’s bloody expensive and holidays… Christ, I live for those holidays. Ever been to Singapore, Peter?’

I said I had.

‘Smart man. Great isn’t it? We have a ball.’

‘It’s marvellous,’ I said primly. ‘You were saying something about not offending your mother?’ I had the pen and pad out again.

‘Ah, was I? Well we don’t get along. She knows I’d belt that bloody mausoleum down and sell the land for units. But there’s the kids to consider. I try to keep on the good side of her but there’s that Reid bitch, she’s got her eye on the land. Christ, what a miserable place to grow up in. Look, I’m rambling, you don’t want to hear any of this crap you can’t use. Have a drink.’

‘All right, yes.’

‘Bacardi okay?’

‘Fine.’

Her own glass was lowish, not what you’d call empty but getting that way. Lots of drinkers don’t like to see their glasses one-third full, it looks like two-thirds empty. She was in that league and keen enough to haul all that weight to its feet and take it out to where the booze lived. She drifted out, moving like someone who knows how to move; it was part theatrical, part sheer confidence. It made her hard to assess — like a car that looks and goes all right but is a bit too old and exotic for comfort.