Murdered by Nature by Roderic Jeffries Page B

pass something on.’
    â€˜When you came to the island, did you stay at Son Dragó?’
    â€˜Until he suggested it would be more convenient for everyone if I stayed in a hotel. The staff were always complaining about me. They couldn’t understand they were just servants.’
    â€˜That didn’t stop you coming to the island since you hoped your frequent requests for money would eventually bear fruit.’
    â€˜It wasn’t like that.’
    â€˜How was it, then?’
    There was no answer.
    â€˜Were you ever aware that the señor smoked reefers?’
    â€˜Did what? He’d as soon have been caught in a massage parlour as smoking dope.’
    â€˜You’ll know what smoked cannabis smells like.’
    â€˜If you’re saying . . . If someone had smoked it, it would have been her.’
    â€˜No doubt there are another dozen faults of which you’d like to accuse her, but I’ve not the time or wish to listen.’
    He left. It had been time wasted in the company of an insecure, jealous, frustrated man.
    Jaime’s greeting as he entered the dining room was: ‘You’re so late, the kids have eaten everything.’
    â€˜You had twice what I did,’ Juan, a half-peeled apple in his hand, protested.
    â€˜That’s why he’s got so big a tummy,’ Isabel observed.
    â€˜How many times do I need to tell you two that it is rude to make personal remarks?’ Dolores asked sharply.
    â€˜You told Daddy he’d get even fatter if he had any more.’
    â€˜That was a reminder, not a personal comment. Enrique, your meal is in the oven. It will be all right, but not as good as had you returned on time.’
    â€˜I had to talk to people in Playa Nueva.’
    â€˜That prevented you phoning to tell me you would be late home?’
    He went into the kitchen, brought out of the oven a well-filled plateful of
Estofat de bou
. He briefly, superficially, felt sorry for the tourists at Hotel Floris who had been condemned to a meal of cold tinned soup, leathery beef stew, and a tasteless sponge covered with a cream mixture from a spray can. He returned to the dining room.
    Juan stared at Alvarez’s plate. ‘If you eat all that, you’ll burst.’
    â€˜What have I just told you?’ Dolores snapped.
    â€˜That wasn’t a personal comment, it was a kind of reminder,’ Juan answered.
    Jaime laughed. ‘Well said!’
    â€˜Isabel and Juan, outside and play until it’s time for school,’ she ordered.
    They hurried into the
entrada
; slammed the front door shut.
    Dolores faced Jaime. Her words were coated in ice. ‘As a parent, you should wish your son to behave well, not encourage him to act like a tramp.’
    â€˜But it was sharp of him,’ Jaime muttered.
    â€˜My mother was correct.’
    â€˜Was she ever anything else?’
    â€˜You might manage to talk sense if you would only drink very little, but that possibility is too improbable for us ever to know.’
    â€˜That’s a nice thing for a wife to say!’
    â€˜It was your mother-in-law who said it.’
    â€˜It’s a wonder you ever married me.’
    â€˜
She
would have called it a mystery. Have you finished? If so, pass me your plate, knife, fork and glass.’
    He passed the first three.
    â€˜Your glass.’
    â€˜I am going to have a little more wine.’
    â€˜You
were
.’ She collected up glasses, plates and cutlery, carried them into the kitchen.
    Jaime said: ‘Enrique, did your parents ever discuss her? I mean, what kind of a person she was?’ He indicated the kitchen.
    â€˜My mother used to say she was very kind-hearted, ready to help anyone, but could be a bit sharp occasionally. You were asking for trouble when you laughed at Juan’s remark.’
    â€˜How was I to know it would annoy her?’
    There were some for whom experience was no tutor.

ELEVEN
    H e had enjoyed a restful siesta,