Dead Man's Dinner - Una Gordon Page 0,1

Derwent possibly do to him now?

Gresham stuffed some papers into his briefcase, suddenly feeling in a very bad mood. He walked through to the dining room where his young wife, Fiona, was opening her morning mail. She looked up and smiled as he entered and immediately Gresham's bad mood disappeared. Derwent had never had luck like this – a lovely, young wife and a bouncing son and heir.

Gresham bent to kiss Fiona. “Anything interesting?” he nodded towards her letters.

“No,” she replied. “In yours?”

“No.” He shook his head, little suspecting how that one small lie would affect his life. Afterwards he could never understand why he had done it. His only explanation was that Derwent was still manipulating him.

He shrugged as he went out the door. Time would tell what Derwent had up the sleeve of his shroud. He would have to wait patiently until October 22nd.

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Guy Pather did not receive his invitation until he came home that same evening. His wife had examined the envelope carefully, eventually laying it on the hall table to await her husband's return. A small smile hovered around her mouth and she was humming softly as she dressed to go shopping.

Guy and his wife, Melissa, had been made in the same mould. They were both good looking; he in a salesman kind of way, and she, with crown and cloak, could have passed for Miss World. But these wide, innocent eyes of hers concealed a cunning mind which was a match for her husband's any day. They exploited everyone – even each other – and every relationship. If they had had a motto, it would have been, “People are there to be used and things are there to to be acquired.” It was difficult to decide which of them was the more acquisitive. With every deal he completed, Guy was looking forward to the next one, his thirst for money never satiated. He did work for his money, however, which was more than could be said for Melissa. She coveted everything she saw and she saw men as providers. Any man would do as long as he provided her with what she wanted. Love didn't enter into it and sex didn't interest her a great deal. She saw it as her way of paying for whatever luxury she wanted. She and Guy had a perfect understanding. She looked decorative when he needed her for business occasions and they both acquired wealth in the best way they knew. He always knew of her “lovers”. In fact he kept a file on them. One never knew when information like that would come in useful. In that file was the name of one Derwent Mollosey.

Melissa had been quite open about the time she'd been invited to Derwent's flat where, she told her husband, she had been very willingly seduced. Derwent had laughed at her when she had hinted she wanted some money. “On the game now, are you? You should have struck a bargain before the deed. I don't pay for sex – never needed to.”

Melissa concealed her fury and on her way out had slipped, what looked to her like a very expensive ornament, into her handbag. It had yielded a very tidy sum at an antique shop. Derwent had never accused her, but she was not invited to his flat again. She had not told Guy about the theft and when he opened the invitation and speculated that there might be a nice little inheritance coming their way she still thought it wise not to reveal what she'd done.

Guy had opened the envelope as soon as he entered the flat. He dashed through to the kitchen, revealing the contents of the envelope to Melissa despite the warning at the foot of the invitation not to tell his wife. Laughing he lifted her off her feet. “I think we'll soon have an addition to our bank balance.” Melissa knew she'd have to contend with his bad mood when that didn't happen, but so what? She'd had her pound of flesh.

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The third London flat where an invitation was delivered was less grand than the previous two and the couple who lived there several years younger. Diana was very pregnant and was resting in bed when her husband, Gary, picked up the mail from behind the door – bills mainly. He picked out the thick, white envelope as being the most interesting item, and still standing in the hall, opened it. He had met Derwent Mollosey on a few