A Reason to Kill Read Online Free Page A

with a mane of steel-grey curls stood beside the kitchen range, stirring a pot from which the enticing fragrance issued. A second man, this one smaller, plumper and rather bald, washed salad at the Belfast sink.
    â€˜That smells good.’ Mac couldn’t help himself.
    Rina Martin turned and raised an eyebrow. She gestured towards the taller man. ‘Mr Matthew Montmorency,’ she said, ‘and Mr Steven Montmorency. This is Detective Inspector Sebastian McGregor. Please, do sit down. You make the place look untidy.’
    Mac sat down with alacrity. Making the place untidy was, he felt, probably a sin around here. Matthew Montmorency inclined his grey head. ‘Pleased to meet you.’
    â€˜Apparently,’ Rina said, ‘Inspector McGregor has just come from interviewing Mrs Freer.’
    â€˜That poor woman!’ Steven Montmorency spoke this time. ‘First her husband going off like that and then all this – and it’s not as if she has any health left.’
    â€˜Quite.’ Rina silenced him.
    â€˜Gone off?’ Mac asked.
    â€˜He died,’ Rina said quietly. ‘Steven has something of an aversion to speaking about death.’
    â€˜Oh, I see. Was it recent?’
    Rina shook her head. ‘No, it must be seven years ago, eight maybe. But they’d been together since she was sixteen and he wasn’t much older. It was a terrible blow.’
    Mac nodded. ‘It must have been. Mrs Martin, do you know Mrs Freer well?’
    â€˜Well enough. I call in twice a week and see if she needs anything. She has a care package, or so they call it, and a woman comes to do shopping and pay bills and the like. But there are some things she doesn’t like her to get. Personal things, you know.’
    Mac didn’t know but he wasn’t sure he was going to ask.
    â€˜I wash her sheets and keep the bed nice.’ Rina shook her head. ‘There’s not much I can do about the house – she’s too proud to let me or anyone else clean and scrub for her – but I think if she can at least sleep in clean sheets, that’s something.’
    â€˜And the flowers?’
    Rina shrugged. ‘Hearts ease. Did you know that was the old name for pansies?’
    Mac replied honestly that he hadn’t known that.
    â€˜It’s a good name. They do ease the heart, I think. Such cheerful little plants. She doesn’t get out into the back yard much at this time of year but at least she can see something colourful from the kitchen window.’
    â€˜That’s nice of you,’ Mac said. ‘Mrs Martin, this might seem like a strange thing to ask, but did you know Mrs Freer had a gun?’
    Steven Montmorency laughed. ‘Oh, that old thing,’ he said. He piled the washed salad into a spinner and began to turn the handle. ‘Of course we knew. She keeps it under her pillow.’
    â€˜It doesn’t work,’ Rina said. ‘I made sure of that the first time I saw it. But it made her feel better to have it so I left well alone. You can only interfere so much in other people’s affairs.’
    â€˜I’ve had to have it removed,’ Mac told her reluctantly. ‘When she showed it to me, I had to call uniform and get them to take it away, just to be sure.’
    Steven tutted. ‘Now what will she do?’
    â€˜Had to be done, Steven,’ Matthew returned. ‘We kept telling her it wasn’t a good idea.’
    â€˜What do you mean
we
kept telling her?
You
wouldn’t set foot in the place. You said it stank.’
    â€˜I never did.’
    â€˜Boys, please! If you must quarrel then take it outside.’ Rina turned her attention back to Mac. ‘What can you do?’ she said. ‘Brothers always quarrel and I’m sure twins are worse.’
    â€˜Twins? I …’
    A tiny, almost imperceptible shake of the head came from Rina and Mac trailed off. ‘Right,’ he said, and decided to