MURDER BRIEF Read Online Free Page B

in Australia. Acts for lots of successful writers. Alice was
one of his assistants. That’s how I first met her, about ten years
ago. Hugh asked her to edit one of my novels and one thing led to
another. We married about six years ago."
    "After you married, she kept
working for Grimble?"
    "Yes."
    "On your novels?"
    "No. We wanted to keep our
personal and professional lives separate, so Hugh handled all of my
affairs."
    "OK. And what was your marriage
like?"
    He shrugged. "Well, like
everybody, we had our ups and downs. But towards the end, it got
pretty difficult."
    "Why?"
    Markham shrugged. "It’s hard to
say. Boredom? Fatigue? Latent incompatibility? Take your pick. We
stopped communicating and got on each other’s nerves. I even
suspected she was cheating on me."
    Brian leaned forward. "Really?
Why?"
    "Oh, lots of little things.
Sometimes she disappeared for a few hours and I couldn’t contact
her, or she got dressed up when there was no point and so on. Maybe
I was jumping at shadows. I don’t know. But I just had this
feeling."
    "Who do you think she was
seeing?"
    "I’ve got no idea."
    "You sure?"
    "Yeah. I mean, I wasn’t even
sure she was cheating. So it was pretty hard to draw up a list of
suspects."
    "Did you ever confront her with
your suspicions?"
    "Yes. About six weeks before she
died, we were at home and we’d both been drinking. I accused her of
cheating. She denied it. We started screaming at each other. She
hit me a couple of times. I pushed her off and she fell and hit her
head on a table."
    "Then a neighbour called the
police?"
    "Yes. An ambulance also turned
up."
    "Who called it?"
    "I did." Markham dropped his
head. "I know the whole episode sounds bad. I’m ashamed of it. But
believe me, I was just trying to protect myself."
    "Your wife had a temper?"
    Markham half-smiled. "She looked
like a pussy-cat, but had claws of steel."
    "I understand you two were going
to get divorced?"
    "Yes. Soon after our big fight
we agreed to split up. In fact, that’s why I kept going down to the
beach-house: to get away from her and write in peace and
quiet."
    "And you went down there about a
week before she died?"
    "Yes, to finish my latest novel, Summer Storm. "
    "Finished it yet?"
    "No, I’ve been, umm, distracted.
In fact, for the first time in my life, I’ve got writer’s block.
Getting charged with murder sort of stifles the creative
juices."
    "I can understand that. Alright,
now tell me what you did on the weekend your wife died."
    Markham repeated what he told
the Homicide detectives at his second interview. When he’d
finished, Brian asked him why he decided to dine with his literary
agent, Hugh Grimble.
    Markham shrugged. "After almost
a week by myself at the beach-house, I got stir crazy. Hugh’s been
a mate for a long time. In fact, I owe him a hell of a lot. Without
him, I’d probably still be a hack reporter on the Sydney Morning
Herald , dreaming of becoming a novelist. Anyway, I drove up to
see him. He cooked dinner, we drank a few beers and we
chatted."
    "What about?"
    "Nothing much: gossiped about
other writers; argued about books we’d read; talked about my latest
novel."
    "And you left at about eleven
o’clock?"
    "Yes, and drove straight back to
Nowra."
    "Didn’t see your wife at
all?"
    Markham shook his head
ferociously. "No. I mean, why would I? Like I said, our
relationship was lousy. She was the last person I wanted to see.
There was no point."
    Robyn reflected that the
antagonism between Markham and his wife gave Markham a good motive
to avoid her and a good motive to kill her.
    "I understand," Brian said and
turned to Bernie Roberts. "The police have interviewed Grimble,
right?"
    "Yes, and he supported Rex’s
alibi."
    "And you’ve spoken to him?"
    "Of course."
    "He’ll give evidence for us at
the trial?"
    "Oh, yes. Definitely."
    "And he’ll come in here for a
conference?"
    "Yeah. He’ll see you any time
you want."
    "Good. Then you’d better wheel
him in."
    Bernie nodded.