Then I had another thought: are Mr. Pomfrett-Smythe’s friends and colleagues plotting to buy him out?
No sooner had I wondered this than Flo took a pea-green crayon and scribbled a sort of liver shape, followed that up with rays of jaundice-yellow. Yep, that’s the story. And Flo just read my thoughts, answered my unspoken question. The break-through at last! Flo has admitted me to her mind, she and I just became one. I am vindicated.
Mrs. Pomfrett-Smythe was still looking at me enquiringly, her question still hanging in the air.
“I am absolutely, positively, definitely sure,” I said with utter conviction. “What’s more, you can give him a tip from—use my name!—Mrs. Delvecchio Schwartz. A wise man ought not to believe everything his friends and colleagues say.”
“I will, I will!” No idiot, Mrs. Pomfrett-Smythe; she got my drift. The pale purple kid handbag flipped open. “Um, how much is that?”
I made a grand gesture. “No charge the first time, princess, but from now on, I’ll charge like the Light Brigade.” Charge her for today? Not on your nelly! On Monday I’m going to open two share portfolios, one for Flo and one for me, and our first punt is going to be on Mr. Pomfrett-Smythe’s funny little gadgets.
My first client was gazing at me in awe and vast respect; then her eyes went to Flo, displayed only the tender admiration women feel for a beautiful child.
“I’d appreciate it,” I said, getting to my feet, “if you give Mrs. Pearson a ring on the phone and tell her that the one and only Mrs. Delvecchio Schwartz is open for business in her new incarnation. The magnetic mu is less than one again, and the vectoring of the equanimities is complete. Things have returned to normal at The House.”
Flo and I ushered her down the stairs and out onto the verandah, where we waited for the smart-looking chauffeur to dash across, his umbrella at the ready.
“Angel,” I said as we waved the Rolls goodbye through the rain, “let’s keep your blossoming drawing skills our secret, eh? The clients are going to start Rolling—hur-hur-hur—up in droves shortly, and we don’t want to let them know how we do it, do we? Mrs. Delvecchio Schwartz has to stay unique—she’s your shelter from a world that isn’t ready for you.”
And just like that I looked into her mind! Blurred outlines of institutional furniture flying past, the shock of pain as she threw herself against something, the myriad shards of an exploding window, the concerned yet uncomprehending faces. But all that, I understood, was as nothing before the love she harbours for her two mothers, the two Mrs. Delvecchio Schwartzes.
She smiled at me, nodding vigorously. Our secret.
“I wonder,” I asked as I put my hand on the door, “if the first edition is ever going to Pass Over properly? What’s your opinion, angel?”
Flo took three crayons—yellow, blue and green—from her pink pocket and drew a cockatoo and a budgie on the glossy white wall between 17d and The House.
Somehow I think that Mum isn’t going to be a scrap surprised when I ask her for permanent custody of Willie; undoubtedly it’s already been arranged.
If you enjoyed
Angel
, check out these other great Colleen McCullough titles.
August 1969. Two anonymous male corpses are discovered in the sleepy college town of Holloman, Connecticut. After connecting the emaciated bodies to four other victims, the police realise that Holloman has a psychopathic killer on the loose.
Captain Carmine Delmonico’s team begins to circle a trio of eccentrics who share family ties, painful memories, and a dark past. Things become even murkier when one of them turns out to be a friend of Sergeant Delia Carstairs. Delia has also recently befriended the head of the local mental hospital, who has been trying to rehabilitate a very difficult patient.
When another vicious murder rocks Holloman, Carmine realises that two killers are at large with completely different modus operandi. Suddenly the summer isn’t so sleepy anymore...
Buy the ebook here
Dr Jim Hunter is a genius biochemist, and author of a smash-hit science book that is propelling him to the top. His wife Millie, is a blonde bombshell and fellow scientist, researching rare poisons derived from puffer fish.
They seem to have it all, but others in their academic circle have got the knives out, jealous of their success and their inter-racial relationship arouses prejudice.
So when a double murder is perpetrated, using poison stolen from Millie’s research lab, Captain Carmine Delmonico of Holloman Police must race to find the killer before they can claim their next victim. The pool of suspects is small, but nobody is talking. Have two men died to safeguard the publication of Jim’s book or do rivalries and betrayals run deeper than that?
Buy the ebook here
America in 1968 is in turmoil and the leafy Holloman suburb of Carew is being silently terrorised by a series of vicious and systematic rapes. When finally one victim finds the courage to speak out and go to the police, the rapist escalates to murder.
For Captain Carmine Delmonico, it seems to be a case with no clues. And it comes as the Holloman Police Department is troubled: a lieutenant is out of his depth, a sergeant is out of control, and into this mix comes the beautiful, ruthlessly ambitious new trainee, Helen MacIntosh, daughter of the influential president of Chubb University.
As the killer makes his plans, Carmine and his team must use every resource at their disposal including a highly motivated neighbourhood watch, the Gentlemen Walkers.
Buy the ebook here
In Holloman, Connecticut, someone is preying on the innocent. At a prestigious research centre fondly known by its staff as the 'Hug', parts of a mutilated body are found. Lieutenant Carmine Delmonico of the Holloman Police learns that a string of horrifying murders each with the same modus operandi as the one at the Hug have been commited throughout the state. When another body is found, the medical staff become prime suspects.
With the powers that be in turmoil and every member of staff hiding something, Delmonico must delve into the lives of each and every Hug employee. This is the case of his career and he is determined to solve it. But how, when he is hunting a monster who leaves no clues and is always two steps ahead?
Buy the ebook here
The year is 1967 and the world teeters on the brink of nuclear holocaust as the Cold War goes relentlessly on. On a beautiful spring day in the little city of Holloman, Connecticut, chief of detectives Carmine Delmonico walks into the prestigious Chubb University halls to be greeted by a limp corpse clamped in a bear trap, all traces of life drained from it. And this is just the beginning. Twelve murders have taken place in one day and suddenly Carmine has more pressing matters on his hands than finding a name for his newborn son.
Supported by his detective sergeants, and new team member the meticulous Delia Carstairs Delmonico embarks on what look likes an unsolvable mystery. All the murders are different. Are they dealing with one killer or many?
And if twelve murders were not enough, Carmine soon finds himself pitted against the mysterious spy, Ulysses who is giving local arms giant Cornucopia's military secrets to the Russians. Are the murders and espionage different cases, or are they somehow linked?
