Dead in the Dog

PROLOGUE

Perak State, Malaya, December 1954

The shoe flew across the room, its high heel catching James hard on the side of his neck, leaving a red mark on the skin.

‘You bitch, what d’you think you’re doing!’

With a roar he launched himself at his wife and caught her a resounding smack across the face that made her teeth rattle. James was a big, powerful man and the imprint of his fingers immediately began to appear across her cheek. But Diane was a woman of spirit and instead of collapsing into a sobbing heap on the rattan settee, she hopped on her one bare foot, trying to pull off the other shoe to throw at him.

‘Bastard! You dirty, rotten bastard!’ she screamed. ‘I’ll tell Douglas! I will, this time!’

To avoid more shoe-throwing, he grabbed her bodily and threw her down on to the cushions.

‘Look, cut it out, you silly fool! I doubt it’ll be any surprise to Douglas, so you can save your breath.’

Suddenly aware that she had no chance against his physical strength, Diane began to cry, though they were more sobs of frustrated rage than real distress. She held a hand to her face, which was stinging from his blow.

‘I’ll have a bruise there now, you swine!’ she blubbered. ‘Everyone at The Dog will know that you’ve been knocking me about again.’

‘Then put some more Max Factor over it, you daft cow! You wear so much, a bit more won’t be noticed!’

He turned and stalked out of the lounge on to the verandah of the bungalow, then clattered down the steps outside. She heard a car door slam, then the Buick started up and with an angry roar, accelerated away with a crunching of gravel. The blonde rocked back and forth on the settee, hissing through the fingers that were held across her aching cheek.

‘You bastard, one of these days, I’ll kill you!’