acquaintances whom he had double-crossed when it came to the division of the spoils. The police had received a tip-off (not from Hera, I hoped), had visited the area and had found the body. Identification was no problem. The man’s photograph and fingerprints were on record and the police were in no doubt as to his identity and that of the murderer.
My relief, intense though it was, was accompanied by a sense of anti-climax. Was it for this sordid and uninspiring solution that I had sacrificed sleep and my peace of mind, had almost quarrelled with Hera and wrecked any pleasure I might have had in recollecting my holiday? Thoughts of the holiday, however, emboldened me, over lunch, to put a question to Dame Beatrice.
‘I told you what was the object of the exercise,’ I said. ‘Why Hera and I took the holiday?’
‘To test whether you and your fiancee were sufficiently compatible in temperament to risk taking one another in marriage, I think you said.’
‘Yes. Well, if I may ask such a question, what do
‘Ask Laura. She can usually read my mind.’
‘Some chicken, some neck!’ said Laura obscurely, but I knew what she meant. I, too, found Dame Beatrice formidable. ‘All right, then.’ Laura said. ‘If it were up to me, I’m bound to say I think you’re batting on a sticky wicket. Your young woman wears the trousers at present. That’s all right during the period of wooing, but I’m not sure it would work in married life. You would find yourself the toad under the harrow.’
‘I’ve no particular wish to be top dog,’ I said, feeling nettled by her summing-up.
‘No, but marriage should be an equal partnership. Why wouldn’t you let her see the body?’
‘Oh, dash it all! One doesn’t deliberately give a girl a shock of that kind!’
‘The shock might have been less for her than it was for you,’ said Dame Beatrice. ‘Tell me — had you anything personal against this man whose corpse you thought it was?’
‘He irritated me, just as he irritated everyone else. There was another chap whom I was also anxious to keep my eye on, this fellow named Todd. I mentioned him when I was telling you about the holiday.’
‘Yes, but you never thought it was Todd’s body you found?’
‘No. I was certain I’d found Carbridge, but, of course, I didn’t exactly linger beside the corpse. All I wanted was to get Hera away from the place as soon as ever I could. I just grabbed her and dragged her out, although it was raining buckets when we got on to the moor.’
‘Yes, what about this place? Do you retain a vivid picture of it? These ruins, do you recall them clearly?’
‘Well, no, I wouldn’t call it a vivid picture. I had hit my head rather hard, if you see what I mean. The ruins seemed as full of mist as the moor outside. My recollection of them is hazy.’
‘But you remember coming to a wall, ducking under an archway and climbing into the ruins through an embrasure?’
‘Well, it seems a bit nebulous now, but, yes, I’m sure I remember all that. Well, no, perhaps I dreamt that part of it. I’m sure Hera believes I dreamt the whole thing, including finding the body.’
‘Not surprising,’ said Laura, ‘when the same body turned up hale and hearty at Fort William. Enough to cause any right-minded girl to have doubts. Still, you’ll be able to reassure her now. Keep the papers and show them to her. They ought to convince her that at least there was a corpse and that you found it.’
‘I wish I could convince her that there was a building, too. She seems to doubt the whole story. The only bit she really agrees with is that we lost our way in the mist.’
‘Yes,’ said Dame Beatrice. ‘What about the dark passage?’
‘I’m sure about that,’ I replied.
The two women looked at one another. Then Dame Beatrice said, ‘There is something you are keeping to yourself. Had you not better tell me what it is?’
‘No, there’s nothing,’ I said. I could feel her brilliant eyes probing my brain. ‘Unless you mean the row I had with Todd at Crianlarich, but it was only a verbal exchange. Fisticuffs did not come into it.’
‘It was not Mr Todd’s body you mistook, you see. Interesting, but are you sure about that?’ I said I was perfectly certain, so she said, ‘Well, Mr Melrose, I do not think you need psychiatry, but we shall see how matters develop. We must wait upon events.’
‘I hope there won’t be any, so far as this business is concerned,’ I said. ‘Thank you very much for the papers.’
‘Sit down again,’ said Dame Beatrice, for I had risen to go. ‘Tell me more about this set-to you had with Mr Todd.’
‘Oh, it was nothing,’ I said. ‘As a matter of fact, he apologised.’
‘For what?’
‘For trying to persuade Hera to opt out of the youth hostel and go to the hotel for the night, so I tackled him and sorted him out. “Honestly, I had no idea she was engaged to you,” he said. “When I met you two at the airport hotel, I just thought it was a holiday pick-up and that you’d got together because you found you were both going to walk The Way. After all, she doesn’t wear a keep-off-the-grass ring, does she?” I told him the engagement hadn’t been announced, but that there was a ring in her possession. He apologised again and said he hoped no hard feelings. It was a genuine misunderstanding, he said. Well, that was the end of it because, of course, we didn’t run into him again until we got to Fort William.’
I showed Sandy the newspapers and I got to our office next day.
‘So the visit was a good idea,’ he said.
‘Yes and no.’
