‘Oh, that people bought souvenirs in Fort William.’
‘People do buy souvenirs when they’re on holiday, so there’s nothing surprising in that.’
‘Two of the souvenirs appear to have been of a lethal nature. They were daggers. One was bought by Tansy and the other by Patsy.’
‘Has anybody told that to Bingley?’
‘I have no idea. The trouble is that the people who bought them didn’t keep them. As far as we know, one was given to Todd and young Freddie Brown won the other in a raffle. It, too, was meant as a gift to Todd, but Patsy changed her mind when she heard about Tansy’s present. I don’t suppose Todd wanted to accept a gift from either of the women.’
‘Thank goodness for that! I shouldn’t like to think I was married to a murderer.’
I ignored what I thought was a flippant remark.
‘Is our engagement off for good?’ I asked.
‘You made that very clear a short while ago, didn’t you?’
‘It was you who broke things up in the first place.’
‘Oh, my dear Comrie, I’ve been doubtful about us for a long time. The tour only crystallised my ideas.’
‘We got on all right on the tour.’
‘When you were rabbit enough to accept my rulings? No intimacy for a fortnight? I want a man, not a mouse.’
‘Well, I’m damned!’
‘Yes, with faint praise for behaving like a gentleman when what I wanted was to see the wolf emerge from the sheep’s clothing. Do you remember the gypsy at Inverarnan?’
‘You wouldn’t tell me what she said.’
‘I couldn’t, at the time, because I had not finally made up my mind about you, but I can tell you now. She said that the man I was with was not the man for me. She was right, Comrie. I have no use for a man I can dominate.’
‘You might have seen a different side of me when we were married. You did not get your own way about joining my firm.’
‘Oh, that was Sandy, not you. I could have overruled you easily enough if there had been nobody else to contend with. Anyway, neither of you need have insulted me by taking that woman Elsa Moore into partnership.’
‘Let’s not argue about that. To make Elsa a partner was a necessity if we wanted to keep her.’
‘Only marriage to one of you would make absolutely sure of that.’
‘It’s up to Sandy, then,’ I said laughingly.
‘Are you going to tell Bingley about the souvenir daggers?’
‘Not I. It is none of my business. Dame Beatrice was present and I’m sure she’ll take the necessary steps.’
When I got back to my flat, I took out what had been the engagement ring, reflected somewhat ruefully on what I had had to pay for it, packed it up very carefully and wrote a covering note.
‘Please do me the honour of keeping our ring. I don’t want any other woman to wear it. It will fit your right hand as a dress ring and Todd won’t worry that I gave it to you. I have the feeling that, as soon as this dreadful business about poor Carbridge is cleared up, you will go back to your Barney. Anyway, the very best of luck to you both.’ I ended with a quotation from John Donne which seemed appropriate under the circumstances:
‘Now thou hast lov’d me one whole day,
Tomorrow when thou leav’st, what wilt thou say?
Wilt thou then ante-date some new-made vow?
Or say that now
We are not just those persons which we were?’
‘You seem remarkably bobbish,’ said Elsa when I got to the office next day. ‘Have we had a rebate from the taxman?’
‘Not from the taxman,’ I said, ‘but I suppose I’ve had a windfall of a sort.’
‘Are we to be treated to champagne?’
‘No, only to the funeral bakemeats.’
She looked at me with mock concern and said that she was very sorry to hear it, but she asked no questions and the office routine went on much as usual until lunchtime. Sandy asked Elsa to join us at our favourite pub, for we took only a snack and a beer at midday. She refused and he said to me when we had obtained refreshment and were seated at our little table, ‘What’s eating Elsa? When I asked her to join us, she said, “Three’s a crowd and Comrie has something to tell you.” Have you something to tell me?’
‘I could tell you that Perth knows of two daggers which were bought as souvenirs in Fort William. I think Dame Beatrice will hand this bit of information to the police and leave Bingley to sort it out. The two women who bought the daggers intended to give them as presents to Todd. The point of interest now is to discover who did what with them when the tour was over.’
