‘Well, why shouldn’t the police think so? They might be right.’
‘The effort to deceive often defeats its own purpose. Let us lunch, as the coach party did, at the hotel overlooking Fishguard Bay. It is very well situated, I am told, and I have the name of it from Mr Honfleur.’
The view from the terrace of the hotel was spacious and beautiful. Below it was the bay. The sea, calm in its sheltered inlet, reflected the blue sky. A rocky promontory at the entrance to the harbour stood out black against the afternoon brightness. Immediately below the terrace the steep slope of the hill was green and gold and there were wild flowers among the grasses. A lane wound away past the hotel seawards down a slope which began a gradual descent and then steepened. Laura, after lunch, walked a little way down it, but soon trees and tall bushes hid the harbour and she returned to the front of the hotel where she had left Dame Beatrice in contemplation of the view.
‘What now?’ she asked. Dame Beatrice waved a yellow claw.
‘The boat from Rosslare is just coming in,’ she said. ‘A good lunch, did you not think? Also, if I mistake not, here comes a motor-coach party. I would prefer to retain our privacy and peace. Shall we return by way of Hereford? I booked rooms there for tonight.’
‘And we’re really not going to Swansea?’
‘And we really are not going to Swansea. I must speak to Mr Honfleur again, and as soon as I can.’
‘But you’ve nothing to report, have you?’
‘I shall say that we made no enquiries in Swansea.’
Laura gave it up. They got into the car and headed for Carmarthen and Brecon.
It was impossible to leave Hereford next morning without visiting the Cathedral, so it was not until half-past ten that Dame Beatrice and Laura left the hotel. When they were headed for Winchester Dame Beatrice said,
‘I have a strange yearning to inspect the Westgate ahead of us.’
‘Haven’t you seen it before?’
‘Only the exterior.’
‘May I ask why this sudden enthusiasm?’
‘Because I have often suspected you of possessing second sight, and, as I told you, it is you who have directed my attention to gatehouses.’
Laura, who often suspected her employer of laughing at her, disdained to continue the conversation. She parked the car as near the Westgate as the regulations allowed and together they ascended the flight of stone steps which led up to a vast door. The room they entered was furnished as a tiny museum and behind a table sat the curator.
‘There is a way up to the roof, if you wish,’ he said. Laura guessed that this roof was their objective, but they looked at the exhibits in what had been the thirteenth-century gatekeeper’s lodging and then they climbed a second staircase, a shorter one this time, and stepped out into the open air.
The parapet was crenellated with alternate embrasuers and merlons. Dame Beatrice regarded it with approval, while Laura went from side to side of the flat roof to obtain the views.
‘What next, then?’ she asked, when she had done this.
‘Home, when I have telephoned Henri that we shall arrive in time for dinner. The afternoon is yet young. Let us walk alongside the delightful River Itchen wherein an acquaintance of mine once assured me that he had seen a naiad. We will go as far as St Cross, a modest mile or so away, and hope to see a kingfisher or maybe a wily trout as we wander across the water-meadows.’
On the following morning, chauffeur-driven, this time, by her man-servant George, Dame Beatrice went to report to Basil Honfleur.
‘So you did not go to Swansea,’ said Honfleur, when they met.
‘I thought it unnecessary. All the possible enquiries there have been made by the police.’
‘Yes, well, naturally I’ve had to answer their questions. It seems that the port authorities are accustomed to seeing our coaches in the parking lot, and thought nothing of it when Daigh’s coach arrived.’
‘But did they expect it to stay so long?’
‘The police asked them that and they said it was unusual, but they weren’t worried. The point is, as I told you, that an Irish coach takes over when our passengers reach Cork. The tour really starts from there.’
‘With an Irish driver, I think you said.’
‘Oh, yes. You’ll remember that our man brings our coach back here so that it can be used for one of our shorter tours while the passengers are over in Ireland. Then it returns to Swansea in time to pick them up again. It takes them to Llanelli for the night, because the boat does not get in very early. They’re due for an extra dinner, bed and breakfast, anyway, before we bring them back here. Besides, it’s a lovely drive on the last day. They come by way of the Severn Bridge, and feel they’re getting a bonus.’
‘Tell me, where would you hide a murdered body, should you chance to have such an incubus about you?’
‘Murdered? You don’t think these poor chaps of mine have been
‘Your affectation of astonishment does not deceive me. Our first conversation convinced me that you yourself already feared as much.’
‘Only because I couldn’t think of any other reason for their disappearance. I never mentioned murder, did I?’
‘I do not remember, but it was clear to me that you had murder in mind.’
‘Well, they were such good chaps, you see. I couldn’t imagine them just walking out on their jobs, let alone on
