‘The people in those villa residences up on the slope behind us. Carstairs is an artist and a bird of passage. White is a chap who runs a boat-hire business in Fort William.’
‘Let us have speech with these local in-habitants, then.’
‘Do we put our cards on the table?’
‘If you think that would be the best approach. I shall leave Mr Carstairs and the Whites to you while I tackle the motel and the holiday cottages. The lorry drivers’ cafe can come later.’
‘If we get no joy from the other places, you mean. Right. How would it be if I represented myself as Knight’s sorrowing sister, all bemused and bothered by his mysterious disappearance? I’ll get as close a description of him as I can from the people here, and then I’ll put on a Niobe act, shall I?’
‘Niobe wept for her children, not for her brother Pelops.’
‘I bet Carstairs and the Whites won’t bother about that. Anyway, there can’t be anything much to do here except watch the comings and goings at the hotel. I don’t wonder Carstairs is migratory. Greatly as I love my native land, I don’t think I could stick it in a place like this all the year round. It must be miserably dull for Mrs White. Carstairs, I’m told, is a bachelor and more often away than not, so he’s all right, I suppose, and White has his business in Fort William. Wonder whether Mrs White will talk to me? I daresay she will be glad of a good gossip.’
‘You had all this from the manager here?’
‘Yes, and from some of the maids.’
‘I suppose you did not find out what was in the suitcase which Knight left in his room?’
‘Yes, I did ask, as a matter of fact. There were his pyjamas, a light dressing-gown, his washing materials and a good navy-blue suit which the manager says he put on in the evenings.’
‘No spare underwear?’
‘Oh, yes, of course. A clean shirt and a pair of briefs, but that is the sum total.’
‘So, wherever he went —’
‘Looks as though he meant to come back, doesn’t it? I think we’re looking for another body.’
‘There could be other explanations, but that seems the likeliest at present.’
CHAPTER 9
Saighdearan, Place of Soldiers
« ^ »
White’s middle name was MacGregor. Laura learned this when she called at the bungalow. A woman answered the door.
‘Mr
‘Well, yes, if it isn’t Mr Lamont White,’ said Laura, who had taken an instant dislike to the woman, who, from her accent, was English. ‘The Whites are almost bound to be one or the other, aren’t they?’
‘I wouldn’t know. I happen to be English.’
‘I wonder whether you can help me? I am trying to find out what has happened to the driver of a County Tours coach which pulled up at the hotel here a few days ago.’
‘Are you from the police? I have already answered their questions.’
‘I am connected with the Home Office and we have been authorised to make our own enquiries.
‘The Home Office?’
Laura produced one of Dame Beatrice’s official cards.
‘This is my employer,’ she said. The woman read the card and opened the door wider.
‘You’d better come in,’ she said, ‘although there is absolutely nothing I can tell you. I saw the coach you mean. It came in at about six in the evening and went off again next morning – to Skye, my maid tells me. Then it returned. That is all I know.’
‘You could see the coach from your windows?’
‘Come and look for yourself. Not that I have time to spare looking out of windows, I assure you.’
There was a coach belonging to another tours company standing in the yard of the hotel. Laura had had a steep climb up a lane to reach the bungalow from the hotel, so the coach looked to be a long way below her and her main view was of its roof. It would be quite possible to see people getting in and out of it, she thought, but not so easy, perhaps, to give a clear description of them.
‘You have heard about the death of another driver who worked for the County Tours people, I expect,’ said Laura.
‘Not until the police came here. I do not bother with the papers and my husband never discusses the news with me.’
‘And nobody but the police came to your house to make enquiries?’
‘Well, not the kind of enquiries you mean. Besides, it was my husband’s business, not mine.’
‘About the hire of a boat?’
