his sergeant, and two uniformed men appeared in two cars; an ambulance was already there before them.
Most of the day-trippers had departed with the bus, but there were still a number of people around the hotel, and now no one could be allowed to leave until he had been interviewed and received police permission to proceed. The entire household was gathered withindoors under the supervision of a watchful and slightly officious Tamil constable, while the hotel’s boatmen and the police officers salvaged the remains of Mahendralal Bakhle and his launch. Patti was clearly in no state to be of any assistance to anyone, she sat silent and cold with shock, staring before her; and since they had been six people in the boat, and five could give just as clear an account without her, the inspector, of his own volition, sent the doctor to give her a sedative, and bespoke from the hotel a room where she could be rolled up in blankets and left to sleep. By that time it was clear that they would not get away from Thekady that night.
‘But it is terrible! ’ lamented Mrs Mani, dropping tears of alarm and indignation into her scented handkerchief. ‘It is a dreadful thing! Poor Mr Bakhle! Such a tragedy – such a distinguished man!’
‘A frightful accident!’ her husband echoed, and there was no pretence about his agitation. Had they not been in that very boat all the morning? Suppose it had happened then? ‘To think that only a few hours ago we were speaking with him! He showed us his garden… And what do we know? Why must we be kept here? Now we have to pay for our car an extra day, with the driver, and we had intended to be back in Madurai tonight…’
A frightful accident. That was what they were all thinking, no doubt, and that was bad enough.
The Bessancourts sat patiently among the palms, rocksteady, waiting to be interviewed when their turn came. Their programme was not so rigid that a day’s delay could upset it. They had nothing with which to reproach themselves, and nothing to fear; they would tell what they knew, which was merely their own movements during the day, and that would be that. And since they were not players in the drama, but merely caught up accidentally in its fringes, they did not expect the police to give them a high priority in their list, and were resigned to a long wait, but a dignified one. Madame Bessancourt, from some survival kit of her own, had produced a large, half-finished sweater, and was doggedly getting on with her knitting.
They were kept waiting more than another hour before Inspector Raju came into the main lounge, where the guests were assembled.
‘I should like first to see Mr Preisinger and Mr Felse and their party, who found the damaged boat. Also their boat-boy. If you will come this way.’
A small office had been placed at his disposal; with chairs enough to accommodate them all, the room was full, for one corner was already occupied by Sergeant Gokhale and his notebook. The sergeant was young, alert, and spruce to the point of being dandified, and apparently quite prepared to take down statements given in English. Like his superior officer, he was in plain clothes; evidently they were dealing with the detective branch. Romesh came in last, summoned from somewhere behind the scenes, his face wary and tired, and a little frightened.
Inspector Raju was tall and lean and greying, a man perhaps in his early fifties. He had a thin, lined face and intelligent eyes that missed nothing, from the stains on the sari Priya had as yet had no opportunity to change, to Romesh’s shrinking uneasiness; and his complexion was no darker than a sallow European tan at the end of an average summer.
‘Now – I had, of course, a brief verbal statement from Mr Felse on my arrival. It was laudably concise and accurate, everything I needed at that time. But now I want you all to think back and give me a full account of your day, in detail. There is time. And what one omits, another may remember. Perhaps Miss Madhavan could give her account first, then she may go to join her friend. There is no need for me to see Miss Galloway tonight; by morning she may be more herself. It was, I know, an ugly experience.’ His eyes flicked one appraising and appreciative glance at Priya, who had also suffered the same experience, but sat here composed and calm. ‘You do understand that you will have to pass the night here? I have asked that arrangements shall be made for you.’ Another thought struck him. ‘But perhaps you have not your luggage with you, since you were not expecting to stay?’
‘We have everything in the Land-Rover,’ said Larry. ‘We’d intended driving back to Madurai this evening, so we settled our account at the forestry bungalow.’
‘Good, then we shall not be putting you to any great discomfort, though I am sorry for the delay. Yes – very well, Miss Madhavan?’
Priya accounted for her day briefly and thoroughly, taking time for thought. When she had finished she said punctiliously: ‘I am trained, of course, to be able to deal with casualties. It is an acquired skill, not a virtue. I think Miss Galloway has really lived a very sheltered life, though I am sure she would not think so herself. Could I ask you, Inspector, if my patient – if he is still alive?’
If he hesitated, it was only momentarily. ‘So far, he is, and that is thanks to you. But I would not hold out too much hope for him. It was necessary to risk rushing him down to hospital, he needs surgery at once, and of course they are already giving him blood, but—Well, we shall see! Thank you, Miss Madhavan! You can go to your friend now.’
Priya went; and one by one the others added what they could to the picture of the day. Raju called on Dominic last of all.
‘And what was it that made you think this might not be an accident, Mr Felse?’
‘I didn’t see how it could be. I could imagine a minor blow-out from an engine, but nothing of this kind. This had wrecked the whole boat, every seam had started. And the violence of the injuries… it looked more like some kind of explosive gadget, deliberately planted. And that made me think of the sound we’d heard, and the cloud we’d seen. It would have been somewhere over those stretches of the lake.’
‘And the timing? You did not notice the exact time of the report?’
‘By pure chance, yes, I did. Not because of the explosion, but because we’d just decided we ought to start back, and Romesh was actually turning the boat then. I did a sort of mental check on how long it would take us to get back. It was then ten minutes to five.’
‘Thank you, that is useful. Very well, now you may all go. But you will not leave the hotel until given permission.’
But as they were filing out at the door he suddenly called: ‘Mr Felse!’ And when Dominic obediently turned back he added in a lower tone: ‘Come back for a moment, Mr Felse, and close the door. Sit down again.’ He sat back in his chair and sighed, and then smiled at Dominic very persuasively: ‘May I say that you have been most useful to us in this case? But for you I doubt if we should have been called in so quickly, and but for your party, and especially that admirable young woman, we should not have stood even the slim chance we stand now of ever getting a statement from the boat-boy Ghose. I don’t rate it high, but at least it exists. I think I owe you a little information in my turn. You may like to know that you were perfectly right. We have been going over the boat very carefully – that is why we delayed so long before seeing you. There was indeed an explosive device planted in it. As far as we can
