‘I wonder why she didn’t come and say goodbye,’ said Fran.
‘Embarrassment?’
‘Possibly.’ Fran unlocked her car. ‘I’ll ring her when I get home. Ring me if you hear from her first.’
Libby drove slowly home. This, she decided was all rather suspicious. First, Rosie wanted to go back to the village and had more or less coerced Libby and Fran into accompanying her. Then there was her wish to go and see the upstairs of Ashton court, which Libby, in the end, had made happen for her. And, finally, the very obvious ploy of staying on her own with Hugh. And now the disappearing car.
‘I should have gone down towards the coast road,’ Libby said to herself. ‘Then I could have seen if there was anywhere she could have turned off or parked. I bet she went back to Ashton Court.’
As soon as she arrived home, Libby called both Rosie’s numbers. Both went to voice mail. She called Fran.
‘Same here,’ said Fran. ‘It’s odd.’
‘Not if she did get back to Ashton Court through a back way,’ said Libby. ‘She and Hugh are probably wallowing creakily in a tangle of sheets by now.’
‘I don’t want to think about that,’ said Fran. ‘So there’s nothing we can do apart from wait to hear from her.’
‘She’s hardly a missing person,’ said Libby. ‘And that reminds me, do you think Ian’s found out any more about the Asian girls?’
‘He might have done, but it’s probably a bit early,’ said Fran. ‘We can hardly ask, can we?’
‘No,’ sighed Libby. ‘We can see if anything’s on the news later.’ She looked out of the window. ‘Bother. It’s started to rain again.’
She and Ben watched all the local news programmes that evening but the only reference to murder was discovery of two dead males in an alley somewhere in the Medway area.
‘Come on,’ said Libby, switching off the set. ‘We’ve got the meeting at the theatre tonight.’
‘And you still haven’t decided what we’re doing for Christmas,’ said Ben.
The meeting was, as usual, followed by a gathering in the pub.
‘How’s the investigation going?’ asked Peter as they squashed round a table.
Libby updated him adding that she didn’t think she and Fran were going to be involved any longer.
‘Ben might,’ she said, idly stirring her drink with a finger. ‘Now he’s given his report to Ian. We might find out what’s happened with that.’
‘Shocking business,’ said Peter, shaking his head. ‘I don’t mean all those unfortunate TB victims, although that’s sad, of course, but these honour killings, if that’s what they are.’
‘They’re all Asian,’ said Libby. ‘I don’t see what else they can be.’
‘That’s a bit of a generalisation,’ said Ben.
‘Hmm,’ said Libby. ‘And there’s another thing. You know I told you about the Indian guy, Vindari, Pete?’
‘The restaurant bloke.’ Peter nodded wisely and stretched out his long legs.
‘His garden leads into the field at the back which butts right up to the trees surrounding the barn and he could get in quite easily.’
‘Were there any breaks in the trees?’ asked Ben.
‘Not that I could see,’ said Libby.
‘Ian will have questioned him by now. And they’ll have investigated the whole of the perimeter, too,’ said Ben.
‘They missed the signs of entry Fran and I found, didn’t they?’ Libby finished her drink and frowned.
‘Don’t worry about it.’ Peter patted her hand. ‘Your Ian’s very thorough. Not much gets past him.’
‘But it does. Sometimes it’s Fran or me that tells him things he doesn’t know.’
‘But you’ve told him everything now, so he’ll be on top of it.’ Peter stood up. ‘Come on. Have another drink and cheer up.’
Harry arrived in one of his trademark pink shirts and draped himself over his partner at the bar.
‘Customers all gone?’ asked Peter.
‘Only a few tonight,’ said Harry. ‘I let Donna go early. Ad’s got young Sophie stowed away in the flat, so he didn’t mind staying on.’ He turned to the table and swung his leg over a chair. ‘Hello, my little investigator. How’re things with you?’
Libby told him. When she got to Rosie’s defection he snorted.
‘Told you, didn’t I? Right horny old biddy.’
‘I don’t know how you know so much,’ said Libby, on her dignity. ‘You’re gay.’
‘Oh, be still my beating heart! She noticed,’ said Harry, clapping a hand to his head. ‘That’s why, you old trout. They often come on to us. All they see is a nice young man paying them some attention – we’re so kind to our elders, you see – and not being quite as au fait with modern sexual mores as you, petal, they go all unnecessary.’
‘Oh. So that’s what Rosie’s done, is it? Gone all unnecessary?’
‘Course not. She’s not that old, and she’s a novelist, isn’t she? She knows what’s what. I bet she’ll turn up all innocence, wide-eyed because she can’t think what the fuss was about.’
‘There hasn’t been any fuss,’ said Libby. ‘Fran and I came to the same conclusion. I doubt if she’ll tell us what happened, or why, and we can hardly ask.’
‘Shame,’ said Harry. ‘I do love a bit of gossip.’
‘If I hear anything, I’ll tell you,’ said Libby. ‘Although I doubt if I’ll hear from her for a while.’
But in the morning, the phone rang before nine o’clock.
‘Libby?’
‘Ian! What’s up?’
‘Where’s your Rosie? She’s not answering either of her phones, her car’s missing and she’s not at home.’
Chapter Thirty-one
LIBBY’S HEART SANK.
‘I haven’t seen her since yesterday lunchtime. She stayed behind at Ashton Court with Colonel Weston.’
Ian swore. ‘What was she doing there?’
Libby told him. ‘We felt we had to go over there with her, or she was going on her own. She didn’t listen when we warned her to keep her mouth shut, so Mr Vindari and Weston both know she owns the barn. I don’t know what she thought she was about, asking to see over the Court, but it looked to Fran and me as if she was on a seduction mission.’
‘That woman hasn’t got an ounce of sense,’ said Ian. ‘When you think about her behaviour right from the beginning, when she approached you and Fran. I don’t know what she’s playing at.’
‘Hadn’t you better go and talk to Colonel Weston?’ asked Libby. ‘After all, he can’t deny she was there, when Fran and I were, too.’
‘Of course he can’t, and why should he?’
‘I don’t know. Will you let us know if you find her?’
‘Yes, yes. Do I need to call Fran? She was with you all the time?’
‘Yes, and got the same voice mail messages as me when we got home.’
‘What messages?’
‘I meant, when we tried to call Rosie all we got was voice mail.’
‘So she’s actually been out of contact since yesterday afternoon?’
‘Yes. Have you tried Andrew?’
‘No – I thought they’d had a row.’
‘I’ll call him, if you like,’ said Libby. ‘Oh – and why did you want her?’
‘We’ve broken through into the cellar. You might tell Ben. And you can come and look later, but not until I tell you.’ He rang off.
Libby sat looking at the phone. Ben came down from the bathroom ready to set off for the Manor.
‘Who was that?’
