turn to buy a drink. If you’re doubtful about young Grant, why don’t you call at his lodgings in Crioch and talk to his landlady? I do assure you that the chap’s all right, really he is.’
‘Then why is he so keen on this alibi business?’ asked Laura.
Chapter 8
Married and Single Grants
‘
« ^ »
‘WHAT do you think of his idea of our calling on the post-mistress at Crioch?’ asked Laura, when Curtis had left them and they had gone back to their own hotel. ‘Any good?’
‘I don’t know, child. He certainly spoke in favour of young Mr Grant’s character, but men are not always good judges of their own sex.’
‘That’s true enough. They are quick enough to spot a rotter, but they don’t always recognise a criminal. However, I must say that the more we hear about the laird of Tannasgan, the more I have to admit that killing him doesn’t necessarily come under the heading of committing a crime. And talking of Tannasgan…’
‘Yes?’
‘The description of the laird!’
‘Yes.’
‘Where does my red-headed, red-bearded bloke come in?’
‘That, one would imagine, is a question for the police to answer.’
‘Do you think I was on the wrong island? – that I didn’t go to Tannasgan at all?’
‘We shall soon know.’
‘On the other hand, if I
‘It is a matter for deep thought.’
‘I wonder whether the police are questioning the older, the married Mr Grant?’
‘You say that he was not in his own home that night when you stayed there?’
‘He went off by train. It makes one wonder whether he really did. I suppose most people in the neighbourhood know what the Grants thought about the laird. I only hope the police don’t believe that they had a motive for killing him, because they’re not the sort to do anything like that, I’m perfectly certain. I mean, I know they hated his guts, but, all the same—’
‘Their dislike, even their detestation, of the laird hardly seems a sufficient motive for killing him, but, of course, we do not know the whole story. I look forward to meeting your Mr and Mrs Grant, I confess. We still have to find out why she borrowed your car that night or early morning while you were there. Of course, as she borrowed it when she did, that hardly amounts to a suspicious circumstance, nevertheless I have examined George’s motoring maps and there is a marked similarity between the length of the journey from Coinneamh Lodge to Tannasgan and the extra mileage shown on the dashboard of your car. You remember telling me about that?’
‘I see your point, but I can’t somehow believe that Mrs Grant was up to anything very sinister. Still, if we call there, you can sum her up for yourself.’
‘Yes, indeed. So we will by-pass Tannasgan on our outward journey, obtain what we can from Mrs Grant – and Mr Grant, if we should find him at home – and then we will visit the island, but not, I think, until we have paid the promised call on Mrs Stewart at Garadh, I have advised her that we are in Inverness, and she will be expecting us. In any case, we must give the police time to leave Tannasgan and An Tigh Mor, so that we get a clear field for our own operations.’
‘But, after all this while, there won’t be anything left for us to find out, will there?’
‘Time will show. I think though, that the time has come for you to go to the police with your evidence, slight though it is.’
‘You mean about my having been entertained that evening by somebody who was not the laird?’
‘That, and the way you have been dogged, followed and waylaid by the young Mr Grant, not to mention his presence in the island boathouse that night. That, to my mind, especially taken in conjunction with his obvious anxiety that you should provide him with an alibi for the time of the murder, is a highly suspicious circumstance which the police might well investigate.’
‘It occurs to me, though, that the scene of the murder doesn’t lie within the boundaries of Inverness, but would be in Ross and Cromarty.’
‘The Inverness police will know what to do, I imagine.’
On the following morning Dame Beatrice produced her own and Laura’s credentials and Laura told her tale. It was taken down in writing, but no questions were asked and George drove her and Dame Beatrice out of Inverness on the road to Beauly at a quarter to twelve.
They didn’t seem particularly interested in my adventure,’ said Laura, ‘but I suppose that’s because it isn’t their pigeon.’
They may pass the information on to Edinburgh,’ said Dame Beatrice. ‘I know very little of Scottish procedure in these matters. The point is that your story is on record. You can do no more unless or until they contact you again.’
