Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body

a difference. It's a bit hard to make ends meet these days and--'

A savage blow struck Dan in the back of the neck. He fell forwards. The listening device was picked up and thrown into the golden ripples of the moonlit pond.

Two days later, when Agatha was about to shut up the office for the evening, she received a visit from a Mrs. Ruby Palmer.

She was a small, crushed-looking woman with mousy brown hair in tight permed curls. Her weak eyes blinked rapidly. She was wearing a droopy green cardigan over a cotton blouse of violent-coloured zigzags and a long white cotton skirt.

'I'm Dan's wife,' she said.

'You mean Dan Palmer? I'm sorry, Mrs. Palmer, but if you've come to give me a row about your husband losing his job, forget it.'

'No, it's not that. You are a detective?'

'That's what it says on the door.'

'I need your help. Dan's gone missing.'

'He did drink a lot, Mrs. Palmer. Maybe he's sleeping it off somewhere.'

'It's not that. He had this idea of outdoing you as a detective. He said he was going to go to that village and find that murderer. You see, he had this illegal listening device. The newspaper didn't know about it. You can stand outside people's houses and hear what they are saying. I would like to employ you to find him. Not that I miss him, mind you, because he was really nasty when he had taken drink. But he recently inherited a good bit of money from an uncle. He paid me only a little housekeeping money. If anything's happened to him, I won't get the money until they find his body. I filed a missing person's report with the police in Hackney but they weren't much interested.'

'All right,' said Agatha. 'I won't charge you unless I find him. Have you a card?'

Ruby produced a card from her shabby handbag. 'Are you staying in Mircester?'

'No, I'm driving back to Hackney.'

'That's quite a drive.'

'I'm used to it. Dan was usually too drunk to drive.'

'What kind of car does he drive?'

'An old Volvo.'

'Here's a piece of paper. Write down the registration number. Good. I'll be in touch as soon as I find out anything.'

When she had gone, Agatha began to phone round to all the hotels in the neighbourhood, at last hitting on the motel where Dan Palmer had last stayed. The desk clerk said he had not returned and if he was not back by the following day, they were going to pack up his things and leave them in the hotel storage room.

Agatha introduced herself and told them to leave the room as it could be a police matter.

She then phoned Simon and asked him if he would like to work late. 'I don't want to call the police in at this juncture because Palmer is such a drunk, he may have forgotten which hotel he was staying at. I want you to go and park outside and wait and see if he returns. Give it until about midnight.

'I'll stay here and start to phone round the pubs. Find out if he had a minibar in his room and then phone me back. If he didn't, I'm sure he would be feeling thirsty.'

After half an hour, Simon phoned back to say there was no minibar.

Agatha diligently began to phone round all the pubs in and around Mircester, but Dan Palmer could have passed in any crowd unnoticed. She bit her thumb in vexation. If he did not show up that evening, then she really would have to tell the police what he had been up to.

By midnight, Simon called to say there was no sign of the missing reporter.

Reluctantly, Agatha phoned Bill Wong at his home, to be told by his mother that Bill was working nights.

She locked up the office and made her way to police headquarters and asked for Bill, saying she had vital information in a murder case.

Bill came out and led her through into an interview room. It was more like a hotel lounge with comfortable chairs and magazines.

'Have you gone people friendly?' asked Agatha, looking around.

'We needed somewhere comfortable for the rape victims, abused children, things like that. So, out with it. What's going on?'

Agatha described everything Ruby had told her. Bill took rapid notes. Then he said, 'You look worn out. Leave this to us.'

'But keep in touch with me,' said Agatha. 'After all, you'd never have known if I hadn't told you.'

'I promise.'

Chapter Ten

The next morning Agatha said to Simon and Toni, 'You've heard all about how Dan Palmer is missing. I want you both to go to that wretched village and start to search. You won't be in any danger because the place will be crawling with police.'

Agatha did not know that Wilkes had turned down flat any idea of a search. 'He's a reporter and a drunk and a grown man,' Wilkes had said. 'I'm not wasting the manpower.'

So when Toni and Simon arrived, it was to find that there was not one policeman in sight. 'Well, it's a bright sunny day,' said Simon. 'They'll hardly attack us during daylight. Let's start looking. We need to find the car first.'

But there was no sign of Palmer's Volvo either in or around the village.

'Let's go and speak to May Dinwoody,' suggested Simon. 'I know she was angry with me, but I think she'll still have a soft spot for me and might have seen something.'

The lane to the mill house was still damp as it was shadowed by trees and had not dried up after the recent rain. 'Look,' said Toni, 'lots of footprints in the mud here. The police should be along taking casts.' They sidestepped the footprints and went to the mill house, but there was no answer to May's doorbell.

'I'm hot and hungry,' said Simon. 'What if we buy some lunch and drive up out of the village and find a pleasant place for a picnic?'

'But not at the local store,' said Toni. 'I can't bear any more of their hate. You said they wouldn't attack us in daylight, but remember those kids throwing clods of earth at us.'

'School's in so we should be safe. But there's a shop at a garage out in the ring road. We'll get some stuff there.'

Armed with sandwiches and soft drinks, they drove back through the village and up to the top of a hill where there was a bench overlooking a hay field.

The hay had been bundled up into great round bales. 'How peaceful and rural it all is,' said Toni as a tractor made its way across the field, picking up each bale with a spear mounted at the front and heading back to the barn.

'They have to get the spear right in the middle of the bale,' said Simon. 'If it scrapes against the ground, it can foul the whole thing up. Have a salmon sandwich.'

'Thanks. Here comes the tractor again.'

The tractor chugged back. The spear was thrust into the next bale. Simon stared. Something black, which yet glinted red in the sunlight, was oozing out from the bale. He vaulted the fence, crying, 'Stop! Stop!'

The tractor driver could not hear him above the noise of the engine but saw Simon shouting and yelling as he raced across the field.

He switched off the engine and asked truculently, 'What's up with ye?'

'There's blood coming out of that bale,' gasped Simon.

'So what? Probably a fox or rabbit or something.'

'Don't move that bale another inch. I'm calling the police.'

'I've already phoned them,' said Toni, joining him. 'Call Agatha.'

A tall man in a blue pen-necked shirt and jeans strode rapidly across the field. 'Here's the boss,' said the