studied him calmly for a moment, her head slightly on one side, her remarkable red hair glinting in the strong light of the middle of the day. It was impossible to tell from her expression whether she was angry about his statement. Then she turned to Lambert and said, ‘There was a little spat between Tony and Guy, that’s all.’
Lambert said, ‘Guy being Mr Harrington, I presume, and Tony—’
‘ Mr Nash.’ There was a tinge of impatience in the words, edging the annoyance now evident in the set of her head.
Lambert, totally unruffled, studied her for a moment before turning without haste to the youngest man in the room. ‘What was the subject of this little disagreement, Mr Nash?’
‘ Nothing really, Superintendent.’ Nash’s smile was as ineffective as his words in dismissing the importance of the incident. He tried to shrug his broad shoulders free of the hunched tenseness which had beset them since his argument with the dead man had been mentioned. Then he looked round the room and found nothing to help him. The silence stretched; Lambert and Hook watched him steadily with expectant, interrogatory smiles. He said uncertainly, ‘Guy said something about Meg to which I took exception, that’s all. But he apologised and it was all forgotten before the evening was over.’
Lambert looked from Nash to the others, wondering if anyone was prepared to go further. Meg Peters met his eye arrogantly, parading her refusal to give him more detail like a badge of defiance. Goodman and Munro nodded, confirming Nash ’s low-key verdict on the episode.
It was Alison Munro who said, ‘You must realise that the wine had been flowing fairly freely at the end of a day in the fresh air, Mr Lambert.’ With her unforced smile framed by her sculpted dark hair, she was like an elder sister excusing boyish horseplay, and Lambert saw Nash resenting it even as she supported his dismissal of the row as trivial.
Lambert said, ‘Well, if any of you thinks that there was a more lasting resentment, there will be ample opportunity for us to explore the matter together when I talk to you in a more private context. In the meantime, thank you for your cooperation.’ He moved to the door, ignoring the fact that the cooperation he assumed had not yet been volunteered by the group. ‘My advice to you is that you go on enjoying the golfing and other facilities of this place as fully as is possible in these distressing circumstances. I look forward to seeing each of you privately in due course.’
Sandy Munro wondered if he knew how much of a threat that sounded. He turned his thin face hard upon the carpet to conceal his relief as Lambert and Hook left the room. Even as he turned to the others to apologise for the small revelation he had made, he knew that he had concealed a greater knowledge from the police. And that others in the room had concealed things too.
And that one of them was his wife.
8
‘ Home for lunch. This almost amounts to dereliction of duty.’ Christine came and stood at Lambert’s shoulder as he sniffed at the first of the roses, a Climbing Ena Harkness on the south-facing wall outside the kitchen.
She was slim and alert, with dark, close-cut hair. In her tartan blouse and blue jeans, she looked trim and tidy even after a morning in the garden. She was almost a foot shorter than him as he smiled down at her and said, ‘Home was on my way to the pathology lab.’ He had more sense than to tell her that he had forgotten that she would be in the house rather than in school because of what he still thought of as the Whit holiday.
‘ A corpse, then. I have to be a detective myself to piece together what you’re up to.’
‘ A killing at the Wye Castle. That new country club outside Hereford.’
‘ In pursuit of robbery?’
‘ Possibly. I don’t think so. I’ll know more when I’ve seen Burgess and get the results of his PM.’
‘ A light lunch, then.’ She was amused always by his delicate
Lambert said, ‘Guy being Mr Harrington, I presume, and Tony—’
‘ Mr Nash.’ There was a tinge of impatience in the words, edging the annoyance now evident in the set of her head.
Lambert, totally unruffled, studied her for a moment before turning without haste to the youngest man in the room. ‘What was the subject of this little disagreement, Mr Nash?’
‘ Nothing really, Superintendent.’ Nash’s smile was as ineffective as his words in dismissing the importance of the incident. He tried to shrug his broad shoulders free of the hunched tenseness which had beset them since his argument with the dead man had been mentioned. Then he looked round the room and found nothing to help him. The silence stretched; Lambert and Hook watched him steadily with expectant, interrogatory smiles. He said uncertainly, ‘Guy said something about Meg to which I took exception, that’s all. But he apologised and it was all forgotten before the evening was over.’
Lambert looked from Nash to the others, wondering if anyone was prepared to go further. Meg Peters met his eye arrogantly, parading her refusal to give him more detail like a badge of defiance. Goodman and Munro nodded, confirming Nash ’s low-key verdict on the episode.
It was Alison Munro who said, ‘You must realise that the wine had been flowing fairly freely at the end of a day in the fresh air, Mr Lambert.’ With her unforced smile framed by her sculpted dark hair, she was like an elder sister excusing boyish horseplay, and Lambert saw Nash resenting it even as she supported his dismissal of the row as trivial.
Lambert said, ‘Well, if any of you thinks that there was a more lasting resentment, there will be ample opportunity for us to explore the matter together when I talk to you in a more private context. In the meantime, thank you for your cooperation.’ He moved to the door, ignoring the fact that the cooperation he assumed had not yet been volunteered by the group. ‘My advice to you is that you go on enjoying the golfing and other facilities of this place as fully as is possible in these distressing circumstances. I look forward to seeing each of you privately in due course.’
Sandy Munro wondered if he knew how much of a threat that sounded. He turned his thin face hard upon the carpet to conceal his relief as Lambert and Hook left the room. Even as he turned to the others to apologise for the small revelation he had made, he knew that he had concealed a greater knowledge from the police. And that others in the room had concealed things too.
And that one of them was his wife.
8
‘ Home for lunch. This almost amounts to dereliction of duty.’ Christine came and stood at Lambert’s shoulder as he sniffed at the first of the roses, a Climbing Ena Harkness on the south-facing wall outside the kitchen.
She was slim and alert, with dark, close-cut hair. In her tartan blouse and blue jeans, she looked trim and tidy even after a morning in the garden. She was almost a foot shorter than him as he smiled down at her and said, ‘Home was on my way to the pathology lab.’ He had more sense than to tell her that he had forgotten that she would be in the house rather than in school because of what he still thought of as the Whit holiday.
‘ A corpse, then. I have to be a detective myself to piece together what you’re up to.’
‘ A killing at the Wye Castle. That new country club outside Hereford.’
‘ In pursuit of robbery?’
‘ Possibly. I don’t think so. I’ll know more when I’ve seen Burgess and get the results of his PM.’
‘ A light lunch, then.’ She was amused always by his delicate
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