Murder by Appointment: Inspector Faro No.10 by Alanna Knight Page A

the two dead people were brother and sister was confirmed by Miss McNair's few possessions. In the bedroom press, darned underwear indicated an original owner with expensive tastes in body linen.
    He examined the stitches. Sewing styles were highly individual and he had a feeling that the same hand had also mended the beggarman's darned clothes.
    The lack of any documents or letters suggested that further evidence had been carefully destroyed, but returning to the kitchen he found Constable Thomas still meticulously raking through the ashes in the fireplace.
    'Looks as if an intruder might have been searching for something. When he couldn't find it he deliberately started the fire to cover his tracks, sir.'
    The two sisters were at the door, awaiting the policemen's emergence from the cottage.
    'Did Miss McNair have many visitors?' Faro asked.
    Mary shook her head. 'We only saw two callers, didn't we, Annie, all the time she was here.'
    'That's right. And both came when she was out.'
    'And what were these visitors like?' asked Faro, expecting either a description of Mr Glen or of the two men who had abducted Miss McNair and undoubtedly murdered her.
    'They came at different times—'
    'Yes, that's right. One was a young man, the other a young woman.'
    'Young, you say?'
    'Yes indeed. And they were from Ireland.'
    'Ireland—are you sure?' he asked.
    'Well, they spoke with Irish accents,' said Annie.
    'We know because our mother came from Kerry,' said Mary triumphantly.
    So much for his theory, thought Faro as he asked, ‘What did this young man look like?'
    The sisters regarded this question as odd. They studied Faro carefully as they replied, 'Oh, well-spoken. Twenty-five or so—'
    'About your height, sir. Spectacles and red hair—'
    'And the young woman?' asked Faro.
    'She was tall and slim, good-looking too, wasn't she, Annie?'
    ‘Well, yes. That is, what we could glimpse of her face through her veil.'
    'We thought she might be a charity worker or a nurse.'
    'Definitely not a servant, that's for sure.'
    'A real lady.' Annie repeated. 'Educated, well-spoken—like the young man.'
    Faro decided the conversation was getting nowhere, so much of it built on speculation. He was disappointed too since the two callers would most likely prove to have nothing to do with the McNairs' deaths.
    Summoning Constable Thomas, he headed towards the police carriage. The two sisters followed, anxious to prolong this drama which had invaded their usually uneventful lives.
    'There was one other person, Inspector,' said Mary.
    'Who was that?' demanded her sister sharply.
    'You've forgotten, Annie. There was the other young woman wanting to know if the cottage was for sale. She was looking in the windows,' she explained to Faro. 'We saw her and, well, we were curious.'
    Annie gave a sigh of exasperation. 'It was a mistake,' she said to Faro. 'It was the cottage further down the road she was interested in. She was just wanting directions, nothing to do with Miss McNair, Mary,' she added crossly.
    'I know that, but she did ask who lived there,' said Mary. 'And when we told her it was Miss McNair, a single lady and as far as we knew she hadn't any plans to move, she said even if it had been available it was too small for her with a husband and four bairns. I just thought the Inspector should know, Annie. He did ask about all visitors.'
    'But the last woman wasn't a proper visitor, she was just a passer-by,' her sister protested.
    'Well, you were the one who thought it was odd having three Irish people all practically on each other's heels—'
    Thankfully Faro and Thomas left them still arguing. As the carriage headed back along the lochside, the constable said, 'That Carling lad took off very sharpish, sir. I was just thinking, did he know something? Or was it a natural fear of being associated with arson?'
    'You could be well right,' said Faro grimly, pleased that Thomas also had sharp powers of observation and had recognized a villain in the