Murder In The Motor Stable: (Auguste Didier Mystery 9) by Amy Myers

hour of glory. Or Harold’s. I am quite sure you are the better driver.’ She glanced at the bright sunshine, snapped up her chiffon-frilled parasol with its clusters of forget-me-nots as though the damaging rays of the sun were her only concern, and walked briskly away.
    Even Hester was surprised. Then she regained her composure. ‘What a charming woman Agatha is. One of my oldest friends.’
    ‘Something very strange is going on,’ whispered Tatiana to Auguste, as Harold, confidence regained, marched through the communicating door to the Dolly Dobbs. ‘When the serpent hisses, he usually has something to hiss about.’
    ‘Is the serpent Hester or Agatha?’
    ‘Both.’
    Only Harold and Hester were allowed inside the holy of holies. Tatiana, Auguste, Mrs Dobbs, Fred, Leo and Miss Dazey were forced to gather outside, and Harold Dobbs took one step further down in Tatiana’s estimation. By now Auguste’s curiosity about what the Dolly Dobbs would be like now it was completed was sufficient to overlook the fact that it was a motorcar.
    As Fred Gale was at last allowed to throw back the doors of the motor house, the sound of the Dolly Dobbs’s horn tooted in triumph, and the car itself, Hester at the wheel, began to move forward with Harold, almost weeping with excitement, running beside it.
    Tatiana clutched Auguste’s arm. ‘What on earth are
those
?’
    If this was a motorcar, it was the most extraordinary-looking one Auguste had ever seen. High up, perched on each of the front mudguards, was what at first sight appeared to be an enormous phonograph horn. At the front of each one was a gaily-coloured windmill with eight blades each painted in a different colour. A sprightly weathercock clung daintily to the curved dash in front of the steering pillar. It rather resembled the last pantomime dragon Auguste had seen at Drury Lane.
    After her first surprise, Tatiana ran forward to inspect thismonstrosity, which was evidently nothing new to Hester who sat smugly in the driving seat.
    ‘What
are
they?’ Tatiana demanded, stopping by the ‘phonograph horns’ and their accompanying apparatus.
    Harold glowed. ‘They are wind machines. I have discovered the secret of perpetual motion.’
    ‘The name of Dobbs will be written in the history of science,’ shrieked Judith, the mackintosh hood falling over one eye in her excitement.
    ‘The laws of physics do not permit perpetual motion,’ Auguste pointed out dubiously. Surely where Ancient Greece had failed to supply an answer, it was very unlikely that Upper Norwood would succeed.
    ‘It is very simple,’ Hester announced loftily, instantly assuming proprietorial rights. ‘Wind blows in as the car moves forward and is converted by the dynamo and motor into electricity to recharge the battery as fast as it discharges.’
    ‘The voltmeter will always show around two volts per cell,’ Harold explained. ‘I got the idea from my daughter Dolly’s paper windmill which she bought at the Zoo. That’s why I’ve painted the propeller blades these colours – to please Dolly.’
    ‘Suppose there is a tailwind, or no wind at all, or the wind is not coming from the front?’ Tatiana asked doubtfully.
    ‘Naturally Mr Dobbs has thought of that,’ Hester snapped. ‘The weathercock tells me if the wind has changed. I have a handle here on my left,’ she bent down and jerked it and the huge cowl on the left mudguard promptly swung round through 360 degrees, ‘and on my right.’ The right-hand cowl obediently followed suit. ‘Dolly Dobbs can catch the wind from whatever direction it comes from. If there
is
no wind, merely driving the car forward will create it. I shall be honoured to drive this wonderful invention on its official trials.’
    Only because, Auguste reflected, of the glory it would reflect on Hester Hart. He agreed with Tatiana: he did not like Hester Hart. She had charm, but then so did Medusa.
    ‘You’ll certainly attract notice,’ Tatiana commented,