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.‘Have you got this button with you?’She opened her purse and handed it over.Ledbetter studied it in his palm.Helen said, ‘The letters stand for Chardsey Yacht Club.I asked him.It’s in Surrey.’‘Who exactly is Dominic Hardy, Mrs Campbell?’‘A friend of the family, who was at school with Nicholas Warren.Michael Saxton, who’s been at the Seven Stars for some months, says he comes quite often.He has an apartment at St Katharine’s Dock.’‘Why does he keep coming here?’‘Because his girlfriend’s parents live nearby and her father’s dying.’‘What’s the girlfriend’s name?’‘Caroline.I must have heard her surname, but I can’t — oh yes, I think it’s Budd.’‘Do you know where her parents live? Or their initials?’‘Not their address, but Dominic spoke of her father as Roderick.’Abruptly he changed the subject.‘You wouldn’t know what car Hardy drives?’‘A blue Saab nine thousand,’ she answered promptly.‘My brother has one, so I recognised it.’Ledbetter leant forward, his eyes gleaming.‘Now that is helpful.Where does he park it?’ Please God, not where half a dozen cars had been since.‘At the front of the house, almost blocking access to the rear.Michael says he always parks there.’‘Mrs Campbell, you’re a wonder!’‘You think he’s tied in with the Stately Homes?’‘We’ll be taking a good look at him.’ He paused.‘I’m sure I needn’t ask you to say nothing of your visit here.’She gave a little shiver.‘No.’‘Do you know where Hardy is now?’‘I think he was going back to London, but Caro’s staying on because her father hasn’t much longer to live.’‘I want you to think carefully.Has anything else happened at the Seven Stars which struck you as strange, even if it seemed unimportant?’‘Well, Terry Pike, who’s also been there a while, was very interested to hear my husband’s a loss adjuster working on some of the Stately Homes claims.’Ledbetter raised an eyebrow.‘That interests me, too.We might have spoken on the phone.’‘Oh? I suppose you wouldn’t know why he was up here yesterday?’ Was it really only yesterday? It already seemed days ago.‘I’m afraid I’ve no idea.Didn’t he tell you?’‘He just said he was on business.’If the inspector thought it strange a wife should ask someone else what her husband was doing, he made no comment.‘Do you know what Mr Pike’s job is?’ he asked instead.‘No, only that he commutes from Blackpool and goes home at weekends.’The inspector drummed his fingers thoughtfully, then looked up at her.‘Anything else? Anything at all?’‘Well, there was the phone-call, but —’‘What phone-call?’‘It was on Wednesday, while we were at dinner.The phone started to ring and everybody froze and then, with one accord, looked at their watches.So I did, too, and it was exactly eight o’clock.Nicholas went to answer it, and Gordon said it wasn’t worth putting his dinner in the oven because he wouldn’t be long, and I wondered how he knew.But he was right, and when Nicholas came back, he never said who was on the phone and no one asked him.It didn’t seem natural, somehow.’‘It didn’t strike you it might have been in answer to the horoscope?’She stared at him, a pulse beating in her throat.‘Are you serious?’‘Not really, just thinking aloud.What day was it you saw the bit about someone waiting for a call?’Helen thought back.‘Monday, I think.But if they’re in telephone contact, why didn’t they ring themselves in the first place instead of all the rigmarole with the horoscopes?’‘I’ve no idea.Of course, the phone-call might have nothing to do with the horoscopes, and the horoscopes themselves might be entirely innocuous.’He leant back in his chair and surveyed her.‘It has been a very interesting half-hour, Mrs Campbell.Thank you for coming to see us.’‘What happens now?’ Helen asked, aware she was being politely dismissed.His mouth lifted humorously.‘We shall continue with our inquiries.But do please be discreet.It’s better that no one should suspect you’ve been here.’He showed her out to the foyer, watched her manipulate the swing doors, then, pressing the security buttons, went upstairs to his office, where he perched on the edge of his desk and picked up the phone.The first call was to his superior officer, with whom he spoke at some length.The second was briefer and more succinct.‘I need two addresses urgently: that of Roderick Budd, which will be somewhere local, and Dominic Hardy, in the St Katharine’s Dock area of London.’ After a minute or two the voice came back to him, and he made a note on his pad.Then he dialled a third time, and a voice said in his ear, ‘Webb.’‘Dave, there have been developments and I need to be in several places at once.Trouble is, we’re short of manpower, what with a flu epidemic and a major road accident this afternoon.Any chance of your helping out? If you need an incentive, it’s a lead on the Stately Homes caper.’Webb’s voice quickened with interest.‘I’m sure I can clear it.What’s happened?’Speaking rapidly, Ledbetter outlined his suspicions about Dominic Hardy and his girlfriend.‘We’ll have to move fast, before they can warn each other we’re on their track.Trouble is, Hardy’s back in London now and will have to be collected.His girlfriend’s still in SB, though, so if you could pick her up —’‘Look, Chris, why don’t I go to London? It makes more sense for you to stay on the spot if you’ve several irons in the fire.’‘Are you sure you don’t mind? Thanks, Dave — I owe you one.As soon as you’ve got him, give me a bell on my mobile.I’ll have SOCO standing by to hot-foot it to the Seven Stars and, with luck, lift his tyre prints.’‘The guesthouse, you mean? You reckon they’d tip him off ?’‘I don’t know what I reckon about that lot at the moment.There’s all sorts of baloney about horoscopes and God knows what, but the first priority is to get Hardy and Budd here for questioning.’‘Right.So what are we bringing them in for?’‘Suspicion of burglary will do for now.Good luck, Dave, and thanks again.’Ledbetter put down the phone, stood up and stretched.Things were moving at last.12Helen drove back to the Seven Stars with her mind churning.She realised now that she hadn’t expected the police to take her seriously — had, in fact, been hoping that they wouldn’t.She’d imagined herself recounting the whole business to Andrew, and both of them laughing over her preposterous suspicions.But the production of the button had changed everything.From polite interest, speculation and reassurance, the inspector had snapped to attention, and, having elicited all the information she had to offer, been quick to dispatch her.Obviously there were more important things to do than talk to her any longer.He’d been very interested in Dominic’s car, she remembered — even as to where it was parked.Would he send someone out to the Seven Stars? If so, would anyone there guess she’d been the one to lay information? And suppose Michael were involved?She had a surreal picture in her mind of them all being led out in handcuffs to waiting police cars — the Cains, the Warrens, Terry and Michael, and she, the only one left in the house, watching from a window.The detective hadn’t been convinced by the horoscopes, though, and the more she thought about it, the more outrageous her hypothesis seemed.As she’d said herself, why weren’t the messages — if messages they were — relayed by phone?Nevertheless, when she let herself into the house to find the hall deserted she went quickly to the paper on the table, her hands trembling as she searched for the column and ‘Tomorrow’s Birthday’.And there it was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]