Murder on the Flying Scotsman (24 page)

‘You’d better try the bar-parlour and lounge again. It’s just possible both you and D.C. Piper missed them in transit in that maze of passages upstairs.’

Again Tom came back before Piper and with him came Daisy.

‘Alec, have you seen Belinda? I can’t find her or Dr. Jagai.’

Alec’s heart jumped up and got stuck in his throat. Before he was able to speak, Ernie Piper dashed in.

‘Chief,’ he panted, formality in the presence of strangers forgotten, ‘the constable on the back gate’s lying there unconscious. Summun’s been and gone and hit him
on the head.’

CHAPTER 19

The stranger in the parlour, the man Daisy didn’t know, sprang to his feet and reached for the black bag on the table. Clicking shut the catch, he snapped at Piper,
‘Show me!’ They hurried out.

‘Tom, try the dining room, kitchens, servants’ quarters, cellars – anywhere you can think of. Ask Briggs. I’ll ’phone Halliday, get a proper search
organized.’ Alec, grey-faced, turned to Daisy, reaching for her hand. ‘Both our two suspects are missing. When did you last see Belinda?’

‘Just after I saw you, when we came downstairs together from Mr. Braeburn’s room.’ She held onto his hand, ignoring his painfully tight clasp. ‘Anne insisted on dragging
me up to see her children, so I left Belinda with Dr. Jagai. He was taking her to get a ginger beer in the bar-parlour. Alec, he’s not one of your suspects?’

‘No, not him. Braeburn and Raymond Gillespie, and
both
of them gone. I don’t understand it.’

‘I can’t believe they’re accomplices,’ Daisy agreed.

‘If either’s harmed Belinda, I’ll kill him and be damned to the Law!’ He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ‘I must get on to Halliday.’

Going with him to the telephone, she listened while he explained the situation to the Superintendent. ‘So you see, sir,’ he finished up, ‘I’d like every man you can spare
. . . Yes, sir . . . Thank you, sir.’ Hanging up, he ran his hand through his hair. ‘Halliday’s calling in every man on his force, on or off duty. Thank God he’s not one of
those who resents the Met operating on his manor.’

‘He seemed pretty efficient, as well as being nice. I’m sure he’ll do all he can.’

‘Yes, he’s coming right over himself, to see the poor chap who’s injured and to help organize the search and question everyone.’

‘He’ll be here in no time. The police station’s just around the corner, isn’t it? Sergeant Barclay pointed it out.’

‘Three minutes, he said. I feel so helpless, Daisy, having to stay here giving orders when I’d rather be out scouring the town. I wish I knew the place, knew where to start looking
for her. I have a dreadful vision of her lying out on the walls somewhere, injured . . . or dead.’

So did Daisy but she put all the optimistic pragmatism she could muster into her voice. ‘I can’t see how either Ray or Braeburn could have overcome Dr. Jagai, hidden him, and
spirited Belinda away without creating a frightful hullabaloo.’

‘Unless they asked him to treat their scratches, which I advised both to do, knowing Jagai had his black bag with him,’ Alec said despairingly. ‘He knew Belinda wasn’t to
be left alone, he’d have taken her upstairs with him.’

‘More likely he’s taken her for another walk.’ Though it seemed highly unlikely he would do so without consulting her or Alec. ‘The bobby at the front door knows
they’re allowed to go out.’

‘And Piper wouldn’t have asked about those two!’ As he spoke, Alec headed down the hall at a purposeful stride, Daisy at his heels. He opened the front door and asked,
‘Crombie, have the Indian doctor and my daughter gone out again?’

‘Not sin’ they cam’ back, sir, not unless they went by the back gate. Ye’d best ask Constable Spiers.’

Alec’s shoulders slumped. ‘I’m afraid Spiers has been hurt.’ Taking in the constable’s shocked face, he assured him, ‘Dr. Fraser is with him now, and Superintendent Halliday is on his way. For heaven’s sake, don’t let anyone leave.’ He shut the door, saying wryly, ‘Talk about locking the stable door after the horse has been
stolen!’

‘I could go and start searching on the walls,’ Daisy offered.

‘No, please stay. I want you here if . . . if they bring her back. Tom! Any sign?’

Sergeant Tring shook his head as he came down the last few stairs. Daisy had never seen him look so grim. ‘Not that I can find, Chief. I haven’t spoke to Briggs yet.’

‘Go and find him now. I’m going to check Jagai’s room.’

Daisy knew Alec was considering the possibility that the doctor and Belinda had been ambushed when he went to fetch his black bag. She followed him as he took the stairs two at a time, catching
up as he banged on the bedroom door next to hers. No answer. Reaching for the handle, Alec said savagely, ‘I’ll break it down if I have to.’

But the door was not locked, and no one was there.

The doctor’s black bag was not in evidence either. Daisy went to the wardrobe. His overcoat hung there, but still no sign of the black bag, not at the bottom with his bedroom slippers,
neatly placed side by side, nor on the shelf above with his hat.

‘That’s odd,’ she said, turning round. Alec was gone, to see if Mr. Halliday had arrived, she assumed.

She glanced under the bed, though Alec had looked there for a body or bodies. A man who tidied away his slippers into the wardrobe was not likely to shove his medical paraphernalia under his
bed, but one never could tell.

Nothing. A minor mystery to add to the inexplicable disappearance of four people. Daisy plumped down on the edge of the bed to think.

She found difficult to believe Raymond or Braeburn, or even the two acting in concert, could have biffed the unfortunate Spiers on the nob while abducting both Dr. Jagai and Belinda. One or both
must still be in the hotel.

Assume Dr. Jagai took his bag to treat Raymond’s or Braeburn’s scratches. Where? Piper had checked both their rooms. Sooner or later Alec would undoubtedly go through every bedroom
with a fine-tooth comb, but he was fully occupied with Mr. Halliday for the moment. Besides, he might have to get a search warrant, she wasn’t sure – not that he’d let that
requirement delay him if he suspected his daughter was in one of them.

Which might land him in frightful trouble, whereas Daisy could pop in and out in no time, risking no more than a bit of a row if she were caught.

Her own room was next door, so she went there first. Before, hunting for Belinda, she had merely glanced in. Now she checked inside the wardrobe and under the beds, uncertain whether she was
praying to find or not to find one or two bodies bound and gagged, unconscious even, surely not dead!

No bodies, alive or dead.

After a moment’s hesitation, she crossed the passage to Alec’s room. It was close to Dr. Jagai’s and the villain would not expect a busy police officer to go up to his bedroom
anytime soon. Quickly she searched it, forcing herself not to dwell on her midnight visit, the visit which had ended in a kiss.

Then to Tring and Piper’s shared room, next door. Here she began to feel like a horrible Nosey Parker. It didn’t stop her peeking under the beds, opening the wardrobe door. There was
the sergeant’s ‘secondbest’ blue and green chequered suit – he was wearing the ghastly yellow and tan today – but no body.

Daisy hurried down the two steps and round the corner. Lavatory, bathroom, one step up, the next door was Room 9, Braeburn’s, where Piper had already been. But he was looking for Braeburn;
he had probably just glanced around, as Daisy had in her own room. Holding her breath, she knocked, softly, then louder. To her relief there was no response. She let out her breath, turned the
handle, and peeped in.

The solicitor was not lying in wait to savage her. Nor had he carelessly left any victims lying around. Thirty seconds later, Daisy was knocking at the next door.

She scurried from room to room, two more on this corridor then back to the other wing, down three steps this time. All were empty of both their lawful inhabitants and extraneous bodies. Growing
quite blasé, she already had her hand on the door-knob of the fifth room when her knock was answered with a bellow.

‘Who the devil is that? Can’t a man get any rest in this godforsaken hole?’

Unmistakably Desmond Smythe-Pike. Anyone trying any funny business in his presence would have quickly learned the error of his ways.

‘Verra sorry, sir,’ Daisy squeaked, hoping she sounded like a Scottish chambermaid, ‘wrang room.’ Did the Scots say wrang? She swallowed a giggle, reminding herself of
the dreadful reason for her search.

Crossing the passage, she raised her hand to knock. A strange humming sound came from beyond the door. The sound of someone trying to yell through a gag? Surely not, but she had never heard
anyone trying to yell through a gag, so perhaps it was. And she rather thought this must be the room shared by Judith and Kitty – Judith who’d do anything for Raymond, Kitty who adored
her older brother.

Daisy looked back to make sure the Scottish chambermaid she had impersonated was not creeping up on her. Then she put her ear to the door, blatantly eavesdropping. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. It sounded
like a thousand bees having a wonderful time on a heather-covered moor.

She raised her hand to knock again, then changed her mind. With infinite caution she turned the doorknob. Inching the door open, she peered through the slit.

Someone was sitting on the floor. All she could see was a thin strip of the back of a man’s jacket from the shoulder down. She pushed the door wider – a knee in grey flannels, and
resting on it, palm upturned, a dark hand. Dr. Jagai’s hand.

The bees continued to buzz uninterrupted. Emboldened, Daisy opened the door far enough to peer around it. The scene that met her eyes left her utterly baffled.

On one bed, Judith sat cross-legged, her hands palm up on her knees, eyes closed. On the other perched Kitty and – thank God – Belinda, and on the floor Chandra Jagai and Raymond
Gillespie, all in the same posture, eyes closed, humming.

‘Good gracious heavens above!’ said Daisy blankly. ‘What on earth are you doing?’

The hum abruptly cut off. Five pairs of startled eyes stared at her. Then they all started babbling at once.

Judith raised her voice. ‘Hush a minute,’ she said calmly. ‘Let Chandra explain.’

‘It’s a form of an ancient Hindu discipline.’ The doctor rose smoothly to his feet, Ray following suit less elegantly. ‘A very minor, elementary exercise which . .
.’

‘Never mind now,’ Daisy broke in, ‘it’ll have to wait. Belinda, your father’s in a fearful pucker. He’s afraid you’ve been kidnapped, possibly by you,
Raymond. You’d better both come down at once.’

Belinda slid down from the bed and ran to take Daisy’s hand. ‘Why does Daddy think I’m kidnapped?’ she asked anxiously.

‘Because you couldn’t be found and the constable guarding the back gate has been knocked out.’

‘Oh my sainted aunt!’ Raymond exclaimed, horrified. ‘Not by me!’

‘No, not by you, since you’re still here. Come on.’

Judith, Kitty, and Dr. Jagai followed them downstairs. Halfway down, Daisy stopped. The front hall was a swarm with blue uniforms, their occupants chattering excitedly. Kidnappings and man-hunts
were not exactly common fare in Berwick.

Among them, Daisy spotted a face she recognized. ‘Sergeant Barclay,’ she called.

Silence fell as he came over to the foot of the stairs. ‘Yes, miss, what can I do for you?’

‘I’ve found some of the missing people. Most of them, in fact. Is Mr. Fletcher in the back parlour?’

‘Yes, miss, and I don’t s’pose him and the Super’ll mind being interrupted! Good for you, miss. And hallo to you, missy. Glad to see you’re safe and
sound.’

‘Hallo, Sergeant Barclay,’ Belinda replied shyly.

He led the way, opened the door, and ushered in the small procession.

Alec and Mr. Halliday were bending over a map spread out on the table by the window. They glanced round at the sound of the door opening and Alec frowned.

‘Miss Dalrymple, not now, we . . .’

Belinda dashed past Daisy and flung herself at her father. ‘Daddy, I’m all right! I wasn’t kidnapped, I was upstairs in Kitty’s room. I stayed with Dr. Jagai all the
time, every single minute. I’m all right, honestly.’

Crushing her to his chest, he looked over her head at Daisy. His grey eyes glimmered with unshed tears. He smiled at her and she smiled back in pure joy at having restored his beloved daughter
to him.

Then he saw Raymond. At once he was all business.

‘So you’re here, Mr. Gillespie. Have you left the hotel since I last saw you?’

‘Eek, Daddy, you’re squashing me. He’s been with us all the time, with me and Dr. Jagai and Kitty and Judith.’

‘Then it’s yon lawyer we’re looking for,’ said Superintendent Halliday.

‘He won’t have gone far,’ Raymond observed with a grin.

‘Why not?’ Alec demanded.

‘Darling, let Chandra tell the story,’ Judith put in. ‘It’s all his doing.’

They were all crowded into the small room by then. Dr. Jagai closed the door, but immediately it opened again behind him. Dr. Fraser and Piper squeezed in.

‘Doctor, how is Spiers?’ Mr. Halliday asked at once.

‘Concussed, but not badly, Superintendent. I’ll keep him under observation in the Infirmary for a day or two. Mr. Fletcher, Detective Constable Piper has been of the greatest
assistance.’

‘Good,’ Alec grunted impatiently. ‘Now let’s get on with catching the man who put Spiers in the Infirmary. Dr. Jagai, what’s this about Braeburn not going
far?’

‘I took the liberty of slipping quite a largish dose of bromide into his whisky,’ Chandra Jagai said diffidently. With a half-penitent glance at Dr. Fraser, he went on, ‘Not
enough to harm him, sir. But I very much doubt that he’s more than a few hundred yards away, Chief Inspector, and he’ll be sound asleep by now. I believe he was heading for the
King’s Arms Garage on Hide Hill.’

‘Great Scott,’ said Alec, ‘well done, Doctor!’

‘Wasn’t it clever of him, Daddy?’

‘Not exactly correct medical practice,’ Dr. Fraser said, his lips quirking, ‘but forgivable in the circumstances.’