Death Beside the Seaside (A Lady Hardcastle Mystery) by T E Kinsey

Author:T E Kinsey [Kinsey, T E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542016056
Published: 2019-10-21T16:00:00+00:00

The two Special Branch men were waiting in reception. They had adopted exactly the same poses in exactly the same positions as when we first saw them. The only appreciable differences to the scene were a hefty hold-all, and the now-familiar canvas body carrier which lay on the floor at Left-Hander’s feet.

The porter said, ‘Mr Oryx and Mr Kudu for you, miss’, and scuttled back to the elegantly appointed porter’s chair by the front door.

‘Good evening, gentlemen,’ I said. ‘We’re ungulates of the African plains this evening, I see.’

‘We like to ring the changes,’ said Right-Hander. ‘A moving target is harder to hit and all that.’

‘But it’s so difficult to keep track of,’ I replied. ‘Even you can’t remember your names half the time. I shall call you Mr Righty and Mr Lefty – that’s much easier.’

‘And why . . . ?’

‘I should have thought it was obvious,’ I said. ‘You’re right-handed and your charming colleague is left-handed.’

‘But how . . . ?’ said Mr Lefty with evident surprise.

‘Your guns,’ I explained. ‘You surely don’t imagine passers-by don’t notice that you’re carrying shooters.’

He self-consciously tapped the poorly concealed weapon under his right armpit. ‘Well, aren’t you the tricky one. Is your mistress not joining us?’

‘No, Mr Lefty,’ I said. ‘She’s otherwise engaged. You’ll have to make do with me.’

‘What about Hillier?’ asked Mr Righty.

‘He’s about somewhere. We’ll keep him informed. But he’d definitely like you to clean up, please. Mr Featherstonhaugh said you’d be bringing an expert.’

Mr Lefty lifted the substantial hold-all from the floor. ‘I’ve all the specialist equipment we need, thank you.’

‘Then follow me,’ I said.

I took them to Schneider’s room and opened the door with the master key. I waited outside while they did what they needed to do.

They were not grand company. They talked to each other only when necessary and rebuffed all my own attempts at genial chit-chat. I began to wish I’d brought a book, but a pleasing consequence of their brusque efficiency was that they bagged the body, cleaned the floor, and conducted a professional – if brief – search of the room before I’d had time to become properly bored.

‘We’ll be on our way,’ said Mr Righty.

‘Thank you for your help,’ I said. ‘Do you have a card? We shall recommend you to our friends.’

‘Why don’t you—’ began Mr Lefty, but his colleague cut him off before I could find out what he was going to suggest I do.

‘That’s enough,’ said Mr Righty. ‘We’re all on the same side here.’

‘Tell her that,’ sneered Mr Lefty. ‘Uppity little—’

‘I said that’s enough. Good evening, miss.’ Encumbered as he was by the bagged corpse of Herr Schneider he was unable to tip his hat, but he nodded a farewell and together they carried their grim burden towards the goods lift.

I watched them disappear round the corner and then set about undertaking my own search of the room.

There really wasn’t much to see that we hadn’t seen when we first entered the room and found Schneider dead a couple of hours earlier.

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