Noonday and Night by Gladys Mitchell

Author:Gladys Mitchell [Mitchell, Gladys]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9781405631822
Google: dSW2AAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0727848402
Barnesnoble: 0727848402
Publisher: Gale Group
Published: 1977-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER 9

Saighdearan, Place of Soldiers

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White’s middle name was MacGregor. Laura learned this when she called at the bungalow. A woman answered the door.

‘Mr MacGregor White?’ she asked, when Laura enquired for him.

‘Well, yes, if it isn’t Mr Lamont White,’ said Laura, who had taken an instant dislike to the woman, who, from her accent, was English. ‘The Whites are almost bound to be one or the other, aren’t they?’

‘I wouldn’t know. I happen to be English.’

‘I wonder whether you can help me? I am trying to find out what has happened to the driver of a County Tours coach which pulled up at the hotel here a few days ago.’

‘Are you from the police? I have already answered their questions.’

‘I am connected with the Home Office and we have been authorised to make our own enquiries.

‘The Home Office?’

Laura produced one of Dame Beatrice’s official cards.

‘This is my employer,’ she said. The woman read the card and opened the door wider.

‘You’d better come in,’ she said, ‘although there is absolutely nothing I can tell you. I saw the coach you mean. It came in at about six in the evening and went off again next morning – to Skye, my maid tells me. Then it returned. That is all I know.’

‘You could see the coach from your windows?’

‘Come and look for yourself. Not that I have time to spare looking out of windows, I assure you.’

There was a coach belonging to another tours company standing in the yard of the hotel. Laura had had a steep climb up a lane to reach the bungalow from the hotel, so the coach looked to be a long way below her and her main view was of its roof. It would be quite possible to see people getting in and out of it, she thought, but not so easy, perhaps, to give a clear description of them.

‘You have heard about the death of another driver who worked for the County Tours people, I expect,’ said Laura.

‘Not until the police came here. I do not bother with the papers and my husband never discusses the news with me.’

‘And nobody but the police came to your house to make enquiries?’

‘Well, not the kind of enquiries you mean. Besides, it was my husband’s business, not mine.’

‘About the hire of a boat?’

‘What else? Boat-hire is my husband’s livelihood.’

‘When was this?’

‘It can have nothing to do with this missing man.’

‘You mean he wasn’t the person who made the enquiry?’

‘Of course not. The only boat a coach-driver would be interested in is the ferry from Mallaig or Kyle of Lochalsh over to Skye. My husband lets out motor-boats and small yachts, or takes parties down the loch or across to Mull.’

‘So, if it wasn’t the driver, who was it? I assume that people usually hire from Fort William, not from this house.’

‘I have no idea who it was, but you are wrong in supposing that people do not hire from this house. We have an understanding with Mr MacDonald at the hotel.

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