Shadow on the Water by Cadell Elizabeth

Author:Cadell, Elizabeth [Cadell, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: The Friendly Air Publishing
Published: 2016-11-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

I didn’t see any of the Barrons until the evening. Mr. Barron had spent the morning at his office; Rex had gone sight-seeing. When Lindy and I got home after lunching with Athena, I went to my room to rest, and Lindy got out her paints and brushes and settled herself on a branch of a large tree in the middle of the garden, painting a picture of the house. Later, their father had taken the two of them for a long drive. As I was dressing for dinner, Lindy, already dressed, came into my room and sat on my bed.

“Feel rested?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you. Lindy—”

She smiled.

“I know what you’re going to say—but go ahead and say it,” she said.

“Why did you . . . when did you think that Athena had taken my passport?”

“I hadn’t thought about her at all—in that connection,” said Lindy. “But when we were sitting at the table, I began to think of times and places, and I remembered your movements before the passport was lost—and I remembered your saying that you’d gone to let Alec Walsh in. And you didn’t take your bag with you. I thought that if I asked Athena straight out, without warning . . . and it worked, you see. Only—she didn’t tell us why.”

“No. And lying here this afternoon, I decided I wasn’t going to spoil my last days here playing the detective. Honestly, Lindy, I wouldn’t have said I was a dull-witted woman, but ... I can’t make head or tail of it. And I’m not going to try to. Couldn’t we talk about something else—something unconnected with murder?”

“Yes. A party,” said Lindy. “Daddy’s giving one for us tomorrow evening—a big one. He arranged it before we arrived; it’s a sort of welcome.”

“Tomorrow evening? Isn’t it tomorrow evening that Charles Essex arrives?”

“Yes. But his plane doesn’t get in until fairly late, so he’ll miss the beginning.”

“Is Neil coming?”

A shadow fell across her face.

“Daddy said he’d been invited—but he said that Neil never accepts his invitations if he can get out of them. I wish ... I wish they liked one another more.”

I didn’t like to point out that as far as I could see, Mr. Barron was prepared to be friendly enough; it was Neil who drew back.

“Of course he’ll come,” I said. “I hope so, anyway; he’ll be someone I can talk to. We’ll ask him about it when he comes this evening.”

Neil arrived; we asked him about it and learned that he had every intention of being present at the party. No sooner had this point been settled than Mr. Barron appeared and led him into the study.

“Won’t keep him long,” he promised Lindy and myself. “You can come too if you want to.”

“Is it private?” asked Lindy.

“Yes,” said her father. “But as you both know so much already, you’d better know a bit more.”

We went into the room in which Lindy and I had seen Silvana. Mr. Barron poured drinks for us all, and then looked at Neil and came straight to the point.

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