The Stalking Party by D.P. Hart-Davis

Author:D.P. Hart-Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781910723098
Publisher: Merlin Unwin Books Limited

Chapter Thirteen

TO AN EYE by now attuned to muted tweeds, Maya’s shiny jade and magenta shellsuit with its diamanté questionmark on the front and equally bold exclamation mark between the shoulderblades had a stunning visual impact: a hummingbird among terns.

I know that face, thought Robb, then realised that the features were familiar only because similar polished-bronze beanpoles with dramatic cheekbones and baby-giraffe legs stared provocatively from every celeb-mag his daughters left lying about the house. Wide-set eyes, sultry lips, flared nostrils and the untamed look admired by fashionistas the world over.

She prowled catlike across the room while Wpc Kenny, sweetest of uniformed dumplings, goggled in open envy. Robb wondered if such unadulterated allure would penetrate Sergeant Winter’s frosty soul.

‘Hi, I’m Maya Forrester. Glad to know you.’ Beneath the warm drawl and professionally brilliant smile, Robb sensed tension. A police investigation was hardly what she could have expected on her first Highland visit.

He introduced himself and Peggy, and said directly, ‘I’ve been told, Mrs Forrester, that you found Beverley Tanner’s body under a rowing-boat up at Loch a Bealach last Wednesday, but when the search party went to look for it, it had gone. Is that correct?’

She nodded, and said in the unhurried voice that sounded as if it would run out of steam between phrases, ‘Wednesday afternoon, huh? You heard that Ashy and Nicky and I went up there so she could do some painting? She asked me to go along to stop things getting heavy.’

‘Between her and Nicholas?’

‘That’s what I thought, but I guess I got it wrong because when we got up there, she made it clear enough she wanted time alone. Oh, she didn’t chase me off, not exactly, but she sure didn’t want Nicky hanging around to watch her paint. I thought maybe they’d had a fight.’

‘Would he have liked to stay?’

‘I guess so, but she didn’t give him the chance.’

‘You don’t think she was trying to take Beverley’s place in his life?’

‘It didn’t look that way to me, officer. If Ashy’s attracted to anyone, I’d say it was Fergus. Or doesn’t that square with your British class system?’

Robb let that one go. ‘So you all split up, and you went off alone and found the boat on the shore, right?’

‘Correct. It was kinda warm, and we’d drunk a bottle of wine with our picnic, and although I could see Nicky way over on the track above the loch, I didn’t feel like talking, so I sat by the boat to wait until he’d gotten out of sight. And...’ she paused, shaking her head, ‘then I guess I just dropped off to sleep.’

‘For how long?’

‘Maybe an hour, maybe just a few minutes. You know how it is when you go to sleep in the sun?’

‘And wake up with a splitting headache?’

‘Not a headache. Just kinda woozy. I couldn’t think where I was. Then I saw by my watch it was half-four, and thought I’d row the boat back to where Ashy was and help her get her gear on the pony.

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