The Decent Inn of Death by Rennie Airth

Author:Rennie Airth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

15

‘SO YOU REALLY haven’t made any progress at all,’ Helen said. The fact that her voice carried no hint of criticism somehow made the reproach harder to bear. ‘I’m sure it must be very frustrating, my dear.’

‘If I could just find out for sure that Angus is stranded in that house it would make a world of difference.’ Madden tried not to sound as though he was justifying his lack of success so far. ‘I rang the Chipping Norton police myself earlier this morning to see if they had any news of him, but they couldn’t help. But I managed to get the number of the Enstone bobby off them and I rang him too. He confirmed that the road to Great Tew was still unusable. Several people had tried it in their cars and come to grief in one way or another. He also told me there was a telephone pole down, which is why the phones aren’t working. But he was expecting a repair crew from Oxford to get there sometime today, which was good news.’

Helen’s silence at the other end of the line was unnerving.

‘I also asked him if he’d had any news from Great Tew, particularly anything to do with Mrs Lesage. He said he hadn’t but that he’d seen her car passing through Enstone three days ago on its way home.’

‘Was Angus with her?’ Helen came to life.

‘He doesn’t know. He was aware that she’d been away for a while and of course he hadn’t seen the car during that time. But he happened to be out on the road when it passed through and he waved to her chauffeur, who waved back. He spotted Mrs Lesage because she was on his side of the car. But he didn’t notice whether there was anyone in the back with her.’

Even as he recounted what he had learned Madden was aware there were things he wasn’t telling his wife; the disturbing thought that their old friend might all unknowing be on the trail of a dangerous killer lay unspoken at the back of his mind, but it would do no good to tell Helen that. It would only upset her.

‘And you couldn’t possibly drive up there yourself?’ Helen spoke after a pause, breaking into his thoughts.

‘My darling, I’ve just been explaining about the roads.’ Madden was growing desperate. ‘I don’t know how things are in Highfield, but it’s freezing in Oxford. The pavements are covered with ice. They haven’t been able to clear the road to Great Tew yet so all the snow that was on it must be frozen by now. I’m quite ready to try driving up there if you think it’s a good idea, though I’ll probably end up in a ditch myself. And if I get stranded and it turns out Angus isn’t at Mrs Lesage’s house after all but somewhere else, I won’t be in a position to do anything about it.’

Helen said nothing.

‘If I could just satisfy myself that he really is with her, then at least we’d know he was safe and sound.

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