Page 83 of Fire Must Burn

A moment later, the call was put through.

‘Good morning, Detective Superintendent, it’s Mrs Bainbridge,’ she said. ‘How may I be of assistance to you today?’

‘No assistance needed, Mrs Bainbridge,’ he replied. ‘I wanted to let you know that I interviewed your Miss Lowle yesterday.’

‘How did that go?’

‘She’s in the clear as far as I’m concerned,’ he said. ‘Her landlady verified the time of her return from her date with Mr Danforth, and that she remained in her room for the rest of the evening. I believe her landlady. In fact, I would put that landlady on guard for the Crown Jewels with her talent for vigilance. Miss Lowle herself was quite distraught over what happened to Mr Danforth, I must say. Professionally speaking, I think your firm may have made a connection there.’

‘That’s what we do,’ said Mrs Bainbridge. ‘I’m glad she’s not on the suspect list. Any luck otherwise?’

‘Not yet, I’m afraid,’ said Parham. ‘I did put in a call to the Cambridge Police. There was nothing in their file for Miss Spurlock’s drowning indicating that she had left any note behind.’

‘Isn’t that unusual?’

‘Not particularly. In any case, it was one of the reasons for the verdict of death by misadventure as opposed to suicide. There wasn’t much else of interest. It sounds like a dead end to me.’

‘Miss Sparks and I are still following up on a few aspects of it,’ she said. ‘We will let you know if we turn up anything useful.’

‘I appreciate it, Mrs Bainbridge,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid I can’t reciprocate, given the delicate nature of Mr Danforth’s employment, but I wanted to let you know that Miss Lowle was in the clear in case you wished to set her up for any other matches should things with Mr Danforth not work out.’

‘Thanks again, Detective,’ she said. ‘Good luck to you.’

She hung up.

Should things with Mr Danforth not work out,she thought. A nice euphemism for his death.

She shuddered at the thought, then glanced at her watch. She collected her hat, umbrella and suitcase, and left The Right Sort.

They boarded at Paddington and found an empty compartment. Gwen put her suitcase up on the overhead rack, then turned to her shorter partner and held out her hand.

‘Do you think I’ve never done this before?’ asked Iris as she easily tossed her suitcase onto the rack next to Gwen’s.

‘What about getting it down later?’ asked Gwen.

‘I’ve been known to make helpless eyes at tall, attractive men in just that situation,’ said Iris. ‘Otherwise, there are some gymnastics involved.’

‘I picked up a travel guide for the area,’ said Gwen, pulling a book from her bag.

‘Bradford-on-Avon rates a travel guide?’

‘Well, no, it’s for Bath, Bristol and environs,’ said Gwen, flipping through the pages until she reached a bookmark. ‘But there are a few paragraphs on Bradford-on-Avon. I thought we should be conversant with the local points of interest.’

‘Are there any?’

‘Oh yes,’ said Gwen, perusing it. ‘It says it’s very much like a smaller version of Bath, only without the, you know—’

‘The baths.’

‘Yes. But there’s supposed to be a Saxon church dating from the eleventh century—’

‘Still an atheist.’

‘And what is described as a stunning and massive tithe barn from the fourteenth century. Its threshing floors are still intact. How do you feel about threshing?’

‘I do like a good thresh every now and then.’

‘I’m not sure you’re using the word correctly.’