Common Murder

Fifteen minutes stretched into twenty for Cordelia. She poured herself a glass of wine, though what she craved was a large Scotch. But she wasn’t taking the chance of being over the limit if she had to drive anywhere to rescue Lindsay from some mess or other. After twenty-five minutes, she raked around the house till she found a packet with a couple of Lindsay’s cigarettes left in it and lit one.

The phone had barely rung when Cordelia snatched it up, praying for Lindsay’s familiar voice. She was unreasonably disappointed to find Jane on the other end of the line.

“Hi, Cordelia. I got this urgent message to phone Lindsay. Is she there?”

“No,” Cordelia sighed. “The message was from me. I’m trying to track her down. She seems to have dropped out of sight, and, given the events of the last few days, I’m a bit worried. I don’t suppose you know where she’s gone to?”

“I’m sorry, love. I was hoping this message was from her, to be honest. She was supposed to come to the hospital to see Deborah tonight, but she hasn’t shown up. I took Cara in for five minutes to see her mum, and I deliberately left it till towards the end of visiting time to give Lindsay a chance to spend a bit of time with Deborah if she was up to it, but the policeman on duty said Lindsay hadn’t been at all. I was pretty amazed because the last thing she said this morning was that she’d see me there tonight,” Jane said.

“So, when was the last time you saw Lindsay?” Cordelia asked.

“This morning. Not long after nine. She’d been in to see Deborah, and I went along for moral support. She came out from seeing Deborah and asked if I could make my own way back to the camp because she’d got to go to Oxford urgently. Look, Cordelia, I wouldn’t worry about her. She’s probably been held up on something to do with work,” Jane reassured her.

“No,” Cordelia replied. “Her office is going nutso because she hasn’t been in touch with them either. It’s odd-she’s been back here and left a note since then. God knows where she’s gone now. She didn’t say why she was going to Oxford, did she? Or who she was going to see?”

“She didn’t mention any names, but she did say it was something to do with a computer,” said Jane. “I’m sorry I can’t be more help.”

“No, you’ve been great,” said Cordelia. “Look, if by any remote chance she turns up, will you tell her to phone the office as soon as possible, on pain of death? And me too?”

“Of course I will,” said Jane. “I hope you get hold of her soon. She’ll probably be chasing some story that’s the most important thing in the world to her right now. I’m sure she’s okay, Cordelia.”

“Yeah, thanks. See you.” Cordelia put the phone down. Oxford and computers. That could only mean A

“A

“I’m sorry, Cordelia, I really have no idea where she might be. Yes, she was here, but she left my office about half past ten, I guess. She gave me no indication of where she was heading then.” A

“I’m sorry if this is an awkward time…” Cordelia trailed off.

“I have some people for di

“I’m just really worried about her, A

A

“I know that,” Cordelia replied, “but what was this tape all about? What kind of tape was it?”

“It was an ordinary cassette tape.” That made sense, thought Cordelia, remembering the tape in the stereo. “But I think you’d better ask Lindsay what it was about. I’m not in a position to discuss it, Cordelia. I’m sorry, I’m not being obstructive, just cautious. I think there are too many people involved already.”

“What do you mean, A

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said as much as I have. Lindsay’s mixed up in something that could cause a lot of hassle. I told her she should be talking to the police about it, not me. Maybe she took my advice.”

“Jesus, A

“Don’t worry, Cordelia. I don’t imagine for one minute that she’s in any danger. She’ll be in touch. She could be trying to phone now, for all we know. Take it easy and don’t worry. Lindsay’s a born survivor. Look, I’d better go now. Tell her to give me a call in the morning, okay?” A

“Okay,” said Cordelia coldly. “Goodbye.” Her anger at A

She marched up to the duty officer. “I need to see Superintendent Rigano,” she said. “It’s a matter of great urgency.”

The officer looked sceptical. “I don’t know if he’s still here, miss,” he stalled. “Perhaps if you could tell me what it’s all about we’ll see if we can sort it out.”

“Why don’t you check and see if he is here? You can tell him that I need to speak to him about the Deborah Patterson attack,” she responded crisply.

He compressed his lips in irritation and vanished behind a frosted-glass partition. Five minutes later he reappeared to say grudgingly, “If you follow me, I’ll take you to the Super.”

She found Rigano sitting alone at his desk going through a stack of files. The lines on his face seemed to be etched more deeply, and there were dark shadows under his eyes. “So what is it now, Miss Brown? Can’t Miss Gordon run her own errands? Or is she just keeping out of my way?”

“I was hoping you might be able to tell me where she is,” Cordelia enunciated carefully. “She appears to have vanished, and I rather thought that was police business.”

“Vanished? If she’s vanished, she’s done it very recently. She was here till about six o’clock. And that’s only four hours ago.”

Suddenly, Cordelia felt foolish. “She was due home at eight o’clock. She hadn’t phoned by nine. I know that probably sounds nothing to you, but Lindsay’s got a real fetish about punctuality. She never fails to let me know if she’s not going to make it at a time she’s prearranged. Especially when we’ve not seen each other for a day or two.” Don’t dismiss me as a hysterical female, she pleaded mentally.

“You don’t think that you might be overreacting?”

“No. I believe she had some information concerning Rupert Crabtree’s death and the attack on Deborah that might have put her in danger. I’m scared, Superintendent. I’ve got a right to be.”