Death in Springtime by Magdalen Nabb Page B

samples from the labs without telling her what they were and she picked out gun oil as being the nearest. It was almost sure to be, of course, out in the country and at this time of year. Almost everyone hunts. But there were also some other rags, a sort of muslin, she thought, very soft but with stiff patches and it stank of bad meat. So much so that she remembers trying to wriggle her face away from it without success. I still thought it meant the truck was used for hunting but I asked the labs to check her clothing just in case. They had already found what I was looking for, traces of gun oil, some brown dog hairs and minute traces of dead flesh.'
    'It's what you'd find in the back of any van out in the country, as you said.'
    'Except that they say it's certainly not game but butcher's meat. They'll be able to tell us for certain later. They think it's lamb.'
    'That sounds too obvious to be true.'
    'Nevertheless, that's what they say.'
    'And anything on where they were taken?'
    'Definitely not up the mountain. They went all the way by car and she doesn't think they were on the road very long. Maybe about a quarter of an hour. They seemed to keep up a fairly regular speed and, although it was bumpy, she's sure they didn't climb any steep hills in a low gear. When they got out they were taken inside a building and made to sit on a stone floor that was gritty and unswept. They hadn't negotiated any furniture to get to the far side of the room and sit against the opposite wall and she had the impression, either because of that or because of the resonance of voices, that the room was empty. Once they were on the floor their feet were bound and somebody was left on guard beside them. Somebody who prodded them occas'oiially, she thinks with a rifle as he wasn't right up close, to make sure they realized he was there. They weren't hurt or threatened verbally—in fact, apart from the message she was given they weren't spoken to at all. There were two men apart from the one with the rifle and she heard them quarrelling for a long time in another room.'
    'Does she have any idea what the quarrel was about?'
    'She couldn't understand or even hear them all that well. Even so, she felt sure that it was something to do with her, that there should only have been the Maxwell girl there. One of the men sounded furious, the other frightened—the one who'd been in their car. It was only guesswork on her part, naturally, but it's more than probable that she's right. She didn't normally stay the night with her friend. She had no reason to since her own flat is within walking distance. Whoever did the planning on this job couldn't have expected to find a second person getting into the car.'
    'And just why did she stay the night in Piazza Pitti?'
    'I still haven't been able to find out for sure. She's quite vague, even evasive about it. I keep on asking but she's given me three different answers up to now; that Deborah felt a bit depressed, that they'd been out very late to the last show at the cinema in Via Romana which is very near to Piazza Pitti.'
    'That's also true, we have the tickets. And the third reason?'
    'Even vaguer. She'd heard stories about people being attacked and their handbags stolen and so decided not to walk across town alone. Not that that's unreasonable in itself but it never seems to have bothered her before since she says herself she didn't normally stay the night, even if they'd been out late.'
    'They're not contradictory stories, of course,' said the Captain slowly.
    'I know, and they're probably all true in their way, but I'm sure there's something else that she's not telling me . . .'
    'You think there may have been something wrong with the Maxwell girl? My men have questioned everyone in her class at the school. Nothing came out, but then she seems to have been very secretive. Nobody got very close to her.'
    'Katrine was closer to her than anybody and very fond of her. I'm sure that if there is anything she'll tell me