Murder in Court Three by Ian Simpson

to them?’
    She laughed. ‘Is that what she told you? She’s the world’s worst for looking over your shoulder when you’re speaking to her. She may tell you she likes to be called Mrs Knox, but she needs you to know she’s really a Lady. For some reason that evening she was quite dismissive about bows and arrows and went on about properly lethal firearms. Ironic, really. Anyway, after she’d told me what a brilliant shot her son was, she spotted someone more important and moved on.’
    â€˜Do you know if she’s very friendly with a judge, Lord Hutton?’ di Falco asked.
    Rab clapped his hands gleefully. ‘That would be a cracker! Of course, ‘Orrible ’Utton’s her neighbour. I haven’t heard anything about that. Have you, darling?’
    She shook her head. ‘But it would fit. She’s a dreadful snob and loves a handle. Tell them about the basement. Go on.’
    He appeared genuinely cross. ‘It’s not relevant.’
    â€˜In which case they’ll forget it. But it’s good background.’
    â€˜Background is always helpful,’ Baggo said encouragingly.
    â€˜Well when I was devilling, Eloise liked me to go down the steps to the basement door when I visited the house. She and Farquhar could tell it was me as the basement bell sounded different from the main door bell, but really she didn’t want a scruff coming to her front door. Unless I’m dressed for work I don’t really bother.’
    â€˜I am the same,’ Baggo said. He went on to ask the important question, ‘Did either of you see Mr or Mrs Knox between the end of the archery and the start of the dancing?’
    They looked at each other thoughtfully then in unison said ‘No’.
    â€˜Did either of you see Mr Knox with a woman in a long, black dress?’
    Rab replied, ‘We both saw him with a lady we believe is Mrs Traynor. They were talking earnestly immediately after dinner. Then you saw Mrs T in the Ladies, didn’t you, darling?’
    â€˜Yes. This woman in a long, sexy, black dress came in as I was about to leave. She had blonde hair, which was a bit dishevelled and she was flushed, but trying to act cool. She started talking about the band taking an age, which was nonsense. I thought at first she might have been drunk, but she didn’t smell of drink. That would have been between half past ten and quarter to eleven, but of course I wasn’t watching the clock.’
    â€˜Tell them what you said to me, Molly,’ Rab said.
    She coloured slightly. ‘I said to Rab, “If that’s Mrs Traynor, I bet she’s just shagged Night.” Sometimes we called Farquhar Night.’
    â€˜So we’ve heard,’ di Falco said. ‘How did Eloise Knox behave during the rest of the evening?’
    Molly said, ‘She did the Dashing White Sergeant with the Cuthberts then spent almost all the time in the library with me and Jen Cuthbert. You could tell she was furious with Farquhar, but she didn’t go searching for him. She kept asking Rab if he’d seen his devil-master.’
    â€˜As if I was responsible for him in some way. I looked about for him but it became pretty clear he’d done a bunk. He sometimes did, you know. Eventually Kenny and Jen took her home.’
    â€˜Did you see the Traynors later on?’ Baggo asked.
    Rab said, ‘I spotted them at the far end of the library when I was trying to find Farquhar. At least it was Traynor plus the woman in the black dress we’d seen earlier. It was just the two of them and a bottle of wine. They didn’t look happy. A bit before midnight they passed near us, on their way out, I suspect.’
    Molly cut in, ‘They looked as if they’d been arguing and Eloise glared at her.’
    Baggo asked, ‘Can you think of any woman other than Mrs Traynor with whom Mr Knox might have gone to Court Three to have sex?’
    They both shook