folder, opened a French window onto a small roof terrace peppered with pots of jasmine and hibiscus, and invited her to step out and admire the view. They were at the rear of the building, looking down on to a well-tended park.
“Do you know anything of the flora and fauna of our country, Ms Shaw? Our birdlife perhaps?”
This conversational gambit had caught Lexy unawares and she shook her head, wondering where the little man was going with it. Already she had enough of a sense of him to feel that the slightly blundering manner was a well-honed front to hide a very deliberate nature.
“You would find it a most rewarding study, Ms Shaw. Most rewarding,” he’d continued, nodding his grey head for emphasis. “Take the honeybird, for example. An unprepossessing little thing but remarkably adept at survival. Some call it a honeyguide and claim following its call will lead you to honey, but there’s no proof of that, much as we greedy creatures may want to believe it.”
He’d paused, as if searching for words. “It has a sweet call, our honeybird, and of course a sweet name, yet it is drab and vicious. Like your British cuckoo, it is a brood parasite, leaving its eggs to be incubated in another’s nest. Then as soon as the intruder hatches, it murders its nest-mates, ensuring survival at the expense of all others. It is born with a sharp mandible hook, you see, and even before it opens its eyes, it uses this to stab repeatedly at the shells or bodies of the other chicks, killing them, before the hook falls off after a few days. It always puts me in mind of that riddle of a perfect crime where the victim is stabbed with an icicle, which then melts away: the murder weapon that can never be found.”
He’d looked back into the building behind him before adding softly, “Beware the honeybird, Ms Shaw. Don’t follow its song.”
Back at the hotel, there was a short message for her. Ms Hamilton requested that she call at her earliest convenience. Lexy did, but, predictably, Ms Hamilton herself was unavailable. Let the telephone tag begin , Lexy thought, as she was put through to the lawyer’s assistant instead to leave a message. She was surprised to find herself talking to a young man, but then she probably shouldn’t have been. Not how they did things at Smith & Littlejohn’s of course, or indeed at Chizumu & Chizumu here in Malawi, but the Edinburgh firm was in a whole legal league of its own.
“I’ll make sure she gets your message as soon as she’s free, Miss Shaw, and I assure you she’ll either call back promptly or brief me to call on her behalf.”
“Thank you. I wonder, though …”
“Yes, Miss Shaw? Was there something else I can help you with?”
“Miss Reid’s property in Ross-shire. I’d like the address and also just wondered if there’s anything you can tell me about it. Did she go there often or … I don’t know, really. Anything.”
“We wouldn’t know Miss Reid’s movements, of course, although it is rather remote and Miss Reid was getting increasingly frail, so common sense would suggest it is unlikely she’d have visited much in recent years. But if you’ll bear with me, Miss Shaw, I’ll fetch the file.”
Common sense would indeed suggest. Stupid of her. Of course they wouldn’t know when, or even if, Ursula visited the property. Who would? Jenny perhaps? Another question for the list. Lexy had pulled out her notebook and was tapping it sharply with her pen by the time the assistant returned.
“Yes, Miss Shaw, I have the full address. We also hold a key should you wish to visit the property. Do you have a pen and paper?”
Common sense, Lexy thought wryly, would suggest that of course she did. She took down the address, having to ask him to spell out the unfamiliar names. Not a part of the country she was familiar with. They’d never gone further north than Edinburgh on her childhood trips to Scotland.
“Can you tell me anything else about it?”
“Well,
“Do you know anything of the flora and fauna of our country, Ms Shaw? Our birdlife perhaps?”
This conversational gambit had caught Lexy unawares and she shook her head, wondering where the little man was going with it. Already she had enough of a sense of him to feel that the slightly blundering manner was a well-honed front to hide a very deliberate nature.
“You would find it a most rewarding study, Ms Shaw. Most rewarding,” he’d continued, nodding his grey head for emphasis. “Take the honeybird, for example. An unprepossessing little thing but remarkably adept at survival. Some call it a honeyguide and claim following its call will lead you to honey, but there’s no proof of that, much as we greedy creatures may want to believe it.”
He’d paused, as if searching for words. “It has a sweet call, our honeybird, and of course a sweet name, yet it is drab and vicious. Like your British cuckoo, it is a brood parasite, leaving its eggs to be incubated in another’s nest. Then as soon as the intruder hatches, it murders its nest-mates, ensuring survival at the expense of all others. It is born with a sharp mandible hook, you see, and even before it opens its eyes, it uses this to stab repeatedly at the shells or bodies of the other chicks, killing them, before the hook falls off after a few days. It always puts me in mind of that riddle of a perfect crime where the victim is stabbed with an icicle, which then melts away: the murder weapon that can never be found.”
He’d looked back into the building behind him before adding softly, “Beware the honeybird, Ms Shaw. Don’t follow its song.”
Back at the hotel, there was a short message for her. Ms Hamilton requested that she call at her earliest convenience. Lexy did, but, predictably, Ms Hamilton herself was unavailable. Let the telephone tag begin , Lexy thought, as she was put through to the lawyer’s assistant instead to leave a message. She was surprised to find herself talking to a young man, but then she probably shouldn’t have been. Not how they did things at Smith & Littlejohn’s of course, or indeed at Chizumu & Chizumu here in Malawi, but the Edinburgh firm was in a whole legal league of its own.
“I’ll make sure she gets your message as soon as she’s free, Miss Shaw, and I assure you she’ll either call back promptly or brief me to call on her behalf.”
“Thank you. I wonder, though …”
“Yes, Miss Shaw? Was there something else I can help you with?”
“Miss Reid’s property in Ross-shire. I’d like the address and also just wondered if there’s anything you can tell me about it. Did she go there often or … I don’t know, really. Anything.”
“We wouldn’t know Miss Reid’s movements, of course, although it is rather remote and Miss Reid was getting increasingly frail, so common sense would suggest it is unlikely she’d have visited much in recent years. But if you’ll bear with me, Miss Shaw, I’ll fetch the file.”
Common sense would indeed suggest. Stupid of her. Of course they wouldn’t know when, or even if, Ursula visited the property. Who would? Jenny perhaps? Another question for the list. Lexy had pulled out her notebook and was tapping it sharply with her pen by the time the assistant returned.
“Yes, Miss Shaw, I have the full address. We also hold a key should you wish to visit the property. Do you have a pen and paper?”
Common sense, Lexy thought wryly, would suggest that of course she did. She took down the address, having to ask him to spell out the unfamiliar names. Not a part of the country she was familiar with. They’d never gone further north than Edinburgh on her childhood trips to Scotland.
“Can you tell me anything else about it?”
“Well,
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