Model Murder Read Online Free

sir?”
    “Thank you, if you would be so kind.”
    Near the drinks cabinet, on a Dutch marquetry table set to one side of the French windows, was a collection of cups and trophies. Interspersed with these were framed photographs featuring a younger Douglas Fortescue, snapped in sporting gear and looking in great shape. For a past athlete, his present poor health would be hard to bear.
    He took the brandy from Kate and sipped it gratefully.
    “Who ... who could have done such a terrible thing? Corinne was strangled, you say. Shocking!”
    “You told me that Miss Saxon set off from here on Wednesday afternoon for a few days away. Where was she going?”
    He looked slightly agitated by the question. Or was it just that he was still a bit dazed from the shattering news he’d received? “I’m afraid I can’t tell you. Corinne didn’t say.”
    “Really? Suppose some kind of problem or emergency had arisen? Wouldn’t you have needed to know how to contact her?”
    The admiral turned his head from side to side in firm denial. “It wasn’t necessary. Corinne had been working extremely hard for several months to get the hotel launched and running. She needed a complete break, away from it all.” He paused, almost as if scanning his reply for flaws. “Yes, indeed, she was entitled to that.”
    “When did you last see her, sir?”
    “We lunched together, here, on Wednesday. In the hotel restaurant, that is. Corinne set out directly afterwards.”
    “At what time would that have been?”
    “Er, let me see ... it must have been about two-fifteen. I remember she glanced at her watch and said she had to be going. I sent a porter to bring her car round to the front, and when he came to say it was outside, Corinne stood up at once. The man carried her case out, and I walked with her to the front entrance.”
    So she’d been driving, in her own car. Where the hell was it now?
    “Can you give me details of Miss Saxon’s car, sir? Make, colour, registration number. No vehicle was found at the scene, and I must get my people onto tracing it immediately.”
    He frowned. “It’s a Ford, I know that, but I’m not very well informed about the modern range of models. It’s a sporty car, bright red, and it has a fold-down hood.”
    “An Escort Cabriolet, then.”
    “If you say so. Corinne bought it only last month from the Ford dealer in Marlingford.”
    “Can you tell me what she was wearing when she left here?”
    “Oh dear! She looked very smartly turned out, but then she invariably did.”
    “How about the colour of her clothes?”
    He frowned again, then shook his head helplessly.
    “Try to visualise her sitting with you at lunchtime,” Kate suggested. “Was her outfit brown, red, green, blue?”
    “Green,” he said, nodding. “Yes, I’m sure it was green. Some kind of suit, I think.”
    Green fitted with the clothing on the body. “May I use your telephone, sir?”
    “Of course.” He gestured to where it stood on the small round table beside his armchair. “You need to press nine first, if you require an outside line.”
    Kate got through to Divisional HQ. “Bob, I want a systematic search for a red Escort Cabriolet owned by a Miss Corinne Saxon. She bought it from Brownley’s in Marlingford last month, so you can get the registration number from them. All divisions, and notify adjoining forces just for the moment. But if we don’t come up with something fast, it’ll have to go nationwide. That car has got to be found.”
    When she replaced the phone, the admiral said, “You think, then, that Corinne’s car was driven away by ... her assassin?”
    “It’s a strong possibility. Are you quite certain, sir, that you really have no idea where Miss Saxon was going?”
    “No, no, absolutely no idea at all.”
    Wasn’t he being too quick and emphatic with his denial? “Well, if anything occurs to you, please let me know at once. My officers will be asking the members of your staff if she said anything to