“Why did Miss Dainty leave?” asked Hamish. “You were supposed to run her to Lochdubh to have dinner with me on Sunday evening.”
“I went to fetch her but she was not there and all her belongings had gone,” said Juris. “On Monday, Mr. Harrison got a new nurse up from an agency in Inverness.”
“Didn’t she leave a note?”
“No, nothing.”
“But when I phoned, you said she’d gone for a walk.”
“That’s what Mr. Harrison told me. The next day, my wife looked in her room and saw all her things were gone and told him, and he said, ‘Good riddance.’”
“Was Miss Dainty involved with a man?”
“If she was, she didn’t talk about it.”
Hamish could not get any further. He went back to the police station and rang around all the local taxi companies, but Gloria had not called for a taxi. So it followed that someone must have been waiting for her at the end of the drive.
Well, she had gone, and that was that.
A day later, a burglary was reported at an ironmonger’s in Braikie. Hamish called Charlie, picked him up at the hotel, and sped off. The owner, a tall highlander called Josh Andrews, pointed to the door. “It looks as if they opened it with a crowbar,” he said.
“What was taken?” asked Hamish.
“I have a list right here.”
Hamish looked down a long list of expensive power tools. “I’d better get the forensic boys over,” he said. “We’ll need to look for fingerprints. Have you contacted the insurance company?”
“Not yet.”
“They’ll want to send an investigator.”
“What for?” demanded Josh angrily. “You see the door’s been jemmied. You’ve got the list. Chust put in your report, laddie.”
“It is like this,” said Hamish gently. “Shopkeepers often stage a burglary when they fall on hard times. And their investigators are like ferrets. They’ll search and search to make sure you’re not pulling a fast one. I ’member some poor soul ower in Cnothan. Faked a burglary and got a criminal record.”
“Are you calling me a liar?”
“Waud I dae a cruel thing like that,” said Hamish, his accent strengthening. “I’ll chust be having a wee keek out back.”
“What for?”
“They could have escaped that way. I gather it took place at night?”
“Must have done.”
“So they would not want to be seen loading stuff out on the main street. Stand aside.”
“No, you need a warrant.”
“Don’t be daft,” said Charlie. He moved forward and picked up the large man as if he weighed nothing at all and set him to one side.
“No!” shouted Josh, and a tear rolled down one cheek.
Hamish looked at Charlie. “Do you see any signs of a break-in?”
“Cannae say I do, sir.”
Hamish handed Josh back his list. “Listen to me. I cannot be bothered charging you. I know times are hard. Put a big sign in your window saying ‘Autumn Sale. Everything Must Go. Everything Reduced.’ Then you knock a couple of quid off the items you said were stolen, along with everything else. Folk love to think they’re getting a bargain.”
“I’m sorry,” said Josh brokenly.
“Oh, get off your sorry arse and get to work,” said Hamish. “Come along, Charlie.”
“It’s a shame,” said Charlie as they climbed into the Land Rover.
“Never mind,” said Hamish. “There’s a grand wee café up the coast on the road to Kinlochbervie. We’ll have a cup of coffee and a bun. It’s a grand day.”
The café was called Westering Home. There were two tables outside facing a long curve of white sandy beach. Hamish and Charlie contentedly drank coffee and munched currant buns until Hamish reluctantly said they had better be getting back.
They were driving along the one-track road beside the beach where two boys were playing when Hamish suddenly flung on the brakes and screeched to a halt. Lugs, in the back, let out a startled yelp.
“What’s up?” asked Charlie.
But Hamish was out and running towards the boys.
“Where did you get that?” he demanded.
A small tousle-haired child held up a dripping wet nurse’s cap. “It just floated in,” he said. “We wasnae doing anything wrong.”
Charlie had followed Hamish. “What’s up?”
“Unless I am mistaken, that’s thon missing nurse’s cap,” said Hamish, taking a forensic bag out of his pocket and sliding the cap in. “Let’s search around a bit before we call Strathbane.”
“Strong currents here, I’ve heard,” said Charlie. “If she’s in the sea, she could be halfway to America. Here, you boys. Names and addresses and I’ll call on your parents later.”
When the boys had scampered off, Hamish said, “I’ll take the west end of the beach and you try the east.”