Destination Unknown - Agatha Christie [29]
‘I’m sorry,’ said Hilary, humbly. ‘I’m afraid I’m very ignorant.’
‘It does not matter if you are ignorant so long as you are obedient.’
‘I shall be obedient,’ said Hilary in a low voice.
‘You were closely watched in England, I have no doubt, ever since the day of your husband’s departure. Nevertheless, the message came to you, did it not?’
‘Yes,’ said Hilary.
‘Now,’ said Laurier in a businesslike manner, ‘I will give you your instructions, Madame.’
‘Please do.’
‘From here you will proceed to Marrakesh the day after tomorrow. That is as you planned and in accordance with your reservations.’
‘Yes.’
‘The day after you arrive there you will receive a telegram from England. What it will say I do not know, but it will be sufficient for you to make plans immediately to return to England.’
‘I am to return to England?’
‘Please listen. I have not finished. You will book a seat on a plane leaving Casablanca the following day.’
‘Supposing I cannot get reservations–supposing the seats are all booked?’
‘They will not be all booked. Everything is arranged for. Now, you understand your instructions?’
‘I understand.’
‘Then please return to where your guide is waiting. You have been long enough in this ladies’ toilet. By the way, you have become friendly with an American woman and an Englishwoman who are now staying at the Palais Djamai?’
‘Yes. Has that been a mistake? It has been difficult to avoid.’
‘Not at all. It suits our plans admirably. If you can persuade one or other of them to accompany you to Marrakesh, so much the better. Goodbye, Madame.’
‘Au revoir, Monsieur.’
‘It is unlikely,’ Monsieur Laurier told her with a complete lack of interest, ‘that I shall meet you again.’
Hilary retraced her steps to the ladies’ toilet. This time she found the other door unfastened. A few minutes later she had rejoined the guide in the tea-room.
‘I got very nice car waiting,’ said the guide. ‘I take you now for very pleasant instructive drive.’
The expedition proceeded according to plan.
III
‘So you’re leaving for Marrakesh tomorrow,’ said Miss Hetherington. ‘You haven’t made a very long stay in Fez, have you? Wouldn’t it have been much easier to go to Marrakesh first and then to Fez, returning to Casablanca afterwards?’
‘I suppose it would really,’ said Hilary, ‘but reservations are rather difficult to obtain. It’s pretty crowded here.’
‘Not with English people,’ said Miss Hetherington, rather disconsolately. ‘It really seems dreadful nowadays the way one meets hardly any of one’s fellow-countrymen.’ She looked round her disparagingly and said, ‘It’s the French.’
Hilary smiled faintly. The fact that Morocco was a French colonial possession did not seem to count much with Miss Hetherington. Hotels anywhere abroad she regarded as the prerogative of the English travelling public.
‘The French and the Germans and the Armenians and the Greeks,’ said Mrs Calvin Baker, with a little cackle of laughter. ‘That scruffy little old man is a Greek, I believe.’
‘I was told he was,’ said Hilary.
‘Seems a person of importance,’ said Mrs Baker. ‘You just notice how the waiters fly about for him.’
‘They give the English hardly any attention nowadays,’ said Miss Hetherington, gloomily. ‘They always give them the most terrible back bedrooms–the ones maids and valets used to have in the old days.’
‘Well, I can’t say I’ve found any fault with the accommodation I’ve had since I came to Morocco,’ said Mrs Calvin Baker. ‘I’ve managed to get a most comfortable room and bath every time.’
‘You’re an American,’ said Miss Hetherington, sharply, and with some venom in her voice. She clicked her knitting needles furiously.
‘I wish I could persuade you two to come to Marrakesh with me,’ said Hilary. ‘It’s been so pleasant meeting you and talking to you here. Really, it’s very lonely travelling all by oneself.’
‘I’ve been to Marrakesh,’ said Miss Hetherington in a shocked voice.
Mrs Calvin Baker, however, appeared to be somewhat sold on the idea.
‘Well, it certainly is an idea,’ she said.