Murder on the Moor - C. S. Challinor [36]
“Taking a look at the radiator to see if he could fix the leak.”
“Did he?” Rex asked hopefully.
“No.”
“Ah, well. One other thing … Did you two have an argument this morning?”
“Aye, we did. But it’s personal.” Mrs. Allerdice pursed her lips together defiantly. This must be a bigger deal than the smoking, Rex deduced.
“I won’t pry further for now,” he told her. He would see if he could get more out of Hamish. “And thank you for helping with lunch.”
While the guests were busy flocking around the dining table, Rex began a systematic search of the house for Shona’s phone, starting in the hall and looking in all the obvious places, including inside the umbrella stand, and proceeding to the nooks and crannies in the cupboard beneath the stairs. Fortunately, he’d not had the house a long time, and so only a minimal amount of clutter had been given the chance to accumulate in the storage spaces.
Next he rummaged through the library, poking around in the open log fireplace, which had not been lit. Useful evidence had been found in a fireplace before in one of his cases.
Not this time. He straightened up and thought hard for a moment, wondering where someone might hide a compact device—or two, for it was quite possible that if Moira had brought a cell phone with her to Gleneagle, it had been stolen as well. His eyes lingered, unfocused in thought, on the piled logs. The fireplaces in the upstairs bedrooms had been boarded up and wallpapered over, until he’d had the McCallum brothers restore the original Victorian grates. Prior to central heating, coal had been used to warm the rooms. The coal shed! Now that would be a handy place to ditch a phone.
Just off the kitchen extended a small patio for the trash bins. He accessed the shed by walking under the eaves. Unlikely Shona would look here, he thought, opening the shed door. And why should she? She thought she had misplaced her phone, never imagining someone had snatched it. The interior of the shed was dark. Very little coal was stored here, since it only served to fuel the seldom-used heater in the stable. The reconditioned Aga stove in the kitchen ran on gas.
After hurrying back inside to fetch a flashlight from the kitchen drawer, he returned to the shed and directed the beam into the sooty corners, without finding what he was looking for. Just to be sure, he grabbed a shovel and turned over the small pile of coals, and almost missed them: two almost identical black cell phones, blackened further with coal dust. Not seeing any fingerprints, he wiped the coal dust off with a rag and slipped Moira’s into his pocket. The other he hid upstairs in the airing closet under a pile of towels.
“Rex, what on earth are you doing sneaking about?” Estelle demanded from the stairs.
“Sneaking?” he inquired. She made him sound like Shona Allerdice.
“I saw you go out through the kitchen door and then scurry upstairs in a most furtive manner. What are you up to?”
Rex felt like telling her to mind her own business. It was his house, after all. Instead, he reminded himself she had a right to ask. A murder had been committed under his roof and she was no doubt suspicious, and probably not just a little bit scared.
“Actually, I wanted to ask you if Cuthbert was back from his walk yet? He’s been gone awhile.”
“The silly man has probably gone and got himself lost. Now then, Rex. I know when I’m being fobbed off. What is all the secrecy about?”
Damn the woman! He hummed and hawed. “If I tell you, it means taking you into my confidence.”
“Brownie’s honour and all that.”
Rex thought quickly. “Well, I bought a gift as a surprise for Helen and hid it in the coal shed. But I was worried it might get damp with all the rain, so I moved it upstairs.”
Estelle looked charmed. “Well, whatever is it?”
“I don’t know if I should divulge …”
“Mum’s the word.”
“It’s a sheep.” It was all he could think of as he looked at the woman.
“What?”
“A toy sheep. Actually, it’s a lamb. Helen’s very partial to