Death of a Gentle Lady

today,’ said Jimmy. ‘What a mess. You’d best get down to Lochdubh and ask around. Put a sign on that phone box and some police tape around it until the forensic people see if they can get anything off the receiver. Then check who’s staying at the hotel.’
    ‘Can’t I wait for the pathologist’s report? You’re not Blair.’
    ‘Well, just till then.’

    They waited a long time while the sky grew darker and sheets of rain began to sweep across the landscape.
    At last Dr Forsythe came up from the cellar. ‘She was struck a heavy blow to the head with a blunt object. I’ll have a better idea of what sort of object when I get the body back to the lab. I can’t tell the time of death until then, either, but from the state of the corpse it does look as if she was killed on the day of her wedding.’
    ‘But the only person in the castle then was Mrs Gentle,’ exclaimed Hamish. ‘Could a wee woman like that have had the strength to get that body in the trunk?’
    ‘I’ll need to check the toxicology. There were traces of vomit in her mouth. Whoever put the body in the trunk then jumped up and down on it to cram it in. Her ribs are broken. At the moment, mind you, that’s just a guess.’
    ‘Off you go, Hamish,’ said Jimmy.
    Hamish turned to go and then stopped, poised on one foot like a heron.
    ‘What now?’ asked Jimmy.
    ‘Can you let me know what Mrs Gentle’s background is?’ asked Hamish. ‘I mean, her maiden name, who she was married to, all that?’
    ‘Look, I’ll drop in on you later.’

    As Hamish hung a sign on the phone box saying it was not to be used, he noticed that the light inside the old-fashioned red box had been smashed. He put police tape around it. When he started, there hadn’t been a soul on the waterfront, but when he finished he found that a small crowd had gathered. Archie Maclean, the fisherman, was there. ‘We’re right sorry to hear about your poor fiancée,’ he said.
    ‘How did you find out?’
    ‘Gamekeeper Diarmuid heard it frae his cousin in Braikie who got it frae Ellen, the cousin’s sister, who got it frae –’
    ‘Oh, all right, Archie. It’s a sad business. Did any of you see any strangers in the village yesterday?’
    Mrs Wellington, the minister’s wife, volunteered that several guests from the hotel had been seen in the village buying postcards. ‘Would you like my husband to have a word with you, Hamish? You must be grieving. The police should have more sensitivity than to put you on this case.’
    ‘I’m better working,’ said Hamish.
    ‘We felt a bit mean, taking all our presents back,’ said Mrs Guthrie, one of the villagers. ‘So Mrs Wellington told us to put them on display in the church hall and you can pick out what you need for the station.’
    Hamish looked at the kind, concerned faces and turned abruptly away, a lump in his throat. ‘Very kind,’ he said hoarsely, and hurried off to the police station.
    ‘Near tears, the poor soul, poor soul,’ said Jessie Currie. There was a murmur of sympathy.
    Hamish got into the Land Rover. He felt very low. He had a guilty feeling of relief that Irena was dead and could not come back into his life to threaten him. He also felt guilty over the villagers’ warmhearted sympathy.

    Priscilla Halburton-Smythe received another phone call from her father. ‘You’ve had a lucky escape, my girl,’ said the colonel. ‘Hamish Macbeth has murdered that fiancée of his.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Some reporter’s just told me. She’s been found dead in a trunk in the cellar of that folly the other woman was living in, the one who ended up at the bottom of the cliffs. Who else would want rid of her but Hamish? Folks say he looked relieved when she didn’t turn up on his wedding day.’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Hamish wouldn’t hurt a fly. If everyone is saying what you’re saying, he’ll need some support. See you soon.’ And, deaf to her father’s protests, she rang off.

    Elspeth Grant was summoned to the newsroom. ‘Get yourself up to Lochdubh fastest,’ said the news editor. ‘Bodies all over the place. One at the foot of the cliffs and now the fiancée of that copper has been found murdered.’
    ‘Hamish Macbeth?’
    ‘That’s the man.’

    Mr Johnson, the hotel manager, welcomed Hamish cautiously. ‘I’ll give you a cup of coffee before you start questioning the guests. But don’t go upsetting them, mind? And do you have to bring those weird animals with you? Go and put