M.C. Beaton - Death of a Dreamer

“How can I help you?” he asked.

“I axed up at the hotel and was told you was the brightest around.” The Brooklyn voice emanating from this richly manufactured beauty came as a surprise.

“So what is it you want from me?”

“Who killed him?”

“I wish I knew,” said Hamish. “We’re working hard on it. When did you arrive?”

“Last night. Fact is I feel I owe it to Hal – I mean, to be here and arrange the funeral and all. He never got around to changing his will, although he meant to leave me with zilch. I’m one rich lady.”

“Coffee? Although I wouldnae recommend it. Tea’s better.”

“Tea’s fine.” She watched as Hamish put an old smoke-blackened kettle on the stove. She gave a harsh laugh. “You find out who murdered Hal and I’ll buy you a new teakettle.”

“There will be no need for that,” said Hamish huffily. “I haff an electric one somewhere.”

The cat and dog wandered in. She eyed the cat warily. “That looks like a lynx.”

“It’s a highland wild cat, but a domesticated one.”

“Can you get rid of it for now? It scares the pants off me.”

Hamish opened the kitchen door, and the dog and cat slouched out.

“Tell me about Hal,” said Hamish. “How did you meet?”

“It was back in New York when I was working as a model. Hal was the type of man who liked arm candy. I was tired of slaving as a model, and with models getting younger and younger, I wanted security. He was working for an accounting firm and climbing fast up the corporate ladder. We rubbed along pretty well.”

“I gather he divorced you and got out of paying anything.”

“He could afford the best lawyers, and I couldn’t. He’d put a private detective on me and found out I was having affairs. Jeez, he must be turning in his grave at the thought of me getting all his money. I’ll give him a big send-off.”

“Did he have any enemies?”

“Not murderous ones. Nobody liked him, but because he was chairman of the company, they all crawled to him. When he retired, though, he found no one wanted to know him. He was so vain he decided it must be my fault. I think he thought that if he got rid of me, he’d get friends. Didn’t happen.”

“Did you hear from him after he moved here?”

“Just one odd phone call. He said, “Listen, you old bitch, I’m going to get married again and to a real woman who appreciates me and who doesn’t go dropping her panties in motels for every trucker who takes her fancy.” I hung up on him, and that’s the last I heard until you police got in touch with me. I went straight to his lawyers before I left, and bingo, Gloria’s hit the jackpot.”

“Gloria being you?”

“Sure. May I call you Hamish?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, Hamish. Who’s this female who’s getting her portrait painted by Jock Fleming? Is she a suspect?”

“Priscilla Halburton-Smythe,” said Hamish stiffly. “Her parents own the hotel. I’ve known her for a long time. Mrs. Addenfest, I would suggest strongly that you leave all investigation to the police. There is a dangerous murderer out there.”

“Look, I couldn’t stand the man, but I’ve got his money and I feel, well, kinda responsible for him now. When’s the coroner releasing the body?”

“We don’t have coroners in Scotland. You need to contact the procurator fiscal’s office. Hang on and I’ll get you the address.”

He went through to his office. When he came back, it was to find that Robin had arrived.

She was once more her neat and businesslike self. “Mrs. Addenfest and I are becoming acquainted,” said Robin.

“How long will you be staying?” Hamish asked Gloria.

“Just till I get him buried.”

“Aren’t you taking the body back to the States?”

“Too much trouble. I’ll see the preacher here and arrange a funeral. I’ve heard the Church of Scotland will bury anybody. He didn’t have any religion. Like, he thought he was God.” She picked up her handbag. “Where do I find the local preacher?”

“If you walk out to the waterfront and turn right, you’ll see the church and the manse where he lives right next door.”

“Thanks. See ya.”

She departed on a cloud of perfume.

“What do you make of her?” asked Robin.

“Not much. She married for money, and I haff no time for the women who court men for money or for advancement in their jobs.”

He looked narrowly at Robin. “You’ve got a love bite on your neck,” he accused.

“I do have a private life, Hamish, and it has nothing to do with you.”

Good God, thought Hamish, trying – and failing – to imagine Daviot in the throes of passion. What on earth was his boss doing? Daviot had always seemed like a rather rigid, moral man, given to preaching the benefits of family life.

“Stop staring at me!” snapped Robin.

“I was thinking about the ex-wife. I wonder when she arrived. It would be really difficult if it turns out we have two murderers. We’ll go and see Jimmy and find out if he checked when she arrived in this country.”

♦

Priscilla made her way up to Jocks temporary studio for the morning session. There was no sign of Jock. She waited and waited, but he did not arrive. Priscilla had told Jock that she would need to consider if she had enough money to pay for the portrait. Jock had said she could have it for the ‘knock-down price’ of ten thousand pounds.

At last, she rose and lifted the cover off the painting to see how he was getting on. She let out a cry of dismay. It looked as if someone had taken a rag soaked in turpentine and smeared it right across the portrait to obliterate the face.

Priscilla ran downstairs and phoned Hamish on his mobile.

♦

Hamish arrived with Robin, and they went up to the studio. “I’ll need to get this whole room dusted for fingerprints,” said Hamish. “Lock it up.”

He phoned Jimmy and explained what had happened. After Priscilla had locked the studio, he said he would need to ask Betty Barnard, Mrs. Addenfest, and Jock himself for permission to search their rooms.

Betty looked mildly hurt. “Now, why would I go about destroying my clients work, Hamish?”

“It’s just a process of elimination,” said Hamish.

Betty’s room was a mess, with clothes lying on the bed and scattered on the floor. “I can never decide what to wear,” said Betty defensively. There seemed to be nothing incriminating, but Hamish had not expected there would be. He had suggested searching Betty’s room because he did not want to be accused of favouritism. Mrs. Addenfest was nowhere in the hotel. Hamish assumed she was at the manse talking to the minister.

Jock was nowhere to be found. They searched the hotel and the grounds. Hamish borrowed a pair of binoculars and went out to the car park and focussed them up towards the mountains. Then he made out a figure up at Geordie’s Cleft. He adjusted the focus to get a sharper image. It was Jock, sitting at an easel.

“He’s up at Geordie’s Cleft,” said Hamish. “We’d better get up there.”

Robin looked down ruefully at her neat court shoes. “I’m not exactly dressed for climbing.”

“You wait here for the forensic people,” said Hamish.

“I’ll go.”

♦

It was one of those white summer days in the Highlands when the sky is covered by a thin veil of cloud and all colour seems to have been bleached out of the landscape. The air was warm and humid, and the midges, those Scottish mosquitoes, were out in force. Hamish liberally applied repellent to his face and neck from a stick he always kept in his pocket. He drove up as far as he could and then got out and began to walk, his large regulation boots occasionally slipping on the scree.