A Share in Death

“I may have to let you stick your toffee-nosed face into my business, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Nash responded, his heavy face set implacably. “You.” He turned toward Peter Raskin, whose studied neutrality wouldn’t save him from becoming next in line as whipping boy.

“Chief Inspector,” Kincaid interrupted before Nash could vent his temper on Raskin’s undeserving head. “What about last night’s autopsy report?”

Nash shuffled the papers on the table until he found the manila folder, then scanned the contents. “According to the pathologist, she died sometime between the time she was last seen and the time she was found.” Kincaid saw a flash of humor in Nash’s eyes, evidence, he hoped, of a tiny thawing.

Kincaid snorted. “Very hopeful, that. What else?”

“Penny MacKenzie’s skull seems to have been unusually thin. Great physical strength would not have been required to strike the blow. He estimates the assailant to have been of average height, male or female. If a woman struck the blow she probably used both hands.” Nash leaned back and the fragile dining chair creaked alarmingly. “It occurs to me, Superintendent,” he said conversationally, a smile stretching the corners of his mouth, “that your lady friend. Miss Hannah Alcock, found herself very conveniently placed to discover poor Miss MacKenzie’s body.” Nash’s detente had been brief. 128 deborah grombie

The phone rang again before Kincaid could reply. He appreciated the reprieve. Wandering absently about the room as Nash spoke, Kincaid stopped at the bedroom door, where Cassie and Graham said they had met the night Sebastian died. He remembered the flash of light he and Hannah saw through the window. Ten to midnight, Cassie had said. A long time for what Cassie had portrayed as a hurried sexual encounter. What else had gone on between them? Had they argued?

The names ran through Kincaid’s head—Cassie and Graham, Hannah and Patrick, Cassie and Patrick… The idea that came to him seemed plausible. Might Hannah, like Penny, have found out something that cast suspicion on someone else? And might Hannah, like Penny, be withholding it out of some sense of honor or fair play?

Nash finished his call, and Raskin took advantage of the opportunity to speak. “I’ll just get this off to the lab, sir.” He swept the plastic bag off the table. Kincaid met his quizzical glance and thought they might call themselves even in favors rendered.