11 - Ticket to Oblivion Read Online Free PDF Page B

already have cracked the whip and instigated a methodical search. What my detectives will be doing,’ said Tallis, ‘is to gather evidence painstakingly before reaching a conclusion.’
    ‘What more evidence is there?’ said Tunnadine, slapping a knee. ‘Two people board a train then vanish before it reaches its destination.’
    ‘It’s not as simple as that, sir.’
    ‘They must somehow have fallen out of the train.’
    ‘That’s only supposition.’
    ‘Can you suggest an alternative explanation?’
    ‘I can think of a few,’ Tallis told him, ‘but then I’m rather more acquainted than you with seemingly impenetrable mysteries. Your concern is understandable and may – to a limited extent – excuse the way that you barged unannounced into my office. I would advise you to keep calm and have confidence in Inspector Colbeck.’
    ‘Has he ever handled a case like this before?’
    ‘No, I don’t believe that he has, sir.’
    ‘Then he is just groping in the dark,’ said Tunnadine, hotly.
    Tallis smiled. ‘I can see that you’ve never met the inspector.’
    ‘I insist on doing so at the earliest possible time.’
    ‘That can be arranged.’
    ‘What are his movements?’
    ‘When he’s finished at Burnhope Manor, he intends to visit Oxford to meet the family with whom the two ladies were intending to stay.’
    ‘What use is that?’ asked Tunnadine. ‘Imogen never even reached them. They can tell him absolutely nothing of value.’
    ‘You underestimate Inspector Colbeck,’ said Tallis, speaking about him with a fleeting affection. ‘He is a master of the unorthodox. His methods may at times seem odd – not to say perverse – but I can assure you that they invariably bear fruit.’
     
    When the detectives found him, Vernon Tolley was polishing the landau in a desultory way. His mind was clearly on other things and it didn’t take them long to find out what they were. Because he’d driven Imogen and her maid to the station, he felt obscurely to blame for the tragedy and knew that Sir Marcus took the same view. If the missing passengers were not found alive and well, Tolley expected to be dismissed summarily. What really concerned him, however, was the fate of Rhoda Wills. When Colbeck asked him to describe the appearance and character of the two women, he spoke with undisguised fondness of Imogen’smaid. He was too loyal to be drawn into any criticism of Sir Marcus and his wife, though he did admit that the latter kept their daughter under constant surveillance.
    ‘Let’s go back to the start,’ suggested Colbeck. ‘When the two ladies left the house, were both parents there to see them off?’
    ‘Oh, no,’ said Tolley, wiping the back of a hand across his mouth. ‘Lady Burnhope was too ill to come out so she waved them off from an upstairs window.’
    ‘Which one?’ asked Leeming. ‘There must be twenty or more to choose from.’
    ‘People in the village call this the Glass House.’
    ‘What about Sir Marcus?’ wondered Colbeck. ‘Did he wave them off?’
    ‘He was busy somewhere inside the house.’
    ‘Was that typical of him? Does Sir Marcus always show such little interest in his daughter’s movements?’
    ‘He’s a very important man, Inspector.’
    ‘It would only have taken a matter of minutes,’ observed Leeming.
    ‘This was the first time his daughter had travelled to Oxford without her mother,’ said Colbeck. ‘That made the visit rather special.’
    ‘It did, Inspector,’ agreed Tolley. ‘It was unusual not to have Lady Burnhope holding forth in the carriage. I could see that Rhoda – Miss Wills, that is – was very pleased that they were alone.’
    ‘What else was unusual, Mr Tolley?’
    The coachman shook his head. ‘Nothing,’ he said.
    ‘There must have been
something
,’ pressed Colbeck. ‘Think hard.’
    ‘The tiniest detail may be of interest to us,’ said Leeming.
    ‘Tell us about any variation from the norm.’
    Tolley frowned. ‘Well,