Barbara Cleverly by The Last Kashmiri Rose Page B

Giles’ side so the fire was a double disaster for him, poor chap.’
    ‘Lucky not to have lost his daughter. She was smuggled out by her ayah, I understand.’
    ‘Yes. And she’s back in India, they tell me. She must be eighteen now. She’s been away at school in Switzerland and sailed into Bombay last week under the sketchy chaperonage of Millie Bracegirdle! She’s spending a few days to recover from the voyage with an aunt and then coming on back to her father here at the station. Giles doesn’t show many emotions but he loves his daughter and if he were capable of showing excitement, I’d say he was excited at the thought of her coming back into his life again. He’s got plans for a party to welcome her back to the regiment so perhaps he isn’t such an icicle after all. Now, come and dance with me! Let’s give the gossips something to gossip about!’
    The band went into a slow waltz and Joe gathered her to him. ‘The Destiny Waltz’. His mind went back at once to France. This had been one of the few gramophone records they owned and he had last heard the tune being played on a wheezy accordion in an estaminet not many miles behind the lines. And here it was again. ‘Police boots!’ thought Joe and, with a quick glance down at Nancy’s silk stockings and delicate, high-heeled kid shoes, he said, ‘Can you do a reverse turn?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Nancy. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever tried.’
    ‘Come on, then,’ said Joe, with a quick glance around which told him that, satisfactorily, every eye in the room was following them. ‘Hold tight! Now!’
    ‘That was good!’ said Nancy. ‘Let’s do it again!’
    Under the proximity engendered by this complicated manoeuvre, Joe let his cheek brush hers.
    ‘What shall we do next?’ said Nancy.
    Joe raised an eyebrow.
    ‘No! I wasn’t talking about a hot, squashy time behind the potted palms in the kala juggah! What overheated stories have you been listening to about memsahibs? I was talking about the investigation, for goodness sake! Just remember I’m the Collector’s lady! The Governor’s niece! Caesar’s wife!’
    ‘Seriously,’ said Joe, ‘you may not think so but I’m working through my list and I want to see Forbes, the husband of the girl who went over the precipice, to find out if he’s got anything to add. But, more importantly, Carmichael, the snake girl’s husband. Neither is on the station still. Is it known where they are?’
    ‘More or less, but not exactly. Carmichael sent in his papers just before the war. He wasn’t particularly happy with Joan as I think I told you but all the same, he was pretty shattered by her death. Who wouldn’t have been? But she left him quite a lot of money and, as I say, he left the army and went into business in Calcutta. Wine imports or something of that sort. He went into partnership with some box-wallahs, Gujeratis from Bombay, I think. They didn’t get on. Not surprised about that — not many people found they could get on with Harold Carmichael. He was very bitter. He was passed over once or twice and when the war began he didn’t rejoin the regiment so he didn’t go to France with them. He was very much criticised for having stayed safe. Perhaps I’m being unfair. He wasn’t very fit and — as I say — he was very knocked about by Joan’s death. They say demon drink took its toll too. I suppose he still lives in Calcutta.’
    ‘And Sheila Forbes’ husband?’
    ‘The regimental doctor and a good one by all accounts. He went out to France with the regiment but got a job in the Hospitals Inspectorate after the war and he’s based in Calcutta too though I expect he spends most of the year on tour.’
    ‘So, in other words, if we wearily tracked our way back to Calcutta we could perhaps see both of these gents? True?’
    Nancy nodded and said, ‘Leave it to me. I’ll do a little telephoning tomorrow,’ and added, ‘I wonder what everybody thinks we’re talking about so earnestly? I bet nobody suspects that we’re at the throbbing heart of a police