Killing Cousins by Alanna Knight Page B

are safe enough here for a few moments.'
    There was no answering smile. 'As long as you know the tide times, yes. But never come here at floodtide.'
    'Like the unfortunate housekeeper?'
    'Poor Mrs Bliss,' she sighed.
    'What happened exactly?' Faro asked innocently, curious to hear Inga's version of the accident, which turned out to be exactly what he had heard already. With one addition.
    'I was the one who found her,' said Inga. 'It was horrible. I sometimes come down to collect special specimens of seaweed, for some of my herbal remedies,' she explained. 'And there she was, lying at the tide edge.' She shuddered. 'I knew at once that she was dead, still clinging to poor peedie Waifie.'
    'Waifie?'
    'Yes, her dog...that had caused it all.'
    'Had she been missing long?'
    'She'd been away from the castle overnight, we learned afterwards.'
    'Had no one thought of searching for her?'
    'They didn't know she had gone out after the dog until John Erlandson said he'd heard her shouting its name and asked him if he'd seen it And we didn't know that until afterwards.'
    Inga stopped speaking for a moment 'It was very near here, where I found her. Poor Mrs Bliss. If only someone had realised when she didn't go back to the castle.'
    'Wasn't anyone at all concerned enough to look for her when she didn't appear that evening?'
    Inga shook her head. 'No. I gather she was a law unto herself, her own boss. Made her own rules did Mrs Bliss. Used to vanish into Kirkwall or even further afield. So Annie, who was left in charge, told everyone later. It all came out then, how she neglected her duties, but, knowing how hard it is to get a reliable housekeeper on an island the size of Balfray, I expect she felt free to take liberties.'
    Faro made sympathetic noises. 'What sort of a woman was she?'
    Inga smiled. 'Nice enough. And very well bred. She had obviously been trained in high service. But not nearly as efficient as your mother,' she added quickly.
    'Middle-aged, was she?' he said.
    'Good heavens, no. Thirty, thirty-five at most. Handsome woman, well set up.'
    'Indeed. I got the impression that all housekeepers were homely and stout'
    Inga laughed. 'Not this one. Do you know, I even suspected that Saul had an eye on her at one time. And a good thing that would have been.'
    She stopped. 'Incidentally, your mother's good spring-cleaning discovered cupboards that had been overlooked for some time and she found a tin box belonging to Mrs Bliss. She didn't know what to do with it, full of papers, references and so forth, I think.'
    'Where is it now?'
    'I have it at Saul's.'
    'Didn't any relatives come to the funeral?'
    'After she died so suddenly we couldn't find any address of relatives, or next of kin. She hinted that she was alone in the world. But not, apparently, if the name Mr Leon Bliss in her notebook we found was anything to go by.'
    'Mr Leon Bliss?'
    Inga shrugged. 'Probably her estranged husband, poor soul.'
    'Nothing in this notebook to give any clues?'
    'Just recipes and so forth. Dr Balfray decided that Mr Bliss must be a relative and wrote to him at the address on one of her references. However, Norma said the letter came back "Not known".'
    'Perhaps she was a widow or the Mrs was a courtesy title.'
    Inga shrugged. 'I gather she wasn't exactly forthcoming about her life before Balfray.'
    'I'd like to have a look at the contents of that tin box sometime.'
    Inga laughed. 'Just curiosity? Or a challenge the inspector cannot resist, is that it?'
    Faro smiled. 'Something like that.' Holding out his hand he raised her to her feet and she threw away the stick with which she had been idly making patterns in the sand as they talked.
    It was a habit he remembered. But once upon a time those patterns had been hearts with their names elaborately produced and entwined. Now all she had written in the sand was 'Bliss'. The name of a woman dead as their own love.

Chapter 10
     
    Inga's suggestion that he meet Saul Hoy offered Faro the chance he was