Ellis Peters - George Felse 11 - Death To The Landlords by Ellis Peters Page A

’voir, messieurs – mesdames
!’
    They all murmured their thanks and appreciation, and wished the departing travellers: ‘
Bon voyage
!’ And the indomitable pair disappeared duly into the little office, recorded their time-table, walked out to their battered blue Ford and drove away.
    The Manis had come in too late to hear the announcement; only Sushil Dastur, fussing anxiously about their table and exerting himself to make sure the tea and eggs should be just as they preferred them, listened with patent relief and gratitude, glad to have good news to relay to his employers as soon as they appeared. Theirs, after all, had been the worst situation; had they not spent the entire morning in the boat in which the bomb had been planted? Naturally they had all protested their horrified innocence, and exonerated one another, but all the same they must have spent an acutely uneasy night.
    ‘Even we,’ Larry remarked, ‘should have been feeling pretty queasy, if all five of us hadn’t spent the entire day together – barring the odd private moment, of course. An example of safety in numbers.’
    Sudha Mani fluttered into the dining-room at last looking the worse for a restless night, her pretty face rather puffy and pale, her husband treading heavily after her, as though unusually deflated and tired. If he had not had good news to relay, Sushil Dastur would probably have been suffering for their discomforts. As it was, the watchers could see from across the room the sudden glow of relaxation and ease as Mr and Mrs Mani heard that they were free to leave; and in a very few moments the old assurance and self-esteem began visibly to re-inflate their sagging curves. Sudha reached for the tea-pot, and with recovered appetite they attacked the eggs that were set before them. To judge from their distant exchanges, seen but not overheard, they even had heart to reproach Sushil Dastur for the cook’s shortcomings before they dispatched him, fairly obviously, to see their luggage portered back to the hired car, their bill paid, and the Tamil driver aroused from his semi-permanent repose in the back seat. They meant to lose no time in getting away from this place which had promised so radiantly and performed so viciously. No doubt they regretted ever hearing the name of the distinguished Mahendralal Bakhle, let alone bringing a letter of introduction to him.
    ‘I suppose we’d better pack up and get out of here, too,’ Larry said.
    ‘I’ll go and settle the bills,’ said Lakshman, rising.
    The girls, in slightly embarrassed haste, began a duet of insistence on paying their share, but Larry quashed that at once, or at least postponed all consideration of it. ‘Later – don’t bother now. Lakshman will pay everything, and we can think about it later. After all, there’s no hurry, you’re coming down with us as far as the railway. Go ahead, Lakshman, and we’ll go and check out with the inspector.’
    They had to pass close by the Manis’ table on their way across the dining-room, and Sudha, just recovering her volubility in full, halted them with an appealing hand.
    ‘Can you imagine what people are saying! – Think how terrible for us! It was that boatman! – Yes, right in the boat with us all that time, and looking like any other boat-boy, so quiet and willing. And we could have been blamed – such a dreadful position we were in.’
    ‘I’m sure the inspector didn’t suspect you,’ Dominic said soothingly. ‘Naturally he had to question all of us.’
    ‘Yes, but even now we must tell him where we are going, where we can be found… Why should that be, if it was that boat-boy?’
    ‘That is mere routine,’ said Gopal Krishna comfortably. ‘Even if there is no arrest and no trial, because the man is dead, still they must file the records of the case. And suppose they should want to confirm some detail of the time with us? Or with Mr Preisinger here? It is the same for all.’
    ‘That’s it exactly,’ Larry