The Silver Ghost by Charlotte MacLeod Page B

take it easy. We’d better search the remaining cars, don’t you think? There’s always the chance she might be tied up in one of them.” There were other chances, but Max didn’t go into those. “Are the trunks all unlocked, Melisande?”
    “I’ll get the keys. Come on, Reggie.”
    “Sure, Mel.”
    Sarah took no part in the search. She’d never been particularly devoted to Boadicea Kelling, but an aunt was an aunt. If there was anything to be found here, she did not want to be the one who found it.

8
    S ARAH NEEDN’T HAVE HUNG back, there was nothing to find. The cars were all empty. The shrubberies yielded no gruesome bundle. Tick Purbody and the helicopter pilot flew as low as they could, shining their searchlight on every inch of the bee fields, but drew a total blank. A telephone call to Boadicea’s house only served to throw her housekeeper into a tizzy.
    It was long after dark by now. The frazzled remnant of the Renaissance Revel were gathered around the fire in what Abigail called the castle keep, drinking hot coffee and trying to bolster each other’s spirits.
    “There’s only one logical explanation,” Bill was insisting. “Bodie must have got into the car shed somehow, discovered the secret exit, and driven away in the Silver Ghost. Chasing Rufe’s murderer, I suppose.”
    “Never.” Abigail was holding up somewhat better than her husband. “Why should Bodie rush right over and discover that crazy trick of Wouter’s when the rest of us have been overlooking it for the past five years? Why would she waste time trying to start the Silver Ghost, which isn’t the easiest thing in the world, as you very well know, when she could have run down the hill and got her own car in half the time?”
    She spread honey on a crumpet and handed it to Bill. “Here, for goodness’ sake eat something before you drop. But why should a middle-aged woman as commonsensical as Bodie go chasing a murderer in the first place? Bodie’s never taken a reckless chance in her life. She wouldn’t even join in the pillow fights at school. Would she, Drusilla? I’m not saying she didn’t leave the car shed in the Silver Ghost, dear. I’m only saying that if she did, it wasn’t of her own free will and we might as well face it. Max, what are we going to do?”
    “I’ve phoned a description of Mrs. Kelling to the state police,” he reassured her. “They already had a bulletin out on the Silver Ghost. If she’s in it, they’ll find her.”
    “But what if she’s been kidnapped by somebody else?”
    “That’s hardly likely. In any case, we’d just have to wait until the kidnappers get in touch.”
    “With whom?” Abigail fretted. “Bodie’s a widow and her only son lives in Hong Kong. They’d hardly call here, I shouldn’t think.”
    “I should think they’d call some of the Kellings,” said Tick Purbody.
    “Who in turn would call Max.” Sarah was inclined to be waspish in more ways then one about the way her family kept dumping their problems into her husband’s lap. “We’d get the word fast enough.”
    “But what if she’s being held hostage?” Melisande suggested.
    Max shook his head. “Why should she be? Look, let’s quit pussyfooting around the issue. It must have occurred to everybody here by now that Rufus’s murder and the theft of those two cars were almost certainly engineered by an employee, a close friend, or a member of the family.”
    Drusilla Gaheris was first to break the thunderous silence that followed. “I’ve been wondering whether anybody would get up nerve enough to say that. It does look dreadfully obvious, one has to admit. I expect what Mr. Bittersohn’s getting at is that a person in any of those categories wouldn’t have to take a hostage. If he, or I suppose I have to say she, should have happened to bump into Bodie at an awkward moment, he simply could have pretended he was there on some innocent errand like herself, and postpone stealing the Silver Ghost