OLIVER BADE RUTLEDGE FAREWELL AND WISHED HIM A safe drive back to London. “Although I don’t know what you’re to tell Lady Maude Gray.”

“The truth. What I know about it.” But not the part Holden had played.

“Well, then, she ought to be glad to learn what’s become of her daughter. You can tell her, we’ll see that the accused is punished for what she’s done.”

Rutledge shook his hand, walked back through the downpour to the hotel, and notified the Ballantyne staff to draw up his bill. Then he began to pack.

It was shortly after luncheon that he drove out of Duncarrick. He let the motorcar stand in the street in the rain, for all the world to see, his luggage in the back and a hamper of food on the seat next to him.

Ann Tait, worried about her geraniums drowning in their pots, paused to look down the street at his car, then hurried back into her shop.

Mr. Elliot, coming back from calling on a parishioner, stopped to ask if he was leaving.

“Yes,” Rutledge replied. “I’ve finished my business here.”

“You left a message with my housekeeper that you wished to speak with me.” His black umbrella glistened with raindrops, and the sleeves of his coat were damp.

“I found the information elsewhere. I’m glad I didn’t disturb you.”

“I wish you Godspeed, then.”

Rutledge thanked the minister and went around to turn the crank, drying his hand on his trouser leg before reaching for it.

HE DROVE SOME miles out of town, then found himself a quiet spot in a small copse of very wet trees where the motorcar was nearly invisible from the road.

It would be a long wait. It might even be a useless one. But he was prepared to be patient. And to endure another soaking.

BY NIGHTFALL RUTLEDGE had completed his notes, setting out his entire investigation—when and with whom he had talked, what he had been told and by whom—each step in the long chain and the conclusions he had reached. Then he set the notebook under the dash, well out of the rain. He had also eaten the sandwiches, and nearly finished the tea. He wished for more to fight the raw chill.

He waited another hour, then got out and cranked the engine. The rain had let up a little. Still, it took him nearly half an hour to reach the western edge of Duncarrick, avoiding the main streets and the more traveled roads. He arrived at his destination reasonably sure he hadn’t been seen. Few people were out on such a wretched night.

Rutledge left the motorcar hidden deep in the shadows of the pele tower, well out of sight. Then he walked the rest of the way, his shoes heavy with water.