Paddy laughed again and a little color crept back into her cheeks. But before Lindsay and Cordelia could capitalize on this, the officer was there to take Paddy back to her cell. “We’ll soon have you out of here, don’t forget that,” called Cordelia, as Paddy vanished through the door again.

They walked back to the car, arguing. Cordelia was all for heading straight down to Wales to talk to Anthony Barrington, but Lindsay had changed her mind and was determined to get her own way. “I want to talk to Sarah right away,” she argued. “Barrington’s still going to be there later on tonight. Or we could go down tomorrow early. But I want to straighten out Sarah Cartwright as soon as possible. She’s lying and I want to know why.”

“We can talk to her any time. Now we know she’s lying, we only have to get at the reasons why. But we should get to Barrington as soon as we can. He’s the only person who could have had a hand in this that we haven’t talked to so far. And you seem to think he’s the likeliest candidate. A little while ago you were desperate to get down to Wales to see him.”

“But don’t you see? Sarah’s answers could change everything. It may be that after we’ve talked to her again there will be no reason for us to talk to Barrington at all. We may manage to wrap the whole thing up. We lose nothing by seeing Sarah first—and we could gain a lot. I just know it’s important.”

Cordelia sighed. “You’re like a bloody steamroller. You flatten the opposition. You just don’t listen, do you?”

“I know I’m right,” said Lindsay stubbornly.

“Well, I still think you’re wrong.” Cordelia argued.

“We’ll see,” said Lindsay. “Now, is there a phone around here anywhere?”

“I think we passed one about a mile down the road toward the motorway. Who do you want to call?”

“I just want to leave a message for Sarah. To let her know we’re coming. That should make her sweat a little. I want her nice and worried about what we may or may not know.” She got in the car.

“My God, you really can be a bully, can’t you,” said Cordelia crossly to the empty air.

18

They parked the car outside Longnor House and marched straight up the stairs to Sarah’s room. On the door a “Do Not Disturb” notice was hanging. Cordelia said curtly, “These notices are supposed to be sacrosanct, but for once we’ll break the rules. After all, she should be expecting us.” She rapped on the door. There was no reply. She looked questioningly at Lindsay, who nodded encouragement. Cordelia turned the handle, opened the door, and stepped inside.