Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden

"Us at the hotel? I suppose we do. But no one wants to be alone in their old age and I suppose we've formed ourselves into a sort of family."

"It's a strange set-up, or maybe it's these murders that make it seem strange. Did you enjoy your evening at the theatre?"

"Yes, very much. Jolly kind of Daisy to ask me."

"She's good company," said Agatha, determined to put in a good word for Daisy.

The colonel laughed. "Daisy agrees with anything I say, which a lot of men would like, but my wife was a woman of very independent mind, rather like you, Agatha. I prefer the company of that sort."

Damn, thought Agatha. Poor Daisy.

"I think Daisy is actually very shy and unsure of herself. I think she probably has a strong mind."

"But clinging. She leaned on me all through the performance and she was wearing one of those sort of cloying perfumes. Quite claustrophobic."

Agatha wondered if she could let Daisy have some of that love potion,

"I'm very fond of Gilbert and Sullivan," said the colonel. "They're doing the Pirates of Penzance tonight. Care to go?"

"Just you and me?"

"Yes, if you would care to."

Agatha hesitated. Then she said, "Me being the visitor and outsider might upset some of the others. They might feel, well, excluded."

"So they don't need to know." The colonel buttered another scone.

"So how do we manage it?"

"I get the tickets ... you want more of this cream?" Agatha shook her head. "The show's at eight o'clock. You drive there. I take a cab and meet you outside."

Agatha thought of another evening in the hotel. "Okay, you're on," she said.

Agatha put on a warm sweater, wool skirt and boots that evening. She felt that to really dress up for the colonel would, in a way, be another treacherous knife in Daisy's bosom.

Scrabble, the cat, had demolished two cans of cat food and was lying on he bed, purring sleepily.

"Be a good cat until I get back," said Agatha. Scrabble opened one green eye and stared at her and then closed it again.

Agatha picked up her coat and went downstairs. Daisy was pacing up and down the reception area.

"Where are you going, Agatha?" she asked sharply.

"Out to meet Jimmy," lied Agatha.

"The colonel has just gone out," fretted Daisy. "I asked him where he was going and he said he was going for a walk. I offered to accompany him but he said he was meeting an old army friend."

"Nice for him," said Agatha casually and made her escape.

She got in her car, switched on the engine and let in the clutch. She saw to her irritation that Daisy had come out on the hotel steps and was watching her. Agatha drove off as if she were going into town, then she circled back and drove past the hotel. She swore under her breath. Daisy was still standing on the steps, and she stared at the car.

The colonel was waiting outside the theatre. They went in together. "I got good seats. I think the cold has kept most people away," he said.

The performance began. Agatha forgot about Daisy, forgot about murder and settled back to enjoy herself. But at the second interval, she turned and looked around the theatre. As she looked up at the dress circle, her eye was caught by the flash of blonde hair but the woman moved her head behind one of the gilt pillars. That's Daisy, thought Agatha, all her enjoyment in the evening leaving her. I'm sure that was Daisy.

During the last act, she turned and looked up but the seat next to the pillar was empty.

I must have imagined it. And why should I feel guilty? thought Agatha angrily.

When the colonel suggested they go for a drink after the performance, she agreed.

"This is fun," said the colonel. "Nice to have different company for a change."

Agatha would have liked to discuss the murders but knew she would not get anything out of the colonel, so she told him about her life in the village and he told her army stories and they sat there amicably chatting until after closing time.

There are men in this world who find me good company, thought Agatha rebelliously. To hell with James Lacey.

She drove the colonel back and dropped him off before they got to the hotel. Before she went up to her room, she said to the night porter, "I'm tired. I do not want any calls whatsoever put through to my room, not even calls from the residents of this hotel."

The night porter made a note. Agatha scuttled up to the sanctuary of her room.

After ten minutes, there came a knocking at the door, followed by Daisy's voice, shouting, "Agatha!"

Agatha pulled a pillow over her head, feeling guilty and threatened. After several more furious bouts of knocking, Agatha was at last left in peace.

In the morning, she breakfasted in her room, fed the cat, and then wondered if she could get out of the hotel without going through the main entrance. She phoned Jimmy and told him she would pick him up along the promenade outside the cinema.

"When?" he asked.

"About fifteen minutes."

"Why? Press bothering you again?"

"No, I'll tell you about it when I see you."