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the servants –“
“Speaking of such,” Morass said. “The driver Felix is here. One of my men has just
brought him in.”
“Good work,” said Trevor, hoping that the surprise even he heard in his voice was not
insulting. “What of the women?”
“We have found them as well,” Seal said quickly. “But unlike Felix, they speak not a
word of English.”
“Hardly an insurmountable problem,” Trevor said. “Hindustani?”
“I believe so. It is the most common language of the region.”
Trevor mused a minute. “Emma, Gerry, Davy…the three of you shall talk alone to the
cook and maid.”
“You don’t intend to use a detective?” Seal asked. “They may only be servants, but they
still might have observed much, especially any events which took place in the kitchen.”
“Yesterday you didn’t see the purpose of interviewing them at all,” Trevor said drily.
“And now you challenge the credentials of those who will? Well, you need not. Young Mabrey here
is an extraordinarily competent officer of the law, Emma is our linguist, and Geraldine, even thought
it was in the past, knew both Secretary-General and Mrs. Weaver. She may think to ask things the rest
of us would not. And I suspect the presence of the ladies on our team may relax the ladies under
questioning. I daresay they’ve seen enough white Englishmen in their time.”
“And I threaten no one,” Davy said.
“And he threatens no one,” Trevor agreed with a smile. “Which makes him the biggest
threat on the team.”
“All very well,” Emma said. “But none of us speak Hindustani, so I am afraid we are
back to having to ask some law officer to come with us to translate. Surely you have such a man,
Inspector Seal? Or you, Inspector Morass? Someone who can serve as an intermediary?”
“Leigh Anne Hoffman speaks the native tongue,” Geraldine said slowly. “We heard her
shouting out to the girls in the garden, do you recall?”
“Yes, indeed,” said Emma. “You are right.”
Trevor nodded too. “The perfect solution. Rather than taking the female servants to the
police station, which will certainly intimidate them into silence, or even bringing them here, with so
many of us to sit in our circle and stare, we shall ask that they be delivered to the girls’ school. That
little porch with the garden is quite the place. You can all ask your questions, and I suspect that in
light of Gerry’s generosity, Miss Hoffman will be pleased to assist us by translating. Then Davy can
take their fingerprints and perhaps even those of Adelaide. Oh and interview her. That’s the essential
part. We have no real evidence that she is either emotionally or mentally handicapped, only hearsay,
and there’s certainly a chance she has plenty to say on the subject of Rose Everlee Weaver. If the three
of you can manage all that, I can move on to Benson’s quarters and collect his notes.”
“We can manage it,” Emma said.
“I have no doubt,” Trevor said. “But if you deem your conversations with Adelaide and
the maids to be unsuccessful or if you note anything strange in Miss Hoffman’s manner – stranger than
usual, I mean – we can haul them all down to the station and try our luck there. But the more I think of
it, the more I think a genteel conversation among ladies in the garden might yield more than scaring
the witnesses to death with a show of masculine power. I trust your instincts completely.”
“Thank you,” Emma said, and they exchanged a direct smile.
“Speaking of the girls’ school, and thus the Khajuraho Temple, it sounds as if the two of