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thought quickly. She really ought to urge her to go to the police. The FBI in Florida would surely ferret out this Art Mackenzie, if that really was his name. Was Amy as naïve as she seemed?
    ‘I want this Art made to suffer,’ said Amy. ‘Have you ever had cosmetic surgery? Silly me. Of course you haven’t. Well, it’s damn painful, and what with getting my teeth straightened and the liposuction and all that, I’d like to get a bit of my own back.’
    ‘I still wonder why he picked you,’ said Agatha. ‘He could have found plenty of pretty girls in Florida without having to go to all the expense of making them over.’
    ‘I do think he loved me for a bit,’ said Amy. ‘And do you know, when he showed me a picture of his mother, I did look a bit like her.’
    ‘Well,’ said Agatha, looking out of the window at the freezing day outside, ‘I may as well start with Florida. You will be billed for all expenses plus a daily fee.’
    ‘Oh, yes, your Mrs Freedman told me that and got me to sign the papers.’
    ‘Don’t you think it might be a good idea if I talked to your husband as well?’
    ‘He’s awfully busy.’
    ‘What does he do?’
    ‘He owns Richards Supermarkets.’
    Agatha recognized the name. The supermarkets were all over the country.
    ‘Let me think this over,’ said Agatha. ‘I’ll get in touch with you soon.’
    Agatha called a meeting of her staff early that evening and told them what she had learned from the former Mrs Beech.
    ‘Lucky you,’ said Toni. ‘I wouldn’t mind going to Florida.’
    ‘I may as well see if there’s any connection between this Art person and Beech. There’s not much can be done here at the moment that the police can’t. Did Amy say anything about telling the police about the prostitution racket?’
    ‘No, not a thing,’ said Patrick. ‘She said she’d been on holiday in Florida and that’s where she met her new husband. I never heard that she’d mentioned this fellow Art.’
    ‘It all seems a bit coincidental,’ said Toni. ‘I mean, how fortunate this Richards turned up at the right moment to rescue her and comes from Mircester as well.’
    ‘What if the whole thing is a pack of lies?’ said Phil. ‘I mean, you do have a reputation, Agatha.’
    ‘Reputation for what?’ demanded Agatha furiously.
    ‘For being a good detective,’ said Phil. ‘She’s no doubt read in the papers or heard from the police about you finding the body. So the best way to keep you close is to hire you. Even better, if she simply used the divorce money to go to Florida for plastic surgery, it’s a good excuse to get out of the country and off the case.’
    ‘And,’ put in Patrick, ‘this Richards may be involved in the murder. She was definitely out of the country, but where was he? I think you should wait here for a bit, Agatha.’
    The wind howled round the old building, and sleet pattered against the windows.
    ‘I’m going,’ said Agatha. ‘I’ll visit her again this evening and see if I can catch her with Bunchie.’
    ‘Who’s Bunchie?’ asked Toni.
    ‘It’s her pet name for him. Talking about pets, how’s Paul?’
    ‘Very well, thank you,’ said Toni primly.
    ‘Seeing a lot of him?’
    ‘Has this anything to do with the agency?’ asked Toni angrily.
    ‘Well, no, but—’
    ‘So mind your own business.’
    ‘May I remind you, Mizz Gilmour, that you are speaking to your employer?’
    ‘But not my mother.’ Toni slammed out of the office.
    ‘You asked for that,’ said Phil. ‘Leave the girl alone or she might marry Paul to spite you.’
    Agatha sat alone in the office after the others had left, wondering whether it was really worthwhile going to Florida or had Amy been spinning some tale. Forget Florida, she suddenly thought. Perhaps it was a ruse to get her out of the country. Surely the answer to Beech’s death lay in the Cotswolds. Uneasy thoughts about young Simon Black also troubled her mind. What if he was killed in Afghanistan?