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then they get the sack! I went up with him to her room, but she wasn’t there. I noticed that she’d changed. The dress she’d been dancing in—a sort of pink, foamy thing with full skirts—was lying over a chair. Usually she kept the same dress on unless it was the special dance night—Wednesdays, that is.
    â€œI’d no idea where she’d got to. We got the band to play one more foxtrot—still no Ruby, so I said to Raymond I ’d do the exhibition dance with him. We chose one that was easy on my ankle and made it short—but it played up my ankle pretty badly all the same. It’s all swollen this morning. Still Ruby didn’t show up. We sat about waiting up for her until two o’clock. Furious with her, I was.”
    Her voice vibrated slightly. Melchett caught the note of real anger in it. Just for a moment he wondered. The reaction seemed a little more intense than was justified by the facts. He had a feeling of something deliberately left unsaid. He said:
    â€œAnd this morning, when Ruby Keene had not returned and her bed had not been slept in, you went to the police?”
    He knew from Slack’s brief telephone message from Danemouth that that was not the case. But he wanted to hear what Josephine Turner would say.
    She did not hesitate. She said: “No, I didn’t.”
    â€œWhy not, Miss Turner?”
    Her eyes met his frankly. She said:
    â€œ You wouldn’t—in my place!”
    â€œYou think not?”
    Josie said:
    â€œI’ve got my job to think about. The one thing a hotel doesn’t want is scandal—especially anything that brings in the police. Ididn’t think anything had happened to Ruby. Not for a minute! I thought she’d just made a fool of herself about some young man. I thought she’d turn up all right—and I was going to give her a good dressing down when she did! Girls of eighteen are such fools.”
    Melchett pretended to glance through his notes.
    â€œAh, yes, I see it was a Mr. Jefferson who went to the police. One of the guests staying at the hotel?”
    Josephine Turner said shortly:
    â€œYes.”
    Colonel Melchett asked:
    â€œWhat made this Mr. Jefferson do that?”
    Josie was stroking the cuff of her jacket. There was a constraint in her manner. Again Colonel Melchett had a feeling that something was being withheld. She said rather sullenly:
    â€œHe’s an invalid. He—he gets all het up rather easily. Being an invalid, I mean.”
    Melchett passed on from that. He asked:
    â€œWho was the young man with whom you last saw your cousin dancing?”
    â€œHis name’s Bartlett. He’d been there about ten days.”
    â€œWere they on very friendly terms?”
    â€œNot specially, I should say. Not that I knew, anyway.”
    Again a curious note of anger in her voice.
    â€œWhat does he have to say?”
    â€œSaid that after their dance Ruby went upstairs to powder her nose.”
    â€œThat was when she changed her dress?”
    â€œI suppose so.”
    â€œAnd that is the last thing you know? After that she just—”
    â€œVanished,” said Josie. “That’s right.”
    â€œDid Miss Keene know anybody in St. Mary Mead? Or in this neighbourhood?”
    â€œI don’t know. She may have done. You see, quite a lot of young men come into Danemouth to the Majestic from all round about. I wouldn’t know where they lived unless they happened to mention it.”
    â€œDid you ever hear your cousin mention Gossington?”
    â€œGossington?” Josie looked patently puzzled.
    â€œGossington Hall.”
    She shook her head.
    â€œNever heard of it.” Her tone carried conviction. There was curiosity in it too.
    â€œGossington Hall,” explained Colonel Melchett, “is where her body was found.”
    â€œGossington Hall?” She stared. “How extraordinary!”
    Melchett thought to himself: