Chapter 4

“This is all hardly police business, chasing someone’s lost underclothes,” grumbled Inspector Charles when the two women settled in his office. He also resented the remark by Matilda that she hoped their tandem would be safe in the police station yard. “So many thieves around these days,” the woman in pale blue had said, innocently enough, and the younger one in the long pink dress had chuckled loudly.

“You do know I am busy, don’t you?” The man grumbled, jabbing his finger at a piece of paper on his desk. “Things like providing a uniformed copper to be on duty at Lady Carden’s mansion while they shoot some film or other. That means overtime and that means my budget.”

The man grabbed his pipe and lit it, which he did whenever he was irritated. “Now this ... not the sort of thing I want to land on my desk. You know, I also don’t see how guests leaving a respectable hotel by the backdoor” (there had been no mention of bondage or suspected kidnapping to the man) “or how a milk lorry has anything to do with this man losing some sample of a ... well, a foundation garment.” The man coloured up a little at mentioning the unmentionables but cleared his throat before continuing. “Carelessness with one’s own property is hardly a reason for the police to be involved. I strongly suspect however, Mrs Minerva, there is much you aren’t telling me.”