Free An Advancement of Learning by Reginald Hill Page B

fresh corpse. It was Kent's finest hour. For the second time in a quarter of a century he had been in the right place at the right time. (The first occasion had given him the promotion momentum which had brought him to his present eminence.) He had come across Pearl and Jessup in earnest conference by the fourteenth fairway. By the time Dalziel arrived everything needful had been done, down to a list of those who had played a round that day, and a methodical search of the dunes and the beach was taking place.
    All Pascoe wanted to do was to re-immerse himself in his (so-far, unproductive) researches into the last movements of Miss. Girling. But Dalziel didn't seem in the mood for demarcation disputes.
    These are distinct and separate enquiries, sir?' said Pascoe hopefully.
    "If you mean, is there any connection, the answer's yes,' snapped Dalziel. Two bodies in the same place means a connection to me. It might be accident; but coincidence is like the bastards we pull in, assumed innocent till proved guilty. And we do that by finding two distinct and separate killers. Right?"
    "I suppose so,' said Pascoe.
    "Anyway, how are you getting on? Any progress?"
    "Precious little. I was just getting into it when news of the girl came in. I've got an outline of the day here. Look. Mostly from Miss. Scotby's old diary of events. She hoards them. The students had gone down the previous Friday. There was a staff meeting on the Monday morning and a governors' meeting in the afternoon. Now Miss. Girling was catching her flight at 11.30 p.m. or thereabouts. She was evidently a believer in starting the vacation as soon as humanly possible. Anyway, Miss. Scotby saw her after the meeting, about 5 p.m. and she says she waved to her as she drove out, presumably on her way to the airport, about an hour later."
    Dalziel grunted. ' didn't leave herself much time. It's well over a hundred miles."
    That's what I said. But Scotby says she thinks the governors' meeting may have been arranged late in the term, after Girling had made her holiday plans. The ink confirms this."
    "Ink?"
    "It's not the same as the stuff she used for the other major events. So she deduces she noted the meeting later."
    Dalziel rolled his eyes. The whites were quite revolting without the little brown pupils to hold the attention.
    "So what are you doing now?"
    Pascoe was ready for this.
    "What I'd like to do is check at the airport. The big question is, did she get that far or not? They may still have records. And at the other end, Austria, too." "All right,' said Dalziel. ' remember, it's taxpayers' money, lad." "It's the tax-payers' bodies as well,' said Pascoe, but only after Dalziel had gone out of the door.
    His destination was the golf clubhouse where Kent had set up a temporary HQ. He found the inspector gazing dreamy-eyed at a large gilt-framed photograph of Harry Vardon in mid-drive.
    "Look,' he said. ' had his jacket on. And a tie."
    "Was he playing here today?' asked Dalziel.
    "No. Of course not.' Kent returned to earth. '."
    "Anything new?"
    "Nothing much. The p.m. report won't be through for a while yet, but I'm sure they'll confirm what the doctor said. Death by asphyxiation. Her mouth and nostrils were full of sand."
    He grimaced at the memory.
    "Next of kin?"
    "Her parents. They live in Newcastle. They'll be on their way."
    "Have you seen Mr. Landor? I couldn't find him at the college and they said he might have come up here."
    "That's right. He's through there."
    Kent nodded at a door to his left.
    "He doesn't look well."
    "Right. How's the search?"
    "Nothing yet. Or rather, a great deal. Those sand dunes are pretty popular evidently, by day and by night. But nothing obviously relevant." I'll have a look later,' said Dalziel.
    He went through to the next room where he found Landor leaning against a billiards table, sightlessly flicking a red between the opposite cushion and his hand.
    "Hello, Principal. I asked for you in the college."
    "Superintendent. I had to