Silver City Scandal by Gerald Hammond

was apt. The solicitor was clearly hung over. ‘Leave me to read them over. You go and get a hot bath, shave and change into something a little cleaner and dressier. We wouldn’t want Molly’s cousin telling her that you received us in that state, would we?’ ‘Why would she mention a thing like that?’ ‘I don’t know why,’ Keith said, ‘but she undoubtedly would. Can I use your tape-recorder?’ ‘Help yourself. I think I’ll do as you say. Not to impress your wife’s cousin, but it might make me feel a little more human. I shan’t be long. I have the flat upstairs.’ He shambled out onto the stairway. Keith looked around. The office had once been somebody’s parlour and was still papered with faded roses. The carpet was threadbare, the furniture dilapidated. But, courtesy, presumably, of Shennilco, the business equipment was the latest and best. He moved a hard chair to the window and began to read. He was an adept speed-reader and made quick progress. From time to time he dictated notes into Prather’s tape-recorder. The opening speeches provided nothing of relevance and he skipped to the evidence of the witnesses. The story began on the first of September, with the discovery, by one William McKillop, a farmer, of the body of a woman on his land near Kemnay, ten miles north-west of Aberdeen. The witness had earlier heard two shots, some seconds apart, at about seven a.m. The corpse had been identified as having once been Mary Mae Spalding, a spinster aged thirty-six, who lived with a frien