A Coffin For Two

41

‘Eddie may have turned up trumps,’ said Primavera, looking across the breakfast table as I crunched my way through half a xapata filled with boiled eggs, ‘but we’d better think what use we can make of his information.’

Our successes of the day before had dulled the memory of our confrontation on Tuesday. Breakfast was a fun time once more, and play had resumed as well in other areas. The weather seemed to have responded to our change in mood. It was warmer than it had been; well into autumn, we could still feel the heat in the morning air.

‘I’ve already done some thinking along those lines,’ I said, when I could. I wiped the flour from the xapata from the corners of my mouth. ‘In fact, when you were out getting the bread, and the eggs were boiling, I made a couple of phone calls.

‘Ronnie Starr bought his petrol in Verges. He picked up the tab for at least one guest, maybe two, in Pubol on September twenty-five, and he seems to have been a regular at that bar in La Pera.

‘All of that indicates that he was based somewhere in that area. Agreed?’

‘Yes.’ Prim nodded.

‘In that case, if we can find out where he lived, we might find other people who knew him, and who can tell us more about him. Maybe someone will give us a lead to the phoney Starr.’

‘Unless one of them is the phoney Starr.’

I grimaced. ‘That had occurred to me. We’ll just have to be careful about the questions we ask.’

‘Why don’t we say that I’m his cousin and that we’re out here trying to find him?’ she suggested.

‘Good idea. People are more likely to talk to us on that basis. Well done.’

She nodded. ‘Don’t mention it. Now, how are we going to find out where he lived?’

‘We can ask around the hostels. But he was out here from the end of the academic year to the autumn. That’s three months, at least. Isn’t it more likely that he would have rented an apartment?’

‘At summer prices?’

‘It’s cheaper inland. A small place in the area in which we’re interested wouldn’t cost you very much. I thought we might ask around the rental agencies in Verges, Flaca and La Bisbal, so I phoned Maggie and got some numbers from her.’

Prim looked at me doubtfully. ‘That’s fair enough; it’s logical. But you’ve got an orderly mind. Couldn’t Starr have done what we did? Stopped off somewhere and found a place to stay by accident? If you looked at our Visa slips what name would you find most often?’

I smiled at her. ‘Casa Minana.’

‘Right,’ she said, patiently. ‘Which is next door to our apartment. So …’

‘So the first place we should look for Starr is La Pera. Christ, Prim, I think I’ll give up the detecting game. You’re far better at it than I am.’

Primavera laughed. ‘You’ve always said you’re an enquiry agent, not a detective. Maybe you should stick to that and leave the detecting to me.’

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘In that case, get out of those very fetching shorts and into your raincoat, trilby and gumshoes.’

She grinned across the table. ‘Okay. But only if you’ll help me.’