Skinner’s round

Fifty-eight

Skinner whistled as Wills finished his story. 'That's very impressive, my friend. I wish all of my detective officers were as thorough as you.

`So Agnes Tod and her sister Matilda were the daughters of the factor of the Kinture Estate: not, I'd have thought, people who would be described nowadays as working-class.'

`No, indeed. Their father, Walter Tod, ran the Earl's estate on a day-to-day basis, collected rents, hired and fired staff, and all that. That would make him a very important man, and a man to be feared as well. They'd have been brought up in an estate house, probably quite a grand one. We know from the Bible that Matilda was literate, and now, from the parish records, that Agnes was too.'

`What do we know of their father?'

Only that he was an elder of the Church and that he died in 1591.'

And Matilda, what of her?'

`Her death is recorded in 1637 and the entry is witnessed by Elizabeth Carr. She never married. I'd surmise that Matilda brought up her sister's child.'

And the witnesses to the birth?'

One was described in the entry as a midwife, and the other as a maid.'

Skinner leaned back in the empty grandstand and gazed at his friend and his assistant in undisguised admiration. 'You two should set up in business. A detective and a historian, researching into the past.

`Henry, how do you feel about some more research? This is already the weirdest investigation I've ever known, but now that I've begun, I'm going to follow it as far as I can.

I'd like to hear everything you can tell me about the so-called crimes that led Agnes Tod to her death.

I want to know what the Burning of Witches' Hill was all about.'

Wills puffed up with pride. 'I should be delighted to assist. I will go back to Edinburgh now to begin my research. I'll work non-stop and call you as soon as possible.'

He stood up, hot and sticky in his suit, yet as dignified as always, and started off down the grandstand's stairway. At the foot he stopped, suddenly, and looked back at Skinner and Rose as they descended behind him.

Oh, one other thing, Bob. Do you remember in the tent, this morning? That man I was so sure I recognised? Well, I think I've seen him again.'