27Miss Silver rang up Detective Inspector Frank Abbott. Since he had gone to town to lay the case against Nicholas Carey before his immediate superiors, she began by trying Scotland Yard, only to find that he had been there and had left again. She therefore dialled his private number, and was relieved to hear his voice in an unhurried ‘Hallo ...’
‘Miss Silver speaking. I wondered whether you would be returning here tonight.’
‘My dear ma’am! Even the hard-worked constabulary get an occasional half hour off! Tonight I dine out with one of my more ornamental cousins. Her husband has so much money that if they went on spending the capital for the next fifty years they wouldn’t be able to get through it. Oil. The meal will be super. I shall be back on the job first thing in the morning. What
