[MaC] Separations: Hodges, Nicola and Michael

[Knave of Amber]

> > They therefore headed first of all for Flat 4 so
> > that Michael could collect
> > his handgun.  There wqas no-one in the flat -
> > although there was a woman's
> > scarf cast aside on a sofa.  There were also a
> > number of Egyptian
> > artefacts - a statue of Anubis on a side table.
> > There was also a key that
> > looked like the key to one of the flats - only it
> > bore the number 2.

"Egyptian god of death, you know," Michael offered cheerily.

> > There was no-one in Flat 3, either. There were a few
> > recently opened
> > packages on the bed with used things in them - as if
> > Marjorie had found a
> > jumble sale or something.  But the items are nicer
> > than you'd expect from a
> > jumble sale, and besides, in war-time people were
> > far less reluctant to give
> > away perfectly good clothes.  Marjorie's handbag was
> > here too.  It had
> > fallen on its iside, but all that had fallen out
> > were a rather thin purse,
> > and a small piece of card with an address in Betnal
> > Green for a Mrs Miggins.
> >
> > They next went to Flat Number 2.  Here again there
> > was no-one - apart from
> > Arabella's rather excited little dog.  A canvas
> > stood in the living room,
> > and there was a smell of wet paint, although it did
> > not look particularly
> > smudged.  On the other hand, given the style, it
> > could be hard to tell.
> >
> > They checked each room.  Pamela's bedroom was neat
> > and tidy - but the corner
> > of something written was protruding from a drawer in
> > her dressing tavble, as
> > though it had been shoved hastily away and the
> > drawer closed.  Once could
> > make out the letters, "Darl ... "
> 
> Nicola instantly recognized one of the items in one of
> the flats, but as she neither trusted nor felt a
> particular need to confide in either Hodges or
> Michael, she kept her mouth shut. 'Very interesting,'
> she thought to herself. 'I may just have to ask her
> about that sometime.'
> 
> "Right then, gents," she said as they left Flat No. 2.
> "On to the second floor." As the three climbed the
> stairs leading to the second floor, Nicola wished, not
> for the first time, that she had thought to pack the
> .38 Freddy had given her for protection. Foolishly,
> she had thought she would be in LESS danger in London
> than in New York. "And here we are, tracking a
> murderer," she muttered under her breath. She, Michael
> and Hodges reached the second floor.

"So, there are a few empty flats currently, aren't there Hodges?"
Michael asked. "I suppose someone might've been lurking in one of them
for days perhaps looking for a opportunity."

"And they really think it was strangulation? No poison?" he thinks out
loud. "Last murder I saw that didn't have to do with this damn war was
poison. And if someone was disposing of the evidence it explains the
hole in the blackout cloth as much as a distraction might."