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.The odd thing was she had sensed a similar unease in Vanity's attitude.It was as though some sinister unidentified menace was hanging over them.Vanity came back after quite an absence.She picked up her shoulder bag off her chair.'Sorry, Paula.I've had a call to return to Black Ridge at once.I suppose His Lordship has another mountain of work he wants me to attend to yesterday.Please do excuse me.'When she had gone Paula got up from the breakfast table.If Vanity had gone to the powder room, why hadn't she taken her shoulder bag?She was crossing the lobby when Grenville appeared from nowhere.He took her by the arm, was at his most charming.'You go with the morning and the weather.Bright and beautiful.'"Thank you.' She noticed he had pouches of fatigue under his eyes, but he still carried himself erect and had his normal air of self-confidence and bounce.'What are you doing today?' she asked.'Trying to find Maurice.He's disappeared.Blighter owes me a large sum of money.Shouldn't have granted him the loan - he'll just spend it on drink.Awful thing to say about a fellow countryman, but you must have noticed.Everyone else has.''He struck me as being very sober when I met him once in Cornwall.'She was watching Grenville as she spoke.He looked thoughtful.Then he guided her to a couch.Settling himself, he glanced at her.'Funny rumour going round about Tweed.Heard it at breakfast.Chap told me Tweed was going to the flat where that Standish woman was murdered.Thinks he can find some evidence the police overlooked, I suppose.''Who told you that?' Paula asked quickly.'Don't know the chap from Adam.An Englishman.Not one of my people at the club I run.''When is he going there?' Paula demanded.'Hold on, old girl.You sound like The Thatcher in one of her wilder moods.The answer is I've no idea.Whole thing sounded barmy to me.Then another chap, Dawlish, who attends Anglo-Pacific do's, told me the same thing.Place seems abuzz with the rumour.Off already?''I've just remembered a phone call I've got to make.A friend c'Almost in a panic, which she forced herself to quell, Paula hurried to Tweed's room.She pressed the bell repeatedly, got no response.Running along the corridor, she pushed open a heavy door leading to the lawn and the terraces outside rooms.No one was about as she continued running to the outside of Tweed's room.She stopped on his patio, peered inside the living room.No sign of Tweed.She hammered on the window with her clenched fist.Maybe he was taking a bath.Pressing her face against the glass, she saw the door leading into the bathroom from the entrance to the living room was open.He would never have left it open if he was taking a bath or a shower.She ran back to her own room.She had left the windows open to let in fresh air.Slipping inside, she tore into the bedroom, went down on her hands and knees, tore free the pouch containing spare ammo she had Sellotaped to the underside of the bed.She went out the direct way, through her bathroom, then stopped.The large circular mirror about five inches in diameter, which she used occasionally when applying make-up for a special occasion, was gone.It was the type which folded down into a compact disc.What the hell was going on?Then she remembered she'd noticed the window she'd left open was closed more than she had left it.Someone had come into the room from the outside.To pinch a make-up mirror? She knew something strange was happening but couldn't work out what it was.Restless, she left her apartment, hurried out of the hotel in search of Newman.She reached the lobby doors leading to the outside world just in time to see Grenville pulling away in his car.In the distance she saw Vanity's car disappearing round a bend, exceeding the speed limit inside the hotel's grounds.Where was everyone going?Moving swiftly, she walked along the arcade of shops leading to the car park where Newman left the Merc.Butler was sitting behind the wheel.He got out, gave a rare smile.'You're off too, then?''Who else has left?''Well, Vanity just took off like a rocket.Then Grenville drove after her, at a more sedate pace.''I know that.I saw them going.Where is Newman?''Taking a shower.He told me to stay here to watch over the car.Apparently Tweed told him last night nothing was happening this morning, so he could sleep in.He told Marler the same thing.All quiet on the Western Front.''Is it? Has anyone else left? Where is the BMW?''Oh, Tweed took that.I offered to go with him as back-up but he said he was only going to interview someone in Carmel, that it would be better if he was on his own.''When did he leave?''Must be half an hour ago.Funny thing was he took one of my Walthers with him.Said maybe that would make me feel better about not going with him.''Oh, my God!'I'm going to set a trap for The Accountant.By providing bait which will be irresistible.With horror she recalled Tweed's words the previous evening.Then she realized the significance of the rumours Grenville had told her about.Tweed had spread them.He had probably phoned Black Ridge anonymously, giving someone the same rumour.It would be all over Black Ridge - large company staffs were always gossip shops.It hit her like a blow in the stomach.Tweed himself was setting himself up as the bait inside the Standish apartment
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