Page 77 - Effable Encounters

The Formic Solution

She opened her purse again and fished out three envelopes, the
sort with glassine windows revealing the addressee. Gill took them
from her and looked at their contents.
“Under the circumstances, I felt I should open them,” she said, a
note of anxiety raising the pitch of her voice. “They both had that
‘urgent’ message on the front of the envelope, and I know she always
paid her credit card bills on time.”
“Yes, I see. This date, May 23: is that when she left the cruise in
Nassau?” Miss van Ehrbagge nodded. “Then these charges which ran
her up to her credit limit on both cards took place immediately after
she landed there. Air tickets and cash advances. Ticket destinations
can be changed, cash is totally untraceable. And this bank statement:
I assume the withdrawal down to one dollar occurred immediately
prior to her departure?”
She nodded again.
Gill sighed. “Then it looks to me like she wanted to run away from
everything and everybody.”
“I know. That’s what I’m afraid the police would say if I bothered
them again. But Mag wouldn’t do something crazy like that. Never!
It’s not in her character.”
“You must realize that tracing her now would not be easy.” Gill
struggled with sympathy, lapsed into condescension. His client was
too distraught to notice.
“No, I don’t. That’s your business. If you can help me, Mr. Gill, I
will gladly pay your fee. Can you?”
“Of course, Miss van Ehrbagge. I merely meant to convey the
difficulty of the task. Oh, Miss Teeter: would you come in here,
please?”
Ann took the single step necessary to satisfy his request, pursing
her lips and blinking intelligently. Gill did not or would not notice the
impertinence.
“Miss Teeter will take some notes. We need to know where your
cousin went and who she saw after your last meeting. Can you
reconstruct that for us?”
Minnie van Ehrbagge squinted into her memory.
“Yes, yes, I can. She left only four days later. Of course, she could
have gone anywhere before boarding that ship, so I can only tell you
where she was scheduled to go. I saw her Tuesday for lunch. She was

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