the small statuette of Ganesh. “For a churchgoing woman, she hadn’t left her true beliefs far behind, had she?”
“I think she knew it was important to her employers, to learn the Bible stories, and she was a sharp, intelligent woman, good enough to teach Sunday school. But she was not going to leave her culture far behind.” Maisie looked around the room. “I don’t see anything new here. My guess is that both Usha and Maya knew the Paiges would come into their rooms on occasion, so they wouldn’t leave anything out that was important. I know Usha concealed things.” She turned to Sandra. “Usha saved a fair amount of money that she hid in this room—I discovered it, almost by accident. I don’t know exactly how she earned that money, but I suspect she had a talent—skill, gift, call it what you like—for easing pain, by touch and by blending various herbs and spices. I remember Dr. Elsbeth Masters—you remember her, she was the one who treated Doreen; I worked with her once, years ago—well, she was brought up in Africa, and she once told me that as a child she had seen the local native women use simple herbs picked from among the grasses to cure something as dreadful as cancer. Dr. Masters is a fine physician, but she said she knew that much valuable, timeless knowledge is being lost from so many places around the world where missionaries—and doctors—have settled. I think Usha was probably doing something that came quite naturally to her, but she also had something else, and that was the willingness to touch someone who was sick.” Maisie looked out of the window, partly to prevent Sandra from seeing the tears that had welled up in her eyes. “I remember, when I was a nurse, a man—he had been terribly wounded in the war—saying to me that people don’t touch you when you’re mutilated, when you’re sick, even those who love you most. Perhaps that was Usha’s gift, that she had no fear of touching people, no sense of propriety even in her own country. Remember . . .” She turned to Sandra. “Remember her brother saying how much it distressed his family, that she would touch people, would be too forthcoming, simply in greeting.”
Sandra nodded. “What a maze this is, Miss Dobbs. A real web to unravel.”
They both searched Usha Pramal’s room, and Maisie ran her hands across the mattress again, just in case. She had a sense that almost all the clues she would find in this case were already in her possession, and alone they might not be enough. But she was about to be given a name, and knew already that it would be Jesmond Martin.
After they had descended the staircase and had been given the slip of paper confirming the name she had known would come up once again, she asked one more question of Mrs. Paige.
“I know that any monies belonging to Miss Pramal will go to her brother, however, you must also have savings put by for Miss Patel, too. What will you do with them, as no next of kin has been identified?”
“We’ll give it to the Reverend Griffith, of course. The church always needs money, and those women have much to thank the Lord for, so the money goes to the Lord.”
Maisie nodded. “Well, thank you, Mrs. Paige. Thank you very much.” As she stepped out across the threshold, Maisie turned to Mrs. Paige. “Such a nice afternoon, isn’t it? Is Mr. Paige out walking, taking advantage of the weather before it turns?”
“Probably. He said he was going to see Reverend Griffith, but he likes a walk, especially along the canal. He walks there almost every day.”
“I see, well, it’s a good day for it. Thank you, Mrs. Paige.”
Maisie started the MG as Sandra settled in the passenger seat. Before setting off, they both looked at the house belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Paige: a place of refuge for women who were so far from home.
“What do you think, Sandra?”
“Well, I’m only a beginner at this, but I would say she didn’t have anything to do with the deaths of those women, but I don’t think her motives for having them there have been completely altruistic—is that the right word?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Anyway, I don’t think they’re as much do-gooders as they look. I would say that they’ve set themselves up nicely, on the work of those women. They’ve given them