Hamish could feel all his conviction that Felicity was the murderer slipping away.

And that conviction received a further blow when he returned to the police station. Jimmy Anderson phoned.

"You're in deep shit, laddie," he said. "We got a search warrant and searched Felicity Pearson's flat. Nothing in the way of hairpins. Not one. Then Callum Bissett comes down like a ton of bricks on Daviot and says that this is police harassment and demands an apology. Daviot chews up Carson. Carson says he should never have listened to you and you're to get on with your regular policing and leave the murder case to the experts."

Hamish frowned at the receiver. Then he asked, "Not one hairpin?"

"Not the one."

"Wait a minute. When I interviewed her, she had her hair in a bun and there was a dark hairpin sticking out of it. You mean no hairpins at all?"

"I told you. No."

"So what did you say when you asked her what had happened to her own hairpins?"

Silence.

"Jimmy?"

"We didn't ask her," said Jimmy.

"Maybe I should drop a report to Carson suggesting it."

"Let it alone, Hamish. You've got a bee in your bonnet about that girl. We're checking out Crystal's background in Edinburgh. She philandered around a lot, usually with married men. Could have been someone from her past. Just leave it alone."

Hamish put down the phone, feeling frustrated. And yet Mary Hendry had been so sure that Felicity was innocent.

He wondered what Priscilla would make of this case, and then wished in the same moment he hadn't thought of her. Still, he had dinner with Elspeth to look forward to. He felt suddenly weary. He would go about his usual chores, walk Lugs, talk to the villagers, and let Strathbane get on with it.

On Sunday, Hamish found he was looking forward to his dinner with Elspeth even more. He could not quite figure her out and that was intriguing, and it would take his mind off his failure to impress Carson.

He took Lugs out for a good long walk first. Any time the dog sensed Hamish was going out somewhere for food and leaving him behind, he sulked like a child and looked miserable, so Hamish wanted to leave a tired and well-fed dog behind.

The weather was still dry and chilly. The oldfashioned street lamps along the waterfront cast a greenish glow, and above them in the dark sky stretched the Milky Way.

He met Angela walking home from the church. She was wearing a checked shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots. "Line dancing?" asked Hamish.

"Yes, I thought I might as well join in. It's all Mrs. Wellington's idea. She's bought herself a Stetson."

Hamish laughed. "That must be a sight worth seeing."

"It gets better. The Currie sisters have joined. To see them dancing to 'All My Exes Live in Texas' is a sight to behold. How's the case going?"

"It's not. Not for me that is. I got this fixed idea that Felicity Pearson was the culprit. Suggested they do a thorough search of her flat."

"What were they supposed to find?"

"Hairpins."

"What?"

"You see, it looks as if someone stunned Crystal when she was outside her car, combed out her hair to get bits of heather out of it, for she was wearing her hair up when she left her flat in the morning. Now, there wasn't a hairpin in that car. So I thought it was a chance that Felicity had put them in her pocket and got rid of them at home. They didn't find a single hairpin, which I think is odd, because Felicity used them herself. But the television station came down like the wrath of God on police headquarters, screaming harassment, so I'm off the case."

"But didn't they think it peculiar when they didn't find even one pin? I wore my hair up last summer and the house is still full of pins. They seem to get everywhere. What did she say when they asked her why she didn't even have any pins of her own?"

"They didn't. I wanted to put in a report suggesting they do just that but Jimmy Anderson told me to forget about it."

"Not like you to drop a case whether or not you've been told to, Hamish."

"Well, I'll leave it for a bit. I've got a nagging feeling now that I made a mistake, thinking it was her. I'll wait until the police do some more ferreting around in Crystal's background and then winkle the information out of Jimmy. I'd best be going, Angela. I've got a date."

"With Elspeth Grant?"

"Yes, how did you guess?"

"She's been seen calling at the police station. Attractive girl. Take your mind off..." Angela bit her lip. "Bye, Hamish."

He stood for a moment watching her hurrying away along the waterfront through the round pools of light cast by the lamps. "The trouble with living in a village, Lugs," said Hamish, "is that everyone knows your business. 'Member that tourist from New York? He said we were lucky up here because in the cities, you could live next door to someone and never know him. He didn't know how lucky he was."

Hamish decided as he entered the restaurant and saw Elspeth sitting there that she could not be romantically interested in him. She was wearing a washed-out black Tshirt under a droopy wool cardigan and a shapeless skirt. He had put on his one good suit, striped shirt, and silk tie, and his newly washed red hair gleamed in the candlelight.

"You look very grand," said Elspeth. "You'll need to forgive my outfit. I came straight here from the sheep sales."

"Prices bad?"

"Really rotten. But there's one mystery. Johnny Liddesdale is getting rid of all his sheep. Practically giving them away. The other crofters told him to hold on, that the government was coming up with subsidies, but he said he was going into the carpentry business full-time and couldn't be bothered with sheep."

"He makes good furniture. Probably found a buyer," said Hamish, and then, anxious to change the subject, he went on. "Why is it always you that's out reporting? I thought there was that reporter."

"Malcolm Dinsdale? He didn't last long. Sam sent him to a rehab in Inverness to dry out. It's only a weekly paper, so Sam and I can do all the work ourselves with the help of freelancers."

"You seem to have long hours."

"I enjoy it. It's a hobby as well as work. So how's the case going?"

"It isn't," said Hamish, and told her the latest.

"This feeling you've got about Felicity. Have you had these hunches before?"

"Sometimes. But never as strong as this."

"And are you always right?"

"Most of the time."

"And are you still sure it's her?"

"Frankly, no. I'll bide my time for a bit and see if something comes up."

She looked steadily at him. "Like another murder?"

Hamish gazed at her, startled. He opened his mouth to speak, but Willie Lamont bustled up with menus and stood over them until they had made their choice.

When he had gone, Hamish said, "You're making me feel uneasy. Why did you say another murder?"

"Just a feeling. I sometimes think that for every one who commits a murder, there's at least one person who knows something about it, and that person could be in danger."

"Your psychic powers tell you?"

"My common sense tells me."

"Don't you get lonely up here?"

"Away from the bright lights of Inverness? No, I'm too busy to be lonely."

"What about boyfriends?"

"None...yet."

"Don't tell me you never had any!"

"A few, in the Inverness days. I was even engaged to be married."

"So what happened?"

"We went away on holiday together and he got on my nerves. He was keen on diets. We were in Italy, in Tuscany, and the food was marvellous, but each restaurant meal was a nightmare. I had to wait while he combed through the menu for what he considered nontoxic food. It was when he started ordering the same lousy food for both of us without consulting me that I told him it was off."

"Women!" said Hamish bitterly.

She looked at him in surprise. "You mean I should have married someone like that?"

Hamish blushed and fiddled with his fork. "Well, no, not exactly."

"You should not inflict your own bad experience of women on me, Hamish Macbeth."

Fortunately for Hamish, at that moment their food arrived.

"So what's in my stars tomorrow?" asked Hamish.

"I forget," said Elspeth.

"Now why do I get the feeling you haven't forgotten at all?"

"I don't write Libra horoscopes just for you."

"We'll see," said Hamish. "What's your star sign?"

"Gemini."

"Is Angus upset at not getting the job?"

"Yes, he came to the office and told Sam I was a charlatan."

"He can be nasty."

"So I gather. To get back to the murder and forgetting Felicity for the moment, you must be wishing it turns out to be someone in Strathbane."

"Why?" asked Hamish.

"You wouldn't want it to be someone in the village. Who else could have done it?"

"This is all off the record," said Hamish sharply. "I don't want to see everything I've said to you published in the Highland Times."

"I promise it's all off the record." Elspeth smiled at him. "It's a weekly paper, Hamish, not a big national. By the time I got it in the paper a week on Monday, all sort of other things could have happened. Someone could have been arrested. So who else do you think could have done it?"

"It would be easier for me to make guesses if I'd spent more time at the television station. She'd been having affairs with a couple of bosses, but somehow I can't think it's one of them. They both look like serial philanderers."

"But what about the wives?" asked Elspeth. "Maybe one of them philandered just that once too often and one of the wives cracked."

"What I'm really worried about is that it might turn out to be the sort of person who won't get found out."

"And what sort of person is that?"

"Oh, just someone who works in the canteen or one of the cleaners, some psycho she snarled at who suddenly decided in a fit of madness to get rid of her."

"You know what I think?" said Elspeth. "I think you've all been forgetting that behind-the-lace-curtains programme."

"No, I got the list from the other researcher, Amy Cornwall, and checked them all out."

"I can't think a bully like Crystal would use just the one researcher and leave the other in peace."

"She didn't. She had Amy working on the one programme and Felicity on the other."

"But the police programme was a lastminute decision," said Elspeth eagerly. "What if Felicity had a list as well?"

Hamish sat back in his chair and looked at her in surprise. "You may have something there," he said slowly. "Och, if I suggest anything to do with Felicity again, they'll tell me to get lost."

"You forget, there's me!" said Elspeth triumphantly. "I'll ask her. And I'll be sympathetic about the police searching her flat and I can ask her about the missing hairpins."

"You could do that," said Hamish cautiously. "But remember, it could be dangerous."

After the meal, Hamish walked her to her flat. She turned in the doorway and smiled up at him. "Thank you for a lovely evening, Hamish."

Her eyes glowed like starlight. He suddenly wanted to kiss her but stopped himself in time. He was fed up making mistakes where women were concerned.

The following morning, he opened his copy of the Highland Times and turned to the horoscope. Libra. He read: You are a shrewd and clever man when it comes to business, but you fail in romance because you never see what is under your nose. This will be a quiet week for you, but you will have a headache on Saturday due to an overindulgence of whisky the night before.

He looked at Gemini and read: You are chasing after a man who is on the rebound. It's a waste of time. It is probably no use telling you this, because Geminis are impetuous and will not listen to reason in matters of the heart. This will be a busy week. Do not kill your sheep or sell them cheap. Government subsidies will soon be coming if you can hang on.