The waterside location they had identified as Lamb covered three old names.
A lane, a drainage channel and the Lamb and Flag.
The pub had closed in 1973. It had become a house, then been demolished when the road was widened. The lane survived as a farm track. Much of the channel was silted.
Relf spread the old map across his desk.
"All in the same area," Eleanor said.
"Yes."
"But which one did the sender mean?"
"We need to check the whole site."
She traced the channel towards the sea without touching the paper.
"Did Hale give you anything more about it?"
"No. We haven't found him."
Eleanor set the decoded message beside the map.
SUN 2340 / 8 / LAMB
"Why eleven forty?"
Relf looked at the time.
"A boat?"
"The old routes depended on tides."
"I've asked about the channel. Tide, access, weather."
"And how much light there'll be?"
"That too."
She sat back.
His telephone rang. Relf listened, made notes and asked two questions about the channel entrance.
When he ended the call, he turned the notebook towards her.
"High water is later."
"So eleven forty isn't chosen for that."
"Not necessarily. They might be leaving then, or meeting before a boat arrives. We need to know what depth the channel has at that time."
Eleanor studied the message.
"We're treating it as though it's an ordinary movement."
"It may be."
"But it was sent to us."
Relf waited.
"Someone wanted us to decode it. They gave us the place and time, then told us to bring the doctor."
"Yes."
"It could be a meeting. It could also be a trap."
"That's why I'm not taking you there on the strength of a postcard."
She looked up.
"You'd go without me?"
"I'd establish what we're walking into first."
"Whoever sent it may expect me."
"They've made that clear. They haven't told us why."
Eleanor took out the postcard again.
"Bull was a doctor too."
"An academic."
"Perhaps the phrase means something else."
"It might. But your involvement has been in the papers."
She looked at him.
"When?"
Relf took a newspaper from the file.
HOLIDAY PATHOLOGIST HELPS SOLVE BELFRY DEATH
Beneath the headline was her photograph.
Eleanor recognised it from the hospital website. She read the article, then put the paper down.
"They make it sound finished."
"I noticed."
"How long has this been out?"
Relf showed her the publication date.
"So the sender could have found my name and profession without knowing me."
"Yes."
"And Hatherley knew before this appeared."
"He did. We still need to establish how."
She looked at the photograph again.
"At least the postcard doesn't imply another connection to my family."
"No."
Hatherley had invented that connection to make her withdraw. It had worked well enough to occupy her thoughts for days.
She folded the newspaper and returned to the map.
"Then we start with what they actually sent. A place, a time, a number and a request for me."
Relf nodded.
"And check each one."
Eleanor wrote why the doctor? beneath the message.
This time she left the answer blank.