Sixteen

INSPECTOR CRADDOCK RETURNS

Inspector Craddock had had a bad night on his night journey home. Hisdreams had been less dreams than nightmares. Again and again he wasracing through the grey corridors of an old-world castle in a desperate at-tempt to get somewhere, or to prevent something, in time. Finally hedreamt that he awoke. An enormous relief surged over him. Then thedoor of his compartment slid slowly open, and Letitia Blacklock looked inat him with blood running down her face, and said reproachfully: “Whydidn’t you save me? You could have if you’d tried.”

This time he really awoke.

Altogether, the Inspector was thankful finally to reach Milchester. Hewent straight away to make his report to Rydesdale who listened care-fully.

“It doesn’t take us much further,” he said. “But it confirms what MissBlacklock told you. Pip and Emma—h’m, I wonder.”

“Patrick and Julia Simmons are the right age, sir. If we could establishthat Miss Blacklock hadn’t seen them since they were children—”

With a very faint chuckle, Rydesdale said: “Our ally, Miss Marple, has es-tablished that for us. Actually Miss Blacklock had never seen either ofthem at all until two months ago.”

“Then, surely, sir—”

“It’s not so easy as all that, Craddock. We’ve been checking up. On whatwe’ve got, Patrick and Julia seem definitely to be out of it. His Naval re-cord is genuine—quite a good record bar a tendency to ‘insubordination.’

We’ve checked with Cannes, and an indignant Mrs. Simmons says ofcourse her son and daughter are at Chipping Cleghorn with her cousinLetitia Blacklock. So that’s that!”

“And Mrs. Simmons is Mrs. Simmons?”

“She’s been Mrs. Simmons for a very long time, that’s all I can say,” saidRydesdale dryly.

“That seems clear enough. Only—those two fitted. Right age. Not knownto Miss Blacklock, personally. If we wanted Pip and Emma—well, therethey were.”

The Chief Constable nodded thoughtfully, then he pushed across a paperto Craddock.

“Here’s a little something we’ve dug up on Mrs. Easterbrook.”

The Inspector read with lifted eyebrows.

“Very interesting,” he remarked. “Hoodwinked that old ass pretty well,hasn’t she? It doesn’t tie in with this business though, as far as I can see.”

“Apparently not.”

“And here’s an item that concerns Mrs. Haymes.”

Again Craddock’s eyebrows rose.

“I think I’ll have another talk with the lady,” he said.

“You think this information might be relevant?”

“I think it might be. It would be a long shot, of course….”

The two men were silent for a moment or two.

“How has Fletcher got on, sir?”

“Fletcher has been exceedingly active. He’s made a routine search of thehouse by agreement with Miss Blacklock—but he didn’t find anything sig-nificant. Then he’s been checking up on who could have had the opportun-ity of oiling that door. Checking who was up at the house on the days thatthat foreign girl was out. A little more complicated than we thought, be-cause it appears she goes for a walk most afternoons. Usually down to thevillage where she has a cup of coffee at the Bluebird. So that when MissBlacklock and Miss Bunner are out—which is most afternoons—they goblackberrying—the coast is clear.”

“And the doors are always left unlocked?”

“They used to be. I don’t suppose they are now.”

“What are Fletcher’s results? Who’s known to have been in the housewhen it was left empty?”

“Practically the whole lot of them.”

Rydesdale consulted a page in front of him.

“Miss Murgatroyd was there with a hen to sit on some eggs. (Soundscomplicated but that’s what she says.) Very flustered about it all and con-tradicts herself, but Fletcher thinks that’s temperamental and not a sign ofguilt.”

“Might be,” Craddock admitted. “She flaps.”

“Then Mrs. Swettenham came up to fetch some horse meat that MissBlacklock had left for her on the kitchen table because Miss Blacklock hadbeen in to Milchester in the car that day and always gets Mrs. Swetten-ham’s horse meat for her. That make sense to you?”

Craddock considered.

“Why didn’t Miss Blacklock leave the horse meat when she passed Mrs.

Swettenham’s house on her way back from Milchester?”

“I don’t know, but she didn’t. Mrs. Swettenham says she (Miss B.) alwaysleaves it on the kitchen table, and she (Mrs. S.) likes to fetch it when Mitziisn’t there because Mitzi is sometimes so rude.”

“Hangs together quite well. And the next?”

“Miss Hinchcliffe. Says she wasn’t there at all lately. But she was. Be-cause Mitzi saw her coming out of the side door one day and so did a Mrs.

Butt (she’s one of the locals). Miss H. then admitted she might have beenthere but had forgotten. Can’t remember what she went for. Says sheprobably just dropped in.”

“That’s rather odd.”

“So was her manner, apparently. Then there’s Mrs. Easterbrook. Shewas exercising the dear dogs out that way and she just popped in to see ifMiss Blacklock would lend her a knitting pattern but Miss Blacklockwasn’t in. She says she waited a little.”

“Just so. Might be snooping round. Or might be oiling a door. And theColonel?”

“Went there one day with a book on India that Miss Blacklock had ex-pressed a desire to read.”

“Had she?”

“Her account is that she tried to get out of having to read it, but it was nouse.”

“And that’s fair enough,” sighed Craddock. “If anyone is really determ-ined to lend you a book, you never can get out of it!”

“We don’t know if Edmund Swettenham was up there. He’s extremelyvague. Said he did drop in occasionally on errands for his mother, butthinks not lately.”

“In fact, it’s all inconclusive.”

“Yes.”

Rydesdale said, with a slight grin:

“Miss Marple has also been active. Fletcher reports that she had morn-ing coffee at the Bluebird. She’s been to sherry at Boulders, and to tea atLittle Paddocks. She’s admired Mrs. Swettenham’s garden—and droppedin to see Colonel Easterbrook’s Indian curios.”

“She may be able to tell us if Colonel Easterbrook’s a pukka Colonel ornot.”

“She’d know, I agree—he seems all right. We’d have to check with theFar Eastern Authorities to get certain identification.”

“And in the meantime”—Craddock broke off—“do you think Miss Black-lock would consent to go away?”

“Go away from Chipping Cleghorn?”

“Yes. Take the faithful Bunner with her, perhaps, and leave for an un-known destination. Why shouldn’t she go up to Scotland and stay withBelle Goedler? It’s a pretty unget-at-able place.”

“Stop there and wait for her to die? I don’t think she’d do that. I don’tthink any nice-natured woman would like that suggestion.”

“If it’s a matter of saving her life—”

“Come now, Craddock, it isn’t quite so easy to bump someone off as youseem to think.”

“Isn’t it, sir?”

“Well—in one way—it’s easy enough I agree. Plenty of methods. Weed-killer. A bash on the head when she’s out shutting up the poultry, a potshot from behind a hedge. All quite simple. But to bump someone off andnot be suspected of bumping them off—that’s not quite so easy. And theymust realize by now that they’re all under observation. The original care-fully planned scheme failed. Our unknown murderer has got to think upsomething else.”

“I know that, sir. But there’s the time element to consider. Mrs.

Goedler’s a dying woman—she might pop off any minute. That means thatour murderer can’t afford to wait.”

“True.”

“And another thing, sir. He—or she—must know that we’re checking upon everybody.”

“And that takes time,” said Rydesdale with a sigh. “It means checkingwith the East, with India. Yes, it’s a long tedious business.”

“So that’s another reason for—hurry. I’m sure, sir, that the danger isvery real. It’s a very large sum that’s at stake. If Belle Goedler dies—”

He broke off as a constable entered.

“Constable Legg on the line from Chipping Cleghorn, sir.”

“Put him through here.”

Inspector Craddock, watching the Chief Constable, saw his featuresharden and stiffen.

“Very good,” barked Rydesdale. “Detective-Inspector Craddock will becoming out immediately.”

He put the receiver down.

“Is it—?” Craddock broke off.

Rydesdale shook his head.

“No,” he said. “It’s Dora Bunner. She wanted some aspirin. Apparentlyshe took some from a bottle beside Letitia Blacklock’s bed. There wereonly a few tablets left in the bottle. She took two and left one. The doctor’sgot that one and is sending it to be analysed. He says it’s definitely not as-pirin.”

“She’s dead?”

“Yes, found dead in her bed this morning. Died in her sleep, doctor says.

He doesn’t think it was natural though her health was in a bad state. Nar-cotic poisoning, that’s his guess. Autopsy’s fixed for tonight.”

“Aspirin tablets by Letitia Blacklock’s bed. The clever clever devil.

Patrick told me Miss Blacklock threw away a half bottle of sherry—openeda new one. I don’t suppose she’d have thought of doing that with an openbottle of aspirin. Who had been in the house this time—within the last dayor two? The tablets can’t have been there long.”

Rydesdale looked at him.

“All our lot were there yesterday,” he said. “Birthday party for MissBunner. Any of them could have nipped upstairs and done a neat littlesubstitution. Or of course anyone living in the house could have done itany time.”