It was just after two o’clock that I walked into the station and asked for Dick. I found him at hisdesk leafing over a pile of stuff. He looked up and asked me what I had thought of the inquest.
I told him I thought it had been a very nicely managed and gentlemanly performance.
“We do this sort of thing so well in this country.”
“What did you think of the medical evidence?”
“Rather a facer. Why didn’t you tell me about it?”
“You were away. Did you consult your specialist?”
“Yes, I did.”
“I believe I remember him vaguely1. A lot of moustache.”
“Oceans of it,” I agreed. “He’s very proud of that moustache.”
“He must be quite old.”
“Old but not gaga,” I said.
“Why did you really go to see him? Was it purely2 the milk of human kindness?”
“You have such a suspicious policeman’s mind, Dick! It was mainly that. But I admit tocuriosity, too. I wanted to hear what he had to say about our own particular setup. You see, he’salways talked what I call a lot of cock about its being easy to solve a case by just sitting in yourchair, bringing the tips of your fingers symmetrically together, closing your eyes and thinking. Iwanted to call his bluff3.”
“Did he go through that procedure for you?”
“He did.”
“And what did he say?” Dick asked with some curiosity.
“He said,” I told him, “that it must be a very simple murder.”
“Simple, my God!” said Hardcastle, roused. “Why simple?”
“As far as I could gather,” I said, “because the whole setup was so complex.”
Hardcastle shook his head. “I don’t see it,” he said. “It sounds like one of those clever thingsthat young people in Chelsea say, but I don’t see it. Anything else?”
“Well, he told me to talk to the neighbours. I assured him we had done so.”
“The neighbours are even more important now in view of the medical evidence.”
“The presumption4 being that he was doped somewhere else and brought to Number 19 to bekilled?”
Something familiar about the words struck me.
“That’s more or less what Mrs. What’s-her-name, the cat woman, said. It struck me at the timeas a rather interesting remark.”
“Those cats,” said Dick, and shuddered5. He went on: “We’ve found the weapon, by the way.
Yesterday.”
“You have? Where?”
“In the cattery. Presumably thrown there by the murderer after the crime.”
“No fingerprints6, I suppose?”
“Carefully wiped. And it could be anybody’s knife—slightly used—recently sharpened.”
“So it goes like this. He was doped—then brought to Number 19—in a car? Or how?”
“He could have been brought from one of the houses with an adjoining garden.”
“Bit risky7, wouldn’t it have been?”
“It would need audacity,” Hardcastle agreed, “and it would need a very good knowledge of theneighbourhood’s habits. It’s more likely that he would have been brought in a car.”
“That would have been risky too. People notice a car.”
“Nobody did. But I agree that the murderer couldn’t know that they wouldn’t. Passersby8 wouldhave noted9 a car stopping at Number 19 that day—”
“I wonder if they would notice,” I said. “Everyone’s so used to cars. Unless, of course, it hadbeen a very lush car—something unusual, but that’s not likely—”
“And of course it was the lunch hour. You realize, Colin, that this brings Miss MillicentPebmarsh back into the picture? It seems farfetched to think of an able-bodied man being stabbedby a blind woman—but if he was doped—”
“In other words ‘if he came there to be killed,’ as our Mrs. Hemming10 put it, he arrived byappointment quite unsuspiciously, was offered a sherry or a cocktail—the Mickey Finn took effectand Miss Pebmarsh got to work. Then she washed up the Mickey Finn glass, arranged the bodyneatly on the floor, threw the knife into her neighbour’s garden, and tripped out as usual.”
“Telephoning to the Cavendish Secretarial Bureau on the way—”
“And why should she do that? And ask particularly for Sheila Webb?”
“I wish we knew.” Hardcastle looked at me. “Does she know? The girl herself?”
“She says not.”
“She says not,” Hardcastle repeated tonelessly. “I’m asking you what you think about it?”
I didn’t speak for a moment or two. What did I think? I had to decide right now on my course ofaction. The truth would come out in the end. It would do Sheila no harm if she were what Ibelieved her to be.
With a brusque movement I pulled a postcard out of my pocket and shoved it across the table.
“Sheila got this through the post.”
Hardcastle scanned it. It was one of a series of postcards of London buildings. It represented theCentral Criminal Court. Hardcastle turned it over. On the right was the address—in neat printing.
Miss R. S. Webb, 14, Palmerston Road, Crowdean, Sussex. On the left-hand side, also printed,was the word REMEMBER! and below it 4:13.
“4:13,” said Hardcastle. “That was the time the clocks showed that day.” He shook his head. “Apicture of the Old Bailey, the word ‘Remember’ and a time—4:13. It must tie up with something.”
“She says she doesn’t know what it means.” I added: “I believe her.”
Hardcastle nodded.
“I’m keeping this. We may get something from it.”
“I hope you do.”
There was embarrassment11 between us. To relieve it, I said:
“You’ve got a lot of bumf there.”
“All the usual. And most of it no damned good. The dead man hadn’t got a criminal record, hisfingerprints aren’t on file. Practically all this stuff is from people who claim to have recognizedhim.” He read:
“‘Dear Sir, the picture that was in the paper I’m almost sure is the same as aman who was catching12 a train at Willesden Junction13 the other day. He wasmuttering to himself and looking very wild and excited, I thought when I saw himthere must be something wrong.’
“‘Dear Sir, I think this man looks very like my husband’s cousin John. He wentabroad to South Africa but it may be that he’s come back. He had a moustachewhen he went away but of course he could have shaved that off.’
“‘Dear Sir, I saw the man in the paper in a tube train last night. I thought atthe time there was something peculiar14 about him.’
“And of course there are all the women who recognize husbands. Women don’t really seem toknow what their husbands look like! There are hopeful mothers who recognize sons they have notseen for twenty years.
“And here’s the list of missing persons. Nothing here likely to help us. ‘George Barlow, 65,missing from home. His wife thinks he must have lost his memory.’ And a note below: ‘Owes alot of money. Has been seen going about with a red-haired widow. Almost certain to have done abunk.’
“Next one: ‘Professor Hargraves, expected to deliver a lecture last Tuesday. Did not turn up andsent no wire or note of excuse.’”
Hardcastle did not appear to consider Professor Hargraves seriously.
“Thought the lecture was the week before or the week after,” he said. “Probably thought he hadtold his housekeeper15 where he was going but hasn’t done so. We get a lot of that.”
The buzzer16 on Hardcastle’s table sounded. He picked up the receiver.
“Yes? … What? … Who found her? Did she give her name? … I see. Carry on.” He put downthe receiver again. His face as he turned to me was a changed face. It was stern, almost vindictive17.
“They’ve found a girl dead in a telephone box on Wilbraham Crescent,” he said.
“Dead?” I stared at him. “How?”
“Strangled. With her own scarf!”
I felt suddenly cold.
“What girl? It’s not—”
Hardcastle looked at me with a cold, appraising18 glance that I didn’t like.
“It’s not your girlfriend,” he said, “if that’s what you’re afraid of. The constable19 there seems toknow who she is. He says she’s a girl who works in the same office as Sheila Webb. Edna Brenther name is.”
“Who found her? The constable?”
“She was found by Miss Waterhouse, the woman from Number 18. It seems she went to the boxto make a telephone call as her phone was out of order and found the girl there huddled20 down in aheap.”
The door opened and a police constable said:
“Doctor Rigg telephoned that he’s on his way, sir. He’ll meet you at Wilbraham Crescent.”
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1
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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2
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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3
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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5
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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6
fingerprints
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| n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 ) | |
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7
risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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8
passersby
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| n. 过路人(行人,经过者) | |
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9
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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10
hemming
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| 卷边 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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12
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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13
junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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14
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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15
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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16
buzzer
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| n.蜂鸣器；汽笛 | |
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17
vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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18
appraising
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| v.估价( appraise的现在分词 )；估计；估量；评价 | |
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19
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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20
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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