IS uperintendent Harper stood looking at the charred1 and twisted heap of metal. A burnt-up car was always a revoltingobject, even without the additional gruesome burden of a charred and blackened corpse2.
Venn’s Quarry3 was a remote spot, far from any human habitation. Though actually only two miles as the crow fliesfrom Danemouth, the approach to it was by one of those narrow, twisted, rutted roads, little more than a cart track,which led nowhere except to the quarry itself. It was a long time now since the quarry had been worked, and the onlypeople who came along the lane were the casual visitors in search of blackberries. As a spot to dispose of a car it wasideal. The car need not have been found for weeks but for the accident of the glow in the sky having been seen byAlbert Biggs, a labourer, on his way to work.
Albert Biggs was still on the scene, though all he had to tell had been heard some time ago, but he continued torepeat the thrilling story with such embellishments as occurred to him.
“Why, dang my eyes, I said, whatever be that? Proper glow it was, up in the sky. Might be a bonfire, I says, butwho’d be having bonfire over to Venn’s Quarry? No, I says, ’tis some mighty4 big fire, to be sure. But whatever wouldit be, I says? There’s no house or farm to that direction. ’Tis over by Venn’s, I says, that’s where it is, to be sure.
Didn’t rightly know what I ought to do about it, but seeing as Constable5 Gregg comes along just then on his bicycle, Itells him about it. ’Twas all died down by then, but I tells him just where ’twere. ’Tis over that direction, I says. Bigglare in the sky, I says. Mayhap as it’s a rick, I says. One of them tramps, as likely as not, set alight of it. But I didnever think as how it might be a car—far less as someone was being burnt up alive in it. ’Tis a terrible tragedy, to besure.”
The Glenshire police had been busy. Cameras had clicked and the position of the charred body had been carefullynoted before the police surgeon had started his own investigation6.
The latter came over now to Harper, dusting black ash off his hands, his lips set grimly together.
“A pretty thorough job,” he said. “Part of one foot and shoe are about all that has escaped. Personally I myselfcouldn’t say if the body was a man’s or a woman’s at the moment, though we’ll get some indication from the bones, Iexpect. But the shoe is one of the black strapped7 affairs—the kind schoolgirls wear.”
“There’s a schoolgirl missing from the next county,” said Harper; “quite close to here. Girl of sixteen or so.”
“Then it’s probably her,” said the doctor. “Poor kid.”
Harper said uneasily: “She wasn’t alive when—?”
“No, no, I don’t think so. No signs of her having tried to get out. Body was just slumped8 down on the seat—withthe foot sticking out. She was dead when she was put there, I should say. Then the car was set fire to in order to tryand get rid of the evidence.”
He paused, and asked:
“Want me any longer?”
“I don’t think so, thank you.”
“Right. I’ll be off.”
He strode away to his car. Harper went over to where one of his sergeants9, a man who specialized10 in car cases, wasbusy.
The latter looked up.
“Quite a clear case, sir. Petrol poured over the car and the whole thing deliberately11 set light to. There are threeempty cans in the hedge over there.”
A little farther away another man was carefully arranging small objects picked out of the wreckage12. There was ascorched black leather shoe and with it some scraps14 of scorched13 and blackened material. As Harper approached, hissubordinate looked up and exclaimed:
“Look at this, sir. This seems to clinch15 it.”
Harper took the small object in his hand. He said:
“Button from a Girl Guide’s uniform?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Yes,” said Harper, “that does seem to settle it.”
A decent, kindly16 man, he felt slightly sick. First Ruby17 Keene and now this child, Pamela Reeves.
He said to himself, as he had said before:
“What’s come to Glenshire?”
His next move was first to ring up his own Chief Constable, and afterwards to get in touch with Colonel Melchett.
The disappearance18 of Pamela Reeves had taken place in Radfordshire though her body had been found in Glenshire.
The next task set him was not a pleasant one. He had to break the news to Pamela Reeves’s father and mother….
II
Superintendent19 Harper looked up consideringly at the fa?ade of Braeside as he rang the front door bell.
Neat little villa20, nice garden of about an acre and a half. The sort of place that had been built fairly freely all overthe countryside in the last twenty years. Retired21 Army men, retired Civil Servants—that type. Nice decent folk; theworst you could say of them was that they might be a bit dull. Spent as much money as they could afford on theirchildren’s education. Not the kind of people you associated with tragedy. And now tragedy had come to them. Hesighed.
He was shown at once into a lounge where a stiff man with a grey moustache and a woman whose eyes were redwith weeping both sprang up. Mrs. Reeves cried out eagerly:
“You have some news of Pamela?”
Then she shrank back, as though the Superintendent’s commiserating22 glance had been a blow.
Harper said:
“I’m afraid you must prepare yourself for bad news.”
“Pamela—” faltered23 the woman.
Major Reeves said sharply:
“Something’s happened—to the child?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you mean she’s dead?”
Mrs. Reeves burst out:
“Oh no, no,” and broke into a storm of weeping. Major Reeves put his arm round his wife and drew her to him. Hislips trembled but he looked inquiringly at Harper, who bent24 his head.
“An accident?”
“Not exactly, Major Reeves. She was found in a burnt-out car which had been abandoned in a quarry.”
“In a car? In a quarry?”
His astonishment25 was evident.
Mrs. Reeves broke down altogether and sank down on the sofa, sobbing26 violently.
Superintendent Harper said:
“If you’d like me to wait a few minutes?”
Major Reeves said sharply:
“What does this mean? Foul27 play?”
“That’s what it looks like, sir. That’s why I’d like to ask you some questions if it isn’t too trying for you.”
“No, no, you’re quite right. No time must be lost if what you suggest is true. But I can’t believe it. Who wouldwant to harm a child like Pamela?”
Harper said stolidly28:
“You’ve already reported to your local police the circumstances of your daughter’s disappearance. She left here toattend a Guides rally and you expected her home for supper. That is right?”
“Yes.”
“She was to return by bus?”
“Yes.”
“I understand that, according to the story of her fellow Guides, when the rally was over Pamela said she was goinginto Danemouth to Woolworth’s, and would catch a later bus home. That strikes you as quite a normal proceeding29?”
“Oh yes, Pamela was very fond of going to Woolworth’s. She often went into Danemouth to shop. The bus goesfrom the main road, only about a quarter of a mile from here.”
“And she had no other plans, so far as you know?”
“None.”
“She was not meeting anybody in Danemouth?”
“No, I’m sure she wasn’t. She would have mentioned it if so. We expected her back for supper. That’s why, whenit got so late and she hadn’t turned up, we rang up the police. It wasn’t like her not to come home.”
“Your daughter had no undesirable30 friends—that is, friends that you didn’t approve of?”
“No, there was never any trouble of that kind.”
Mrs. Reeves said tearfully:
“Pam was just a child. She was very young for her age. She liked games and all that. She wasn’t precocious31 in anyway.”
“Do you know a Mr. George Bartlett who is staying at the Majestic32 Hotel in Danemouth?”
Major Reeves stared.
“Never heard of him.”
“You don’t think your daughter knew him?”
“I’m quite sure she didn’t.”
He added sharply: “How does he come into it?”
“He’s the owner of the Minoan 14 car in which your daughter’s body was found.”
Mrs. Reeves cried: “But then he must—”
Harper said quickly:
“He reported his car missing early today. It was in the courtyard of the Majestic Hotel at lunch time yesterday.
Anybody might have taken the car.”
“But didn’t someone see who took it?”
The Superintendent shook his head.
“Dozens of cars going in and out all day. And a Minoan 14 is one of the commonest makes.”
Mrs. Reeves cried:
“But aren’t you doing something? Aren’t you trying to find the—the devil who did this? My little girl—oh, mylittle girl! She wasn’t burnt alive, was she? Oh, Pam, Pam …!”
“She didn’t suffer, Mrs. Reeves. I assure you she was already dead when the car was set alight.”
Reeves asked stiffly:
“How was she killed?”
Harper gave him a significant glance.
“We don’t know. The fire had destroyed all evidence of that kind.”
He turned to the distraught woman on the sofa.
“Believe me, Mrs. Reeves, we’re doing everything we can. It’s a matter of checking up. Sooner or later we shallfind someone who saw your daughter in Danemouth yesterday, and saw whom she was with. It all takes time, youknow. We shall have dozens, hundreds of reports coming in about a Girl Guide who was seen here, there, andeverywhere. It’s a matter of selection and of patience—but we shall find out the truth in the end, never you fear.”
Mrs. Reeves asked:
“Where—where is she? Can I go to her?”
Again Superintendent Harper caught the husband’s eye. He said:
“The medical officer is attending to all that. I’d suggest that your husband comes with me now and attends to all theformalities. In the meantime, try and recollect33 anything Pamela may have said—something, perhaps, that you didn’tpay attention to at the time but which might throw some light upon things. You know what I mean—just some chanceword or phrase. That’s the best way you can help us.”
As the two men went towards the door, Reeves said, pointing to a photograph:
“There she is.”
Harper looked at it attentively34. It was a hockey group. Reeves pointed35 out Pamela in the centre of the team.
“A nice kid,” Harper thought, as he looked at the earnest face of the pigtailed girl.
His mouth set in a grim line as he thought of the charred body in the car.
He vowed36 to himself that the murder of Pamela Reeves should not remain one of Glenshire’s unsolved mysteries.
Ruby Keene, so he admitted privately37, might have asked for what was coming to her, but Pamela Reeves was quiteanother story. A nice kid, if he ever saw one. He’d not rest until he’d hunted down the man or woman who’d killedher.
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1
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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slumped
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| 大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下] | |
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sergeants
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| 警官( sergeant的名词复数 )； （美国警察）警佐； （英国警察）巡佐； 陆军（或空军）中士 | |
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specialized
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| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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clinch
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| v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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commiserating
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| v.怜悯，同情( commiserate的现在分词 ) | |
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faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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undesirable
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| adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子 | |
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precocious
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| adj.早熟的；较早显出的 | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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