II nspector Neele found Mr. Ansell the type of solicitor1 who was more easily intimidated2 than intimidating3. A memberof a small and not very prosperous firm, he was anxious not to stand upon his rights but instead to assist the police inevery way possible.
Yes, he said, he had made a will for the late Mrs. Adele Fortescue. She had called at his office about five weekspreviously. It had seemed to him rather a peculiar4 business but naturally he had not said anything. Peculiar things didhappen in a solicitor’s business, and of course the inspector5 would understand that discretion6, etc., etc. The inspectornodded to show he understood. He had already discovered Mr. Ansell had not transacted7 any legal business previouslyfor Mrs. Fortescue or for any of the Fortescue family.
“Naturally,” said Mr. Ansell, “she didn’t want to go to her husband’s firm of lawyers about this.”
Shorn of verbiage8, the facts were simple. Adele Fortescue had made a will leaving everything of which she diedpossessed to Vivian Dubois.
“But I gathered,” said Mr. Ansell, looking at Neele in an interrogating10 manner, “that she hadn’t actually much toleave.”
Inspector Neele nodded. At the time Adele Fortescue made her will that was true enough. But since then RexFortescue had died, and Adele Fortescue had inherited ?100,000 and presumably that ?100,000 (less death duties) nowbelonged to Vivian Edward Dubois.
II
At the Golf Hotel, Inspector Neele found Vivian Dubois nervously11 awaiting his arrival. Dubois had been on the pointof leaving, indeed his bags were packed, when he had received over the telephone a civil request from Inspector Neeleto remain. Inspector Neele had been very pleasant about it, quite apologetic. But behind the conventional words therequest had been an order. Vivian Dubois had demurred12, but not too much.
He said now:
“I do hope you realize, Inspector Neele, that it is very inconvenient13 for me to have to stay on. I really have urgentbusiness that needs attending to.”
“I didn’t know you were in business, Mr. Dubois,” said Inspector Neele, genially14.
“I’m afraid none of us can be as leisured as we would like to appear to be nowadays.”
“Mrs. Fortescue’s death must have been a great shock to you, Mr. Dubois. You were great friends, were you not?”
“Yes,” said Dubois, “she was a charming woman. We played golf quite often together.”
“I expect you’ll miss her very much.”
“Yes, indeed.” Dubois sighed. “The whole thing is really quite, quite terrible.”
“You actually telephoned her, I believe, on the afternoon of her death?”
“Did I? I really cannot remember now.”
“About four o’clock, I understand.”
“Yes, I believe I did.”
“Don’t you remember what your conversation was about, Mr. Dubois?”
“It wasn’t of any significance. I think I asked her how she was feeling and if there was any further news about herhusband’s death—a more or less conventional inquiry15.”
“I see,” said Inspector Neele. He added: “And then you went out for a walk?”
“Er—yes—yes, I—I did, I think. At least, not a walk, I played a few holes of golf.”
Inspector Neele said gently:
“I think not, Mr. Dubois . . . Not that particular day . . . The porter here noticed you walking down the road towardsYewtree Lodge16.”
Dubois’s eyes met his, then shied away again nervously.
“I’m afraid I can’t remember, Inspector.”
“Perhaps you actually went to call upon Mrs. Fortescue?”
Dubois said sharply:
“No. No, I didn’t do that. I never went near the house.”
“Where did you go, then?”
“Oh, I—went on down the road, down as far as the Three Pigeons and then I turned around and came back by thelinks.”
“You’re quite sure you didn’t go to Yewtree Lodge?”
“Quite sure, Inspector.”
The inspector shook his head.
“Come, now, Mr. Dubois,” he said, “it’s much better to be frank with us, you know. You may have had some quiteinnocent reason for going there.”
“I tell you I never went to see Mrs. Fortescue that day.”
The inspector stood up.
“You know, Mr. Dubois,” he said pleasantly, “I think we’ll have to ask you for a statement and you’ll be well-advised and quite within your rights in having a solicitor present when you are making that statement.”
The colour fled from Mr. Dubois’s face, leaving it a sickly greenish colour.
“You’re threatening me,” he said. “You’re threatening me.”
“No, no, nothing of the kind.” Inspector Neele spoke17 in a shocked voice. “We’re not allowed to do anything of thatsort. Quite the contrary. I’m actually pointing out to you that you have certain rights.”
“I had nothing to do with it at all, I tell you! Nothing to do with it.”
“Come now, Mr. Dubois, you were at Yewtree Lodge round about half past four on that day. Somebody looked outof the window, you know, and saw you.”
“I was only in the garden. I didn’t go into the house.”
“Didn’t you?” said Inspector Neele. “Are you sure? Didn’t you go in by the side door and up the stairs to Mrs.
Fortescue’s sitting room on the first floor? You were looking for something, weren’t you, in the desk there?”
“You’ve got them, I suppose,” said Dubois sullenly18. “That fool Adele kept them, then—she swore she burnt them—But they don’t mean what you think they mean.”
“You’re not denying, are you, Mr. Dubois, that you were a very close friend of Mrs. Fortescue’s?”
“No, of course I’m not. How can I when you’ve got the letters? All I say is, there’s no need to go reading anysinister meaning into them. Don’t think for a moment that we—that she—ever thought of getting rid of Rex Fortescue.
Good God, I’m not that kind of man!”
“But perhaps she was that kind of woman?”
“Nonsense,” cried Vivian Dubois, “wasn’t she killed too?”
“Oh yes, yes.”
“Well, isn’t it natural to believe that the same person who killed her husband killed her?”
“It might be. It certainly might be. But there are other solutions. For instance—(this is quite a hypothetical case,Mr. Dubois) it’s possible that Mrs. Fortescue got rid of her husband, and that after his death she became somewhat ofa danger to someone else. Someone who had, perhaps, not helped her in what she had done but who had at leastencouraged her and provided, shall we say, the motive19 for the deed. She might be, you know, a danger to thatparticular person.”
Dubois stammered20:
“You c-c-can’t build up a case against me. You can’t.”
“She made a will, you know,” said Inspector Neele. “She left all her money to you. Everything she possessed9.”
“I don’t want the money. I don’t want a penny of it.”
“Of course, it isn’t very much really,” said Inspector Neele. “There’s jewellery and some furs, but I imagine verylittle actual cash.”
Dubois stared at him, his jaw21 dropping.
“But I thought her husband—”
He stopped dead.
“Did you, Mr. Dubois?” said Inspector Neele, and there was steel now in his voice. “That’s very interesting. Iwondered if you knew the terms of Rex Fortescue’s will—”
III
Inspector Neele’s second interview at the Golf Hotel was with Mr. Gerald Wright. Mr. Gerald Wright was a thin,intellectual and very superior young man. He was, Inspector Neele noted22, not unlike Vivian Dubois in build.
“What can I do for you, Inspector Neele?” he asked.
“I thought you might be able to help us with a little information, Mr. Wright.”
“Information? Really? It seems very unlikely.”
“It’s in connection with the recent events at Yewtree Lodge. You’ve heard of them, of course?”
Inspector Neele put a little irony23 into the question. Mr. Wright smiled patronisingly.
“Heard of them,” he said, “is hardly the right word. The newspapers appear to be full of nothing else. Howincredibly bloodthirsty our public press is! What an age we live in! On one side the manufacture of atom bombs, onthe other our newspapers delight in reporting brutal24 murders! But you said you had some questions to ask. Really, Icannot see what they can be. I know nothing about this Yewtree Lodge affair. I was actually in the Isle25 of Man whenMr. Rex Fortescue was killed.”
“You arrived here very shortly afterwards, didn’t you, Mr. Wright? You had a telegram, I believe, from MissElaine Fortescue.”
“Our police know everything, do they not? Yes, Elaine sent for me. I came, of course, at once.”
“And you are, I understand, shortly to be married?”
“Quite right, Inspector Neele. You have no objections, I hope.”
“It is entirely26 Miss Fortescue’s business. I understand the attachment27 between you dates from sometime back? Sixor seven months ago, in fact?”
“Quite correct.”
“You and Miss Fortescue became engaged to be married. Mr. Fortescue refused to give his consent, informed youthat if his daughter married against his wishes he did not propose to give her an income of any kind. Whereupon, Iunderstand, you broke off the engagement and departed.”
Gerald Wright smiled rather pityingly.
“A very crude way of putting things, Inspector Neele. Actually, I was victimized for my political opinions. RexFortescue was the worst type of capitalist. Naturally I could not sacrifice my political beliefs and convictions formoney.”
“But you have no objections to marrying a wife who has just inherited ?50,000?”
Gerald Wright gave a thin satisfied smile.
“Not at all, Inspector Neele. The money will be used for the benefit of the community. But surely you did not comehere to discuss with me either my financial circumstances—or my political convictions?”
“No, Mr. Wright. I wanted to talk to you about a simple question of fact. As you are aware, Mrs. Adele Fortescuedied as a result of cyanide poisoning on the afternoon of November the 5th.
“Since you were in the neighbourhood of Yewtree Lodge on that afternoon I thought it possible that you mighthave seen or heard something that had a bearing on the case.”
“And what leads you to believe that I was, as you call it, in the neighbourhood of Yewtree Lodge at the time?”
“You left this hotel at a quarter past four on that particular afternoon, Mr. Wright. On leaving the hotel you walkeddown the road in the direction of Yewtree Lodge. It seems natural to suppose that you were going there.”
“I thought of it,” said Gerald Wright, “but I considered that it would be a rather pointless thing to do. I already hadan arrangement to meet Miss Fortescue—Elaine—at the hotel at six o’clock. I went for a walk along a lane thatbranches off from the main road and returned to the Golf Hotel just before six o’clock. Elaine did not keep herappointment. Quite naturally, under the circumstances.”
“Anybody see you on this walk of yours, Mr. Wright?”
“A few cars passed me, I think, on the road. I did not see anyone I knew, if that’s what you mean. The lane waslittle more than a cart-track and too muddy for cars.”
“So between the time you left the hotel at a quarter past four until six o’clock when you arrived back again, I’veonly your word for it as to where you were?”
Gerald Wright continued to smile in a superior fashion.
“Very distressing28 for us both, Inspector, but there it is.”
Inspector Neele said softly:
“Then if someone said they looked out of a landing window and saw you in the garden of Yewtree Lodge at about4:35—” he paused and left the sentence unfinished.
Gerald Wright raised his eyebrows29 and shook his head.
“Visibility must have been very bad by then,” he said. “I think it would be difficult for anyone to be sure.”
“Are you acquainted with Mr. Vivian Dubois, who is also staying here?”
“Dubois. Dubois? No, I don’t think so. Is that the tall, dark man with a pretty taste in suede30 shoes?”
“Yes. He also was out for a walk that afternoon, and he also left the hotel and walked past Yewtree Lodge. You didnot notice him in the road by any chance?”
“No. No. I can’t say I did.”
Gerald Wright looked for the first time faintly worried. Inspector Neele said thoughtfully:
“It wasn’t really a very nice afternoon for walking, especially after dark in a muddy lane. Curious how energeticeveryone seems to have felt.”
IV
On Inspector Neele’s return to the house he was greeted by Sergeant31 Hay with an air of satisfaction.
“I’ve found out about the blackbirds for you, sir,” he said.
“You have, have you?”
“Yes, sir, in a pie they were. Cold pie was left out for Sunday night’s supper. Somebody got at that pie in the larderor somewhere. They’d taken off the crust and they’d taken out the veal32 and ’am what was inside it, and what d’youthink they put in instead? Some stinkin’ blackbirds they got out of the gardener’s shed. Nasty sort of trick to play,wasn’t it?”
“ ‘Wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?’ ” said Inspector Neele.
He left Sergeant Hay staring after him.
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solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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intimidating
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| vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词) | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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transacted
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| v.办理（业务等）( transact的过去式和过去分词 )；交易，谈判 | |
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verbiage
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| n.冗词；冗长 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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interrogating
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| n.询问技术v.询问( interrogate的现在分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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stammered
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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noted
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irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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brutal
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isle
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entirely
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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suede
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| n.表面粗糙的软皮革 | |
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sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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veal
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| n.小牛肉 | |
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