Chapter Twenty-three
R ichard Egerton looked again at the official card in front of him, then up into the Chief-Inspector’s face.
“Curious business,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” said Chief-Inspector Davy, “a very curious business.”
“Bertram’s Hotel,” said Egerton, “in the fog. Yes it was a bad fog last night. I suppose you get a lot of that sort ofthing in fogs, don’t you? Snatch and grab—handbags—that sort of thing?”
“It wasn’t quite like that,” said Father. “Nobody attempted to snatch anything from Miss Blake.”
“Where did the shot come from?”
“Owing to the fog we can’t be sure. She wasn’t sure herself. But we think—it seems the best idea—that the manmay have been standing¹ in the area.”
“He shot at her twice, you say?”
“Yes. The first shot missed. The commissionaire rushed along from where he was standing outside the hotel doorand shoved her behind him just before the second shot.”
“So that he got hit instead, eh?”
“Yes.”
“Quite a brave chap.”
“Yes. He was brave,” said the Chief-Inspector. “His military record was very good. An Irishman.”
“What’s his name?”
“Gorman. Michael Gorman.”
“Michael Gorman.” Egerton frowned for a minute. “No,” he said. “For a moment I thought the name meantsomething.”
“It’s a very common name, of course. Anyway, he saved the girl’s life.”
“And why exactly have you come to me, Chief-Inspector?”
“I hoped for a little information. We always like full information, you know, about the victim of a murderousassault.”
“Oh, naturally, naturally. But really, I’ve only seen Elvira twice since she was a child.”
“You saw her when she came to call upon you about a week ago, didn’t you?”
“Yes, that’s quite right. What exactly do you want to know? If it’s anything about her personality, who her friendswere or about boyfriends, or lovers’ quarrels—all that sort of thing—you’d do better to go to one of the women.
There’s a Mrs. Carpenter who brought her back from Italy, I believe, and there’s Mrs. Melford with whom she lives inKent.”
“I’ve seen Mrs. Melford.”
“Oh.”
“No good. Absolutely no good at all, sir. And I don’t so much want to know about the girl personally—after all,I’ve seen her for myself and I’ve heard what she can tell me—or rather what she’s willing to tell me—”

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