‘When I heard this I went down to Fisher’s myself. They confirmed the description, and they remembered how Clay had paid. It was in notes, two tens and two fives. These notes had been paid into the bank on the previous day. I wasn’t long till I was with the bank manager, and he got the records looked up. All four notes were among those which had been stolen from Chayle.’
‘Pretty good,’ said French. ‘The man clearly didn’t know that the numbers of fives and tens were noted.’
‘So it would appear,’ Goodwilly agreed. ‘Well, there was the identification of the dead man. I got on the phone to Crawford and he came in and saw me. It happened that Colonel Tressider was with him at the time, and he came along also.
‘Crawford told us that the car had failed to take a sharp bend in the road from Swaythling to Fair Oak and had gone down a bank and stopped at the edge of a river. It had caught fire and been burnt out. The front of the car was a bit damaged, though as the ground was fairly soft, this damage was not as great as might have been expected. The carburettor however was broken off and that had allowed the petrol to escape, no doubt accounting for the fire. In this old model the tank was over the dash and the petrol had run out by gravity.
‘The remains had been examined by a doctor, but there was not a great deal that he could tell. The man was fairly tall and thin and lame in the left leg, as was Clay. Thirdly, the back of his skull was fractured, which the doctor said would have caused death. It was probable therefore that he was killed directly when the car went down. Lastly, he had had a tooth stopped, the doctor thought, fairly recently. How recently he couldn’t say, but he was certain of the stopping. We ’phoned across to Hanbury at Cowes to try if he could find the dentist, but so far he has not replied. If the dentist is found it should put the identification beyond question, though personally I don’t think there’s any doubt about it as it is.’
‘No,’ French said thoughtfully, ‘all that seems pretty conclusive. It’s not easy to see, all the same, just how the accident happened.’
‘The doctor mentioned a possibility, though only very tentatively, because there’s no evidence either for or against it. It seems this Clay, who was a youngish man, was formerly a lorry driver in the employ of the Chayle firm, and some three years ago he was injured in a smash he had with another vehicle. You’ll see that Hanbury gives us a short history of the man after his description. That’s how he got his lameness. But in addition to the lameness he was hurt internally. Now the doctor thinks that because of that weakness, on top of the excitement of his break, the man may have had a fainting fit. Of course without having seen Clay’s doctor, ours couldn’t give a considered opinion. But it’s a point to be gone into.’
‘It sounds reasonable.’
‘It does. One other find that Crawford made was a key. It was lying below the body as if it had been in the trousers’ pocket. It had obviously been made by an amateur and the wards, but not the handle, corresponded exactly with the description of the Chayle safe key. We’ve sent the key over to Hanbury to try it in the safe, but we’ve not heard yet if it fits.’
‘It’ll fit all right,’ French considered.
‘I think it will, Chief-Inspector. However, we ought to know very soon. Well, as the three of us were there, the Colonel insisted on our having a sort of conference on the case. It didn’t seem quite right, because our own Chief Constable was away and after all it had nothing to do with me. But there we were and we had it. As we talked about it one or two points came out that seemed a bit difficult to explain. I’ve noted them down.’
For the first time Goodwilly seemed a little at a loss. He paused, looked up his notes, hesitated again, and then at last went on.
‘Looking over the affair as a whole, what I might call a strange irregularity in the design seemed to reveal itself. I’ll try and explain what I mean. If this Clay had managed to get a key for the safe, it followed that he must have been a man of brains and resource. You understand that no key was missing. The key which was used must have been specially made for the purpose, and this of course works in with what Crawford found. Now it’s not an easy thing to cut a key which will open so complicated a lock as a safe’s. And further, it wouldn’t have been easy to get hold of the original key to copy. It seemed to all three of us that Clay must have been extraordinarily able.
‘Well, the Colonel then and there got me to ring up Hanbury and put these points to him. Hanbury said he had considered them, but had been utterly puzzled by them. He had not had time to complete his enquiries, but such information as he had gained made what had been done seem almost impossible. Only two keys for the safe existed, and one was kept continuously by Haviland and the other by Mairs. Neither had lent his keys to anyone, and both were positive that no one could have got at them to copy them. That’s one side of it.
‘On the other hand, a man of this almost superhuman cleverness was so idiotic as to buy with the stolen notes a car which could be identified without difficulty by any police officer in the country. He didn’t even trouble to change the number-plate. How he could have expected not to have been dropped on beats me. And it beat both the Chief Constable and Crawford.’
‘It’s a strong point,’ French agreed, while Carter nodded appreciatively.
‘A man with the education and knowledge and ability to get hold of that safe key, would have known that the numbers of five and ten pound notes are recorded when they leave and enter banks. And he would also have known that the registration number of a car gives its entire history. There seemed to all three of us something here which required looking into.’
‘I agree,’ said French.
‘We talked of it for a while, and then the chief said that while we mustn’t make too much of a thing of which we hadn’t the full particulars, it seemed to him that this apparent dual intelligence was really fundamental. By that he meant that there were two intelligences at work, in other words, two people. Well, I needn’t repeat our conversation, but at last the Colonel put up a theory which so far as it went seemed reasonable to both Crawford and me.’
‘I begin to see why Sir Mortimer thinks so much of Colonel Tressider,’ French interjected.
‘If he does, he’s quite right. The Colonel’s one of the best—from every point of view. Well, he suggested that there were two of them in it, this watchman and someone else, probably a clerk. While the safe was open this clerk might have directed his principal’s attention to some other matter, and then managed to slip the key out of the lock, take a wax impression, and slip it back without discovery. He might moreover be an amateur metal-worker, and so have been able to cut the key. He would see however that he couldn’t just steal the notes: if he did that, suspicion would be bound to fall on him by elimination. So he would look round for a scapegoat and find it in Clay. He would give Clay part of the spoils to make a getaway, and so draw aside the hue and cry. Of course he wouldn’t put it like that to Clay, but it might be put so that a stupid man would think he was getting a very good thing out of it.’
‘He might have given him all the fives and tens,’ Carter suggested.
‘You’re right, Sergeant: I hadn’t thought of that,’ Goodwilly admitted handsomely. ‘That would leave three hundred pounds’ worth of untraceable notes for himself. How does that strike you, Chief-Inspector?’
French moved uneasily. ‘I agree there were probably two people in the thing,’ he answered slowly. ‘As to whether it is otherwise correct, I don’t know. I’d rather think over it a bit before saying.’
‘Well, that wasn’t so immediately important,’ Goodwilly went on, ‘but Colonel Tressider proceeded to add another twist that neither Crawford nor I had thought of. He asked was there any trace of the notes on the body? Crawford said he had found what looked like paper ash, but he couldn’t tell if it was from notes. The fire had been fierce enough to destroy everything inflammable.
‘The Colonel then said, “Suppose it was some other paper and there were no notes.”
�
�Well, we looked at him, and I for one didn’t twig at the moment what he meant. Then he explained. Was there any reason, he asked, why this burnt car business shouldn’t have been a fake? He reminded us of the Rouse case and of a case in Germany, and of one or two others of a similar kind. Suppose, he asked, the clerk or second guilty person, whoever he might be, had done Clay in for the notes and engineered the accident to cover things up?
‘Neither Crawford nor I were enthusiastic about this, but the more we thought of it, the less absurd it began to seem. So far as we could see, there was nothing actually impossible in the idea, and as the Colonel said, it certainly would work in with the ingenious mind of the man who had got the key.’
‘Was there any detail in the accident itself which would support such a theory?’ French asked. He was not greatly impressed by all this. The Colonel seemed to have been looking out for complications, instead of taking the simplest explanation of the facts. His own experience was that the simplest explanation of any mystery usually proved to be the truth.
‘Well, there were a couple—three if you include the general one that we had known all along: that it was difficult to see why the accident should have taken place at all. Because there wasn’t a particle of evidence to support the fainting theory. But a more interesting point was why the accident should have occurred just where it did. Crawford said that that particular spot was the most suitable place for an accident that he knew. A case could undoubtedly be made for the selection of the site.’
‘That’s true,’ French admitted dubiously.
‘Then there was another point which Crawford brought out,’ Goodwilly continued: ‘the finding of the safe key beside the body. If this had been a genuine accident, the key would scarcely have been there. If Clay had been on the run, the first thing he would have done would have been to get rid of it. He would have known that if it had been found on him, he was done for. That looked to all three of us a bit like a fake.’
French nodded. ‘You’re right there, Super,’ he declared. ‘That’s the strongest argument you’ve brought forward, by a long chalk. What did the Chief Constable say to that?’
‘He was impressed. He said that it proved nothing and that we must not jump to conclusions, but it did indicate a case for investigation. And seeing that the case might be the concern of three police forces, he thought an outsider to co-ordinate the work might be useful. He rang up the other Chief Constables and suggested getting a man from the Yard.’
French grinned. ‘And what did you and Crawford say to that?’
‘It didn’t worry me; it really wasn’t my show. Crawford didn’t like it, I could see, but when the Colonel pointed out to him that if he took it on, he would be dependent on whatever information Superintendent Hanbury chose to give him about the Cowes end of it, he thought a man from the Yard would be a good idea.’ Goodwilly grinned in his turn. ‘I didn’t know it at the time, but I learned later that Hanbury and Crawford have their knives in each other about some private quarrel. So there you are, Chief-Inspector. That’s the history of the affair to date, so far as I know it.’
‘Well,’ said French. ‘I think you’ve proved your case for investigation. What occurs now? Am I given a free hand to do what I like?’
‘Of course. What’s been arranged is this. Crawford and Hanbury have been told of your arrival and been instructed to lend you any men you want and help in every way they can. But I may say, Chief-Inspector, they didn’t need those instructions. You’ll find them a decent pair ready on their own to do everything. And here’s a general letter to any other police force in the county on whom you may want to call, with the same instructions. And if you want a private room as a headquarters, you can have one here.’
French got up. ‘Splendid,’ he said. ‘You couldn’t have done better. Thanks, Super, very much. Now, perhaps, you’d phone Crawford that I’ll go out to see him in the morning, and I’ll trouble you no more tonight.’
The interview soon came to a close, and within half an hour French and Carter had found an hotel and turned in.
9
French Sees the Burnt Car
Had French been a believer in omens, he would have given thanks to his gods when he looked out next morning. It was the first of August, and there was the look of August in the cloudless sky and the rich warm sunshine which would later become a grilling heat. French loved heat. Splendid! This was better than his room at the Yard.
He and Carter caught an early bus and by nine o’clock were seated in Superintendent Crawford’s room in the Eastleigh Police Station. Crawford was a big dark man with a heavy manner. He looked a man who would be slow to move, but who when once he got going, would have something of the momentum of a steam roller. He was civil, but not effusive, and French imagined that some feeling of grievance that an outsider had been called in still lurked in the deeper recesses of his mind.
French, however, had no complaint to make of his treatment. Crawford gave him all the details of the case with clarity, showed him a number of photographs of the smash, and then said that within reason he and his staff were at French’s disposal. What, he asked, would French like him to do?
French thought that a visit to the scene of the tragedy was indicated, and Crawford immediately rang for his car to be brought round.
‘Does any technical question arise about the car, Super?’ French went on. ‘If so, wouldn’t it be well to take an engineer? I don’t know if you’re an expert, but I’m not.’
‘If I had been handling the case, I should have taken one. I know something about cars, but I’m not an expert. In any case, I suppose you’d want one for court, if the affair ever goes there.’
‘You’re right. I had overlooked that. Let’s have one.’
French, as a matter of fact, had not overlooked the point, but he had found that a little mild flattery was useful in dealing with those whose cases he had taken over. He was not dishonest in supplying it. He found that it gained him help and made things easier, and why should he not therefore adopt it?
Crawford drove to a large garage which bore notices that here was the true and only Austin agency, and saying he wouldn’t be long, disappeared inside. Presently he returned with a sharp-featured young man in a check overcoat.
‘Mr Dexter,’ said Crawford. ‘He’s a director of this business and an engineer, and if anyone knows more about cars than he does, I should like to meet him.’
Dexter was obviously delighted to be let in on the case which had thrilled the whole neighbourhood. He did not say so, however, merely explaining that he was glad to do anything to help his good friend, the Super. It was all very amiable and pleasant. He got in behind with Carter and in a few minutes they reached their objective.
It was just as French had been led to expect from the description. The road, curving sharply to the right in the direction in which the wrecked car had been travelling, was on an embankment some fifteen feet high, approaching a river bridge. It was bounded by a grass border about eight feet wide. From the further edge of this border the ground sloped rapidly down to a sort of berm or level shelf beside the river. The only protection along the edge was a wooden railing, consisting of uprights some six feet apart, bearing on their tops a longitudinal member about three inches square in section and set diagonally. This railing was painted white, and served to draw attention to the curve. At night it would certainly have shown up clearly in the beams of a headlamp.
At the bottom of the slope, on the rough, irregular ground beside the water’s edge, lay the car. It had smashed the horizontal rail and one upright of the paling, and this glancing blow had deflected it slightly towards the right. Running diagonally down the bank, it had turned partially over on to its left side and ploughed into a tiny hillock. The earth was heaped up in front of it, as snow heaps up before a railway plough.
The fire had obviously been fierce, particularly about the fore part of the car body. Here most of what could burn was gone. Floorboards, cushions, upholstery, paint—all
were badly damaged. The key and human remains had been removed, but nothing else had been touched.
French stood looking round him, as he mentally registered these details. Then he turned to Crawford.
‘Did you make any search for footprints, Super?’ he asked.
Crawford shrugged. ‘We searched,’ he admitted, ‘but it was impossible to come to any conclusions. The whole place was tramped over by sightseers. As a matter of fact,’ he admitted in a burst of confidence, ‘the importance of possible footprints was not realised at first.’
‘Naturally,’ French returned smoothly. ‘In any case on this grass I don’t suppose impressions would have been left.’
A detailed inspection of the car added but little to their knowledge. The radiator had been pushed bodily backwards by the mound of earth, and the bonnet covers were crushed and shapeless. One had been forced up, revealing the broken carburettor. The rest of the car was but slightly damaged structurally. Both front wings were crushed, but the chassis seemed uninjured.
‘Now, Mr Dexter,’ said French, ‘let’s begin with the speed. Do you think you could estimate what that was?’
Dexter shook his head. ‘Quite impossible to say. Very approximately I think it might have been from twenty-five to thirty miles an hour. The car must have been moving to plough into that earth, but a really high speed would have smashed things up a lot more.’
‘Good enough. Now perhaps you’d have a look over the car and tell us what damage is done. Take all this down, Carter.’
Carter nodded. He had already produced his notebook.
‘There’s not so much wrong, so far as I can see,’ answered the engineer. ‘Radiator, fan, carburettor, wings and so on, you can see for yourselves. What may be important, such as the steering gear, I can’t tell you about because it’s buried. The front axle is probably bent, but you’ll have to get the car lifted before we can be sure.’
Mystery on Southampton Water Page 10