by Alan Hunter
‘Yet you lied to me yesterday.’
‘Because him there told me to!’
‘And you didn’t know what the parcel contained?’
‘No more than a dead nit!’
‘Isn’t that your handbag lying on the mantelpiece?’
Miss Bushell screeched and sprang up from the settee, but Gently, whose movements were deceptive, had got there ahead of her. In a moment the handbag was decanted on to a table. Amongst the nick-nacks and loose change there fell out a slim bundle of fivers …
‘That’s some money what he give me!’
‘Though he wasn’t the messer to have any.’
‘He did – I tell you – oh, you rotten lot of bleeders!’
Gently picked up the broken bundle and compared the two sets of notes. The serial letters were identical and the numbers just short of being consecutive.
‘You – I’ll have your wallet.’
Blacker, beginning to look ugly, changed his mind on the approach of a very solid-looking Dutt. There were eleven fivers in his wallet and all of them matched with the bundle. Along with them was the stamped and signed receipt for a motor scooter.
‘Do you want to say anything?’
Blacker caught Miss Bushell’s eye.
‘She’s a filthy liar, she is – that’s all you’re getting out of me!’
‘This is a serious business, you understand?’
Blacker’s lips were clamped together again. The lines in his sallow cheeks had set in a desperate obstinacy.
‘Right – then we’ll get down to it! I’m arresting you two on a charge of being in unlawful possession of money, being the property of Geoffrey Pershore, Esq. You’re coming down to headquarters where there’ll be a formal charge, and I should warn you that anything you say may be taken down and used in evidence.
‘And, by way of a further warning, this is a holding charge – there may be something a good deal graver just around the corner!’
Blacker stared at him in a sudden bewilderment, a curious expression developing in his unpleasant eyes.
‘What was that bit … who did you say the money belonged to?’
‘To Mr Pershore. Did you want to make a statement?’
For a fraction of a second the foreman hesitated, then he shook his head stupidly and resumed his recalcitrant expression. Dutt, watching Gently, was surprised at the suppressed excitement he could recognize in his senior’s face.
‘Very well – we’ll have the cuffs on him … I particularly don’t want to lose Mr Blacker!’
‘You’re not putting those things on me!’
Miss Bushell let out a wail of dismay.
‘I’ll tell them you did me—!’
Gently made a placating gesture.
‘I’m sure that a professional like you knows how to come quietly …’
Miss Bushell said something which was wholly unprintable.
At headquarters the super had left word that he wanted a conference, but he himself had been hustled away by the outraged mayor-elect. Gently, who was hungry, was not displeased to find an absent super. His mind often worked best over a meal, and just then he had plenty of thoughts to turn over.
On the steps, however, he was caught by an incoming Griffin, and the local inspector’s brow of thunder cleared very little as he caught sight of Gently.
‘The super’s on the way – he’s looking for you.’
‘I’m going to have a meal. I’ll be back directly.’
‘He’s out for blood, I can tell you … that confounded man! I suppose you didn’t form any opinion about the job?’
Gently shrugged and felt for his pipe, putting it into his mouth unlit.
‘First, I’d like to hear what you found there. I only had a glance round myself.’
Griffin groaned, propping himself up against the porch. ‘What in the deuce was there to find, except that the study had been burgled? The servants didn’t know anything … the gardener … our print men are still poking around, but either chummy used gloves or the domestics are too blasted efficient. Gloves, I’d say, because there was nothing on the safe.
‘Do you think this bloke with a yacht for sale could be a lead in?’
‘What else did you find in the study?’
‘Nothing – I told you! One of those tuppenny-halfpenny window catches had been forced and there were some scratches round the keyhole of the safe door.’
‘Not much there for Records to get their teeth into.’
‘I know … it’s chronic. And wouldn’t it just have to be Pershore! But what did you have to do with it, that’s what I can’t make out?’
‘Didn’t he tell you?’
‘He was too busy slanging me.’
Gently smiled into the distant reaches of a by-now starlit sky.
‘Ask your sergeant … I’ve briefed him on developments. I’m going to wrap myself round something full of calories.’
‘But has it a bearing on the burglary?’
Griffin caught his arm.
‘Later on we’ll discuss the case more fully.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE SUPER WAS walking up and down – an unusual thing for supers to do – and apparently, to judge by his ashtray, was in the process of chain-smoking.
His office looked smaller by night though it smelled exactly the same. Sitting on a chair at the corner of the desk, Inspector Griffin was examining his nails with a defensive intentness. The windows, partly open to the soft, after-rain air, wore their curtains in the same position as during the daytime.
‘Come in, Gently – accept my congratulations!’
The super rounded his desk to shake Gently by the hand.
‘You’ve done us a favour, I don’t mind telling you. I dare say you wouldn’t know, up there in the Central Office … but down here, one can’t ignore the personal element.’
Even opposite the office windows there were couples making love, some of them casting a furtive upward glance from time to time. The balmy air had spring in it, an elusive fragrance impossible to define. Winter had been washed away by that single Homeric downpour.
‘You can’t understand how relieved I feel, though I realize that there are some loose ends to be tied up. Griffin, I feel sure … especially with the fellow in a cell. Naturally, we shall obtain a remand tomorrow.’
Cars swinging round the corner by the St George sent the shadows of lovers criss-crossing over the square. Lynton again … but a different Lynton; would the faint odour of daffodils come from one of the covered-up market stalls?
‘There’s just one thing I’m not quite clear about.’
For supper Gently had had a cod steak and a lot of imported new potatoes with butter.
‘You left word that the recovery of the money was to remain secret for the moment, and that news of the arrest was to be withheld from the press.
‘Of course, you probably have a very good reason, and after the great service you have done us we are eager to cooperate. But in view of our position – I won’t be more explicit! – I should very much like to lift that phone and talk to Mr Pershore.’
Gently sighed softly to himself and turned a chair back to front. The taste of cognac and coffee still lingered gratefully on his palate … also, just behind it, the flavour of rhubarb tart and cream.
‘You know what I’m here after.’
Wasn’t the real question whether he was ready for his pipe or not?
‘My business is Taylor’s murder, not incidental robberies. The recovery of Mr Pershore’s money happened to lie in the scope of the investigation.’
‘There’s some connection, you mean?’
A frown appeared on the super’s boyish brow.
‘I realize, of course, that this Blacker is an employee at the mill, but that, taken on its own—’
‘There’s a little more to it.’
‘It definitely ties in?’
‘It’s the nub of the whole affair.’
The super sat down,
as though he realized it might be a longer job than he had taken it for. At the other end of the desk Griffin ceased to explore his nails and began to give his efficient attention. Gently, coming to a snap decision, produced his sandblast and tin of tobacco.
‘I’ll put you in the picture as briefly as possible.’
For some reason they both wanted to watch him rubbing the two slices of navy cut between his hands.
‘There are two angles to it – we’ll take Roscoe’s first. Roscoe, because just at the moment he still happens to be alive.
‘Roscoe went to Newmarket with Ames and Taylor. It was a two-day meeting, and they put up at a hotel. Somewhere, in the hotel, in the street, on the racecourse, they came by a certain piece of information, and that piece of information brought them hotfoot to Lynton.
‘Having got there, they put up at the best place in town, and almost immediately began spending money like hail. We know pretty well how much they’d got. Judging from Taylor’s bank book it was a flat five thousand pounds. But there had been no recorded robbery either here or at Newmarket, the money would appear to have been safe, and from evidence at the hotel they were expecting a further and larger supply. Something in the neighbourhood of ten thousand, perhaps!
‘We come to Thursday night. They spent the evening as usual, in the hotel. At approximately eleven-thirty Taylor went out alone, apparently for what was expected to be a shortish absence. When he hadn’t arrived back by one a.m. Roscoe and Ames, evidently anxious, questioned the night-porter. Then, after a conference, they went out looking for him, going in the direction of Fenway Road.
‘They returned nearly an hour later. They seemed angry as well as anxious. After a further conference they tipped the night-porter a pound, and left instructions for him to ring them the moment Taylor showed up.
‘Taylor, of course, didn’t show up – he was lying strangled in the flour-hopper – and in the morning Roscoe and Ames were overheard discussing him in angry terms. Towards lunchtime Roscoe went out and fetched the midday paper. It carried the news of the finding of the body in the stop-press.
‘They were too shaken by it to go in to lunch, and shortly afterwards they checked out of the hotel – taking steps, nevertheless, to prevent Taylor’s absence from being immediately reported to the authorities. They took a train to Ely from where it would be difficult to trace them, and then doubled back to a safe base near the scene of the operation.
‘Now, you will notice, they were in a position to bring irresistible pressure to bear. Taylor had been murdered, and they were aware of the identity of the murderer or murderers. They used this pressure. Roscoe received a letter which contained, without doubt, instructions as to the time and place for the pay-off. Ames, the muscle man, was sent to collect it, and a few hours later he was discovered floating down the river.
‘That brings us up to date from the point of view of Roscoe. This morning, once more, he was obliged to start on his travels. The question beside him is: will he carry on? – and personally, I don’t think he has much option.
‘The police are after him and so is the murderer, but there is a pretty big carrot dangling in front of his nose. If he can collect that carrot and come off unscathed, then there’s a chance for him to jump the country and give both of us the slip.
‘My hunch is that he’s doubled back again and is going to have one more try.’
Gently fished up his matches and relit his pipe. A lifetime of trying to do it had never yet convinced him that one couldn’t smoke while one talked. Across the square came two constables, walking satisfyingly in step. They were deep in conversation and paid no attention to the courting couples.
‘I still can’t see—’ The super cleared his throat. ‘You’re suggesting that somehow this money is connected, but the fact is that it was still in the bank at the time of the Newmarket meeting.’
‘That’s just what I was thinking, sir,’ put in Griffin. ‘Mr Pershore didn’t know he would need it until Tuesday or Wednesday of last week.’
‘But on Thursday several people could hazard a guess.’
Gently blew a casual smoke-ring.
‘Also, there was the preliminary five thousand – that was the initial gambit. Wherever it came from, it was safe and not likely to be missed.’
The super brooded over it with an expression of distaste. With the best will in the world, he felt on the defensive against Gently. Something was going to be pinned on to Lynton, he could feel it in his bones, but unless he was being denser than usual he failed to see how it was to be done.
‘In effect you are saying that these three men … on the first occasion they cleared up all the ready cash. Then, redoubling their demands, they forced their victim to a desperate act – and this person was aware that Mr Pershore had made a large cash withdrawal?’
‘Mmn.’ Gently nodded. ‘It could be something like that.’
‘But this Blacker scarcely fills the bill – he wouldn’t have had five thousand by him. And then again … well, he doesn’t, does he? How could this Roscoe lot ever have heard about him at Newmarket?’
‘Looks more like Fuller.’ Griffin was following shrewdly.
‘He might have produced five thousand at a pinch, and he would have seen Mr Pershore with his attaché case.’
‘He did. I asked him.’
Gently shrugged indulgently.
‘Also, he happened to attend that meeting at Newmarket.’
‘Then surely, if there’s a tie-up—’
‘Let’s get back to the facts first. Up till now, we’ve only been considering them from Roscoe’s viewpoint.’
Both the super and Griffin looked as though they might have smart rejoinders up their sleeves, but neither of them hazarded one. Gently struck another match and tossed it into the super’s ashtray. Downstairs at the desk they could vaguely hear the duty sergeant asking somebody questions.
‘At the mill you’d got something going on which is happening every hour of the day and night – out there at the moment, as a matter of fact!
‘Fuller had fallen for the baker’s wife. They were neither of them people with much experience in conducting clandestine love affairs. At first it was just a kiss and cuddle in the office – the clerk having been sent out on an errand, no doubt. Then I dare say they laid plans for something more interesting, but they were stuck for an appropriate opportunity.
‘It came on the eve of Good Friday when two events coincided. One of them was Fuller’s stag party at The Spreadeagle, and the other the circumstance that the baker would be spending all night in the bakehouse. How long ahead they had been making arrangements I didn’t elicit, but what is certain is that they were very careless over them.
‘Blythely, the baker, had got wind of the assignation, and Blacker knew even the time and place. As a result, when they met outside the stable in the drying-ground, two people were stationed there to witness the fact.
‘Where Blacker was is conjectural, but he was certainly there. In the morning he used his knowledge to blackmail Fuller into making him foreman. Blythely, on the other hand, hid in a lean-to urinal. From there he could watch the stable but could see nothing of the yard.
‘And the times of these dispositions were roughly from half past eleven till half past midnight: at that critical time there were four people on the spot.
‘Fuller can tell us nothing, which is not surprising; nor, I imagine, can Mrs Blythely. They were in the hayloft busy with their own doings. Blythely, most unfortunately, could hear but not see, so we are left with Blacker as the solitary eyewitness.
‘What Blythely did hear, however, is very suggestive. He heard three or four separate sets of footsteps. Giving approximate times he heard the first set at eleven-forty. They entered the yard from the opening into Cosford Road, came down the yard and halted in the passage between the mill buildings and the bakehouse block. Five minutes later a second set followed them. Blythely says they were lighter and quicker, like a child’s, which suggests that t
hey belonged to Taylor.
‘There was a short conversation between these two people which Blythely was unable to overhear, neither did he hear them leave the passage. A third set came down the yard at about ten minutes to twelve. They lingered in the passage and then came back running.
‘Finally there were steps from the passage at about twelve o’clock midnight – a little slow and hesitant, according to Blythely. Shortly after they had gone he may have heard a car started, but there was nothing further to report until the guilty party re-emerged at half past twelve.
‘Out of that timetable, I expect, you can begin to reconstruct the murder.’
It was not the implications but the completeness of the information which was making Griffin turn hot. You could see what he was thinking, with his neck growing scarlet. They’d both had their turn at it, he and Gently – about the same time each, but what a difference in their results! Surely there was an element of luck in the affair …?
‘You seem to have covered a lot of ground.’
The super, too, was sounding stiff, but in his case it may have been the guilty pair who rankled.
‘I suppose you’re sure of your facts – testimonies reliable and all that? In a case of this sort I should scarcely have expected …’
‘The evidence seems to dovetail fairly neatly.’
‘Oh, I’m not suggesting we can teach you anything!’
‘There’s always a possible margin for error.’
The super ground out a cigarette butt, himself getting heated. More than ever he had the feeling that Gently was building up something unpleasant and reprehensible. To hide his chagrin, Griffin was also fiddling with a cigarette. Over it he muttered:
‘As a matter of fact, I did suggest …’
Gently seemed lost in the dark world beyond the window.
‘If you don’t mind me saying so, it still isn’t clear—’
‘How the money ties in?’
‘Exactly! Up till now—’
‘Up till now the money has been a hypothesis – except that it was in Blacker’s possession by about half past twelve on the Friday morning.’