by Colin Dexter
He walked between die black spiked railings, through die white double-doors, into die black-and-white floor-tiled, high-ceilinged entrance hall, and then to reception, where he was immediately ushered into die beige-carpeted, pine-furnished office of die Deputy Manager, just beyond.
Sara Hickman was from Leicestershire, a tall, slimly attractive woman in her mid-diirties, widi green eyes (just like Sister McQueen) and dark curly hair. She was dressed in a business-like suit; she spoke in a businesslike manner; and so very clearly was she part of an
extremely business-like hotel, since manifold awards -RAG Blue Ribbons, AA Rosettes, Egon Ronay Stars - vied with each other for space around the walls.
After hesitating, finally capitulating, over the offer of coffee, Morse soon found himself listening very carefully.
Sara had (she told him) been able to re-interview almost all of the service personnel who had been on duty the previous weekend, most of whom, as it happened, were performing similar duties that present weekend. But there seemed little to add, at least in general terms, to the details earlier communicated by the Manager himself to the Thames Valley Police. One minor correction: the room the Storrs had slept in was a Standard Twin, not a Standard Double; and in fact the couple had asked for the same room again, if it was available. Which, by some strange coincidence, it was: the only Standard Twin still available in the hotel that weekend. Registration? She passed to Morse the card dated the previous Saturday, 2.3.96: Guest's Name; Address; Telephone No.; Arrival Date; Departure Date; Nationality; Payment Type; Passport No.; Signature; Car Reg. No. - and more. All filled in with a neat, feminine, slightly forward-leaning script, in black Biro; and signed 'Angela Storrs'. It would be comparatively easy to check, of course; but Morse had litde or no doubt that the signature was genuine.
"The Manager told my sergeant, when he rang about last weekend, that we might be able to see some itemized bills?'
Sara Hickman smiled.
'I thought somehow you might ask for them,' she said, and now read aloud from a small sheaf of bills in front of her.
'Last Saturday night they ate at Table twenty-six, in the far corner of the restaurant. He had the Carpaccio of Beef, Truffled Noodles, and Parmesan, for his starter; for his main course, the Seabass served with Creamed Celeriac and Fennel Liqueur; Passion Fruit Mousse for sweet She wasn't quite so adventurous, I'm afraid: Consomme; with Baked Plaice and Green Salad for her main course; and then cream-crackers and Edam - the waiter particularly remembers her asking for the Edam.'
'Good low-fat cheese they tell me,' mumbled Morse, recalling his own hard-nosed dietitian's homily in the Geoffrey Harris Ward. And he was smiling vaguely to himself as the Deputy Manager continued:
'Now, Sunday morning. Mr Storrs had ordered breakfasts for the two of them over the phone the previous night - at about eleven, half past - can't be sure. He said he thought he was probably too late with the form, but he obviously had it in front of him - the night-porter remembers that. He said he'd have a Full English for himself, no kidney though, with the tomato well grilled, and two fried eggs. Said his wife would go for a Continental: said she'd like cereal, Ricicles, if we'd got some - Chief Inspector, we've got a bigger selection of cereals than Salisbury's! - some brown toast and honey, the fresh-fruit compote, and orange juice. Oh, yes' (Sara checked the form again) 'and hot chocolate.'
'The time?' asked Morse.
'It would have been between seven-thirty and eight We don't serve Full English until after seven-thirty - and both breakfasts went up together.'
'And last night for dinner?'
"They didn't eat here.'
'This morning?'
'They had breakfast in their room again. This time they filled in the form early, and left it on the door-knob outside the room. Same as before for Mr Storrs-'
'How do you know it wasn't for her?'
'Well, it's exactly what he ordered before. Here, look for yourself.'
She passed the room-service order across the desk; and Morse saw the instructions: 'Well grilled' against 'Tomato'; no tick against 'Kidney'; the figure '2' against 'Eggs (fried)'.
'I see what you mean,' admitted Morse. 'Not even married couples have exactly the same tastes, I suppose/
'Especially married couples,' said Sara Hickman quietly.
Morse's eyes continued down the form, to the Continental section, and saw the ticks against 'Weetabix' ('semi-skimmed milk' written beside it), 'Natural Yoghurt', 'Toast (brown)', 'Coffee (decaffeinated)'. The black-Biro'd writing was the same as that on the registration form. Angela Storrs' writing. Certainly.
T shall have to have copies of these forms,' said Morse.
'Of course.' Sara got to her feet Til see that's done straightaway. Shall we go over to the bar?'
The day was brightening.
But for Morse the day had already been wonderfully bright; had been for the past hour or so, ever since the Deputy Manager had been speaking with him.
And indeed was very shordy to be brighter still.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
Queen Elizabeth the First Slept Here (Notice which according to the British Tourist Board is to be observed in approximately 2400 residences in the United Kingdom)
THEY WALKED ACROSS the splendidly tended garden area behind the main complex to the Dower House, an elegant annexe wherein were situated most of the hotel's suites and bedrooms, as well as the restaurant, the main lounge - and the bar.
Immediately inside the entrance, Morse saw the plaque (virtually a statutory requirement in Bath) commemorating a particularly eminent royal personage:
George IV
1820-1830 Resided here
In the lounge, Morse sat down amid the unashamedly luxurious surroundings of elaborate wall-lights, marble busts - and courteously prompt service, for a uniformed waitress was already standing beside them.
'What would you like to drink, sir?'
Lovely question.
As he waited for his beer, Morse looked around him; and in particular at the portrait above the fireplace there: 'Lord Ellmore, 1765-1817', the inscription read, a fat-cheeked, smooth-faced man, with a protruding lower lip, who reminded Morse unhappily of Sir Clixby Bream.
Then he walked through to the Gents in the corridor just off the lounge where the two loos stood side by side, the Men's and the Ladies' logos quite unequivocally distinct on their adjacent doors.
It would have been difficult even for the myopic Mrs Adams to confuse the two, thought Morse, as he smiled and mouthed a few silent words to himself: 'Thank you! Thank you, Mrs Arabella Adams!' It wasn't that she could have been certain - from some little distance? with her failing eyesight? - that the person she had seen was a man or a woman. Certainly not so far as the recognition of any facial features was concerned. Faces were notoriously difficult to distinguish, appearing so different when seen in profile, perhaps, or in the shadows, or wearing glasses. No! It was
just that old Mrs Adams had always known what men looked like, and what women looked like, since habitually the men wore trousers and the women wore skirts. But of course if someone wore trousers, that certainly didn't prove that the wearer was a man, now did it, Morse? In fact it proved one thing and one thing only. that the person in question was wearing trousers!
Ten minutes later, as he worked his way with diminishing enthusiasm through an over-generous plateful of smoked-salmon sandwiches, Morse saw Sergeant Lewis appear in the doorway - a Lewis looking almost as self-satisfied as the oily Lord Ellmore himself - and raise his right thumb, before being introduced to Sara Hickman.
'Something to drink, Sergeant?'
Thank you. Orange juice, please.'
'Something to eat?'
'What have you got?'
She smiled happily. 'Anything. Anything you like. Our Head Chef is at your command.'
'Can he rustle up some eggs and chips?'
She said she was sure - well, almost sure - that he could, and departed to investigate.
'Lew-is! Thi
s is a cordon bleu establishment'
'Should taste good then, sir.'
The buoyant Lewis passed a note to Morse, simultaneously (and much to Morse's relief) helping himself to a couple of sandwiches.
"You don't mind, sir? I'm half starving.'
At 2.30 p.m. Marilyn Hudson, a small, fair-complexioned young woman, was called into Sara's office. Marilyn had been a chamber-cum-kitchenmaid at the hotel for almost three years; and it was soon clear that she knew as much as anyone was likely to know about the day-to-day - and night-by-night - activities there.
Morse now questioned her closely about the morning of the previous Sunday, 3 March.
"You took them breakfast?'
*Yes, sir. About quarter to eight'
"You knocked on the door?'
'Like I always do, yes. I heard somebody say "Come in" so I-'
You had a key?'
'I've got a master-key. So I took the tray in and put it on the dressing-table.'
'Were they in bed together?'
'No. Twin beds it is there. She was on the far side. Difficult to miss her, though.'
'Why do you say that?'
'Well, it was her pyjamas - yellow an' black an' green stripes - up an' down.'
'Vertical stripes, you mean?'
'I'm not sure about that, sir. Just up an' down, like I said. An" she's got the same pair now. I took their breakfast again this morning. Same room - thirty-six.' Marilyn gave a nervous little giggle. 'Perhaps it's time she changed them.'
'She may have got two pairs,' interposed Lewis - not particularly helpfully, judging from the scowl on Morse's face.
'Do you think it could have been anybody else - except Mrs Storrs?'
'No, sir. Like I say, she was there in the bed. But...'
'But what?'
'Well, I saw /z«rall right. But I didn't really see him. He was in the bathroom having a shave - electric razor it was - and the door was open a bit and I saw he was still in his pyjamas and he said thank you but...'
'Would you have recognized him if he'd turned his head?'
For the first time Marilyn Hudson seemed unsure of herself.
'Well, I'd seen them earlier in the hotel, but I didn't notice him as much as her really. She was, you know, ever so dressy and smart - dark glasses she wore - and a white trouser-suit. Same thing as she's got on today.'
Morse turned to Lewis. 'Do you think she's got two white trouser-suits, Sergeant?'
'Always a possibility, sir.'
'So' (if Morse was experiencing some disappointment, he gave no indication of it) 'what you're telling us is that you're pretty sure it was her, but not quite so sure it was him}'
Marilyn considered the question a while before replying:
'No. I'm pretty sure it was both of them, sir.'
'Good girl, our Marilyn,' confided Sara, 'even if her vocabulary's a bit limited.'
Morse looked across at her quizzically:
'Vertical and horizontal, you mean? I shouldn't worry about that I've always had trouble with east and west myself.'
'Lots of people have trouble with right and left,' began Lewis - but Morse was already making a further request
You've still got die details of who was staying here last Saturday?'
'Of course. Just a minute.'
She returned shortly with a sheaf of registration cards; and Morse was looking dirough, flicking them over one at a time - when suddenly he stopped, the familiar tingling of excitement across his shoulders.
He handed the card to Lewis.
And Lewis whistled softly, incredulously, as he read the name.
Morse turned again to Sara. 'Can you let us have a copy of the bill - account, whatever you call it - for Room fifteen?'
You were right then, sir!' whispered Lewis excitedly. You always said it was "DC"!'
Sarah came back and laid the account in front of Morse.
'Single room - number fifteen. Just the one night Paid by credit card.'
Morse looked through the items.
'No evening meal?'
'No.'
'No breakfast either?'
'No.'
'Look! Can we use your phone from here?'
'Of course you can. Shall I leave you?'
*Yes, I think so,' said Morse, 'if you don't mind.
Morse and Lewis emerged from the office some twenty minutes later; and were walking behind reception when one of the guests came through from the entrance hall and asked for the key to Room 36.
Then he saw Morse.
'Good God! What are you doing here?' asked Julian Storrs.
'I was just going to ask you exactly the same question,' replied Morse, with a curiously confident smile.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Why did you murder those workmen in 1893?' It wasn't in 1893. It was in '92.'
(Quoted by H. H. Asquith)
'Do vou WANT my wife to be here as well? I dropped her in the city centre to do a bit of shopping. But she shouldn't be long - if that's what you want?'
'We'd rather talk to you alone, sir.'
'What's this bloody "sir" got to do with things?"
The three of them - Storrs, Morse, Lewis - were seated in Room 36, a pleasingly spacious room, whose windows overlooked the hotel's pool and the sodden-looking croquet-green.
'What's all this about anyway?' Storrs' voice was already sounding a little weary, increasingly tetchy. 'Can we get on with it?'
So Morse got on with it, quickly sketching in the background to the two murders under investigation:
Storrs had been having an affair with Rachel James -and Rachel James had been murdered.
Storrs had been blackmailed by Owens - and Owens had been murdered.
^ J ¥¥ AM. 4
The grounds for this blackmail were three-fold: his extramarital relationship with Ms James; his dishonest concealment of his medical prognosis; and his wife's earlier career as striptease dancer and Soho call-girl. For these reasons, it would surely have been very strange had Storrs not figured somewhere near the top of the suspect list
As far as the first murder was concerned, Storrs - both the Storrs - had an alibi: they had been in bed widi each other. How did one break that sort of alibi?
As far as the second murder was concerned, Storrs -again both Storrs - had dieir alibis: but this time not only were they in the same bedroom together, but also eighty-odd miles away from the scene of the crime. In fact, in the very room where they were now. But alibis could be fabricated; and if so, they could be broken. Sometimes they were broken.
(Storrs was listening in silence.)
Means? Forensic tests had established that both murders had been committed with the same weapon - a pistol known as the Howdah, often used by senior ranks in the armed forces, especially in India, where Storrs had served until returning to Oxford. He had acquired such a pistol; probably still had it, unless he had got rid of it recendy - very recendy.
The predominant cause - the Prime Mover - for the whole tragic sequence of events had been his obsessive, overweening ambition to gain the ultimate honour during what was left to him of his lifetime - the Mastership of Lonsdale, widi the virtually inevitable accolade of a knighthood.
Motive, then? Yes.
Means? Yes.
Opportunity, though?
If For the first murder, transport from Polstead Road to
Kidlington was easy enough - there were two cars. But the target had not been quite so easy. In fact, it might well have been that Rachel James was murdered mistakenly, because of a mix-up over house-numbers and a pony-tailed silhouette.
But for the second murder, planning had to be far more complicated - and clever. Perhaps the 'in-bed-together' alibi might sound a little thin the second time. But not if he was in a bed in some distant place; not if he was openly observed in diat distant place at the time the murder must have been committed. No one had ever been in two places at the same time: that would be an affront to the rules by which the Almighty had establi
shed the universe. But the distance from Oxford to Bath was only eighty-odd miles. And in a powerful car, along the motorway, on a Sunday morning, early ... An hour, say? Pushing it, perhaps? An hour and a quarter, then - two and a half hours on the road. Then there was a murder to be committed, of course. Round it up to three hours, say.
During the last few minutes of Morse's exposition, Storrs had walked across to the window, where he stood looking out over the garden. The afternoon had clouded, with the occasional spatter of rain across the panes. Storrs was humming quietly to himself; and Morse recognized the
13 njvr en. i
tune of 'September', one of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs:
Der Garten trauert
Kiihl sinkt in die Blumen der Regen ...
Then, abruptly, Storrs turned round.
"You do realize what you're saying?' he asked quietly.
'I think I do,' replied Morse.
'Well, let's get a few things straight, shall we? Last Sunday my wife Angela and I had breakfast here, in this room, at about a quarter to eight. The same young girl brought us breakfast this morning, as it happens. She'll remember.'
Morse nodded. 'She's not quite sure it was you, though, last Sunday. She says you were shaving at the time, in the bathroom.'
'Who the hell was it then? If it wasn't me?'
'Perhaps you'd got back by then.'
'Back? Back from Oxford? How did I manage that? Three hours, you say? I must have left at half past four!'
You had a car - '
'Have you checked all this? You see, my car was in the hotel garage - and God knows where that is. I left it outside when we booked in, and gave the keys to one of the porters. That's the sort of thing you pay for hi places like this - didn't you know that?'
Again Morse nodded. "You're right The garage wasn't opened up that morning until ten minutes to nine.'
'So?' Storrs looked puzzled.
"You could have driven someone else's car.'
'Whose, pray?'
Tour wife's, perhaps?'
Storrs snorted. 'Which just happened to be standing outside the hotel - is that it? A helicopter-lift from Polstead Road?'