The Gimmel Flask

by Douglas Clark

  Lamont rubbed his chin. “There could be something in what you say.”

  “There is something in what I say, believe me. My men assure me of it. They’re better at sniffing out that sort of thing than you.”

  The door opened quietly, and Green came in whistling softly through his front teeth. Masters recognised the signs. Something had gone Green’s way. Not a word passed between them. Green sat down and lit a cigarette.

  “Can we discuss another of your would-be buys, Mr Lamont?” asked Masters.

  “I really don’t think I have time for any more of this. I have got some work to do.”

  “So have I, and mine is far more important than yours.”

  “What makes you think so?”

  “Wouldn’t you say it was far more important for me to save you from spending the rest of your life in jail than for you to sit there writing euphoric descriptions of properties for sale?”

  “What?” Lamont now seemed thoroughly alarmed. “You can’t think I had anything to do with Hardy’s murder.”

  “I can, Mr Lamont, because somebody meant me to.”

  “Somebody meant you to?”

  “Yes, Mr Lamont. In a subtle way, you’ve had suspicion thrust upon you.”

  “Rubbish.”

  “Let me give you just one little bit of evidence to prove it. The poison that killed Hardy was put into the salad oil in his gimmel flask.”

  “I guessed that. You virtually told me so.”

  “What you didn’t guess, Mr Lamont, was that the killer had used two gimmel flasks. He primed one with poison, and then substituted it for the one in Hardy’s house. Had he left it at that, it is doubtful whether anybody would have realised two flasks had been used, because Mrs Hardy never washed the thing, and it is doubtful whether the thought would have occurred to the police that it wasn’t Hardy’s original flask. And so they wouldn’t have asked the only person who possibly could identify it, to do so. I am referring to Mrs Hardy’s home help. But the murderer stole the flask that contained the poison, and did not restore the original one.

  “That would have been the logical thing to do, wouldn’t you say, Mr Lamont? It would have baffled the police as to how Hardy had been given the poison. But with the gimmel flask missing, it was easy for the police to say how the poison had been delivered. It also meant that the police were going to enquire into the whole business of gimmel flasks. And what happens? We discover that one of Mr Hardy’s partners has recently bought a load of glassware among which is a gimmel flask. Of course this partner says that when he came to collect the lot, the flask was missing. But then he would say that, wouldn’t he, if he intended using the flask for some nefarious purpose? Do I need to go on, Mr Lamont?”

  “No,” said Lamont faintly.

  “So,” said Masters, “can we now get back to another of your abortive efforts to buy through the good offices of Bert Spooner? I’m referring to a medicine chest, circa 1840, lot 131 in the March sale. You were prepared to go to twenty pounds for it. Why?”

  “What do you mean why? I wanted it to sell again.”

  “Who to?”

  “I hadn’t got a buyer. I wanted to get it first, and then I’d have offered it.”

  “Through Mrs Horbium perhaps, or Mr Benson?”

  “I’d thought of asking their advice as to whom to contact—either dealer or collector.”

  “How did you know it was resaleable?”

  “Why shouldn’t I know?”

  “Mr Lamont, I’m trying to help you out of a hole.”

  “How? What’s a medicine chest I didn’t buy got to do with Hardy’s death?”

  “The chest, nothing. Why you wanted it, everything.”

  “I wanted to make a bit of money.”

  “We are well aware that you have been living up to your income, Mr Lamont, and that you’re hoping to make a bit on antiques. We know why you went for the gimmel flask—to sell at a profit. Now why go for the chest? How did you know you could afford to bid twenty pounds and then get appreciably more at resale?”

  “Because Williams got one at Coleford and resold it for ninety.”

  “Thank you. Why didn’t you ask Williams where he had sold his chest? You might have been able to sell in the same place. And if the purchaser had told you what he would be prepared to give you might have been able to bid a bit higher to make sure of getting it.”

  Lamont didn’t reply.

  Green said: “My guess is that you wanted the maximum profit so you told Bert only to go to twenty. Only after you’d got the chest would you ask Williams where he got rid of his, because if you’d mentioned it before, you might have drawn Williams’ attention to it and probably brought him into the bidding against you.”

  Lamont nodded. “If Williams had got rid of one, why not another?”

  “Surely, if you said you wanted it, he’d have laid off?”

  “Not him. He’d say the client was entitled to as much as we could get for him, and making arrangements to cut out bids was illegal.”

  “I see. By the way, does Williams collect anything in particular, or does he just dabble?”

  “He collects books. Old, technical books. I’ve not known him go in for furniture much at all.”

  “Thank you, Mr Lamont. Eventually you decided to be very helpful, which was just as well, because when I came in here I could have arrested you for murder, and I could have made the charge stick.”

  “Because I tried to buy a gimmel flask?”

  “And because of your attempt to buy a medicine chest which contained a supply of the poison used to kill Hardy.”

  Lamont looked astounded. “Poison? What poison? I haven’t any idea what you’re talking about. And why just because I tried to buy that chest? You can get poison anywhere. Any garden shed, any chemist, anywhere.”

  “Not this particular poison,” said Masters quietly. “It could not have been obtained anywhere in this country except out of that chest.”

  Lamont sat astounded. Then he gasped: “But I didn’t buy the box. Richard Benson did. I’ve never been near it to take anything from it.”

  “We know that, Mr Lamont. But you knew the chest was in the sale, and presumably you examined it before you decided to bid for it. I think you examined it in your warehouse, away from prying eyes. Nobody to see you. Prosecuting counsel could make quite a song and dance about the opportunity that offered you to take some of the poison.”

  “No,” shouted Lamont. “No. I couldn’t have taken any at that time.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the box was locked. There wasn’t a key. I didn’t see inside until it got to the Corn Exchange. That was when I saw all the things were in it and I decided to bid. Ask Bert. He’ll tell you I didn’t ask him to bid until lunchtime on the day of the sale.”

  “Who had the key?” asked Masters.

  “I don’t know. I thought Bert or Bandy would have it. They always do take keys out of wardrobes and chests of drawers and things, so they don’t get lost. The things are locked for travelling and the keys are put back when the pieces are put in the Corn Exchange. But Bert and Bandy said they didn’t have the key.”

  “The box was locked when they collected it from wherever they did collect it?”

  “That’s what they said.”

  “Now there’s a funny thing. There’s still no key to that chest, but it is open, not shut.”

  “I know. I told you I saw inside at the Exchange. There was still no key there, so I thought I’d been mistaken and the lid had got jammed in the warehouse.”

  Masters got to his feet. “Never mind, Mr Lamont. Now, if you’d care to come with us. . . .”

  “Where to?”

  “The police station. No, don’t worry. We’re not arresting you. We’re going to take a statement from you. A very long, full statement. You’ll be there until after lunchtime.”

  “But my work?”

  “Your liberty, Mr Lamont.”

  Lamont gave a resigned shr
ug. Masters said: “Would you mind driving us there in your car? Then you’ll have it with you for coming back in.”

  “May I just tell. . . .”

  “No, Mr Lamont. Let’s just keep this a secret between us, shall we? We don’t want people to get the wrong idea and to think you’re under arrest.”

  “No! No, I suppose not.”

  *

  Lamont was shown into the interview room. Masters and Green conferred outside the door.

  “Do you really want his statement, George?”

  “Most definitely. But I dragged him here with us because I didn’t want him talking.”

  “Who to?”

  “Williams. From the way you came whistling into that office I take it you did find a medicine chest in one of the Coleford auctions?”

  “That’s right. I checked it out. Williams bought it for sixteen pounds. He made a nice profit on it if he offloaded for ninety. Seventy-four quid, just like that.”

  “He didn’t make any profit on it. He made a loss of sixteen pounds.”

  “What?”

  “That’s the chest Benson’s got.”

  Green stared, open mouthed.

  “That’s right,” said Masters, “only one chest with croton oil in it. Two would be a bit much, wouldn’t it?”

  “I don’t get it. There’d have to be two if the oil wasn’t taken from Benson’s bottle.”

  “No, Greeny. Williams bought the first chest. Took out some of the croton oil, said he’d sold the chest at a fancy price, but in fact, he put it into a house, the contents of which were to be sold at the next auction.”

  “Why, for heaven’s sake?”

  “Don’t you recognise Williams’ style? He tells Lamont that he got ninety pounds for a medicine chest. The next thing Lamont knows is that there’s a medicine chest for sale. What’s Lamont going to do?”

  “Try to buy it on the sly.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But all that rubbish about the key?”

  “Williams had to make sure that things weren’t nicked from the box by Bert or Bandy. So he locked it. He had to open it once it arrived at the Exchange, to make sure Lamont would see it was full and worth bidding for. But he couldn’t leave the key in the lock, because it was highly probable that Lamont would have asked Bert and Bandy for it, and he would have been told there wasn’t one. So he had to risk that Lamont would accept a jammed lid, which he did.”

  “Exactly the same sort of ploy he played on Hardy over the development scheme. Subtle, Benson called him.”

  “Right. And he did the same thing with Lamont over the gimmel flask. He made sure by hint and innuendo that Lamont couldn’t lift the flask but had to bid for it in public. Then Williams pinched the bottle. Lamont’s story that it was stolen would sound very phoney to police investigating a murder in which—as Williams made sure—a gimmel flask was to play so great a part.”

  “Too bloody true it sounded phoney.”

  “Then, I asked Lamont what Williams collected, if anything. He said old books of a technical nature. When you search his house, look for an old medical book or one on pharmacognosy which mentions croton oil, won’t you?”

  “You’re not coming?”

  “No, I’ll have to leave it to Frimley to be in nominal charge—for the sake of local pride.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Williams could come and go at Hardy’s place without appearing suspicious. He’d know Hardy used a gimmel flask. So I think it’s all tied up.”

  “I wonder if I can find the key to that chest?” murmured Green

  “No,” replied Masters. “That and the flask will be beyond out finding now. Williams is no fool.”

  “I don’t know. You’ve managed to nobble him without even meeting him.”

  “Still. . . .” Masters shook his head.

  “Motive?” asked Green.

  “Does it matter? But I’d say if you were the middle partner of three in a prosperous business, it would be decidedly to your financial advantage to kill off the senior man and have the junior one go to jail for life for doing so.”

  “I like it,” said Green.

  “Right,” said Masters. “Find Frimley and Hoame and the three of you bring Williams in. I’ll get Reed to take Lamont’s statement. Meanwhile I’ve three phone calls to make.”

  “Three?”

  “One to Telford. One to Wanda. And one to your good lady to tell her the weekend is still on, starting tomorrow as previously arranged.”

  Green nodded his approval.

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