The Inspector shook his head.
"Won't wash, Major Porter. If Captain Allenson had fired that shot close to his body, the cloth would have been singed."
"He might have held the pistol at arm's length."
"Why should he? No sense in it. Besides, there's no motive."
"Might have gone off his head suddenly," muttered Porter, but without any great conviction. He fell to silence again, suddenly rousing himself to say defiantly--"Well, Mr. Quin?"
The latter shook his head.
"I'm not a magician. I'm not even a criminologist. But I will tell you one thing--I believe in the value of impressions. In any time of crisis, there is always one moment that stands out from all the others, one picture that remains when all else has faded. Mr. Satterthwaite is, I think, likely to have been the most unprejudiced observer of those present. Will you cast your mind back, Mr. Satterthwaite, and tell us the moment that made the strongest impression on you? Was it when you heard the shots? Was it when you first saw the dead bodies? Was it when you first observed the pistol in Mrs. Staverton's hand? Clear your mind of any preconceived standard of values, and tell us."
Mr. Satterthwaite fixed his eyes on Mr. Quin's face, rather as a schoolboy might repeat a lesson of which he was not sure.
"No," he said slowly. "It was not any of those. The moment that I shall always remember was when I stood alone by the bodies--afterwards--looking down on Mrs. Scott. She was lying on her side. Her hair was ruffled. There was a spot of blood on her little ear."
And instantly, as he said it, he felt that he had said a terrific, a significant thing.
"Blood on her ear? Yes, I remember," said Unkerton slowly.
"Her earring must have been torn out when she fell," explained Mr. Satterthwaite.
But it sounded a little improbable as he said it.
"She was lying on her left side," said Porter. "I suppose it was that ear?"
"No," said Mr. Satterthwaite quickly. "It was her right ear."
The Inspector coughed.
"I found this in the grass," he vouchsafed. He held up a loop of gold wire.
"But, my God, man," cried Porter. "The thing can't have been wrenched to pieces by a mere fall. It's more as though it had been shot away by a bullet."
"So it was," cried Mr. Satterthwaite. "It was a bullet. It must have been."
"There were only two shots," said the Inspector. "A shot can't have grazed her ear and shot her in the back as well. And if one shot carried away the earring, and the second shot killed her, it can't have killed Captain Allenson as well--not unless he was standing close in front of her--very close--facing her as it might be. Oh I no, not even then, unless, that is------"
"Unless she was in his arms, you were going to say," said Mr. Quin, with a queer little smile. "Well, why not?"
Everyone stared at each other. The idea was so vitally strange to them--Allenson and Mrs. Scott--Mr. Unkerton voiced the same feeling.
"But they hardly knew each other," he said.
"I don't know," said Mr. Satterthwaite thoughtfully. "They might have known each other better than we thought. Lady Cynthia said he saved her from being bored in Egypt last winter, and you"--he turned to Porter--"you told me that Richard Scott met his wife in Cairo last winter. They might have known each other very well indeed out there..."
"They didn't seem to be together much," said Unkerton.
"No--they rather avoided each other. It was almost unnatural, now I come to think of it------."
They all looked at Mr. Quin, as if a little startled at the conclusions at which they had arrived so unexpectedly.
Mr. Quin rose to his feet.
"You see," he said, "what Mr. Satterthwaite's impression has done for us." he turned to Unkerton, "It is your turn now."
"Eh? I don't understand you."
"You were very thoughtful when I came into this room. I should like to know exactly what thought it was that obsessed you. Never mind if it has nothing to do with the tragedy. Never mind if it seems to you--superstitious------"
Mr. Unkerton started, ever so slightly. "Tell us."
"I don't mind telling you," said Unkerton. "Though it's nothing to do with the business, and you'll probably laugh at me into the bargain. I was wishing that my Missus had left well alone and not replaced that pane of glass in the haunted window. I feel as though doing that has maybe brought a curse upon us."
He was unable to understand why the two men opposite him stared so.
"But she hasn't replaced it yet," said Mr. Satterthwaite at last.
"Yes, she has. Man came first thing this morning."
"My God!" said Porter, "I begin to understand. That room, it's panelled, I supposed, not papered?"
"Yes, but what does that------?"
But Porter had swung out of the room. The other followed him. He went straight upstairs to the Scotts' bedroom It was a charming room, panelled in cream with two windows facing south. Porter felt with his hands along the panels on the western wall.
"There's a spring somewhere--must be. Ah!" There was a click, and a section of the panelling rolled back. It disclosed the grimy panes of the haunted window. One pane of glass was clean and new. Porter stooped quickly and picked up something. He held it out on the palm of his hand. It was a fragment of ostrich feather. Then he looked at Mr. Quin. Mr. Quin nodded.
He went across to the hat cupboard in the bedroom. There were several hats in it--the dead woman's hats. He took out one with a large brim and curling feathers--an elaborate Ascot hat.
Mr. Quin began speaking in a gentle, reflective voice. "Let us suppose," said Mr. Quin, "a man who is by nature intensely jealous. A man who has stayed here in bygone years and knows the secret of the spring in the panelling. To amuse himself he opens it one day, and looks out over the Privy Garden. There, secure as they think from being overlooked, he sees his wife and another man. There can be no possible doubt in his mind as to the relations between them. He is mad with rage. What shall he do? An idea comes to him. He goes to the cupboard and puts on the hat with the brim and feathers. It is growing dusk, and he remembers the story of the stain on the glass. Anyone looking up at the window will see as they think the Watching Cavalier. Thus secure he watches them, and at the moment they are clasped in each other's arms, he shoots. He is a good shot--a wonderful shot. As they fall, he fires once more--that shot carries away the earring. He flings the pistol out of the window into the Privy Garden, rushes downstairs and out through the billiard room." Porter took a step towards him.
"But he let her be accused!" he cried. "He stood by and let her be accused. Why? Why?"
"I think I know why," said Mr. Quin. "I should guess--it's only guess-work on my part, mind--that Richard Scott was once madly in love with Iris Staverton--so madly that even meeting her years afterwards stirred up the embers of jealousy again. I should say that Iris Staverton once fancied that she might love him, that she went on a hunting trip with him and another--and that she came back in love with the better man."
"The better man," muttered Porter, dazed. "You mean------?"
"Yes," said Mr. Quin, with a faint smile. "I mean you." He paused a minute, and then said: "If I were you--I should go to her now."
"I will," said Porter.
He turned and left the room.
CHAPTER THREE
AT THE "BELLS AND MOTLEY"
MR. SATTERTHWAITE was annoyed. Altogether it had been an unfortunate day. They had started late, there had been two punctures already, finally, they had taken the wrong turning and lost themselves amidst the wilds of Salisbury Plain. Now it was close on eight o'clock, they were still a matter of forty miles from Marswick Manor whither they were bound, and a third puncture had supervened to render matters still more trying.
Mr. Satterthwaite, looking like some small bird whose plumage had been ruffled, walked up and down in front of the village garage whilst his chauffeur conversed in hoarse undertones with the local expert.
"Half an hour at least" s
aid that worthy pronouncing judgment.
"And lucky at that," supplemented Masters, the chauffeur. "More like three quarters if you ask me."
"What is this--place, anyway?" demanded Mr. Satterthwaite fretfully. Being a little gentleman considerate of the feelings of others, he substituted the word "place" for "God-forsaken hole" which had first risen to his lips.
"Kirtlington Mallet."
Mr. Satterthwaite was not much wiser, and yet a faint familiarity seemed to linger round the name. He looked round him disparagingly. Kirtlington Mallet seemed to consist of one straggling street, the garage and the post office on one side of it balanced by three indeterminate shops on the other side. Farther down the road, however, Mr. Satterthwaite perceived something that creaked and swung in the wind, and his spirits rose ever so slightly. "There's an Inn here, I see," he remarked. "'Bells and Motley,'" said the garage man. "That's it-- yonder."
"If I might make a suggestion, sir," said Masters, "why not try it? They would be able to give you some sort of a meal, no doubt--not, of course, what you are accustomed to." He paused apologetically, for Mr. Satterthwaite was accustomed to the best cooking of continental chefs, and had in his own service a cordon bleu to whom he paid a fabulous salary.
"We shan't be able to take the road again for another three quarters of an hour, sir. I'm sure of that. And it's already past eight o'clock. You could ring up Sir George Foster, sir, from the Inn, and acquaint him with the cause of our delay."
"You seem to think you can arrange everything, Masters," said Mr. Satterthwaite snappily.
Masters, who did think so, maintained a respectful silence Mr. Satterthwaite, in spite of his earnest wish to discountenance any suggestion that might possibly be made to him--he was in that mood--nevertheless looked down the road towards the creaking Inn sign with faint inward approval. He was a man of birdlike appetite, an epicure, but even such men can be hungry.
""The Bells and Motley,'" he said thoughtfully. "That's an odd name for an Inn. I don't know that I ever heard it before."
"There's odd folks come to it by all account," said the local man.
He was bending over the wheel, and his voice came muffled and indistinct
"Odd folks?" queried Mr. Satterthwaite. "Now what do you mean by that?"
The other hardly seemed to know what he meant.
"Folks that come and go. That kind," he said vaguely.
Mr. Satterthwaite reflected that people who come to an Inn are almost of necessity those who "come and go." The definition seemed to him to lack precision. But nevertheless his curiosity was stimulated. Somehow or other he had got to put in three quarters of an hour. The "Bells and Motley" would be as good as anywhere else.
With his usual small mincing steps he walked away down the road. From afar there came a rumble of thunder. The mechanic looked up and spoke to Masters.
"There's a storm coming over. Thought I could feel it in the air."
"Crikey," said Masters. "And forty miles to go."
"Ah!" said the other. "There's no need to be hurrying over this job. You'll not be wanting to take the road till the storm's passed over. That little boss of yours doesn't look as though he'd relish being out in thunder and lightning."
"Hope they'll do him well at that place," muttered the chauffeur. "I'll be pushing along there for a bite myself presently."
"Billy Jones is all right," said the garage man. "Keeps a good table."
Mr. William Jones, a big burly man of fifty and landlord of the "Bells and Motley," was at this minute beaming ingratiatingly down on little Mr. Satterthwaite.
"Can do you a nice steak, sir--and fried potatoes, and as good a cheese as any gentleman could wish for. This way, sir, in the coffee-room. We're not very full at present, the last of the fishing gentlemen just gone. A little later we'll be full again for the hunting. Only one gentleman here at present, name of Quin------"
Mr. Satterthwaite stopped dead.
"Quin?" he said excitedly. "Did you say Quin?"
"That's the name, sir. Friend of yours perhaps?"
"Yes, indeed. Oh! Yes, most certainly." Twittering with excitement, Mr. Satterthwaite hardly realised that the world might contain more than one man of that name. He had no doubts at all. In an odd way, the information fitted in with what the man at the garage had said. "Folks that come and go..." a very apt description of Mr. Quin. And the name of the Inn, too, seemed a peculiarly fitting and appropriate one.
"Dear me, dear me," said Mr. Satterthwaite. "What a very odd thing. That we should meet like this! Mr. Harley Quin, is it not?"
"That's right, sir. This is the coffee-room, sir. Ah! Here is the gentleman."
Tall, dark, smiling, the familiar figure of Mr. Quin rose from the table at which he was sitting, and the well-remembered voice spoke.
"Ah! Mr. Satterthwaite, we meet again. An unexpected meeting!"
Mr. Satterthwaite was shaking him warmly by the hand. "Delighted. Delighted, I'm sure. A lucky breakdown for me. My car, you know. And you are staying here? For long?"
"One night only."
"Then I am indeed fortunate."
Mr. Satterthwaite sat down opposite his friend with a little sigh of satisfaction, and regarded the dark, smiling face opposite him with a pleasurable expectancy. The other man shook his head gently. "I assure you, " he said, "that I have not a bowl of goldfish or a rabbit to produce from my sleeve."
"Too bad, " cried Mr. Satterthwaite, a little taken aback. "Yes, I must confess--I do rather adopt that attitude towards you. A man of magic. Ha, ha. That is how I regard you. A man of magic."
"And yet, " said Mr. Quin, "it is you who do the conjuring tricks, not I."
"Ah!" said Mr. Satterthwaite eagerly. "But I cannot do them without you. I lack--shall we say--inspiration?" Mr. Quin smilingly shook his head.
"That is too big a word. I speak the cue, that is all"
The landlord came in at that minute with bread and a slab of yellow butter. As he set the things on the table there was a vivid flash of lightning, and a clap of thunder almost overhead.
"A wild night, gentlemen."
"On such a night------", began Mr. Satterthwaite, and stopped.
"Funny now," said the landlord, unconscious of the question, "if those weren't just the words I was going to use myself. It was just such a night as this when Captain Harwell brought his bride home, the very day before he disappeared for ever."
"Ah!" cried Mr. Satterthwaite suddenly. "Of course!"
He had got the clue. He knew now why the name Kirtlington Mallet was familiar. Three months before he had read every detail of the astonishing disappearance of Captain Richard Harwell. Like other newspaper readers all over Great Britain he had puzzled over the details of the disappearance, and, also like every other Briton, had evolved his own theories.
"Of course," he repeated. "It was at Kirtlington Mallet it happened."
"It was at this house he stayed for the hunting last winter," said the landlord. "Oh! I knew him well. A main handsome young gentleman and not one that you'd think had a care on his mind. He was done away with--that's my belief. Many's the time I've seen them come riding home together--he and Miss Le Couteau, and all the village saying there'd be a match come of it--and sure enough, so it did. A very beautiful young lady, and well thought of, for all she was a Canadian and a stranger. Ah! There's some dark mystery there. We'll never know the rights of it. It broke her heart, it did, sure enough. You've heard as she's sold the place up and gone abroad, couldn't abear to go on here with everyone staring and pointing after her--through no fault of her own, poor young dear! A black mystery, that's what it is."
He shook his head, then suddenly recollecting his duties, hurried from the room.
"A black mystery," said Mr. Quin softly.
His voice was provocative in Mr. Satterthwaite's ears.
"Are you pretending that we can solve the mystery where Scotland Yard failed?" he asked sharply.
The other made a characteristic gesture.
"Why not? Time has passed. Three months. That makes a difference."
"That is a curious idea of yours," said Mr. Satterthwaite slowly. "That one sees things better afterwards than at the time."
"The longer the time that has elapsed, the more things fall into proportion. One sees them in their true relationship to one another."
Agatha Christie - Mysterious Mr Quin Page 5