by John Bude
“And there’s another point, sir.”
“Well, Sergeant?”
“Well, sir, it’s that idea of the body being dumped in the sea.”
“You don’t like it, eh?”
“No, I’m darned if I do, sir. You see, when Miss Westmacott and I walked out over the rocks yesterday we found it pretty hard going. Devilish difficult to keep your feet in daylight. But for a chap to negotiate them at night carrying a dead weight, say, of twelve stone…well, he’d be lucky if he didn’t break his leg, let alone his neck!”
Meredith nodded his approval of this point.
“Quite an intelligent appreciation of the facts, m’lad.” He turned to Gibaud. “You agree?”
“As a matter of fact,” said Gibaud, “since I put forward the theory I’ve had some second thoughts about it myself.”
“How do you mean?”
“A question of the tides. Along this stretch of the coast they’re practically non-existent. Not a bit like your English tides. Even if the body were carried out from the rocks, I’m pretty certain it would be washed ashore again in a few hours.”
“More sound sense, eh? And there’s yet another fact that helps to put the kibosh on this ‘dumping’ theory.”
Strang asked:
“What’s that, sir?”
“Good heavens! Don’t you get it? The Vedette! If the murderer hoped to dispose of the evidence in this way why abandon the car about a hundred yards from the spot where the body was dropped into the water? Crazy, eh? It’s simply drawing attention to the very thing he was anxious to conceal.”
“Exactement!” exclaimed Gibaud. “But the béret? Mrs. Hedderwick was convinced that it belonged to Shenton.”
“I think it did,” said Meredith. “But isn’t it possible that the béret was planted out on the rocks deliberately?”
“You mean as a red-herring, sir?”
“Precisely, Sergeant. The set-up as I see it is this. A murder is committed at Point A. The murderer’s car is abandoned at Point B. And the body is concealed at Point C. Always assuming,” added Meredith with his usual caution, “that a murder has been committed. And always bearing in mind that if it has the victim may not be Tony Shenton.”
III
But for all Meredith’s conviction that the body hadn’t been dumped in the sea, they very sensibly made a long and exhaustive search along the rocky shores of the outermost point of the cape. They found nothing. Not even a bloodstain to suggest that the body had been man-handled from the road to the water’s edge. It was just as they’d anticipated.
With Gibaud at the wheel of the Vedette and Meredith and Strang in the police-car, they drove back along the coast-road to the Villa Paloma. While Gibaud was telephoning Blampignon about these latest developments, Meredith seized on the chance to have a further talk with Nesta Hedderwick.
Certain now that her forebodings hadn’t led her astray, the poor woman was on the verge of a collapse. Although the Inspector was careful to avoid the suggestion, she quickly grasped the fact that the police, after their visit to Cap Martin, now suspected foul play. With an effort, however, she managed to pull herself together and answer Meredith’s questions with reasonable composure.
From the Inspector’s point-of-view this interview was highly successful. Quite a lot of significant information was forthcoming. When Mrs. Hedderwick claimed that nobody had seen Shenton since dinner the previous evening, it now seemed that the statement was not strictly accurate. Admittedly, when she’d discovered that Shenton’s bed hadn’t been slept in, she’d trailed round the house asking everybody if they’d seen anything of him. But there were two members of the household whom she hadn’t been able to question for the simple reason that they weren’t there. Directly after breakfast that morning, Kitty Linden and this fellow, Dillon, had driven off in the latter’s car to spend a day up in the mountains. According to Mrs. Hedderwick they’d taken a picnic lunch—so the chances were that they wouldn’t be available for cross-examination until some time that evening. So much for that.
Questioning the unhappy woman about the relationship between these young people, Meredith found himself face to face with a really significant clue. During the last few days there’d been a marked coolness between Kitty Linden and Shenton, though previously they’d been more or less living in each other’s pockets. There was no doubt in Mrs. Hedderwick’s mind that Kitty was hopelessly infatuated with Shenton, a feeling that to a certain extent the young man had reciprocated. Now they’d evidently had a drastic quarrel and Kitty, that morning, had gone off for the day with Dillon. Was there anything in it? wondered Meredith. Here, at any rate, was the familiar and everlasting triangle that time and again had supplied a motive for murder. And in this case? Was it outside the bounds of reason that Dillon, consumed by jealousy, had quarrelled with his rival and in a blind and impassioned moment stabbed him? Well, such things had happened before and they’d happen again. It would be interesting to know if Dillon could have made contact with Shenton the previous evening, possibly, somewhere outside the villa.
But here Mrs. Hedderwick proved a broken reed. Immediately after dinner she’d gone up to her bedroom with a headache. She’d no idea whether Dillon had left the house or not during the remainder of the evening. But why not ask her niece? She would probably know.
He found the girl out on the terrace, more or less entwined with Acting-Sergeant Strang. Apart from this visual clue, their embarrassment at his unheralded appearance clearly showed that they hadn’t been wasting their time. And Meredith was equally determined not to waste his! A few deft questions and his interest in Dillon as a possible suspect was injected with a new liveliness. The girl’s evidence was clear and to the point. Summarized in the Inspector’s notebook it read thus:—
9 o’clock (circa) Madame Bonnet, the cook, heard Shenton drive off in the Vedette.
9.30 (circa) Dillon seen leaving house by Dilys W. When questioned by girl stated he was going to take stroll down to sea to get some fresh air.
10.40—Dillon returned and joined girl and Kitty Linden in lounge. After a brief chat and drink went up to bed.
11.10—Dilys and Kitty went up to bed. Dilys heard sound of running water in wash-basin of Dillon’s room. Called out “Good-night”. Dillon answered.
Thanking the young woman for her co-operation, Meredith, followed somewhat reluctantly by his chastened subordinate, strolled out to the car where Gibaud was already seated at the wheel.
“Well,” demanded Meredith, “how did our good friend Blampignon react to the news?”
“He’s coming over without delay. One good bit of news anyway. Bourmin’s been pulled in without any trouble. But this latest twist had got poor Blampignon thoroughly rattled. He suggests we have a scrambled lunch and meet him in my office at one-thirty. Can you make it?”
Meredith glanced at his watch.
“Five past one.” He grinned. “Five minutes to reach the hotel, leaving us twenty minutes to get outside a four course lunch! Well, I suppose it can be done. Don’t worry, my dear fellow, we’ll be there.”
Chapter XVII
Fatal Plunge
I
Punctual to the minute, having forgone that four course lunch for a deliciously fluffy omelette aux fines herbes, Meredith and Strang joined their French colleagues in Gibaud’s office. For once the smile on Blampignon’s moon-like countenance was conspicuously absent. He slumped in his chair, contemplating his upturned feet with the disgruntled expression of a small boy, who, at the last minute, had been deprived of some long anticipated treat. He grunted without preliminary:
“This is bad news, mes amis. It is a complication we did not anticipate. You have no doubt that Shenton has been murdered, eh?”
“Well, if the bloodstains on the car are anything to go by somebody’s been murdered—or at any rate pretty badly wounded. But I’m not saying, ipso f
acto, this ‘somebody’s’ Shenton.”
“What have you learnt since Gibaud rang me from the villa?”
Meredith gave details of the information he’d picked up during his interviews with Mrs. Hedderwick and her niece. He went on:
“If we assume that Shenton’s kaput, then we can’t shut our eyes to the significance of Miss Westmacott’s evidence concerning Dillon’s movements after dinner last night. After all, if the fellow’s in love with the Linden girl…well, there’s a possible motive for the crime.”
“Mais oui—the motive,” agreed Blampignon. “But what of the modus operandi? Consider the facts. The car is found out on Cap Martin and it is quite a long distance from the Avenue St. Michel to Cap Martin. And what is the time available? You say Dillon leave the villa at nine-thirty and return a little after ten-thirty. One hour, eh? Is it possible that Dillon could have been there and back in the time?”
Meredith pulled a wry grimace.
“On the face of it—no. But taking into consideration all the known facts, I still think we can put forward a plausible reconstruction of the crime. This way. Suppose Dillon had arranged to meet Shenton outside the villa—perhaps to discuss their relationship in regard to the Linden girl. And suppose Shenton was standing beside his parked car when Dillon showed up. The roads in the vicinity of the Villa Paloma, I imagine, would be fairly dark and deserted at night. O.K. then. Dillon draws a knife, stabs Shenton before he can defend himself, and conceals his body at some suitable spot nearby—retaining, of course, that tell-tale black béret. He then drives the Vedette hell-for-leather out to Cap Martin, abandons it by the roadside, and plants the béret on the rocks to suggest the body’s been dumped in the sea.” Meredith turned to Gibaud. “How far do you reckon it is from the Avenue St. Michel to the point where the car was discovered?”
Gibaud made a quick mental calculation and announced:
“At a rough estimate about two and a half kilometres. That’s to say a little over a mile and a half.”
“So by ten o’clock, I reckon Dillon could have been all set for his homeward journey, leaving him about thirty-five minutes in hand.”
“And no car,” put in Blampignon instantly.
“Quite,” nodded Meredith. “But even if he failed to cadge a lift or pick up a providential ’bus, I still think he could have covered the distance quite easily on foot…I mean, of course, in the time available. He’s an athletic type and from what I’ve seen of him in pretty good trim.” Meredith glanced round enquiringly. “Well, gentlemen, what do you think of it? Any objections?”
“Well, I don’t exactly want to butt in, sir,” put in Freddy deferentially.
“Well, Sergeant?”
“If Shenton was stabbed beside his car wouldn’t there be bloodstains on the road or pavement at the spot where the poor devil must have collapsed?”
“Perhaps there are,” contested Meredith succinctly. “So far we haven’t looked. It might be a sound scheme if we did.”
“Quite apart from searching the environs of the villa for the missing body,” suggested Gibaud. “Not that I’m criticizing your excellent reconstruction, my dear fellow. It certainly forms a working basis for our immediate investigation.” He turned to Blampignon. “You agree, sir?”
Blampignon hesitated a moment, then said with a lugubrious air of caution:
“I am not so sure of it, Gibaud. There are many little points to consider. The blood on the clothes of M’sieur Dillon, par exemple. Mam’selle Westmacott make no mention of this, but sacré nom! They would have been there! Nor does Mam’selle Westmacott tell us that he was in a state of agitation when he returns to the villa. She say nothing about this. But a man who has just committed a murder and walked, perhaps, some two and a half kilometres in—” There was a rap on the door. “Entrez!” sang out Blampignon. “Eh bien?”
“M’sieur Meredith is wanted on the telephone. It is Mam’selle Westmacott, M’sieur.”
“Your inamorata, eh, Sergeant?” said Meredith with a malicious glance. “I wonder what the devil she wants? Excuse me, gentlemen. Shan’t be a minute.”
In this Meredith underestimated the duration of his absence. It was a full five minutes before he returned to Gibaud’s office. As he glanced slowly round the circle of enquiring faces, there was a grim expression on his aquiline features.
“Eh bien?” shot out Blampignon impatiently. “What is it? You look as if you have heard bad news, mon ami.”
“I have,” said Meredith curtly.
“Well?” demanded Gibaud.
“About an hour ago our friend Dillon committed suicide!”
“Suicide!” exclaimed Blampignon, springing up in amazement.
Meredith nodded.
“He threw himself over a precipice!”
II
Blampignon was the first to recover from the shock of Meredith’s unexpected announcement.
“How did Mam’selle Westmacott learn of this?”
“Kitty Linden’s just been brought back to the villa in a state of collapse. She was picked up in a fainting condition somewhere near a spot called the Col de Braus by an American tourist. The girl was evidently able to gasp out what had happened and give her address before she passed out completely.”
“Tiens!” exclaimed Blampignon. “And this American?”
“He’s driving round here straight away. He’s promised Miss Westmacott to pilot us to the place where the tragedy occurred. So far the body hasn’t been recovered. I reckon that unfortunate lady’s got a tidy lot on her plate this morning—what with her aunt on the verge of hysterics and this Linden wench flat out on the sofa. Just didn’t know where to turn for help. That’s why she rang me.”
“Suicide, eh?” put in Gibaud with a sagacious nod. “Accepting your theory that Dillon’s responsible for Shenton’s disappearance, this might be the logical outcome of his actions.”
Meredith observed:
“Death due to a guilty conscience, eh? The same thought occurred to me. But until we—”
All further speculation was cut short by the entry of the Desk Sergeant with the news that an American gentleman by the name of M’sieur Bucknell had called to see Inspector Meredith.
“Très bien,” said Blampignon. “The Inspector will join him in a moment.” He turned to Meredith. “It is necessary that I return to Nice for a conference, mon ami. You will let me know the details of what happen this morning up on the Col de Braus. Also what progress you make in the case of the missing Shenton. I understand, naturellement, that now you have made the arrest of Cobbett, your assignment is officially at an end. But I am ringing the Yard at once to ask the Commissioner if he will not allow you and Sergeant Strang to stay on here until we solve the puzzle of Shenton. You are agreeable to this?”
“Nothing I’d like better, my dear fellow, if the A.C.’s prepared to play.”
“Bon! Then that is settled.” Blampignon swung round on Gibaud. “I wish for Cobbett to be taken out to my car—hooded and handcuffed. You understand? Perhaps when we have—how do you say?—grilled him a little he will tell us where we may find M’sieur Latour! We must not forget that he is still at large. Nor must we forget the possibility that he might have knifed our friend Shenton. For reasons that, at the moment,” concluded Blampignon, “are not apparent to us.”
III
Bucknell’s car, a long sleek glittering saloon, took the gradients up from Menton like a thoroughbred. The American handled the car with the casual ease of a man who has spent a lifetime crossing continents and mountains behind a steering-wheel. He was an uninhibited, talkative sort of chap and, in the first ten minutes, Meredith had learnt quite a bit about him. He was on his way to Rome for an international get-together of hoteliers, having nosed his way over the Alpes Maritimes via Grenoble. The fact that his journey south had been interrupted by this unexpected contretemps left him utterly
unruffled.
Some little way beyond Castillon, Bucknell slowed down and pointed out the spot where he’d found the girl slumped by the roadside.
“I noticed the parked auto about a mile up the road. I guess that marks the actual spot where this guy, Dillon, went over the edge.”
“Wonder why the girl didn’t make use of the car?” observed Meredith.
“I asked her that myself. Seems that she can’t drive. If you ask me it’s darned lucky I happened along when I did. Not exactly a traffic jam up here, huh?”
Bucknell was right about that. It was strange, after the colourful activity of the coast towns, to find oneself after a comparatively short run amid the grandeur and desolation of the mountains. When a few minutes later Bucknell pulled in beside the parked car and Meredith stepped out, the panorama stretched out before him took his breath away. The road at this point, curving round a spur of the mountainside with a precipice dropping away sheer on its outer edge, formed a kind of natural look-out. Dillon’s Stanmobile had been parked in a providential recess on the inner side of the road, and since a large tartan rug had been spread out on the rocky verge beside the car it was obvious that the couple had selected this spot for their picnic lunch. Meredith noticed that a low wooden fence had been erected, presumably by the local authorities, along the outer curve of the road. As Strang, who’d been sitting in the back of the car, came forward to join him, Meredith observed:
“Well, this precludes the possibility of accident. The fence isn’t particularly high, I admit, but nobody could go over the edge without first climbing it. I couldn’t see why the girl was so certain that Dillon threw himself over deliberately. Now it’s obvious.”
Cautiously climbing the fence, Meredith inched his way to the brink of the precipice and gazed down. Admittedly the Inspector had a good head for heights, but even he was affected by a momentary vertigo as his eyes raked the rock-strewn valley below for any sign of the body. Then suddenly, as his head cleared, he saw a gleam of white against the dun-coloured background of rock and scrub.