‘Humph!’ said Alec noncommittally.
‘Well, can you find a single flaw in it?’ Roger asked, in some exasperation.
‘If it comes to that,’ Alec replied slowly, ‘why was it that both Mrs Plant and Jefferson suddenly had no objection to the safe being opened, after they’d both shown that they were anxious to prevent it?’
‘Easy!’ Roger retorted. ‘While we were upstairs, Jefferson opened the safe and took out the documents. It would only take a minute, after all. Any objection to that?’
‘Did the inspector leave the keys behind? I thought he put them in his pocket.’
‘No, he left them on the table, and Jefferson put them in his pocket. I remember noticing that at the time, and wondering why he did it. Now it’s obvious, of course.’
‘Well, what about that little pile of ashes in the library hearth? You suggested that it might be the remains of some important documents, and you thought that Jefferson looked uncommonly relieved at the idea.’
‘My mistake at the time,’ Roger said promptly. ‘As for the ashes, they might have been anything. I don’t attach any importance to them.’
‘But you did!’ Alec persisted obstinately.
‘Yes, excellent but sponge-headed Alexander,’ Roger explained patiently, ‘because I thought at first that they were important. Now I see that I was mistaken, and they aren’t. Are you beginning to grasp the idea?’
‘Well, tell me this, then,’ Alec said suddenly. ‘Why the dickens didn’t Jefferson get the documents out of the safe directly after Stanworth’s death, instead of waiting till the next morning and getting so agitated about it?’
‘Yes, I thought of that. Presumably because they were both so flustered at what had happened that they forgot all about the documents in their anxiety to cover up their traces and get away.’
Alec sniffed slightly. ‘Rather unlikely that, isn’t it? Not natural, as you’re always so fond of saying.’
‘Unlikely things do happen sometimes, however. This one did, for instance.’
‘Then you’re absolutely convinced that Jefferson killed Stanworth, and that’s how it all happened, are you?’
‘I am, Alexander.’
‘Oh!’
‘Well, aren’t you?’
‘No,’ Alec said uncompromisingly. ‘I’m not.’
‘But dash it all, I’ve proved it to you. You can’t shove all my proofs on one side in that offhand way. The whole thing stands to reason. You can’t get away from it.’
‘If you say that Jefferson killed Stanworth,’ Alec proceeded with obstinate deliberation, ‘then I’m perfectly sure you’re wrong. That’s all.’
‘But why?’
‘Because I don’t believe he did,’ said Alec, with an air of great wisdom. ‘He’s not the sort of fellow to do a thing like that. I suppose I’ve got a sort of intuition about it,’ he added modestly.
‘Intuition be hanged!’ Roger retorted, with a not unjustified irritation. ‘You can’t back your blessed intuition against proofs like the ones I’ve just given you.’
‘But I do,’ Alec said simply. ‘Every time,’ he added, with a careful attention to detail.
‘Then I wash my hands of you,’ said Roger shortly.
For a time they paced side by side in silence. Alec appeared to be pondering deeply, and Roger was undisguisedly huffy. After all, it is a little irksome to solve in so ingenious yet so convincing a way a problem of such apparently mysterious depth, only to be brought up against a blank wall of disbelief founded on so unstable a foundation as mere intuition. One’s sympathy is certainly with Roger at that moment.
‘Well, anyhow, what are you going to do about it?’ Alec asked, after some minutes’ reflection. ‘Surely you’re not going to tell the police without troubling to verify anything further, are you?’
‘Of course not. In fact, I haven’t made up my mind whether I shall tell the police at all yet.’
‘Oh!’
‘It depends largely on what the two of them – Jefferson and Mrs Plant – have to tell me.’
‘So you’re going to tackle them about it, are you?’
‘Of course.’
There was another short silence.
‘Are you going to see them together?’ Alec asked.
‘No, I shall speak to Mrs Plant first, I think. There are one or two minor points I want to clear up before I see Jefferson.’
Alec reflected again. ‘I shouldn’t, Roger, if I were you,’ he said quite earnestly.
‘Wouldn’t what?’
‘Speak to either of them about it. You’re not at all sure whether you’re really right or not; after all, it’s only guesswork from beginning to end, however brilliant guesswork.’
‘Guesswork!’ Roger repeated indignantly. ‘There isn’t any guesswork about it! It’s – ’
‘Yes, I know; you’re going to say it’s deduction. Well, you may be right or you may not; the thing’s too deep for me. But shall I tell you what I think about it? I think you’d be wise to drop the whole thing just as it is. You think you’ve solved it; and perhaps you have. Why not be content with that?’
‘But why this change of mind, Alexander?’
‘It isn’t a change of mind. You know I’ve never been keen on it from the very beginning. But now that Stanworth’s turned out to be such a skunk, why – ’
‘Yes, I see what you mean,’ Roger said softly. ‘You mean that if Jefferson did kill Stanworth, he was perfectly right to do so and we ought to let him get away with it, don’t you?’
‘Well,’ Alec said awkwardly, ‘I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, but – ’
‘But I don’t know that I wouldn’t,’ Roger interrupted. ‘That’s why I said just now that I hadn’t decided whether I’d tell the police or not. It all depends on whether things did happen as I imagine, or not. But the thing is, I must find out.’
‘But must you?’ Alec said slowly. ‘As things are at present, whatever you may think, you don’t actually know. And if you do find out for certain, it seems to me that you’ll be deliberately saddling yourself with a responsibility which you might wish then that you hadn’t been so jolly eager to adopt.’
‘If it comes to that, Alec,’ Roger retorted, ‘I should have said that to take no steps to find out the truth now we’re so near it is deliberately to shirk that very responsibility. Wouldn’t you?’
Alec was silent for a moment.
‘Hang that!’ he said with sudden energy. ‘Leave things as they are, Roger. There are some things of which it’s better that everyone should remain in ignorance. Don’t go and find out a lot of things that you’d give anything afterwards not to have discovered.’
Roger laughed lightly. ‘Oh, I know it’s the right thing to say, “Who am I to take the responsibility of judging you? No, it is not for me to do so. I will hand you over to the police, which means that you will inevitably be hanged. It’s a pity, because my personal opinion is that your case is not murder, but justifiable homicide; and I know that a jury, directed by a judge with his eye on the asinine side of the law, would never be allowed to take that view. That’s why I so much regret having myself to place a halter round your neck by handing you over to the police. But how is such a one as me to judge you?” That’s what they always say in storybooks, isn’t it? But don’t you worry, Alec. I’m not a spineless nincompoop like that, and I’m not in the least afraid of taking the responsibility of judging a case on its own merits; in fact, I consider that I’m very much more competent to do so than are twelve thick-headed rustics, presided over by a somnolent and tortuous-minded gentleman in an out-of-date wig. No, I’m going to follow this up to the bitter end, and when I’ve got there I’ll take counsel with you as to what we’re going to do about it.’
‘I wish to goodness you’d leave it alone, Roger,’ said Alec, almost plaintively.
chapter twenty – three
Mrs Plant Talks
The inquest, in spite of the snail-like deliberation demanded
by all legal processes, did not occupy more than an hour and a half. The issue was never in the least doubt, and the proceedings were more or less perfunctory. Fortunately the coroner was not of a particularly inquisitive disposition and was quite satisfied with the facts as they stood; he did not waste very much time, beyond what was absolutely necessary, in probing into such matters as motive. Only the minimum possible number of witnesses were called, and though Roger listened carefully, no new facts of any description came to light.
Mrs Plant gave her evidence clearly and without a tremor; Lady Stanworth’s statuesque calm was as unshaken as ever. Jefferson was in the witness box longer than anyone else, and told his story in his usual abrupt, straightforward manner.
‘You’d never think, to see and hear him, that his whole evidence is nothing but a pack of lies, would you?’ Roger whispered to Alec.
‘No, I wouldn’t; and what’s more I don’t,’ retorted that gentleman behind his hand. ‘It’s my belief that he thinks he’s telling the truth.’
Roger groaned gently.
As far as minor witnesses went, Graves, the butler, and Roger were both called to corroborate Jefferson’s tale of the breaking down of the door; and the former was questioned regarding his discovery of the confession, while Roger told of the locked windows. Alec was not even called at all.
The verdict, ‘Suicide during temporary insanity,’ was inevitable.
As they left the morning room Roger caught Alec’s arm.
‘I’m going to try and get hold of Mrs Plant now, before lunch,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Do you want to be present, or not?’
Alec hesitated. ‘What exactly are you going to do?’ he asked.
‘Tax her with having been blackmailed by Stanworth, and invite her to tell me the truth about the night before last.’
‘Then I don’t want to be there,’ Alec said with decision. ‘The whole thing absolutely sickens me.’
Roger nodded approvingly. ‘I think it’s better that you shouldn’t be, I’m bound to say. And I can tell you afterwards what happened.’
‘When shall I see you, then?’
‘After lunch. I’ll have a word with you before I tackle Jefferson.’
He edged away from Alec and intercepted Mrs Plant, who was on the point of ascending the staircase. Jefferson and Lady Stanworth were still talking with the coroner in the morning room.
‘Mrs Plant,’ he said quietly, ‘can you spare me a few minutes? I want to have a little chat with you.’
Mrs Plant glanced at him sharply.
‘But I’m just going up to finish my packing,’ she objected.
‘What I have to say is very much more important than packing,’ Roger returned weightily, unconsciously regarding her from beneath lowered brows.
Mrs Plant laughed nervously. ‘Dear me, Mr Sheringham, you sound very impressive. What is it that you want to speak to me about?’
‘If you will come out into the garden where we shall not be overheard, I will tell you.’
For a moment she hesitated, with a longing glance up the staircase as if she wished to escape from something peculiarly unwelcome. Then with a little shrug of her shoulders she turned into the hall.
‘Oh, very well,’ she said, with an assumption of lightness. ‘If you really make such a point of it.’
Roger piloted her out through the front door, picking up a couple of folding garden chairs as he passed through the hall. He led the way into a deserted corner of the rose garden that could not be overlooked from the house, and set up his chairs so that they faced one another.
‘Will you sit down, Mrs Plant?’ he said gravely.
If he had been trying to work up an atmosphere with a view to facilitating further developments, Roger appeared to have succeeded. Mrs Plant seated herself without a word and looked at him apprehensively.
Roger sat down with deliberation and gazed at her for a moment in silence. Then:
‘It has come to my knowledge that you were not speaking the truth to me yesterday about your visit to the library, Mrs Plant,’ he said slowly.
Mrs Plant started. ‘Really, Mr Sheringham!’ she exclaimed, flushing with indignation and rising hurriedly to her feet. ‘I fail to understand what right you have to insult me in this gross way. This is the second time you have attempted to question me, and you will allow me to say that I consider your conduct presumptuous and impertinent in the highest degree. I should be obliged if you would kindly refrain from making me the target for your abominable lack of manners in future.’
Roger gazed up at her unperturbed.
‘You were really there,’ he continued impressively, ‘for the purpose of being blackmailed by Mr Stanworth.’
Mrs Plant sat down so suddenly that it seemed as if her knees had collapsed beneath her. Her hands gripped the sides of her chair till the knuckles were as white as her face.
‘Now look here, Mrs Plant,’ Roger said, leaning forward and speaking rapidly, ‘there’s been something very funny going on here, and I mean to get to the bottom of it. Believe me, I don’t mean you any harm. I’m absolutely on your side, if things are as I believe them to be. But I must know the truth. As a matter of fact, I think I know pretty well everything already; but I want you to confirm it for me with your own lips. I want you to tell me the plain, unvarnished truth of what happened in Stanworth’s library the night before last.’
‘And if I refuse?’ almost whispered Mrs Plant, through bloodless lips.
Roger shrugged his shoulders. ‘You leave me with absolutely no alternative. I shall have to tell the police what I know and leave the rest in their hands.’
‘The police?’
‘Yes. And I assure you I am not bluffing. As I said, I think I know almost everything already. I know, for instance, that you sat on the couch and begged Mr Stanworth to let you off; that you cried, in fact, when he refused to do so. Then you said you hadn’t any money, didn’t you? And he offered to take your jewels instead. Then – Oh, but you see. I’m not pretending to know what I don’t.’
Roger’s bow, drawn thus at a venture, had found its target. Mrs Plant acknowledged the truth of his deductions by crying incredulously, ‘But how do you know all this, Mr Sheringham? How can you possibly have found it out?’
‘We won’t go into that at the moment, if you don’t mind,’ Roger replied complacently. ‘Let it suffice that I do know. Now I want you to tell me in your own words the whole truth about that night. Please leave out nothing at all; you must understand that I can check you if you do so, and if you deceive me again – !’ He paused eloquently.
For a few moments Mrs Plant sat motionless, gazing into her lap. Then she raised her head and wiped her eyes.
‘Very well,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I will tell you. You understand that I am placing not only my happiness, but literally my whole future in your hands by doing so?’
‘I do, Mrs Plant,’ Roger said earnestly. ‘And I assure you I will not abuse your confidence, although I am forcing it in this way.’
Mrs Plant’s eyes rested on a bed of roses close at hand. ‘You know that Mr Stanworth was a blackmailer?’ she said.
Roger nodded. ‘On a very large scale, indeed.’
‘Is that so? I did not know it; but it does not surprise me in the least.’ Her voice sank. ‘He found out somehow that before I was married I – I – ’
‘There’s not the least need to go into that sort of detail, Mrs Plant,’ Roger interposed quickly. ‘All that concerns me is that he was blackmailing you; I don’t want to know why.’
Mrs Plant flashed a grateful look at him.
‘Thank you,’ she said softly. ‘Well, I will just say that it was in connection with an incident which happened before I was married. I have never told my husband about it (it was all past and done with before I ever met him), because I knew that it would break his heart. And we are devotedly in love with each other,’ she added simply.
‘I understand,’ Roger murmured sympathetically.
‘Then that devil found out about it! For he was a devil, Mr Sheringham,’ Mrs Plant said, looking at Roger with wide eyes, in which traces of horror still lingered. ‘I could never have imagined that anyone could be so absolutely inhuman. Oh! It was hell!’ She shuddered involuntarily.
‘He demanded money, of course,’ she went on after a minute in a calmer voice; ‘and I paid him every penny I could. You must understand that I was willing to face any sacrifice rather than that my husband should be told. The other night I had to tell him that I had no more money left. I lied when I told you what time I went into the library. He stopped me in the hall to tell me that he wanted to see me there at half-past twelve. That would be when everyone else was in bed, you see. Mr Stanworth always preserved the greatest secrecy about these meetings.’
‘And you went at half-past twelve?’ Roger prompted sympathetically.
‘Yes, taking my jewels with me. I told him that I had no more money. He wasn’t angry. He never was. Just cold and sneering and horrible. He said he’d take the jewels for that time, but I must bring him the money he wanted – two hundred and fifty pounds – in three months’ time.’
‘But how could you, if you hadn’t got it?’
Mrs Plant was silent. Then gazing unseeingly at the rose bed, as if living over again that tragic interview, she said in a curiously toneless voice, ‘He said that a pretty woman like me could always obtain money if it was necessary. He said he would introduce me to a man out of whom I – I could get it, if I played my cards properly. He said if I wasn’t ready with the two hundred and fifty pounds within three months he would tell my husband everything.’
‘My God!’ said Roger softly, appalled.
Mrs Plant looked him suddenly straight in the face.
‘That will show you what sort of a man Mr Stanworth was, if you didn’t know,’ she said quietly.
‘I didn’t,’ Roger answered. ‘This explains a good deal,’ he added to himself. ‘And then, I suppose, Jefferson came in?’
‘Major Jefferson?’ Mrs Plant repeated, in unmistakable astonishment.
‘Yes. Wasn’t that when he came in?’
The Layton Court Mystery Page 19