“Of course, they cross-examined him pretty fiercely. They wanted to know, first, why he hadn’t warned Sir Charles about Cranton and secondly, why he’d told a different tale at first. He declared that he thought Cranton had given up all idea of the theft, and he didn’t want to frighten anybody; but that when he heard noises in the garden, he guessed what was happening. He also said that afterwards he was afraid to own up to knowing Cranton for fear he should be accused of complicity. But it sounded a pretty thin story, and neither the judge nor the jury believed a word of it. Lord Bramhill spoke very severely to him after the verdict, and said that if it hadn’t been his first offence, he’d have given him the heaviest sentence it was in his power to bestow. He called it aggravated larceny of the very worst type, being committed by a servant in a position of trust, in a dwelling-house and his master’s dwelling-house at that, and accompanied by the opening of a window, which made it into burglary, and then he had violently resisted arrest, and so forth and so on; and in the end he gave Deacon eight years’ penal servitude and told him he was lucky to get off with that. Cranton was an old offender and might have got a lot more, but the judge said he was unwilling to punish him much more heavily than Deacon, and gave him ten years. So that was that. Cranton went to Dartmoor, and served his full time as a perfectly good old lag, without giving much trouble to anybody. Deacon, being a first offender, went to Maidstone, where he set up to be one of those model prisoners — which is a kind you always want to look out for, because they are always up to some mischief or other. After nearly four years — early in 1918, it was — this nice, refined, well-conducted convict made a brutal attack on a warder and broke prison. The warder died, and of course the whole place was scoured for Deacon, without any success. I daresay, what with the War and one thing and another, they hadn’t as many men to carry on the job as they ought to have had. Anyhow, they didn’t find him, and for two years he enjoyed the reputation of being about the only man who had ever broken prison successfully. Then his bones turned up in one of those holes — dene-holes, I think they call them, in a wood in North Kent so they found it was one up to the prison system after all He was still in his convict clothes and his skull was all smashed in, so he must have tumbled over during the night — probably within a day or two of his escape. And that was the end of him.”
“I suppose there’s no doubt he was guilty.”
“Not the slightest. He was a liar from beginning to end, and a clumsy liar at that. For one thing, the ivy on the Red House showed clearly enough that nobody had climbed down by it that night — and in any case, his final story was as full of holes as a sieve. He was a bad lot, and a murderer as well, and the country was well rid of him. As for Cranton, he behaved pretty well for a bit after he came out. Then he got into trouble again for receiving stolen goods, or goods got by false pretences or something, and back he went into quod. He came out again last June, and they kept tabs on him till the beginning of September. Then he disappeared, and they’re still looking for him. Last seen in London — but I shouldn’t be surprised if we’d seen the last of him today. It’s my belief, and always was, that Deacon had the necklace, but what he did with it, I’m damned if I know. Have another spot of beer, my lord. It won’t do you any harm.”
“Where do you think Cranton was, then, between September and January?”
“Goodness knows. But if he’s the corpse, I should say France, at a guess. He knew all the crooks in London, and if anybody could wangle a forged passport, he could.”
“Have you got a photograph of Cranton?”
“Yes, my lord, I have. It’s just come. Like to have a look at it?”
“Rather!”
The Superintendent brought out an official photograph from a bureau which stood, stacked neatly with documents, in a corner of the room.
Wimsey studied it carefully.
“When was this taken?”
“About four years ago, my lord, when he went up for his last sentence. That’s the latest we have.”
“He had no beard then. Had he one in September?”
“No, my lord. But he’d have plenty of time to grow one in four months.”
“Perhaps that’s what he went to France for.”
“Very likely indeed, my lord.”
“Yes — well — I can’t be dead positive, but I think this is the man I saw on New Year’s Day.”
“That’s very interesting,” said the Superintendent. “Have you shown the photograph to any of the people in the village?”
Mr. Blundell grinned ruefully.
“I tried it on the Wilderspins this afternoon, but there! Missus said it was him, Ezra said ’twas nothing like him — and a bunch of neighbours agreed heartily with both of them. The only thing is to get a beard faked on to it and try ’em again. There’s not one person in a hundred can swear to a likeness between a bearded face and one that’s clean-shaven.”
“H’m, too true. Defeat thy favour with an usurped beard… And of course you couldn’t take the body’s fingerprints, since he had no hands.”
“No, my lord, and that’s a sort of an argument, in a way, for it’s being Cranton.”
“If it is Cranton, I suppose he came here to look for the necklace, and grew a beard so that he shouldn’t be recognised by the people that had seen him in court.”
“That’s about it, my lord.”
“And he didn’t come earlier simply because he had to let his beard grow. So much for my bright notion that he might have received some message within the last few months. What I can’t understand is that stuff about Batty Thomas and Tailor Paul. I’ve been trying to make out something from the inscriptions on the bells, but I might as well have left it alone. Hear the tolling of the bells, iron bells, — though I’d like to know when church bells were ever made of iron — what a world of solemn thought their monody compels! Was Mr. Edward Thorpe at his brother’s wedding, do you know?”
“Oh yes, my lord. He was there, and a terrible row he made with Mrs. Wilbraham after the theft. It upset poor Sir Charles very much. Mr. Edward as good as told the old lady that it was all her own fault, and he wouldn’t hear a word against Deacon. He was certain Elsie Bryant and Cranton had fixed it all up between them. I don’t believe myself that Mrs. Wilbraham would ever have cut up so rough if it weren’t for the things Mr. Edward said to her, but she was — is — a damned obstinate old girl, and the more he swore it was Elsie, the more she swore it was Deacon. You see, Mr. Edward had recommended Deacon to his father—”
“Oh, had he?”
“Why, yes. Mr. Edward was working in London at the time — quite a lad, he was, only twenty-three — and hearing that Sir Charles was wanting a butler, he sent Deacon down to see him.”
“What did he know about Deacon?”
“Well, only that he did his work well and looked smart. Deacon was a waiter in some club that Mr. Edward belonged to, and it seems he mentioned that he wanted to try private service, and that’s how Mr. Edward came to think of him. And, naturally, having recommended the fellow, he had to stick up for him. I don’t know if you’ve met Mr. Edward Thorpe, but if you have, my lord, you’ll know that anything that belongs to him is always perfect. He’s never been known to make a mistake, Mr. Edward hasn’t — and so, you see, he couldn’t possibly have made a mistake about Deacon.”
“Oh, yes?” said Wimsey. “Yes, I’ve met him. Frightful blithering ass. Handy thing to be, sometimes. Easily cultivated. Five minutes’ practice before the glass every day, and you will soon acquire that vacant look so desirable for all rogues, detectives and Government officials. However, we will not dwell on Uncle Edward. Let us return to our corpse. Because, Blundell, after all, even if it is Cranton come to look for emeralds — who killed him, and why?”
“Why,” returned the policeman, “supposing he found the emeralds all right and somebody lammed him on the head and took them off him. What’s wrong with that?”
“Only that he doesn’t seem to have been lammed on the hea
d.”
“That’s what Dr. Baines says; but we don’t know that he’s right.”
“No — but anyway, the man was killed somehow. Why kill him, when you’d already got him tied up and could take the emeralds without any killing at all?”
“To prevent him squealing. Stop! I know what you’re going to say — Cranton wasn’t in a position to squeal. But he was, don’t you see. He’d already been punished for the theft — they couldn’t do anything more to him for that, and he’d only to come and tell us where the stuff was to do himself quite a lot of good. You see his game. He could have done the sweet injured innocence stunt. He’d say: ‘I always told you Deacon had the stuff, so the minute I could manage it, I went down to Fenchurch to find it, and I did find it — and of course I was going to take it straight along to the police-station like a good boy, when Tom, Dick or Harry came along and took it off me. So I’ve come and told you all about it, and when you lay your hands on Tom, Dick or Harry and get the goods you’ll remember it was me gave you the office.’ Oh, yes — that’s what he could have done, and the only thing we’d have been able to put on him would be failing to report himself, and if he’d put us on to getting the emeralds, he’d be let off light enough, you bet. No! anybody as wanted those emeralds would have to put Cranton where he couldn’t tell any tales. That’s clear enough. But as to who it was, that’s a different thing.”
“But how was this person to know that Cranton knew where the necklace was? And how did he know, if it comes to that? Unless it really was he who had them after all, and he hid them somewhere in Fenchurch instead of taking them to London. It looks to me as though this line of argument was going to make Cranton the black sheep after all.”
“That’s true. How’d he come to know? He can’t have got the tip from anybody down here, or they’d have got the stuff tor themselves, and not waited for him. They’ve had long enough to do it, goodness knows. But why should Cranton have left the stuff behind him?”
“Hue and cry. Didn’t want to be caught with it on him. He may have parked it somewhere when he drove off, meaning to come back and fetch it later. You never know. But the longer I look at these photographs, the more positive I feel that the man I met was Cranton. The official description agrees, too — colour of eyes and all that. And if the corpse isn’t Cranton, what’s become of him?”
“There you are,” said Mr. Blundell. “I don’t see as we can do much more till we get the reports from London. Except, of course, as regards the burying. We ought to be able to get a line on that. And what you say about Miss Thorpe’s notion — I mean, as to the wreaths and that — may have something in it. Will you have a chat with this Mrs. Gates, or shall I? I think you’d better tackle Mr. Ashton. You’ve got a good excuse for seeing him, and if I went there officially, it might put somebody on his guard. It’s a nuisance, the churchyard being so far from the village. Even the Rectory doesn’t overlook it properly, on account of the shrubbery.”
“No doubt that circumstance was in the mind of the murderer. You mustn’t quarrel with your bread and butter, Superintendent. No difficulty, no fun.”
“Fun?” said the Superintendent. “Well, my lord, it’s nice to be you. How about Gates?”
“You’d better do Gates. If Miss Thorpe’s leaving tomorrow, I can’t very well call without looking a nosey parker. And Mr. Thorpe doesn’t approve of me. I daresay he’s issued an order: No Information. But you can invoke all the terrors of the law.”
“Not much, I can’t. Judges’ rules and be damned. But I’ll have a try. And then there’s—”
“Yes, there’s Will Thoday.”
“Ah!… but if Miss Thorpe’s right, he’s out of it. He was laid up in bed from New Year’s Eve till the i4th January. I know that for certain. But somebody in his house may have noticed something. It’ll be a bit of a job getting anything out of them, though. They’ve had a taste of the dock once, and they’ll get frightened, ten to one, the minute they see me.”
“You needn’t worry about that. You can’t very well frighten them worse than they’re frightened already. Go and read the Burial Service to them and watch their reactions.”
“Oh!” said the Superintendent. “Religion’s a bit out of my line, except on Sundays. All right — I’ll take on that part of it. Maybe, if I don’t mention that dratted necklace… but there, my mind’s that full of it, it’ll be a mercy if it don’t slip out.”
Which shows that policemen, like other people, are at the mercy of their sub-conscious preoccupations.
THE FOURTH PART
LORD PETER DODGES WITH MR. BLUNDELL AND PASSES HIM
“Dodging “is taking a retrograde movement, or moving a place backwards out of the ordinary hunting course… She will be seen to dodge with a bell, and pass a bell alternately throughout her whole work.
TROYTE.
“Well now, ma’am,” said Superintendent Blundell.
“Well, officer?” retorted Mrs. Gates.
It is said, I do not know with how much reason, that the plain bobby considers “officer” a more complimentary form of address than “my man,” or even “constable”; while some people, of the Disraelian school of thought, affirm that an unmerited “Sergeant” is not taken amiss. But when a highly-refined lady, with a grey glacé gown and a grey glacé eye, addresses a full-blown Superintendent in plain clothes as “officer,” the effect is not soothing, and is not meant to be so. At this rate, thought Mr. Blundell, he might just as well have sent a uniformed inspector, and had done with it.
“We should be greatly obliged, ma’am,” pursued Mr. Blundell, “for your kind assistance in this little matter.”
“A little matter?” said Mrs. Gates. “Since when have murder and sacrilege been considered little matters in Leamholt? Considering that you have had nothing to do tor the last twenty years but run in a few drunken labourers on market days, you seem to take your new responsibilities very coolly. In my opinion, you ought to call in the assistance of Scotland Yard. But I suppose, since being patronised by the aristocracy, you consider yourself quite competent to deal with any description of crime.”
“It does not lie with me, ma’am, to refer anything to Scotland Yard. That is a matter for the Chief Constable.”
“Indeed?” said Mrs. Gates, not in the least disconcerted. “They why does the Chief Constable not attend to the business himself? I should prefer to deal directly with him.”
The Superintendent explained patiently that the interrogation of witnesses was not, properly speaking, the duty of the Chief Constable. “And why should I be supposed to be a witness? I know nothing about these disgraceful proceedings.”
“Certainly not, ma’am. But we require a little information about the late Lady Thorpe’s grave, and we thought that a lady with your powers of observation would be in a position to assist us.”
“In what way?”
“From information received, ma’am, it appears probable that the outrage may have been committed within a very short period after Lady Thorpe’s funeral. I understand that you were a frequent visitor at the graveside after the melancholy event—”
“Indeed? And who told you that?”
“We have received information to that effect, ma’am.”
“Quite so. But from. whom?”
“That is the formula we usually employ, ma’am,” said Mr. Blundell, with a dim instinct that the mention of Hilary would only make bad worse. “I take it, that is a fact, is it not?”
“Why should it not be a fact? Even in these days, some respect may be paid to the dead, I trust.”
“Very proper indeed, ma’am. Now can you tell me whether, on any occasion when you visited the grave, the wreaths presented the appearance of having been disturbed, or the earth shifted about, or anything of that kind?”
“Not,” said Mrs. Gates, “unless you refer to the extremely rude and vulgar behaviour of that Mrs. Coppins. Considering that she is a Nonconformist, you would think she would have more delicacy than to come into t
he churchyard at all. And the wreath itself was in the worst possible taste. I suppose she was entitled to send one if she liked, considering the great and many favours she had always received from Sir Charles’ family. But there was no necessity whatever for anything so large and ostentatious. Pink hot-house lilies in January were entirely out of place. For a person in her position, a simple bunch of chrysanthemums would have been ample to show respect, without going out of her way to draw attention to herself.”
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