Artists in Crime ra-6

by Ngaio Marsh

  “Yes. You are going to make an arrest, aren’t you?”

  “I think we shall probably do so. It depends a little on the interview we hope to have in a minute or two. This has been an abominable week for you. I’m sorry I had to keep all these people together here and station bluebottles at your doors and before your gates and so on. It was partly in your own interest. You would have been overrun with pressmen.”

  “I know.”

  ‘’Do you want me to tell you—?”

  “I think I know.”

  “You know?”

  “I think I do. Last night I said to myself: ‘Which of these people do I feel in my own bones is capable of this crime?’ There was only one — only one of whom it did not seem quite preposterous to think: ‘It might — it just might be you!’ I don’t know why — there seems to be no motive, but I believe I am right. I suppose woman’s instinct is the sort of phrase you particularly abominate.”

  “That depends a little on the woman,” said Alleyn gravely.

  “I suppose it does,” said Troy and flushed unexpectedly.

  “I’ll tell you who it is,” he said after a moment. And he told her. “I can see that this time the woman’s instinct was not at fault.”

  “It’s — so awful,” whispered Troy.

  “I’m glad you decided to lunch with my mother,” said Alleyn. “It will be easier for you to get right away from everything. She asked me to say that she would be delighted if you would come early. I suggest that you drive over there now.”

  Troy’s chin went up.

  “Thank you,” she said, “but I’m not going to rat.”

  “There’s no question of ratting— ”

  “After all, this is my ship.”

  “Of course it is. But it’s not sinking and, unfortunately, you can’t do anything about this miserable business. It may be rather particularly unpleasant. I should take a trip ashore.”

  “It’s very kind of you to think of me, but, however illogically, I would feel as if I was funking something if I went away before — before you did. I’ve got my students to think of. You must see that. And even — even Pilgrim— ”

  “You can do nothing about him— ”

  “Very well,” said Troy angrily, “I shall stay and do nothing.”

  “Don’t, please, be furious with me. Stay, then, but stay with your students.”

  “I shan’t make a nuisance of myself.”

  “You know perfectly well that ever since I met you, you have made a nuisance of yourself. You’ve made my job one hundred per cent more difficult, because you’ve taken possession of my thoughts as well as my heart. And now, you go off to your students and think that over. I want to speak to Pilgrim, if you please.”

  Troy gazed bleakly at him. Then she bit her lips and Alleyn saw that her eyes were full of tears.

  “Oh, hell and damnation, darling,” he said.

  “It’s all right. I’m going. Shut up,” mumbled Troy, and went.

  Fox came in.

  “All right,” said Alleyn. “Tell them to get Pilgrim, and come in.”

  Fox spoke to someone outside and joined Alleyn at the fire.

  “We’ll have to go warily, Fox. He may give a bit of trouble.”

  “That’s so, sir.”

  They waited in silence until Basil Pilgrim came in with one of the Yard men. The second man walked in after them and stood inside the door.

  “Good morning,” said Pilgrim.

  “Good morning, Mr. Pilgrim. We would like to clear up one or two points relating to your former statement and to our subsequent investigations.”

  “Certainly.”

  Alleyn consulted his note-book.

  “What does your car do to the gallon?” he asked.

  “Sixteen.”

  “Sure of that?”

  “Yes. She may do a bit more on long runs.”

  “Right. Now, if you please. We’ll go back to Friday evening during your visit to Captain and Mrs. Pascoe. Do you remember the procedure when coffee was brought in?”

  “I suppose so. It was in the hall.”

  He looked, with that curiously restless turn of his head. From Alleyn to Fox and back again.

  “Can you tell us who poured out and who handed round the coffee?”

  “I suppose so. Though what it can have to do with Sonia — or Garcia — Do you mean about Val’s coffee being bitter? Mine was bitter, too. Beastly.”

  “We should like to know who poured the coffee out.”

  “Mrs. Pascoe.”

  “And who handed it round?”

  “Well — I did.”

  “Splendid. Can you remember the order in which you took it round?”

  “I’m not sure. Yes, I think so. I took mine over with Val’s to where she was sitting, and then I saw Pascoe hadn’t got his, and I got it for him. Mrs. Pascoe had poured out her own. Then I went back and sat with Val and I had my coffee.”

  “You both took black coffee?”

  “Yes.”

  “And sugar?”

  “And sugar.”

  “Who put the sugar in the coffee?”

  “Good Lord! I don’t know. I believe I did.”

  “You didn’t say anything about your coffee being bitter?”

  “I didn’t like to. I gave Val a look and made a face and she nodded. She said: ‘Sybil, darling, your coffee is perfectly frightful.’ Mrs. Pascoe was—” he laughed —“well, she was a bit huffy, I think. Val is always terribly direct. They both appealed to me and I — well, I just said I thought the coffee wasn’t quite what one usually expects of coffee, or something. It was dashed awkward.”

  “It must have been. Later on, when Miss Seacliff complained of feeling unwell, you gave her some aspirin, didn’t you?”

  “Yes. Why?” asked Pilgrim, looking surprised.

  “Was the bottle of aspirins in your pocket?”

  “What do you mean? I went upstairs and got it out of my suit-case. Look here, what are you driving at?”

  “Please, Mr. Pilgrim, let us get this tidied up. When did you actually give Miss Seacliff the aspirins?”

  “When she went to bed. I tell you I got them from my suit-case and took them downstairs and gave her three.”

  “Did she take them?”

  “Not then. We looked in after she was in bed and she said she could never swallow aspirins, and so I dissolved three in water and left the tumbler by her bedside.”

  “Did you see her drink this solution?”

  “No. I think I said, Inspector, that I left it at her bedside.”

  “Yes,” said Alleyn, “I’ve got that. Where’s the bottle?”

  “What bottle? Oh, the aspirin. I don’t know. I suppose it’s in my room upstairs.”

  “After you left Miss Seacliff’s room on Friday night where did you go?”

  “I had a drink with Pascoe and went to bed.”

  “Did you get up at all during the night?”

  “No.”

  “You slept straight through the night?”

  “Like the dead,” said Pilgrim. He was no longer restless. He looked steadily at Alleyn and he was extremely pale.

  “It is strange you should have slept so soundly. There was a very severe thunderstorm that night,” lied Alleyn. “Lightning. Doors banging. Maids bustling about. Didn’t you hear it?”

  “As a matter of fact,” said Pilgrim, after a pause, “it’s a funny thing, but I slept extraordinarily soundly that night. I’m always pretty good, but that night I seemed to be fathoms deep. I suppose I’d had a bit too much of Pascoe’s 1875 courvoisier.”

  “I see. Now, Mr. Pilgrim, I want you to look at this, if you please.”

  He nodded to one of his men, who came forward with a brown-paper parcel. He opened it and took out a most disreputable garment.

  “Why,” said Pilgrim, “that’s my old car coat.”

  “Yes.”

  “What on earth do you want with that, Mr. Alleyn?”

  “I want
you to tell me when you burnt this little hole in the cuff. There, do you see.”

  “I don’t know. How the devil should I know! I’ve had the thing for donkey’s years. It never comes out of the car. I’ve crawled under the car in it. It’s obviously a cigarette burn.”

  “It’s an acid burn.”

  “Acid? Rot! I mean, how could it be acid?”

  “Well, I’m afraid I can’t tell you. Considering the use the thing’s had, I suppose it might have come in contact with acid some time or another.”

  “This is a recent stain.”

  “Is it? Well then, it is. So what?”

  “Might it be nitric acid?”

  “Why?”

  “Do you do any etching, Mr. Pilgrim?”

  “Yes. But not in my garage coat. Look here, Mr. Alleyn— ”

  “Will you feel in the pockets?”

  Pilgrim thrust a hand into one of the pockets and pulled out a pair of gloves.

  “If you look on the back of the right-hand glove,” said Alleyn, “you will see among all the greasy stains and worn patches another very small mark. Look at it, please. There. It is exceedingly small, but it, too, was made by an acid. Can you account for it?”

  “Quite frankly, I can’t. The gloves are always left in the pocket. Anything might happen to them.”

  “I see. Have you ever lent this coat to anyone else? Has anyone else ever worn the gloves?”

  “I don’t know. They may have.” He looked up quickly and his eyes were suddenly bright with terror. “I think it’s quite likely I’ve lent it,” he said. “Or a garage hand might have put it on some time — easily. It may be acid from a battery.”

  “Have you ever lent it to Miss Seacliff, for instance?”

  “Never.”

  “It’s an old riding burberry, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “You didn’t lend it to her to hack in at your father’s house — Ankerton — during the week-end?”

  “Good Lord, no! Valami has got very smart riding clothes of her own.”

  “Not even the gloves?”

  Pilgrim achieved a laugh. “Those gloves! I had just given Valmai six pairs of coloured gloves which she tells me are fashionable. She was so thrilled she even lunched in purple gloves and dined in scarlet ones.”

  “I mean to ride in?”

  “She had her own hunting gloves. What is all this?”

  “She goes well to hounds, doesn’t she?”

  “Straight as the best.”

  “Yes. What sort of horse did you mount her on?”

  “A hunter — one of mine.”

  “Clubbed mane and tail?”

  “Yes.”

  “Look inside the right-hand glove — at the base of the little finger. Do you see that bloodstain?”

  “I see a small stain.”

  “It has been analysed. It is a bloodstain. Do you remember recently cutting or scratching the base of your little finger?”

  “I — yes — I think I do.”

  “How did it happen?”

  “I forgot. I think it was at Ankerton — on a bramble or something.”

  “And you had these gloves with you at the time?”

  “I suppose so. Yes.”

  “I thought you said the gloves and coat always lived in the car?”

  “It is rather absurd to go on with this,” Pilgrim said. “I’m afraid I must refuse to answer any more questions.”

  “You are perfectly within your rights. Fox, ask Miss Seacliff if she will be good enough to come in. Thank you, Mr. Pilgrim; will you wait outside?”

  “No,” said Pilgrim. “I’m going to hear what you say to her.

  Alleyn hesitated.

  “Very well,” he said at last. He dropped the coat and gloves behind the desk.

  Valmai Seacliff arrived in her black slacks and magenta pullover. She made, as usual, a good entrance, shutting the door behind her and leaning against it for a moment to survey the men.

  “Hallo,” she said. “More investigations? What’s the matter with you, Basil, you look as if you’d murdered somebody?”

  Pilgrim didn’t answer.

  Alleyn said: “I have sent for you, Miss Seacliff, to know if you can help us.”

  “But I should adore to help you, Mr. Alleyn.”

  “Did you drink the solution of aspirin that Mr. Pilgrim prepared for you on Friday night?”

  “Not all of it. It was too bitter.”

  “But you said, before, that you drank it.”

  “Well, I did have a sip. I slept all right without it.”

  “How is your cut hand?”

  “My—? Oh, it’s quite recovered.”

  “May I see it, please?”

  She held it out with the same gesture that she had used on Monday night, but this time the fingers trembled. Below the base of the little finger there was still a very thin reddish scar.

  “What’s this?” said Pilgrim violently. “Valmai — don’t answer any of their questions. Don’t answer!”

  “But, why not, Basil?”

  “You told me that you cut your hand on your horse’s mane,” said Alleyn.

  “No. You told me that, Mr. Alleyn.”

  “You accepted the explanation.”

  “Did I?”

  “How do you say, now, that you cut your hand?”

  “I did it on the reins.”

  “Mr. Pilgrim, did you see this cut on Saturday evening? It must have been quite sore then. A sharp, thin cut.”

  “I didn’t see her hand. She wore gloves.”

  “All through dinner?”

  “Scarlet gloves. They looked lovely,” she said, “didn’t they, Basil?”

  “Do you remember that on Monday night you told me you had no pretensions of being a good horsewoman?”

  “Modesty, Mr. Alleyn.”

  Alleyn turned aside. He moved behind the desk, stooped, and in a second the old raincoat and the gloves were lying on the top of the desk.

  “Have you ever seen those before?” asked Alleyn.

  “I — don’t know. Oh yes. It’s Basil’s, isn’t it?”

  “Come and look at it.”

  She walked slowly across the desk and looked at the coat and gloves. Alleyn picked up the sleeve and without speaking pointed a long forefinger to the acid hole in the cuff. He lifted the collar and turned it back, and pointed to a whitish stain. He dropped the coat, took up the left-hand glove and turned it inside out. He pointed to a small stain under the base of the little finger. And still he did not speak. It was Basil Pilgrim who broke the silence.

  “I don’t know what he’s driving at, Val, but you’ve never worn the things. I know you haven’t. I’ve told him so. I’ll swear it — I’ll swear you’ve never worn them. I know you haven’t.”

  “You bloody fool,” she screamed. “You bloody fool!”

  “Valmai Seacliff,” began Alleyn, “I arrest you for the murder of Wolf Garcia on— ”

  CHAPTER XXI

  Epilogue in a Garden

  Troy sat on a rug in the central grass plot of Lady Alleyn’s rose garden. Alleyn stood and looked down at her. “You see,” he said, “it was a very clumsy, messy, and ill-planned murder. It seemed the most awful muddle, but it boils down to a fairly simple narrative. We hadn’t much doubt after Monday night that Garcia had set the trap for Sonia. He left his prints on the opium jar and, as Malmsley had prepared the first pipe, Garcia evidently gave himself another. He must have been in a state of partial recovery with a sort of exalted carry-over, when he got the idea of jamming the knife through the floor of the throne. Motive — Sonia had been badgering him to marry her. She was going to have his child and wouldn’t let him alone. He had exhausted her charms and her possibilities as a blackmailing off-sider, and he was nauseated by her persistence. She came between him and his work. She probably threatened to sue him for maintenance, to make a full-sized scandal, to raise hell with a big stick in a bucket. The opium suggested a beautifully simple and macab
re way out of it all. I saw Sonia’s friend in the chorus — Miss O’Dawne— again this morning from the arrest. I got a rather fuller account of the blackmailing game. Sonia and Garcia were both in it. Sonia had tackled Pilgrim and threatened to tell the Methodist peer that Basil was the father of her child. He wasn’t, but that made no odds. Basil stumped up and Sonia handed the cash to Garcia. We found a note from Garcia to Valmai Seacliff in which he coolly said he’d bought painting-materials at her shop and put them down to her. The wordings of the letter suggested that he had some sort of upper hand over her, and when I first saw Bobbie O’Dawne she obviously had information up her sleeve and admitted as much. She told Bathgate that Sonia had said Garcia would kill both of them if they babbled. When Sonia died Bobbie O’Dawne was certain Garcia had done it, and that she’d be the next victim if she didn’t keep quiet. Now he’s dead, and we’ve got Valmai Seacliff, Miss O’Dawne is all for a bit of front-page publicity, and told me this morning that Sonia had kept her au fait with the whole story. Garcia blackmailed Valmai Seacliff. He said he’d tell Basil Pilgrim that she’d been his — Garcia’s — mistress. He said he’d go to the Methodist peer with a story of studio parties that would throw the old boy into a righteous fury, and completely cook Seacliff’s goose. Garcia worked the whole thing out with Sonia. She was to tackle Pilgrim while he went for Valmai Seacliff. Garcia had started to work with Seacliff, who at first wouldn’t rise. But he’d done some drawings of Seacliff in the nude which he said he’d send to old Pilgrim with a suitable letter, and he told her that Sonia was also prepared to do her bit of blackmail as well. At last, Valmai Seacliff — terrified of losing Pilgrim — said she’d meet Garcia on Friday night in the studio, when they were all safely away, and discuss payment. All this Garcia told Sonia, and Sonia told Bobbie O’Dawne, swearing her to secrecy. O’Dawne was too frightened of Garcia to tell me the Seacliff side, and I also think she honestly felt she couldn’t break her word. She’s got a sort of code, that funny hard little baggage, and she’s stuck to it. But, of course, without her evidence we’d got no motive as far as Seacliff was concerned.”

  “When did you suspect Valmai?”