by M. M. Kaye
Charles leant an elbow on the shelf above the fireplace and took up the tale: ‘Weekes, the chap on sentry duty, says that Dan came out of the house just before midnight last night. It was raining a bit and he was wearing one of the orderlies’ mackintosh capes: they found a smear of blood on it…’ Charles’s voice was suddenly uncertain, and he jerked his shoulders uncomfortably and hurried on: ‘The sentry challenged him, and Dan said he couldn’t sleep and was going to take a stroll, gave the chap a packet of cigarettes, and pushed off. That sounds all right as far as it goes, but here comes the rub: Weekes swears blind that Dan returned about an hour and a half later, nodded to him, popped into the house and bolted the door behind him. He says he heard the hall clock strike half past one immediately afterwards. Now if he is right, how did Dan get out again, and why?’
‘Obvious,’ said Copper briefly. ‘It wasn’t Dan.’
‘Don’t talk tripe, Coppy. The sentry swears____’
‘I don’t care what the sentry swears! It’s so obvious, it simply screams at you! You said Dan was wearing one of the orderlies’ capes. Well, they have a big hood that goes right over your head and____’
Nick said: ‘Charles, you and I should see a brain specialist. Of course that’s it! Dan goes down to the Guest House to take a look at the body, and while he’s there he’s caught at it and murdered. We know that he was killed there, for there were stains on the floor that had been wiped up; but not quite well enough. The murderer substitutes Dan’s body for Ferrers’, takes Ferrers’s body off and hides it, and having cleared away all traces of his dirty work puts on the mackintosh cape, and with the hood pulled well over his head, walks calmly back to the house.’
Charles said: ‘I ought to have a nurse. Of course. It is, as my grandmother’s cook used to say, “As plain as the nose on me face”.’
‘And,’ pointed out Copper, ‘I notice that the sentry didn’t say that Dan actually spoke to him when he came back.’
‘That’s right,’ said Charles. ‘He didn’t speak. And I don’t know if it has struck anyone else, but it seems to me to point to two things. The first being that whoever returned to the house inside that mackintosh was not only the murderer, but someone who must have watched Dan leave and listened to his conversation with the sentry. Otherwise how did he know that he could return to the house without being challenged?’
‘But —’ Valerie’s voice shook — ‘but that would mean that the murderer was someone in the house!’ In spite of her recent suspicions concerning Mrs Stock, the idea that a double murderer might actually be a member of the household was incredibly and horribly shocking. ‘Not necessarily,’ said Nick. ‘It would have been obvious to anyone that to get to the Guest House Dan must have passed the sentry. Therefore it was a fair gamble that the sentry would pass him in again without comment.’
‘But Nick — if it wasn’t someone from the house, why should they come back again?’ ‘Alibi,’ said Nick shortly. ‘Muddy the trail. And a very sound idea too, because if Dan had failed to come back, it’s quite on the cards that the sentry would have become uneasy and reported the fact sometime last night. There would probably have been a search within an hour or two of the murder, and then heaven knows what might not have come to light. So Dan has to return, because with luck Ferrers will have been buried before any serious attention is given to the fact that he is missing.’
Valerie said unhappily: ‘I do hope to goodness you’re right. It would be too awful if it had to be someone in the house. But…’
‘Of course I’m right. That’s the hell of it. It widens the field too much. If we could only be certain that the man who impersonated Dan did not get out of the house again, we’d be able to narrow down our list of suspects considerably. As it is, the only solid fact that we seem to have got out of all this is that Dan died sometime between midnight and one o’clock. And I’m not sure that that’s much help.’
‘Yes, it is,’ said Charles. ‘Because it adds a bit of support to your theory that the chap who came home at one-thirty got out again.’
‘How do you make that out?’
‘Well, it’s really all a matter of timing, isn’t it? Dan leaves the house about midnight, chats to the sentry, and shoves off to the Guest House — say at five minutes to twelve. Allow a good few minutes for getting down there, and more for finding a way in — and by the way we found a ground-floor window with a broken catch so presumably he got in by that. We can’t tell whether he had time to take a look at Ferrers, or if he was murdered before he had the chance. But I imagine he couldn’t have been killed much before twelve-thirty: which gives the murderer just about an hour in which to kill Dan, swop his body with Ferrers’s, sew it up again in the tarpaulin, hide Ferrers’s body, clear up the blood on the floor and get back to the house again. Can’t be done!’
‘Why not?’ inquired Copper. ‘If he worked quickly, surely it’s perfectly possible?’
‘Possible. But damned unlikely! Nick didn’t tell you where we found Ferrers’s body. I’m afraid this is going to put you off the soup at the next Guildhall banquet you are invited to attend, but as a matter of fact it was found very cunningly stowed away in the turtle tank.’
‘Ugh!’ said Valerie, shuddering. ‘What a place to hide it in. Of course it would float and anyone looking in would have seen it.’
‘You’re wrong there,’ said Charles. ‘It was, in fact, very neatly done. And if it hadn’t been for the — er — unusual behaviour of the turtles, it might not have been spotted for days. You know that summer-house thing that is built out over the top of half the tank?’
‘Of course.’
‘Well, the body had been carried round the outer wall of the tank on the seaward side of the summer-house, and lowered into the darkest corner of the tank behind the pillar that supports the floor. It was hanging there by a rope that had been tied under its arms and then fastened to the crossbeams. An ingenious job which must have taken quite a bit of doing in the dark.’
‘For goodness sake, why there?’ asked Copper breathlessly. ‘Of all silly places!’
‘Not so silly,’ said Nick dryly. ‘It would have been a damned good hiding-place if it hadn’t been for the turtles, because since it’s right on the bay, the minute the sea went down all the killer had to do was to get there after dark, haul up the body, tie a weight to it and push it off the end of the Club breakwater at the turn of the tide. As for Dan, who would not have been seriously missed or searched for until after the funeral, he would be presumed to have taken a toss in the mist and fallen into the sea.’
‘Then what we’ve really got to find out,’ said Copper slowly, ‘is not who killed Dan, but who killed Ferrers. And then we’ve got the answer to both.’
‘That’s about it. The reason for Dan’s murder is obvious: he was killed because he discovered, or suspected, that Ferrers had been murdered. What we need now is a motive for the killing of Ferrers.’
‘Mount Harriet!’ said three voices simultaneously.
‘You mean that conversation we overheard at the picnic? Yes: I think that’s fairly obvious. So I suggest our first suspect goes down as Mr John Shilto.’
Valerie said: ‘Listen, Nick — I don’t know about you, but I shall soon be getting hopelessly muddled. This morning Coppy and I decided that we must have some method in our madness, so we made a list of possible suspects so that we could enter up everything “for” or “against” each person. Let’s stick to it.’
‘Good scheme,’ approved Charles. ‘Produce your suspects.’ Copper handed over the list that they had compiled earlier in the day, and Nick and Charles read it with some amusement. ‘Can’t you see Amabel spreading death and destruction with a tiller?’ grinned Charles.
‘The same thought gave us the one laugh of a mildewed morning,’ admitted Valerie. ‘But Copper said there was no use making a list of suspects unless we put down everyone and then started eliminating by proof to narrow it down.’
Nick said: ‘Copper is right. Wh
en it comes to murder you can’t start by saying, “I’m sure so-and-so can’t have done it, he’s got such a stupid face,” or “Of course she didn’t do it! she’s got such an angelic disposition.” You’ve got to suspect everyone.’
‘We have,’ admitted Copper frankly. ‘You’ll find your own name on the list.’
Nick gave a short and rather bitter laugh. ‘Well, why not? You don’t really know much about me, do you?’
‘No,’ said Copper in an oddly uncertain voice: ‘That’s why I put your name down.’
Nick swung round to face her, his eyes suddenly narrow and angry, but she would not meet his gaze, and after a moment he turned his attention to the notebook in his hand. ‘Fortunately,’ he stated curtly, ‘in spite of Copper’s theories we can cut this list down by half. Pencil please, Charles.’
‘Why?’ inquired Copper indignantly as Charles reached for a pencil from his writing-desk and tossed it across.
‘Because, my dear girl,’ said Nick acidly, ‘we have already decided that although there were two murders, there is only one murderer. Therefore, as Ferrers was killed during the time that the sailing party spent in the water on Christmas Eve, it stands to reason that only a member of that party could have done it. Which brings the suspects down by half. We can now eliminate you, Valerie, Charles and the Commissioner as a start. Amabel and George are out of it too, and the padre and Mrs Dobbie and the sentry. Also “X”. The “unknown quantity” I presume, Copper?’
‘Yes,’ said Copper defensively: ‘I thought it might have been one of the natives. But there were none on the boats, of course.’
‘That still leaves us with a pretty large list of suspects,’ said Valerie despondently.
Charles said: ‘Only five. That’s a lot better than fifteen!’
‘Five?’ Valerie rose from the bed and went to lean over Nick’s shoulder: ‘You mean seven!’
‘Look, darling,’ began Charles patiently, ‘we’ve already agreed that the man who masqueraded as Dan last night was the murderer, and if so____’
‘What makes you so sure it was a man?’ cut in Valerie quickly.
‘My dear Val!’
‘She’s quite right,’ said Copper. ‘We can’t be sure. It could just as easily have been a woman. Those capes come down well below the knee, and they’re so bulky that you couldn’t be certain of the size — or the height! — of anybody wearing one, because the peaked hood would give an impression of height. And anyway I’ll bet the sentry barely looked at the person who passed. He would have been so sure it was Dan that his eye would have been blind to details.’
Nick said: ‘They’re right, of course, Charles. We can’t rule out the possibility of its having been a woman.’
‘Have it your own way,’ said Charles. ‘Keep ’em on the list. But as it’s half past four and I need refreshment, I propose to call a short interval. Or do I mean “adjourn the court”? Val darling, phone your father that you and Copper will be out to tea: then we can carry on these bloodcurdling discussions after we have fortified the inner man.’
He tucked her hand under his arm and they went out to organize tea and telephone Government House.
16
There was a brief interval of curiously strained silence after they had left the room, and then Nick said pleasantly: ‘So you think my name should be included among the suspects, do you, Copper? May I ask why?’
‘Certainly you may,’ replied Copper lightly. ‘Always providing you don’t expect an answer.’
A spark leapt to life in Nick’s grey eyes for a swift unreadable moment, and then he laughed and lay back in his chair. ‘Take it that I’d merely appreciate one, then. Do I get it?’
Copper considered him for a long moment. His dark hair was unusually smooth and the eyes that held hers were once again narrowed and lazy. But she saw too, and with a tremor of disquiet, that in spite of his indolent posture and the suggestion of a smile that curved his mouth, there was something about him — some tenseness of line — that suggested wariness.
‘I’ve already told you why,’ said Copper defensively. ‘Until we can eliminate by proof, we must include everyone.’
Nick said very softly: ‘But that isn’t what you meant in my case, is it, Copper?’
‘No,’ said Copper after a moment, in an oddly brittle voice: ‘No. You were right when you said we didn’t know anything about you. We don’t.’
‘And therefore I am probably capable of murder?’ suggested Nick ironically. ‘Very instructive!’
Copper stiffened and her eyes were suddenly both reckless and angry. ‘Do you want me to go on?’ she inquired crisply.
‘Of course. I’m all for hearing your candid opinion of me.’
‘It’s not a question,’ said Copper coldly, ‘of my opinion of you, candid or otherwise. I thought we had already decided — I think you were the one to point it out? — that the murderer of Ferrers Shilto and Dan must be one of seven people. And as you are one of those seven I had supposed, from your question, that you’d like a disinterested opinion on the possibility of suspicion resting on you. Apparently you don’t.’
‘I accept the correction,’ said Nick gravely. ‘I shall be more than grateful for a — disinterested opinion.’
Copper got up abruptly, and moving to the window stood looking out into the mist with her back to him and her fingers playing restlessly with the window-latch. The slow seconds ticked away to the tune of the fog-dew dripping from the roof-edge outside, and at last, and without turning, she said in a deliberately cool and conversational voice: ‘You were the only one who knew Dan Harcourt before he came to the Islands, and for all we know there may have been some quarrel between you that we know nothing about. They — the police — will think of that. You may have had a dozen reasons for hating Dan.’
‘Thanks,’ said Nick, without sarcasm. ‘You are right. It’s just as well to get a “disinterested” opinion’ (once again he stressed the word slightly) ‘on how people are likely to regard one when it’s a case of looking for a murderer. Go on.’
Copper said haltingly: ‘I know it sounds rude and – and beastly, but I thought you’d better see____’
‘Oh, don’t apologize!’ interrupted Nick. ‘It’s very interesting. What about Ferrers? Where does he fit into my murderous schemes?’ Copper turned abruptly to face him. The knuckles of her clenched hands showed white and her voice had a defiant edge to it: ‘I have no idea____’
‘You surprise me!’ murmured Nick.
‘— why you should murder a man whom you had only met that day. But then it is always possible that you had met him before. Say about a month ago?’
‘Meaning what?’ inquired Nick softly.
‘Meaning … just that!’
Copper turned away again and stared blindly out at the drifting mist. Her anger had vanished as suddenly as it had come, but something else had taken its place: an indefinable and disquieting tension. And when at last she spoke, it was without turning her head, and in a voice so low as to be barely audible: ‘Ferrers Shilto,’ said Copper, ‘used to go to Calcutta on business once a year, travelling on the Maharaja. I know when he was last there, because he was on board with me when I arrived here. And I know that he had stayed at the Grand Hotel because I saw the labels on his luggage; you couldn’t miss them. I know, too, that during the time he was there the Sapphire was on a visit to Calcutta, and you told me yourself that you had stayed____’ Her voice failed her and she turned stiffly to face him.
Nick was sitting quite still. A faint curl of smoke drifted from the cigarette between his fingers, but there was no other movement in the quiet room, and Copper saw with a tightening of the heart that a queer little change had come over his face. It was so slight as to be barely perceptible — yet it was there. He had made no motion of surprise or denial, but the lines of his mouth had become fixed and his grey eyes coldly angry, and presently he said: ‘Thank you for defining my position so clearly. Perhaps you’d like to know that your surmise i
s correct. I did meet Ferrers Shilto in Calcutta.’
He made no attempt to qualify that terse statement, and Copper drew her breath in a small, hard gasp, and feeling her knees suddenly go weak, sat down abruptly on the end of Charles’s bed.
Nick came to his feet in one swift unexpected movement, and crossing the space between them in two strides, caught her by the shoulders and jerked her to her feet. She made an instinctive movement to wrench herself away, but the grip of his hard fingers on her shoulders held her rigid, and she abandoned the attempt to free herself as useless and undignified.
Releasing his hold on one shoulder he caught her chin in his free hand, and jerking her head up to meet his gaze, laughed down at her small startled face and wide apprehensive eyes. ‘I should never have given you credit for such a vivid and unpleasant imagination, darling. Seriously, do you think that I may have done it?’ His voice sharpened suddenly: ‘Answer me, Copper!’
‘It isn’t a question of what I think,’ said Copper stiffly. ‘I have only pointed out that you could have done it.’
The fingers about her chin tightened convulsively, but he said coolly enough: ‘You haven’t answered my question.’
Copper’s lips closed in a stubborn line and she stared at him in silence, suddenly as angry as he was. A minute ticked by. Sixty seconds that seemed as long as an hour — or a day. Then, ‘That’s all I wanted to know,’ said Nick dryly. ‘So you think I might even be a murderer, do you, Copper? Well, has it occurred to you yet that if I were capable of committing two murders, I might be equally capable of committing a third? After all, you appear to be the only one who has spotted any connection between myself and Ferrers Shilto.’