‘Time!’ snapped Gently, beating Hansom to it by a fair margin.
Fisher jumped at the suddenness of the question. ‘It was twenty-five past four.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I just looked at my watch.’
‘Why?’
‘I dunno — I just looked at my watch!’
‘Do you often just look at your watch, or is it only when you know you may have to account for your movements?’
‘I didn’t know anything — I just looked at it!’
Gently paused like a stalking jaguar. Fisher’s brow was tight and moistening with perspiration. ‘What was he wearing?’ purred Gently.
‘He was going to the Wall — he’d got his overalls on.’
‘You mean the red leather ones he rides in?’
‘That’s right.’
‘And he was going to the Wall?’
‘I said he was!’
‘Then how do you account for the fact that the overalls are kept at the Wall and not at the caravan?’
‘I dunno — perhaps he wasn’t coming from the caravan-’
‘But you said he was.’
‘I thought he was — he was coming from that way-’
‘How many things have you thought up to tell us?’
‘I haven’t thought anything — it’s the truth!’
‘When did you hear about the murder?’
‘They told me when I came in this morning.’
‘Who’s “they”?’
‘Mrs Turner.’
‘When did it take place?’
‘About four.’
‘How do you know?’
‘She told me!’
‘But Mrs Turner didn’t find the body till five. How did she know that the murder took place at four?’
‘I dunno — she just told me!’
‘And you just happened to be looking at the time and deciding to go out at four?’
‘Yes, I did!’
‘Would you describe that as being coincidental in any way?’
‘I dunno, but it’s true!’
Gently swam forward in his chair. ‘It’s true that you can give no verifiable account of your movements between 1.30 and 4.25 p.m. yesterday. It’s true that you know the approximate time at which the murder took place and that Mrs Turner could not have done. And it’s true that you’ve taken care to give your movements precise times at and immediately after the murder took place. All these things,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘would be equally true of the murderer himself.’
Fisher jumped to his feet. ‘But I didn’t do it!’ he cried, ‘I didn’t — and you can’t say I did! You’re asking me all these things and twisting them round to make it seem like I did it, but I didn’t, and you can’t prove that I did!’
‘I haven’t suggested that you did,’ said Gently smoothly. ‘I’m merely establishing that you could, perhaps, be more helpful to this enquiry than in fact you are.’
Fisher stood breathing quickly and staring at him. ‘I don’t know anything,’ he said, a note of sullenness in his voice. ‘I’ve told you what I know, and you can’t prove anything else.’
Gently looked from Fisher to the chair on which he had been sitting. ‘Your chair,’ he said, ‘we had it finger- printed last night.’
The chauffeur moved away from it involuntarily.
‘Do you think it possible that we shall find your prints on it?’
‘You’d find them there now, wouldn’t you?’
‘But would they have been there last night?’
‘They might be there any time. I’m about the house. I move the furniture for them sometimes.’
Gently sighed and extended his palm towards Hansom, who had been following the proceedings very attentively.
Hansom said: ‘Were you or were you not in this house at the time of the murder?’
‘I told you I wasn’t.’
‘Did you witness the murder by standing on that chair and watching through the transom lights?’
‘No! I was nowhere near the place.’
‘The answers you have given to Chief Inspector Gently suggest to me very strongly that you had knowledge of the crime prior to this morning. Think carefully, now. Are you sure you’ve nothing to add to what you’ve already told us?’
‘No, I haven’t.’
‘You’ve told us the whole truth?’
‘Yes!’
‘You wouldn’t like to reconsider any part of it?’
‘It’s the truth, I tell you!’
‘And it had bloody well better be, for your sake!’ bawled Hansom, suddenly dropping his official mask in exasperation. ‘Now get out of here and hold yourself ready for further questioning.’
Fisher flushed angrily and turned towards the door.
‘Just a minute,’ said Gently. Fisher paused. ‘Why did you put it in the chest?’ enquired Gently confidentially.
The chauffeur stared at him with complete lack of understanding. ‘Put what in the chest?’ he asked.
Gently swam back into the depths of his chair. ‘Never mind,’ he said, ‘run along. Do what the Inspector tells you…’
Hansom blasted the butt of his cigar in the ashtray and took one of his very deepest breaths. He said: ‘I’ve got to hand it to you. I never thought there was much in that hoo-ha about the chair, but I’m beginning to have my doubts.’
‘It’s just guess-work,’ replied Gently deprecatingly. ‘The maid might have missed those marks when she brushed the carpet.’
‘I’m willing to swear that fellow was in here like you said.’
‘There’s nothing to prove it, yet. Fisher’s got an alibi that’ll take a lot of breaking and you’ve seen what luck I’ve had trying to establish that there was someone else in the house.’
‘He was lying. He was lying himself black in the face. I’ll have him down at headquarters and see what I can get out of him there.’
Gently nodded a pensive nod.
‘Not that I can see how it’ll help young Huysmann,’ added Hansom suspiciously. ‘If Fisher is shielding him and we make him talk, that’ll put the kybosh on you, good and proper.’
Gently smiled agreeably. ‘Always supposing that Peter is your man.’
‘You know he’s our man!’ snorted Hansom. ‘Good grief, why not admit it? Apart from anything else, who else would want to rub the old man out?’
‘Well, there was forty thousand pounds lying about.’
‘That’s all my eye! That could have been sprung without deliberately knocking him off first. They’d only to wait till he wasn’t there. And whoever did it didn’t come armed — they did it on impulse, after they got there, after they’d chewed the rag with the old man — which means it was somebody he knew. I tell you, the jury’ll be solid.’
Gently’s smile grew further and further away. ‘There’s one thing that puzzles me about our friend Fisher,’ he
