office since she left it on June 17th midday. Following this discovery Phyllis Lammas made a telephone call of twenty minutes, which she attempted to conceal. It is suggested that she made the call to you.’
Gently paused again, and again Marsh confined himself to a shake of the head. Mrs Lammas, however, gave a little start and her small mouth shaped the word ‘Paul!’ Marsh made a gesture to her.
‘On Friday evening Phyllis Lammas drove from her home at “Willow Street”, Wrackstead to Halford Quay, where she made inquiries after the whereabouts of the yacht Harrier, her husband and Linda Brent. She then drove to your private house, “High Meadows”, at Ollby. She was alleged to be there from just after half-past seven till just before half-past nine p.m. I will not have to remind you that during that time her husband, James William Lammas, was shot and killed at a distance of not more than half a mile from “High Meadows” and an attempt made to dispose of his body.
‘This is my information as it affects you… I think you will see the necessity of giving a complete and accurate statement of all that took place that evening.’
Marsh took his time. He was clearly not a person to be rattled. With his fingertips placed together he had listened intently to what was said and now he was examining it, testing it and adding up its implications.
A tough nut he’d be for a prosecution to crack.
At last he was ready. One hand clenched and struck firmly into the other.
‘As regards the first part of your information, I do not propose to make a statement.’
Gently nodded. He hadn’t really expected one.
‘Mrs Lammas stands to me in the relation of a client to her solicitor. That is all I have to say about that. But with regard to the remainder, I am not so unreasonable as to offer no explanation, though I have no intention of going further than what you say seems to require.
‘It will be unfortunate, Mr Marsh, if you withold anything material.’
‘I shall use my discretion, sir, as to what I consider material.’
Gently shrugged and made a gesture. It wasn’t everyone who took the trouble to warn you.
‘I have said that Mrs Lammas stands to me in the relation of a client to her solicitor. It was therefore not unnatural that she should contact me after learning that her husband had illegally realized the capital of the firm of Lammas Wholesalers, Limited, in which, you will be pleased to remember, she is a shareholder, though a small one. She had also to discuss the consequences of his apparent disappearance in the company of his secretary.’
‘Excuse me, Mr Marsh… but was it so natural to discuss these matters on the telephone?’
‘I was merely given the heads, sir-’
‘Wouldn’t she have called in, or made an appointment?’
‘Certainly. And an appointment was made.’
‘And that was the whole substance of a twenty-minute call?’
Marsh hesitated, but it was only the hesitation of a master-fencer who discretely withdraws from an awkward position.
‘There was, of course, subsidiary matter… we are all human, all liable to emotion in time of stress. I do not think the subsidiary matter is relevant to the present purpose.’
‘You were not surprised, then, that she didn’t straight away call on you at your office… it isn’t far from her husband’s… directly she made this distressing discovery? Or for that matter that she didn’t straight away phone?’
Marsh hesitated again, but still on perfect balance.
‘That is something my client must answer. I have no doubt she will. I have no doubt that when you put the question to her she will tell you that at the time of the discovery she was completely stunned and unable to think out a coherent course of action. I would not be surprised to hear my client give such an answer to such a question.’
Gently nodded admiringly. ‘Thank you, Mr Marsh. I must remember to ask her! Would you continue your statement?’
Marsh rubbed his hands as though rinsing from them the previous issue.
‘My client’s problem was pressing and required immediate attention. Unfortunately I was engaged at the time she called me, which would be at about 4 p.m., so I consented to see her in the evening at my residence. This is an unusual but not an unprecedented occurrence. A lawyer, like a doctor, must be prepared to see his clients at irregular hours. The appointment, as you have been informed, was for half-past seven and for approximately the next two hours Mrs Lammas and myself were engaged in a consultation, details of which will not concern you. She apprised me, however, of the inquiries she had made at Halford. She had undertaken them to confirm, if possible, what she had learned in the morning. With reference to the frightful tragedy taking place across the marshes, we neither knew of it nor saw anything to report. For this reason I advised my client, when the fact became known, to say nothing of a visit to a spot in such close proximity to the scene of the crime, a circumstance which must lay her open to quite unwarranted suspicion and interference.
‘This, sir, is the extent to which I have withheld evidence or caused it to be withheld. I think you must agree that I have transgressed neither against the law nor against the code of my profession, and that it was as unnecessary as unworthy to play this trick of yours on my respectable and bereaved client, Mrs James William Lammas.’
It was well done, and he knew it was well done. He placed his fingertips together again and sat back a little in his chair. Gently grunted and twisted a spill of paper he had been working up. A good story, even if it did leave out a few of the facts!
‘This place of yours… “High Meadows”… it’s quite a substantial property, isn’t it?’
‘A desirable small residence. I suppose you could call it that.’
‘Six or eight bedrooms, perhaps… I’ve only seen it from the road.’
‘There are eight bedrooms, if you wish to be precise.’
‘You’d need one or two domestics, eh?’
Marsh saw it coming, but he couldn’t prevent it. He did the next best thing and took it by the horns.
‘There are three who live in, but they cannot confirm my statement. They happened to be out on the evening in question.’
Gently’s eyebrows lifted. ‘You mean all three together?’
‘Yes. I had given them tickets for a show in Norchester.’
It was smoothly said, but there was anxiety underneath it. Gently was watching the hands grow white above the knuckles.
‘When did you give them the tickets, Mr Marsh?’
‘At tea-time, I believe.’
‘That was after you had spoken with Mrs Lammas on the phone — after you had returned from the office, in fact?’
‘It was, but I had planned the treat earlier.’
‘You mean that they were looking forward to it?’
‘No… I kept it for a surprise.’
‘Then in view of Mrs Lammas’ appointment you could easily have cancelled it?’
Marsh shifted his expensive brogues. ‘I’m afraid it was out of my mind… when I had given them the tickets, I realized that I ought not to have done. But you will be kind enough to remember that I was not expecting police investigation. It was not likely to become known that Mrs Lammas visited me when I was alone.’
‘It has become known now, Mr Marsh, and I am not quite happy about the details. What show was this your servants went to?’
‘It was a musical entertainment… The King’s Rhapsody was the title. I really must protest at this irrelevant cross-examination!’
‘At “The Theatre Royal”?’
‘Yes, at “The Theatre Royal”.’
‘When did you obtain the three tickets?’
‘I picked them up on my way from the office.’
‘You mean in the afternoon, after you had spoken to Mrs Lammas on the phone?’
‘Naturally… but I had booked the seats by phone earlier.’
‘How much earlier — was it in the morning?’
