the jaw squared up. Finally his eyes narrowed to two steely points, and his lips, pressed together, pouted aggressively outwards.
‘And the woman?’ he barked.
‘I could not swear to her at all.’
‘Yet you saw her, you say?’
‘Oh yes, make no doubt of that.’
‘But you don’t know who she was?’
‘No, I could not tell her from Eve. How could I, man, in that light, and from the far end of the gallery?’
‘You could see she was a woman.’
‘That is another thing altogether.’
‘I put it to you that you’re lying, Johnson.’
‘And I tell you, man, that I am not a liar!’
There was a forward movement on the part of one constable as the fiery Welshman smashed his fist down on the table, while Sir Daynes, for his part, looked no less likely to keep the peace. For a moment they glared at each other like two enraged terriers.
‘You admit you were in the gallery?’ snarled Sir Daynes.
‘Have I not said I was?’
‘And at the crucial time?’
‘At the time I have given in my statement.’
‘And that was the time when the crime was committed.’
‘Oh no it was not, for I can bear testimony.’
‘And your damned testimony may put you in the dock, my man, that’s all the value it’s likely to have! Why didn’t you see the body?’
‘Because there was no body to see.’
‘And you didn’t hear it, eh, tumbling down those stairs?’
‘No more than you did, tucked up in your precious Manor House.’
‘Don’t answer the chief constable back,’ yapped Dyson, feeling it was time he got a word in.
‘Man,’ retorted Johnson, thrusting his face towards the inspector, ‘take that police-badge out of your lapel for a moment, and I’ll give you some free bloody dental treatment!’
It was a deplorable state of affairs. The official atmosphere had deteriorated to a point approaching zero. It was perhaps as well that at this juncture a bulky figure rose from a seat by the window and quietly joined itself to the end of the conference table.
‘About that person you saw…’ murmured Gently, spreading out his guide.
Three people, for three different reasons, restrained a cri de coeur that sprang automatically to the tips of their tongues…
‘I suppose you’re happy, Gently,’ observed Sir Daynes sourly, what time the room was again free of belligerent Welshmen. ‘You wanted to drag Janice into this, and you’ve confounded well succeeded. On the face of it, we’ll have to ask her what she’s got to say about the business.’
Gently’s shoulders heaved expressionlessly. ‘It might have been anyone…’
‘Might have been — but wasn’t, eh? That’s what you were going to say. And if we’re to pay any attention to that damned concussed miner with his grudges and violence!’ Sir Daynes gave one of his financecommittee snorts. ‘But have it your own way. Drag out all the dirty linen. We’ll have Janice and Henry through the mill a dozen times if necessary — before we send that Johnson feller up with an indictment.’
‘He’s my first choice, sir,’ assented Dyson with a touch of animosity in his tone. ‘I couldn’t begin to see my way into this case before we questioned him.’
‘Hah, smelt him from the first!’ Sir Daynes turned to his inspector fondly. ‘Always look for the grudge-bearer, Dyson, and you’ll never go far wrong. Who would want to bash the feller? Answer, Johnson. Who was the type to do it? Answer, Johnson. Who had the opportunity? Answer, Johnson. And between you and me, Dyson, we’ve got our man, only there are a few loose ends about which the best detectives don’t leave showing!’
Gently fished around in the pockets of his waistcoat and, after several failures, brought up a solitary, shop- soiled peppermint cream. ‘We still don’t know why Earle was out there in the hall,’ he said. ‘Until we do know we can’t be certain of anything. The reason may be quite incidental, in which case Johnson may very well have taken an opportunity to level some scores… though, at the same time…’
‘Well, man?’ demanded Sir Daynes impatiently.
‘Can you honestly see Johnson bludgeoning Earle from behind?’
Sir Daynes rumbled and grumbled, but he was obliged to admit that he couldn’t. On all other points the ex- miner added up to the required specifications; on this one he was a miserable failure.
‘No.’ Gently revolved the peppermint cream on his thumb. ‘Johnson simply isn’t the type to strike a cowardly blow in the dark. He’s a boxer, a fighting man. His method of settling scores is to pick a quarrel and throw some punches. But setting that aside… he might have been tempted… If the reason for Earle’s being in the hall was not incidental, it may have been contrived by someone other than Johnson and until we know why or by whom it came about we shall be groping in the dark.’
‘You mean we should disprove his statement about seeing a woman?’ enquired Sir Daynes, with a little more favour.
‘Possibly… it would have a negative value.’
‘Show the feller is a liar, eh?’
‘It wouldn’t be less useful to show that he was not.’
Sir Daynes frowned at the peppermint cream, the revolutions of which seemed to fascinate him. ‘I don’t like it,’ he said at last. ‘Tell you straight, I think it’ll stir up a stink to no purpose. We’ve got the feller’s statement — he was in the hall at the time of the murder. What the devil does it matter why Earle came there, when the blasted fact is that he did?’
Gently raised the peppermint cream like a beacon between them. ‘It could just be that Johnson is telling the truth…’ he said.
For a moment longer Sir Daynes stared at the erected sweetmeat, then he swore under his breath and rapped an order to the apprehensive constable. Dyson began to say something, but the baronet shut him up with a look. The peppermint cream, flipped expertly, went to join its multitudinous predecessors.
‘Hah, m’dear,’ whinnied Sir Daynes, as Mrs Page made her reappearance. ‘Little point has come up — nothing important, answer it in a minute. Chief inspector here wants to know something — think I’ll let him pop the question. Know what you’ll say already, but we have to show chapter and verse.’
Mrs Page flickered a smile at him, but it came and went with pitiful rapidity. She was trembling as she sat down; her beautiful fingers moved restlessly over the sleeve of her woollen cardigan. Finally she glanced at Gently, who gave a little shrug and the ghost of a smile.
‘You have a maid who sleeps in your wing with you, Mrs Page?’
‘Yes… I have.’ She looked surprised.
‘Her bedroom is close to yours?’
‘Yes, it’s on the same floor.’
‘Last night after the party… did she help you undress?’
‘No.’ A rush of colour flooded the waxen cheeks. ‘You must understand… she is indisposed. She had a heavy cold, and went to bed directly after tea. She is in bed now. She has been feverish for two nights.’
‘I am sorry to hear that.’
‘In fact, last night I looked in on her after I went up.’
‘She would be asleep, would she?’
The colour deepened. ‘You did not expect me to waken her, surely?’
‘I only wished to have your word for it. At that time she was asleep, and nursing a feverish cold?’
‘Yes. You have my word.’
