‘Where Blacker was is conjectural, but he was certainly there. In the morning he used his knowledge to blackmail Fuller into making him foreman. Blythely, on the other hand, hid in a lean-to urinal. From there he could watch the stable but could see nothing of the yard.
‘And the times of these dispositions were roughly from half past eleven till half past midnight: at that critical time there were four people on the spot.
‘Fuller can tell us nothing, which is not surprising; nor, I imagine, can Mrs Blythely. They were in the hayloft busy with their own doings. Blythely, most unfortunately, could hear but not see, so we are left with Blacker as the solitary eyewitness.
‘What Blythely did hear, however, is very suggestive. He heard three or four separate sets of footsteps. Giving approximate times he heard the first set at eleven-forty. They entered the yard from the opening into Cosford Road, came down the yard and halted in the passage between the mill buildings and the bakehouse block. Five minutes later a second set followed them. Blythely says they were lighter and quicker, like a child’s, which suggests that they belonged to Taylor.
‘There was a short conversation between these two people which Blythely was unable to overhear, neither did he hear them leave the passage. A third set came down the yard at about ten minutes to twelve. They lingered in the passage and then came back running.
‘Finally there were steps from the passage at about twelve o’clock midnight — a little slow and hesitant, according to Blythely. Shortly after they had gone he may have heard a car started, but there was nothing further to report until the guilty party re-emerged at half past twelve.
‘Out of that timetable, I expect, you can begin to reconstruct the murder.’
It was not the implications but the completeness of the information which was making Griffin turn hot. You could see what he was thinking, with his neck growing scarlet. They’d both had their turn at it, he and Gently — about the same time each, but what a difference in their results! Surely there was an element of luck in the affair…?
‘You seem to have covered a lot of ground.’
The super, too, was sounding stiff, but in his case it may have been the guilty pair who rankled.
‘I suppose you’re sure of your facts — testimonies reliable and all that? In a case of this sort I should scarcely have expected…’
‘The evidence seems to dovetail fairly neatly.’
‘Oh, I’m not suggesting we can teach you anything!’
‘There’s always a possible margin for error.’
The super ground out a cigarette butt, himself getting heated. More than ever he had the feeling that Gently was building up something unpleasant and reprehensible. To hide his chagrin, Griffin was also fiddling with a cigarette. Over it he muttered:
‘As a matter of fact, I did suggest…’
Gently seemed lost in the dark world beyond the window.
‘If you don’t mind me saying so, it still isn’t clear-’
‘How the money ties in?’
‘Exactly! Up till now-’
‘Up till now the money has been a hypothesis — except that it was in Blacker’s possession by about half past twelve on the Friday morning.’
‘I agree that it’s a coincidence.’
‘Let me reconstruct what I think occurred.’
The super drew a deep breath and cradled his chin in his hands. On the square a mobile fish-and-chip saloon had drawn up, lending a scent of frying to the vernal atmosphere.
‘We’ll take it from Blacker’s angle — I think that’s most convenient. At some time between eleven and half past he secreted himself in the drying-ground.
‘He saw first Mrs Blythely arrive and wait outside the stable. Then Fuller joined her, and when they had gone into the stable, Blythely came out of the passage to take up his position in the lean-to. Ten minutes later X came into the yard.
‘X I am assuming to be the murderer. I don’t know whether Blacker recognized him — there wasn’t a lot of light. But he saw him go down the yard and stop in the mill passage, and it’s possible that he noticed the package X was carrying under his arm.
‘At eleven forty-five X was joined by Taylor. After a brief conversation X handed Taylor the package, and as Taylor was examining it to make sure of the contents, X slipped behind him and effected strangulation.
‘His plans were obviously made and he wasted no time about them. Immediately life was extinct he set about disposing of the body. How much of this Blacker witnessed is open to conjecture, but I think there is little doubt that it was he who Blythely heard come down to the passage a little later.
‘There he stumbled over the package — partly open, one supposes — and discovering what it contained, made off with it at a run. X, having shot the body into the hopper, returned to pick up the money: its absence must have been a shock to him, but there was nothing he could do about it and he didn’t hang around.
‘Unless I’ve overlooked something, that seems to me the inevitable interpretation.’
‘I don’t agree at all!’
Griffin was ready to jump in directly.
‘Surely there’s another alternative that fits just as well?’
‘There may be.’ Gently bowed his head. ‘It’s difficult to think of all the variations…’
‘Suppose it was Taylor in fact who committed the robbery — suppose he’d had to hide the money in the mill, for some reason. Then Blacker catches him collecting it — there’s a struggle, and Taylor is strangled — isn’t the hopper the very place where Blacker would get rid of the body?’
Gently shrugged without replying. Had he still to make himself plain? For most of the day he’d known the inexorable answer to all the questions…
‘At least it simplifies it, Gently.’
The super wanted to buy Griffin’s notion.
‘It gets rid of that “X” of yours, who’s likely to be a pitfall. And it gives us a clearer picture — the whole thing becomes more credible. This Roscoe lot had begun to dabble in burglary, and at Newmarket they heard of a likely crib to be cracked…’
Could neither of them see the facts which were staring them in the face?
‘There are four people, I think, who know the murderer’s identity.’
He would have to tell them in so many words.
‘Roscoe knows, and I’m sure Blacker does. Then there’s me, and of course, Mr Pershore.’
‘What!’
The super sat up with a jerking movement.
‘Mr Pershore… doesn’t that follow? The money was his and nobody else’s.’
‘What’s that got to do with it?’
‘Why, everything, I imagine! It was he whom Roscoe and the others were blackmailing.’
The super leaned back with an expression of dizziness. A crazy element seemed to have crept into the exchanges! On the one hand, Gently didn’t seem to be raving, but on the other… could he have heard him properly?
‘But that money was stolen!’
Gently shook his head slowly.
‘Ask Inspector Griffin what he found in the study at Prideaux.’
‘He — he found it had been broken into. Didn’t you, Griffin?’
‘That’s right!’ fired Griffin. ‘There’s no question about that. A window catch was forced and there were scratch-marks on the safe.’
‘Only’ — Gently paused to make sure they were following him — ‘there were no scratches or forced windows when I was there an hour earlier. They appeared between the time I left and the time when Inspector Griffin arrived.’
‘Then you are saying-’
The super looked sick. Out of seemingly nowhere, his nightmare premonition was developing.
