Bloodhounds

'Absolutely not.' Spoken with umbrage.

'They've lifted the blinds now. Would you look at this man and tell me if you recognize him?'

'He's face down.'

'From his clothes and general appearance. We can't move him until the doctor has looked at him.'

Motion bent closer to one of the windows. 'He looks a little like

… But that's impossible.'

'Like who, sir?'

'Like a man called Sid. But he's one of the Bloodhounds. He does have a raincoat like that. No, it couldn't possibly be Sid. He was at the meeting with me until it ended. Besides, what would Sid be doing on my boat?'

Chapter Fifteen

Next morning in the briefing room at Manvers Street, Diamond assembled the Murder Squad. It didn't matter that half of them were officially seconded to Operation Bumblebee; Wigfull's people were ordered to attend. Murder took precedence over everything. Even so, the stamp's recovery had given the Bumblebees some encouragement.

Diamond soon put a stopper on that. 'You lot may be feeling chipper this morning, but I got sod-all sleep last night. If there's anything to be pleased about, I'd like to know what.'

A young inspector recently transferred from Radstock rashly told him what.

'That's the good news, is it?' said Diamond.

'Well, it sounds like good news to me, sir.'

'Good news, my arse. You don't know who nicked it yet. Can't take any credit. It was handed in. Jack the lad made us look like the plods we are. What kind of good news is that?'

'It's bad news, sir,' the inspector said in a sharp about-turn.

'Wrong again, squire. That isn't the bad news. The bad news is that somebody was killed last night. And there seems to be a link between the murder and the theft.' He addressed the entire room. 'The victim was a man of forty-six called Sid Towers, a night watchman. Towers was last seen alive in the center of Bath at eight forty-five last night. The body was discovered by Mr. Wigfull, here, and the man who handed in the stamp, name of Milo Motion. Got that? Milo Motion. Time: about one A.M. this morning. Location: on a narrowboat moored at the Dundas boatyard, across the road from the Viaduct pub. Victim was cracked over the head with some heavy object like a spanner. It hasn't been found yet. The divers are already at the scene in case it was thrown into the water, but I doubt it. This killer is smart-and that is an understatement. Milo Motion, who lives aboard the boat, locked up at a quarter to seven to attend a meeting in Bath, and when he got back with John Wigfull at his side the padlock was still in place.'

'With the victim inside the cabin,' Wigfull himself put in.

'I'd better tell you about the Bloodhounds. Wipe the smile off your face, Keith. These are crucial facts I'm giving you. Milo Motion belongs to a club-a literary society, he calls it-known as the Bloodhounds. They meet in the crypt of St. Michael's-that big church by the Podium-every Monday to discuss detective stories.'

He broke off the narrative to point at someone making a sly aside to his neighbor. 'Will you shut up and listen to this? Sid Towers, the murdered man, was a member of this Bloodhound club and was present at the meeting. And a strange thing happened. Milo Motion, the owner of the boat, had agreed to read a chapter from a book he'd brought with him. A book of his own, right? This chapter was on the subject of locked room mysteries, which I gather have a devoted following among people who read whodunits. He opened the book at the place he wanted and-what do you know? — there was the missing Penny Black lying between the pages like a bookmark. Everyone was shocked, not least Mr. Motion. The meeting ended early, and Motion came straight to us and spent the rest of the evening being put through the grinder.

'All told, it wasn't Milo Motion's day, getting lumbered with a stolen stamp and a murdered corpse. He insists that his boat was locked all evening, and he was the only person in possession of a key. Yet when he unlocked, the body was found there. So do we charge Motion with murder? Do we, heck! He has a better alibi than the Pope. I told you Towers was alive at eight forty-five. At five to nine, Motion was meeting the desk sergeant downstairs. He couldn't have traveled to the boatyard and back in ten minutes. And the rest of the time he was with John Wigfull. What we have, my friends, is a locked boat mystery.'

One of Wigfull's team said, 'He could have hired someone.'

'Motion could?'

'Couldn't he?'

'To do a killing on his own boat?' said Diamond on a shrill note of disbelief.

'You said we're dealing with someone smart, or better than smart. Maybe this is the ultimate in bluffing.'

'I don't see it, but I'm willing to listen if there's more to this theory.'

There was not. Julie Hargreaves filled the silence that followed by saying, 'Shall we discuss the stamp theft first?' She had worked with Diamond often enough not to be cowed by his black moods.

John Wigfull said, 'Actually, I was about to propose the same thing.'

'Do you want to take over?' Diamond offered. He spoke mildly, and it might have been sincerely meant. It was impossible to tell.

Wigfull didn't answer.

'This is your baby,' Diamond pointed out.

Wigfull was practically squirming in his chair. The stamp theft was his baby, only there was no way he could dandle it on his knee with any pride.

Julie cut the tension by saying, 'Sir, can we establish first that Milo Motion is a fall guy and not a thief? Whoever did the Postal Museum job-which was cleverly carried out, remember- he took some risks courting publicity with those verses-whoever did it was unlikely to hand the stamp in meekly, as this man Motion did. It would be a surrender, and a pathetic one at that.'

'Go on.'

'Is that a fair point?' said Julie, unwilling to be hustled. 'I'd like to know if anyone disagrees.'

Diamond looked to his left. 'John?'

'It sounds reasonable to me,' Wigfull was forced to commit himself. 'After several hours with Motion, I can't see him as a master thief. He's bright, certainly. A loner. Eccentric, shall we say?'

'If you mean homosexual,' murmured Diamond, 'why don't you say so?'

'Because I don't know,' Wigfull snapped back. 'I didn't ask. His sexual preferences don't come into it. If you're asking me to make a guess, I'd say he probably is gay, but that's a superficial impression.'

'Say it, John,' said Halliwell. 'The man's a jam duff.'

'What does that make you?' said Diamond. 'A paper-weight?'

Wigfull was striving to make a serious point. 'I don't think Motion has the bottle to carry out a theft, let alone bluff his way out of it.'

'Are you sure there isn't a partner?' Diamond pressed him.

'He doesn't live with anyone, if that's what you mean. I just said he's a loner. To come back to your question, Julie, yes, he's been set up, in my opinion. We're looking for someone else.'

Julie said, 'Then we ought to look at motives. Why steal the stamp if you intend to give it back? The other day we were expecting a ransom demand. It didn't come.'

Keith Halliwell said, 'The stamp was just a pawn in a far more serious game.'

'You're linking it to the murder?' said Julie.

'Of course. You sacrifice a pawn to achieve a better position.'

'What better position?' asked Diamond.

'It ensured that Motion would go to the police and be questioned for some hours. His boat was unoccupied. Time enough for the killer to murder Towers and get away.'

'Except that we don't know how he got into a locked boat or what brought Towers there.'

'The locked room mystery,' said one of Wigfull's team. 'Isn't it remarkable that the Bloodhounds meet to