'We've dismissed that,' said A.J. quickly. 'We agreed to erase it from our minds, didn't we?' He was addressing Shirley-Ann now.
'Absolutely,' she confirmed with all the conviction she could summon up, considering she had thought about little else since the party.
Jessica said, 'I'd like to know who it was. I've got my suspicions.'
'Let go, Jess,' A.J. urged her, talking like a husband.
'If that's their game, they could try again.'
'It was a prank,' said A.J. 'Someone with a warped sense of humor. You don't think anyone could seriously suspect you of murder? I mean, you had a lot of time for the bloke who was killed. He was a bit of a loner, you told me, lacking in confidence. You took him under your wing.'
Took him under your wing and used him to pinch the Penny Black, thought Shirley-Ann cynically. Then clobbered the poor beggar because he stepped out of line and put the plot at risk. She was finding it a great test to keep her conclusions to herself.
'That isn't the point,' said Jessica. 'We all know I wouldn't have harmed Sid in a million years, but if this evilminded bastard points the finger at me again, I'm going to the police.'
'He won't,' said A.J.
'How do you know it wasn't a woman?' Jessica demanded, and Shirley-Ann, with her weakness for speaking first and thinking afterward, almost told her why.
A.J. grinned, and said, 'Fair point, but I'm sure it's a closed book now. Hadn't we better get back and open the gallery?'
They moved on.
Shirley-Ann's thoughts were in ferment again as she continued toward Top Lock. She didn't give a thought to the marvelous view or the cottage. She was puzzled over the relationship between those two. Was it the modern morality that had stopped them from showing any embarrassment at being seen in each other's company? True, she had seen them together before, in the gallery, but this was something else, surely, being met along a secluded towpath. It was evident to anyone that they knew each other extremely well, almost like brother and sister. Yes, that was exactly the feeling she got from them, an intimacy that didn't give rise to shame.
Up to now Shirley-Ann had always believed she could tell if a woman was concealing a relationship. She'd spotted the signs quite early in several of her married friends. This was baffling, because there was no suggestion of concealment. In A.J.'s company, Jessica behaved as if she had every right to spend major time alone with him.
And there was still a huge question in Shirley-Ann's mind. Where did Sid Towers fit into this menage? To plot the theft of the Penny Black, there must have been meetings with Sid, long meetings to work on the details of an intricate plot. They must have cased the Postal Museum and talked over ways of gaining entry. They must have worked out their diversionary tactics, the riddles, and how to publicize them. There was the challenge-still a mystery to Shirley-Ann-of getting into Milo's locked boat. All of this must have been talked through by Sid and Jessica. Long sessions, debating ways of carrying out such an elaborate plot. How had Jessica achieved this without alerting A.J. or her husband? Or was either of them involved as well?
She walked on, unenlightened.
'He said what?'
Julie repeated the phrase for Diamond's benefit. ' 'Don't forget the diver.' '
'Ah.'
'His idea of a joke.'
'It's one of those radio catchphrases, if I'm not mistaken. When I was a kid we listened to the radio a lot.' He eased back in his chair, ready to reminisce, surprisingly untroubled by Wigfull's barbed message. 'I enjoyed them. Ray's a Laugh, Take it from Here, Educating Archie, and, of course, The Goons. The characters had their set phrases. All they had to do was repeat them each week, and the audience would be rolling in the aisles. And applauding.' He smiled. 'Mind, 'Don't forget the diver' was before my time or Wigfull's.'
'I should hope so,' said Julie. 'I looked it up. It goes back to the nineteen twenties.'
'The twenties'!'
'It seems there was a one-legged man who used to dive off the pier for pennies at New Brighton. It was his catchphrase in the first place. Then it was taken up by Tommy Handley during the war.'
'That would be ITMA.'
'Yes.'
'I don't remember ITMA either,' said Diamond. 'Did John have any other gags to share with you?'
'That was the only one,' said Julie. Truth to tell, she'd thought twice about passing that one on, but it was obvious that something had put her boss into a sunny mood. When she'd walked into his office he'd been humming 'Yellow Submarine.' 'No, there was another joke,' she said, 'but it was unintended. He expects to take over the case.'
He chuckled. 'I've heard that one before, too.'
'Once he did take over,' she reminded him.
'Only after I resigned. It's not going to happen again.' He opened the drawer in front of him, and took out a rusty object and let it fall on the desk with a metallic clunk. 'Keys, Julie. A bunch of keys. The reason those divers got in touch was that they'd finished the job.'
'Those are…?'
'The keys Milo Motion dropped into the canal.'
'Brilliant.' She understood his singing now. 'So now we know Milo was telling the truth about where he lost them.'
'Yes. Only there's more to it than that.' He took a padlock from the same desk drawer. 'This is the one that was on the door of the Mrs. Hudson on the evening Sid Towers was found dead. Watch.'
He picked up the bunch of keys and selected one, and a powdering of rust dropped on to the desk. He inserted the key into the lock and turned it. The shackle sprang open. Still holding the padlock, he watched for Julie to react.
She put her hand to her mouth.
'Say it,' he said.
She was frowning. 'You say that's the padlock that was on the boat?'
He nodded.
'And those are Milo's original keys?'
'Yes.'
'Then it wasn't a substitution. According to John Wigfull's theory, Sid Towers fitted a new padlock to the boat, but that can't be so. This must be the original padlock. We've been working on a false assumption.'
For a man who had been working on a false assumption, Diamond didn't look at all downhearted.
Julie said, 'John Wigfull's theory about the locked room doesn't work after all.'
'Right, Julie. He's up shit creek without a paddle.'
A fresh thought struck her. 'Aren't we also?'
'Yes,' he said blithely. 'And isn't it refreshing?'
Chapter Twenty-six
'Aren't you going to tell John Wigfull he was wrong?' Julie asked.
'Not yet,' Diamond told her. 'What time is it?'
'Twenty to four, near enough.'
'Jiminy Cricket!'
'Something you forgot?'
'Get your coat. We have an appointment at four with Miss Chilmark.'
'An appointment? Sounds like the dentist.'
'Miss C. is the sort of woman you don't visit without prior notice. I fixed it this morning.'
