'In its jacket?'
'The jackets are indispensable.'
'But the book you read is the same whether it's a clean copy like these or some dog-eared old paperback from a charity shop.'
'I have hundreds of those,' she said. 'I keep my reading copies in a spare room upstairs.'
'You don't read these?'
'No.'
'What have you got upstairs? Just crime?'
She smiled. 'My dear superintendent, there's nothing unusual in that. People have always enjoyed a good mystery, from prime ministers to ordinary folk like me. I didn't have so much time for reading when my husband was alive. We traveled a lot. But in the last twelve years I've become quite addicted.'
Diamond had no need to steer the conversation. Polly moved smoothly on to the prescribed route.
'That was how I came to found the Bloodhounds. You go to a function and meet other enthusiasts and find you have a lot in common. We've had six very enjoyable years. This dreadful tragedy is going to put an end to it, I fear. I've already canceled the next meeting. Just imagine! We'd all be staring at each other wondering who was capable of a real murder. You couldn't possibly talk about books. Let me get you a nice cup of tea.'
'No, thanks-'
'Then perhaps Inspector Hargreaves…?'
'Nor me,' said Julie. 'We just had something.'
'But a cup of tea always goes down well. Or coffee? I'm due for one about now.'
Diamond said firmly, 'You don't mind if we talk about the evening Mr. Towers was killed?'
'I do have decaffeinated, if you prefer,' Polly offered, unwilling to be denied. It was almost a point of principle to provide hospitality. Perhaps she wanted time in the kitchen to marshal her thoughts.
'You were one of the first at the meeting, I understand.'
She gave a nod. 'To make up for the previous week, when I was late. Stupidly, I dropped my car keys down a drain in New Bond Street. I got them back, but I hate being late for anything, so I made a special effort this time. I do wish I could get you something. A drink?'
'No, thanks. You drove down to the meeting?'
'I always do. I could take the minibus, I suppose, but it does involve some walking, quite late in the evening, and you can't…'
'… be too careful.'
She smiled. 'I was the first to arrive. Sid came soon after.'
'Did you notice his behavior? Did he seem nervous?'
'No more than usual. In fact, rather less. He actually said things a couple of times during the meeting.'
'Do you remember what?'
She fingered a button of her cardigan. 'I can try.' After a pause, she said, 'Yes, at the beginning, someone wondered who was missing, and Sid mentioned Rupert, and added that Rupert was always late-which is true.'
'Anything else?'
Polly dredged her memory. 'We were talking about the missing stamp. Miss Chilmark had suggested we might be able to throw some light on the mystery. Someone-Jessica, I'm sure-came up with the theory that some fanatical collector may have taken it. She suggested he might be a middle-aged man with a personality defect, and Sid interrupted to say that it might equally have been a woman.'
'Sid said as much as that?'
'No, he just interrupted with the words 'Or woman,' but that was essentially the point, and quite fair. I don't think he spoke again until nearly the end of the meeting. However, he did produce a paper bag at an opportune moment. I expect you've heard about Miss Chilmark's attack?'
Diamond nodded. 'But let's stay with Sid. You said he spoke at the end?'
'I mean after the discovery of the stamp. There was a difference of opinion as to whether Milo should go directly to the police. He was in two minds, you see. He felt he might come under suspicion and-please don't take offense at this-several of them clearly believed he might be treated roughly. In fact, only two of us, Miss Chilmark and I, were for Milo going to the police. Sid was asked, and what he said was that he could stay quiet-which nobody doubted.'
This was the first Diamond had heard of a split of opinion at the end. 'If the majority favored staying quiet, how was it that Milo came in to report the matter?'
She smiled, and Rupert's comment came back to Diamond: 'Look at her eyes when she smiles.' She said in a self-congratulatory way, 'Good sense prevailed. Milo listened to us and saw that he had a public duty. The others may have been willing to turn a blind eye-'
'But you weren't?'
'It didn't come to that. Nobody made any threats. Milo reached his own decision.'
Diamond understood now. Democracy wouldn't have worked. Polly and Miss Chilmark had felt they had a public duty. Milo had been left with no option.
'Getting back to Sid,' he said, 'the more I hear about him, the more I think he wasn't the doormat that his quiet behavior suggested.'
'That's a fact,' Polly said firmly. 'Sid may have been reticent, but he was no fool. He knew as much as any of us about detective stories, with the possible exception of Milo. John Dickson Carr was his special interest.'
'I've seen the books in his flat.'
This drew an interested 'Oh?' from Polly. 'I always imagined he must have a collection.'
'They wouldn't be of use to you,' he told her. 'Most of them had no jackets, and those that did were withdrawn from libraries. Do you collect Dickson Carr, ma'am?'
She waved vaguely across the room. 'I have a few of the collectable ones. He was very prolific.'
'A writer of crafty plots, I gather. I can see why the locked room stories appealed to Sid, considering his line of work.'
'As a security officer? Actually I doubt if he came across that sort of thing working for Impregnable. It doesn't often happen in real life, does it?'
Diamond let that pass. He had a sense that Polly was doing her best to manipulate the interview now that she was over the surprise of their visit. The image she presented, of the homely woman in twinset, tweed skirt, and slippers, with her soft curls, teapot, and sweet smile, had slipped once or twice already. He remembered the reservations about her that he'd got from Jessica Shaw and Miss Chilmark. 'I understand Sid joined the Bloodhounds on the advice of his doctor.'
'Dr. Newburn, yes. My doctor, too. A lovely person. Dead now, unhappily.' The saccharine smile appeared again. 'Of natural causes. Dr. Newburn got in touch with me and asked if I thought it would work. He knew of my involvement. Sid was recovering from a breakdown. I said I couldn't promise anything, but, he was welcome to come along, and I'd make sure he wasn't put under more stress. My conscience is clear in that regard, anyway.'
Spoken serenely, ignoring the logic that Sid's introduction to the Bloodhounds had led to his death.
'This breakdown. What was the cause?'
'I couldn't tell you. He did let drop the fact that his house had once been burgled. A horrible thing to happen to anybody. Would that lead to a breakdown, do you suppose?'
'Your guess is as good as mine, ma'am.' After a suitable pause he said, in the tone of someone testing a theory, 'I'd appreciate your reaction to a thought I had. We know that Sid enjoyed a locked room puzzle. I'm wondering whether the reason he drove to the boatyard was simple curiosity, to work out for himself what must have happened. What you had was a Dickson Carr setup. Milo did make this clear?'
'Indeed, yes. He showed us the key to the padlock and said where he'd bought it and how impossible it was for anyone to have a spare key.'
'Quite a challenge for a man like Sid, a student of the locked room puzzle. Trained in security, too. The question is: Did he go down to Limpley Stoke to have a quiet look around the narrowboat and see for himself?'
'You could well be right,' said Polly.
'Then either he surprised the murderer or the murderer followed him there and surprised him. That's the logic of it, isn't it? Either way, Sid got the worst of it.'