‘According to what Nicholas Tynant told Bonamy and Bonamy told us, she was on a yacht at sea at the time. Neither was she his nearest nor his dearest. She had been divorced from him for several years.’
‘I wonder, then, why she was brought along to identify the body? Tynant, or any of the others, could have done it just as well.’
‘Detective-Superintendent Mowbray has asked me for an interview. I will put the point to him tomorrow.’
‘Think he’ll tell you why he suspects murder?’
‘Yes, I am sure he will.’
‘Do you know something about this business which I don’t know?’
‘I think not, but I may suspect something which has not yet occurred to you.’
‘Such as what?’
‘Such as Professor Veryan’s telescope.’
‘Nobody has mentioned a telescope to me.’
‘If he was an astronomer, a telescope seems necessary to complete the picture. The fact that it has not been mentioned could mean one of two things: either the police think it of no importance, or they think it of such significance that they are keeping it in the background until they feel the right moment has come to mention any evidence it can produce.’
‘Suppose there wasn’t a telescope at all?’
‘Oh, but, surely, there must have been. Whatever his real purpose, he may have needed an excuse for visiting the keep at night. There was always the chance that Tom or Bonamy would wake and hear him and go up there to find out what was happening.’
‘If it was murder and somebody tumbled him over the edge, the telescope would have flown out of his hand and gone down with him. I wonder whether it was the kind you hold up to your eye, or whether he had a tripod or something of that sort?’
‘No doubt all will be revealed in due course.’
There was a telephone call for Dame Beatrice at breakfast on the following morning. Laura took it and said, ‘Mrs Veryan is on the line and “craves the favour of an interview”. What shall I tell her? She says she is at the Barbican with Tynant.’
‘My appointment with Detective-Superintendent Mowbray is not until eleven. Tell her that I will see her here as soon as she can come along.’
Laura relayed this message, returned to the table and said, ‘I wonder what she wants?’
‘I would like to know whether she stands to gain anything in the way of money or property by her husband’s death,’ said Dame Beatrice. ‘I believe there is some chance of it.’
‘They were divorced.’
‘That would not prevent her from inheriting anything he may have left to her in his will. I understand that the reasons for divorce were not acrimonious. The couple appear to have separated by mutual consent. It is quite likely that he has left her provided for.’
‘Looks nasty for her if he has. That might be the foxy police reason for bringing her into the picture by getting her to identify the body.’
Mrs Veryan came at a quarter to ten in a car driven by Tynant. He remained in it while the interview took place. There were a couple of men reading newspapers in the hotel lounge, but, one after the other, they soon went out and Dame Beatrice, Laura and Grace had the room to themselves.
‘You say you need my help,’ said Dame Beatrice, ‘but I am not yet officially connected with the case.’
‘That is my trouble. Why is there a case? Why don’t the police believe it was an accident?’
‘It was a strange accident considering that he had been on the tower more than a dozen times before. That, and the fact that the accident happened at the one time when there was nobody about, was bound to interest the police.’
‘My trouble is that I believe I gain by the death, though I may not be the only person to do so. In fact, I believe that someone may gain from
‘When did your husband publicly announce that he proposed to dig at Holdy Castle?’ Dame Beatrice enquired.
‘Oh, we kept in touch through mutual friends. I know he had had the project in mind for some time. I don’t think he ever made what one would call a public announcement, but I have no doubt that he had spoken of it to his colleagues at the university and I know there was correspondence between him and the owner of the property. He was rather angry with the owner because permission was also given to Edward Saltergate for the work
‘Is Mrs Saltergate a friend of yours?’
‘I would not call her a friend; she is an acquaintance only, but I like her well enough, although I suppose if we met three times at conferences or public dinners while I was married to Malpas it was as much as happened. We were attached to different universities, you see, and, in any case, Malpas, as a full professor, moved in a somewhat different sphere from Edward’s.’
‘Would you care to tell me the terms of your husband’s will?’
‘I shall be glad to do that, when I am sure of them. But, although I may gain by his death, I have a perfect alibi, as you probably know.’
‘Then why are you worried?’
