‘Yes, she did, sir. They brought a note signed by Pythias authorising them to take the stuff — clothes she said it was, and a bag of golf-clubs — and she swears she recognised the writing and the signature. She showed me a letter she had from Pythias when he was on holiday last year.’
‘Did she also show you the letter these people brought?’
‘No. They had taken it away with them.’
‘Then her claim that she recognised the writing doesn’t help us at all. She ought to have insisted on keeping the note to cover herself for parting with Pythias’s property. Oh, well, it looks as though he’s alive all right. Did she get any clue as to where he is?’
‘Yes. He’s ill at these people’s place in Springdale.’
‘Did they give her any idea as to when he proposes to return to his digs?’
‘No, sir. According to what she told me, these people said that he thought Mrs Buxton might like to know that she could let his room for the time being. That’s why he had asked to have all his possessions removed out of the way. They took the clothes, the golf-clubs and a suitcase.’
‘He could have paid a retaining fee if he intended to come back. It seems a bit rash to pass up on good digs for what may be a short illness. Once his room is let, he may not find it easy to get back.’
‘Mrs Buxton is prepared to let it, but only from week to week. She says he has considered her, so she is prepared to consider him.’
‘All very nice and hotsy-totsy. You know what I think? I think Pythias has cut his stick after all and taken the money with him. Either that, or these two people who called on Mrs Buxton are criminals and have done for him and collected the boodle for themselves, but my first theory now seems more likely.’
‘Springdale is on the other side of the county, sir. Would people living there have known anything about the money for the Sir George Etherege school journey? I doubt it.’
‘Did you get a description of them?’
‘She said they were a swarthy man, younger than Pythias, and a good-looking young woman. She thinks they were foreigners.’
‘Not unlikely. Pythias is a Greek.’
‘The man was wearing a good overcoat with an astrakhan collar and he had a little round hat such as the Russians favour. The girl had on a musquash coat — real fur, Mrs Buxton thinks, not synthetic — and fancy knee- high boots.’
‘They sound a fishy couple to me. They could have stepped out of any romantic spy story. I hope Mrs Buxton wasn’t drawing on her imagination. If so, she is implicated. Anyway, I don’t like the sound of them, but perhaps I’m prejudiced. I don’t like astrakhan collars and Russian headgear and women in knee-high boots.’
‘All Englishmen are prejudiced against foreigners, sir. It’s partly because we’re islanders and partly because we’ve got a superiority complex.’
‘Both have come in very handy in the past. Well, nothing more we can do tonight. I’d like to give Mrs Buxton a rocket, but what good would it do?’
‘I could go round there and catch Buxton when he gets home from work, sir, and see what he’s got to say.’
‘It wouldn’t help. He won’t have seen these foreigners. He’s got his own job, so it seems that Mrs Buxton runs the lodgings without his help. I’ll report to Mr Ronsonby tomorrow morning and point out that it isn’t likely that Mr Pythias can still be listed as a missing person. Nothing else helpful, I suppose?’
‘No, sir. Mrs Buxton showed me this letter written to her by Pythias when he was on summer holiday a year ago, as I mentioned. Why she should think it would bolster up her claim that she recognised the writing and the signature on the note those visitors brought I don’t understand any more than you do, but women are not the most logical of creatures. It may have convinced
‘I wonder why she had kept the holiday letter? It was dated some time back, you say. Landladies are seldom sentimental enough to preserve their lodgers’ holiday correspondence.’
‘As to that, sir, she had kept it because on the inside page there was a nice little sketch of some Greek fishing boats in the harbour of one of the islands. He was staying in the place for his holiday, the letter said. She said it was a shame to throw the drawing away, and I must admit I agreed with her. I don’t know much about art, but I would say that this was a very classy little drawing indeed.’
‘And doesn’t tally with that awful daub on his wall. So this picture was just sketched as an illustration to an ordinary holiday letter? I should like to see it. Go back and chisel it out of her. If Pythias is that much of an artist, he may have had a tie-up with that nephew of Mrs Buxton’s.’
‘Or with the art master at the school, sir, don’t you think?’
‘From what I’ve gathered, Pythias had no particular pals on the staff. I think the tie-up with Rattock at the digs is more likely. Anyway, get that letter from Mrs Buxton. We may be able to do with a specimen of Pythias’s handwriting later on. One never knows. Besides, I’d like to show that sketch to Rattock and see whether there are any reactions.’
‘I expect Mrs Buxton showed it to him when she received the letter, sir, knowing Rattock to be an artist himself.’
‘That’s true, but I shall have a go at him, all the same. It may rattle him if he thinks I find the letter important. By the way, you mentioned that these people took away clothes and golf-clubs. When I got her to show me the room there was a fair collection of books. Didn’t those get taken away as well?’
‘She only spoke of clothes, the golf-clubs and a suitcase. Perhaps a woman of her sort wouldn’t think books worth mentioning, sir.’
‘Oh, well, I think I’ll have another look at the room. If the books are still there, things look very fishy indeed. If Pythias intended not to go back there, well, he’s a schoolmaster and would never have left his books behind. You know what I think, Bennett? I think that worthless nephew has had the stuff and flogged it, and Mrs Buxton is
