No Winding-Sheet

‘I’ve always thought there was something fishy about Pythias,’ said another master. ‘Beware of the Greeks, you know.’

‘Only when they come bearing gifts,’ said Marmont, ‘and the Old Python could hardly be credited with doing that. Nobody likes coughing up the coffee and tea money — personally, I think these beverages ought to be provided free — but our Rule Britannia in the secretary’s den has more trouble digging his weekly contribution out of Pythias than out of the rest of us put together.’

‘Wonder how much Pythias is making out of this Athenian caper?’ said another man. ‘Merely a flippant and facetious observation,’ he added hastily, as he met Mr Burke’s cold eye.

‘Then keep the next one under your hat,’ advised the deputy head. ‘There’s the bell.’

‘You know,’ said Scaife to Marmont as they picked up their books and went out into the corridor, ‘I know where Pythias has his digs. I’ve a damn good mind to oil round there after school and make some enquiries about the bloke. I don’t like being summoned to the bank as though I’ve bounced a cheque on them.’

‘Forget it,’ said his friend. ‘Fools rush in, and all that, remember. If the police are interested, well, it’s better for the likes of us to stay clear.’

‘I said I’d spotted this detective chap coming up to the school. I didn’t say it was anything to do with Pythias. It’s probably something to do with the builder’s men.

‘I wish such-and-such to Pythias, anyway!’ said Marmont. ‘This is the second free period this week that I’ve had to stand in for him. Oh, well, they can draw and use coloured pencils on a map of South America while I’m getting on with my marking. My knowledge of geography is limited to where the English and Scottish golf-courses are.’

‘I thought history and geography were complementary subjects.’

‘Nonsense, my dear fellow. As Edmund Clerihew Bentley has so succinctly pointed out, geography is about maps and history is about chaps. There could not be a greater distinction drawn. Oh, well, see you at break, should we both live that long.’

‘What was that crack of yours, Filkins, about Pythias being a forger?’ asked Mr Burke.

‘Oh, I only said it because Pythias is quite an artist. His maps are the most exquisite things. I wouldn’t put it past him to design a five-pound note which would defy detection.’

‘You mind what you’re saying. There’s many a true word spoken in jest and you don’t want your nasty nasturtiums brought up against you later. Have mind upon your health, as the Bard says, and tempt providence no further.’

Mr Burke then set his boys to work and went along to confer with the headmaster.

‘I’ve seen Scaife, Marmont and Whitby,’ he said. ‘The cheques are all right, so no problem there.’

‘Yes, but where is the rest of the money?’

‘I wonder whether we ought to have warned those three men to keep their mouths shut about being summoned to the bank? The staffroom is a hot-bed of gossip.’

‘Yes. I wonder why women are always credited with being the gossiping sex? My wife always declares that men are much worse and she may well be right. Anyway, I don’t object to the idea of gossip in the staffroom. It might turn up a bit of useful information. Keep your ear to the ground. I like this business less and less the more I hear about it.’

At the police station Routh and Detective-Sergeant Bennett were also in conference and on the same subject as were the two schoolmasters.

‘Nothing wrong with those cheques, it seems,’ said Routh, ‘but although I have indicated to Mr Ronsonby that there is not much more that we can do, I think we’ll go along and take a look round Springdale. I still don’t believe that these Greeks actually exist, you know. That was a very women’s-novelette description of them that Mrs Buxton gave.’

‘You think we’ve got a murder on our hands, sir? Well, we are not going to get any help in proving that, unless and until we can find the body.’

‘You no longer believe that Pythias defaulted, then?’

‘As we’ve said before, it wouldn’t be worth a teacher’s while to abscond with that kind of money, sir, a nice little lump sum though it might be. He would risk too much if he were found out. There’s his pension, for one thing. From what I’ve gathered, Mr Pythias isn’t all that far from the age of retirement.’

‘Isn’t — or wasn’t? I think that’s what we’ve got to find out. I agree with you that murder is more than a possibility. When we’ve had a look around Springdale, we might do a lot worse than find out what sort of a financial position the Buxtons are in. I don’t like the way that woman did not notify the school that Pythias had not returned to his digs. Besides, she certainly knew he was carrying that money. She has admitted that from the beginning.’

‘As to the first, she claims that it was no business of hers if he chose to walk out on her. As for the second, would she have volunteered the information that she knew what was in the briefcase if she intended to steal it?’

‘Good point, but, of course, by the time we got to her, the deed was done, and if she is guilty, she would have had time to cover her tracks.’

‘I reckon these landladies know all the tricks of the trade, sir, when it comes to a bit of deviousness.’

‘Perhaps they need to, if they are to keep up-sides with some of the tenants.’

‘Those would be women tenants, sir. Men are not devious. They’re merely twisters.’

‘Anyway, Springdale for me tomorrow. I don’t think there is any point in your tagging along. I’ll have a beer and a natter with the Super there. We trained together, so he’ll tell me anything he can.’

‘Anything I can do while you’re gone, sir?’

‘Unfortunately, no. I don’t want to start a scandal until I’m on safer ground. Still, somebody thought those