by the staircase.
She went back into the room and opened the front of the lacquered cabinet. It contained only a couple of bottles, a soda syphon and several glasses.
Two of the three drawers in the bureau were empty. In the third were hotel stationery, a pen, a map, rubber bands, an electric light bulb.
She made rapid search of the bathroom, paying special attention to a ventilator shutter and to the inside of the flushing cistern. In neither had anything been concealed. She pulled the door shut after her and went to work on the bedroom.
To the contents of the two small cupboards and the bedside locker, Miss Teatime paid only fleeting attention. She spent longer feeling between the clothing stacked with meticulous tidiness in a chest of drawers and explored the least obvious recesses within the big built-in wardrobe.
Then, as she stood by the bed, about to lift a corner of the mattress, she caught the sound of voices. At once, she slipped back into the main room.
Purbright appeared at the open door. Behind his shoulder hung the amiable, inquisitive face of Love, like a rosy moon.
“What on earth are
“I presume you want an answer to the second question first. Mr Brennan left this room about three minutes ago. He said he was going down to see you.”
“Well, he didn’t. Sergeant—go and keep an eye on his car. It should be in the garage at the back. Grey Hillman, HMU-something-or-other.”
Love’s face dipped, then floated away.
“May I invite you in, inspector, on Mr Brennan’s behalf ? I cannot think he is likely to be far off.”
Purbright entered. He pushed the door nearly shut.
“And now your answer to the first question.”
“Why I am here? I came to persuade Mr Brennan of the error of his ways.”
“Which particular ways, Miss Teatime?”
“You should know, inspector. Otherwise, why should you be here yourself?”
“Ah, now you know better than to imagine that I am going to barter motives. Policemen have one great advantage, they need never account for their presence anywhere.”
“If I found one in my bath, I fancy I should be entitled to an explanation.”
“Not if he were in uniform. But you are not bathing at the moment, Miss Teatime, and I must not waste time in chat. Where is Brennan?”
Suddenly her expression changed.
“What is it you wish to question Mr Brennan about?”
“Oh, come now, Miss Teatime!”
“This is not mere inquisitiveness, and I do not mean to sound impertinent. Please tell me.”
He regarded her in silence for a moment.
“Very well. I want to ask him what he knows about an assault that took place the other night.”
“A criminal assault?”
“No. Technically, a common assault.”
She nodded. “Not a felony, then. Not an indictable offence at all. So you have no power to arrest him.”
“That’s true.”
She smiled at him slowly. “You do not much care, do you, inspector, for the exercise known as making bricks without straw.”
He, too, smiled. “Not greatly, no.”
“I may possibly be able to provide you with a little straw. Allow me to remain and we shall see.”
The door was pushed open. Brennan, accompanied by Love, entered the room. He glanced coldly at Miss Teatime, then addressed the inspector.
“I’m sorry, I was under the impression that you had arrived by the other entrance. I have been looking for you there.”
“I met the gentleman in the yard,” Love side-remarked to Purbright.
“That’s all right, Mr Brennan. The main thing is that we’ve finally managed to catch up with one another. I hadn’t really supposed”—the inspector grinned—“that you’d gone tearing off to the nearest airport or anything like that.”
Brennan responded with a brief, thin smile.
“There is a matter,” Purbright began, “about which we hope you might be able to give us some useful information, sir. We are investigating an incident in Heston Lane two evenings ago. The evening of the twelfth. A young woman was assaulted near a post box. You may know the place, sir—it’s quite near Dr Meadow’s surgery.”
“I know where the surgery is, yes.”
