“Well, of course you were actually in the area not long before—as, indeed, I was myself.”
“That is true.”
“Did you happen to see or hear anything which may have a bearing on what happened to that girl?”
“No, I can’t say I did. I had no reason to be particularly observant.”
“You remember no one hanging about near the letter box?”
“I’m not sure that I’ve ever noticed a letter box in Heston Lane. In any case, I went to and from the surgery by car. I would have been watching the road at the time.”
“At what time, sir?”
“When I was coming back. About half-past six, wasn’t it, or a quarter to seven? You were there when I left the surgery.”
The inspector looked at Brennan’s suit.
“Were you wearing something else that evening, Mr Brennan? My mental picture of you has some grey in it.”
“Naturally. The suit I had on then was grey.”
“You weren’t wearing a coat, by any chance? Then—or later on?”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“Not a light raincoat, perhaps?”
“Now look, inspector—you said you wanted to ask me some questions. Very well, I am glad to give what information I can to help the police. But I do not care to be cross-examined. Especially in front of strangers.”
Purbright looked surprised. “This lady is a stranger to you, sir?”
“Virtually, yes. She came to see me on a matter of business.”
“But this is your room, sir. I can scarcely ask a guest of yours to leave it.”
Brennan shrugged. Miss Teatime gave him a sympathetic smile and moved over to the fireplace, where she began to examine intently a framed print of Constable’s ‘Hay Wain’.
“Now, sir, just one more question about this matter of clothes. Do you own a lightweight raincoat, very pale in colour, practically white?”
“I do not,” asserted Brennan. “Or at least”—he carefully checked the irritation in his voice—“I never wear one. There is an old coat in the car. I keep it there in case I should need to get out in the rain.”
Purbright appeared to find this reasonable. Brennan added:
“I’ve had no occasion to put that coat on for, oh, at least a couple of weeks.”
Suddenly and quite sharply, the inspector asked: “Where were you at eight o’clock that evening, sir?”
There was a short silence. Then Brennan looked over towards the fireplace.
“Miss Teatime—just a moment, if you wouldn’t mind.”
She faced them.
“The inspector would like to know where I was at eight o’clock on the evening of the day before yesterday. Perhaps you would be good enough to tell him.” Without pausing, Brennan faced the inspector again. “Her firm has been awarded a grant by one of the medical research trusts. A quite substantial grant, I understand. My own company has been asked to help with currency arrangements. I met Miss Teatime by appointment on the very evening that you happen to be talking about. A few minutes before eight o’clock, if I remember rightly.”
He looked again at Miss Teatime.
So did Purbright. Unlike Brennan’s, however, his expression was one of perplexity.
Miss Teatime walked towards them a little hesitantly. She glanced from one to the other, and gave a gentle sigh.
“I am very much afraid,” she said slowly, “that this places me in a somewhat invidious position. I must now make certain facts plain. It is quite true,” she said to Purbright, “that a grant to my company has been mooted—a grant of...oh, dear, what was it? Three thousand pounds?”
Brennan nodded, “Three thousand.”
“No, I am wrong. Four thousand. That was the figure, was it not, Mr Brennan?”
Brennan’s frown seemed to indicate rapid calculation. “Ye-es...more nearly four, perhaps. At the present exchange rate.”
“Thank you. Yes, as I was saying, such a grant had indeed been suggested, and my company would have been delighted to accept it, as you may imagine, inspector. But Mr Brennan has been too modest in describing his own role in the matter. You see, he is something more than a mere representative of the firm which undertook the negotiation of the grant. He is a director and a co-founder.”
Sergeant Love, who had been gazing around with a mildly bored expression, gave Brennan a respectful glance.
“Is this true, sir?” Purbright asked.
“I would rather Miss Teatime had respected my confidence,” said Brennan. “In business, it is not always wise to advertise one’s connections. However, I see no point in denying what she says.”
