Adders on the Heath

'And you never heard of any serious quarrels?'

'Not me, no. One or two may have threatened to knock his block off if he made another pass at their girl friends, but only in the ordinary way of give and take, if you understand me.'

'Nothing, in short, that was likely to lead to murder?'

'Oh, gracious me, no!' (It was obvious that she had not heard about the threat uttered by Richardson.)

'And the other man, Mr Bunt?'

'Ah, now, him. That's quite a bit different. He was under what you might call a cloud.'

'Drummed out, in fact?' asked Laura.

'Well, there was trouble with the committee, I believe. Somebody did tell me something about it, but I didn't take much interest. Anyway, he left, and that's about all I know.'

'We didn't get much there,' said Laura, as they drove back through the town.

'Negative evidence, to employ a paradox, is sometimes useful,' said Dame Beatrice.

CHAPTER NINE

DAME BEATRICE STATES THE CASE

'...though her coffin was fairly sound and unbroken, there was no trace whatever inside it of a body, bones or dust.'

M. R. James-The Ash-Tree

Laura, over the telephone, obtained Mr Borrowdale's address from the club secretary and asked to be directed also to the stadium. She and Dame Beatrice arrived there on the following evening, after an early dinner at the hotel, in time to see Borrowdale 'doing his stuff,' as Laura termed it. Herself no mean athlete in her youth, she looked on at his performance with interest. He was a half-miler, he informed her later, but was catching up on his sprinting.

'Tell you anything more than you already know about Bunt and Colnbrook?' he said. 'No, of course I can't. Enemies, as such, no, of course they were not. Reason why they got themselves murdered? No idea. Not a very choice couple, of course, but nobody in the club would have killed them.'

As he refused to say (or did not know) any more, Dame Beatrice and Laura left him and returned to the hotel.

'Our Mr Borrowdale doesn't seem to know much,' said Laura, 'unless, of course, he knows too much. I should think we may have to tackle him again.'

'Meanwhile we had better make contact with the Superintendent,' said Dame Beatrice.

'Exactly how? We've nothing new to tell him.'

'Have we not? Well, time, as always, will show.'

The hotel was tenanted by a very lugubrious Richardson and a rather deflated Denis. They were in the smallest lounge, the old gentleman who usually commandeered it being on a visit to friends.

'The Superintendent is chasing Tom,' said Denis. 'Seems to think that, after all, it was a bit suspicious our finding Colnbrook's body in that enclosure. The only thing that upsets the police theory is that Tom, on his own and without any form of transport, could never have carted the body so far from his tent. I'm pretty sure, too, that they're checking on my movements on the night in question.'

'They have already done so,' said Dame Beatrice.

'Even if I'd had a car, I'd have had to leave it on the heath and cart the body into the enclosure,' said Richardson. 'You could never get a car along that woodland track. The whole thing would have been a sheer impossibility, but still the police are on to me, and probably as Scab says, on to him as well, if they've checked his movements.'

'It just means they really haven't a clue,' said Denis, 'but it's a bit much that they should keep picking on Tom.'

'Well,' said Dame Beatrice, 'let us do a little straight thinking and then I shall compare our findings with those of the Superintendent.'

'Our findings? But we haven't found out anything!' Richardson protested.

'Have we not?' Dame Beatrice produced her notebook. 'We have found a long list of possible suspects and we may even be in a position to add to it later.'

'Oh, you mean the members of the Scylla and District,' said Richardson, 'but I can't see anything much in that. I mean to say...'

'Take heart, laddie,' said Laura, 'and give the oracle a chance to tell her tale.'

'Here, then,' said Dame Beatrice, 'is a categorical survey of those who may have had the means, the opportunity, and a motive for wanting Mr Colnbrook and Mr Bunt out of the way.'

She stepped over to the door and turned the key in the lock, then she made certain that the french doors which looked out on to the garden were securely bolted down.

'This is the stuff from which thrillers are fabricated,' said Laura, gratified by these proceedings. 'Shall I look in the cupboard under the bookcase to make certain no spy is lurking?'

'It is just as well to take precautions against our being interrupted,' said Dame Beatrice. 'Now to the matter in hand. Logically, (and here I am bound to see the point of view of the police), Mr Richardson must be our principal suspect, with Mr Bradley as his accessory after the fact or even his co-partner in crime.