A Javelin for Jonah

“I’ll come as well,” said Miss Yale grimly. “If this wretched youth does know something about Jonah’s death, there may be safety in numbers.”

“Whatever do you mean by that?” asked Barry sharply. Miss Yale raised formidable eyebrows and did not answer. The three went off in search of Kirk and the Warden turned again to Dame Beatrice. “Am I to be given no clue to Kirk’s remarks concerning James?” he asked. “Perhaps I might hazard a guess. It is common knowledge that James re-catalogued my collection of trophies and mementoes. Does the misguided youth think that he removed my javelin, daubed it with paint and placed it in the swimming-bath cubicle?”

“What it amounts to,” said Henry, before Dame Beatrice could answer, “is that he suggests James killed Jonah.”

“But that is too ridiculous a suggestion to be taken seriously,” said Gascoigne. “On the other hand, I do wish we could find out who did remove my javelin. I have the utmost confidence in James’s assertion that the key to my ante-room has been in no hands save his own and mine, so it is disturbing, to say the least, to realize that some unauthorized person has the means of entry.”

“You might try Miss Yale’s key to the stoke-hole,” said Henry significantly. “I’ll go and get it, shall I? I know it has been returned to her, and I’ve an uneasy feeling that it may fit more than one lock in this place.” He went off upon his errand and had been gone less than two minutes when Miss Yale herself returned, but without her companions.

“The students say that Kirk is down at the outdoor pool,” she said, “so Barry has gone over there to tell him to dress and report to you.”

“And Henry has gone to impound your key to the heating-cellar,” said Gascoigne. “Do you happen to know whether it is a master-key of sorts? If so, I think you had better yield it up, unless you can think of a safer place in which to keep it. I cannot remember, at the moment, why you ever had a key to the heating-cellar.”

“It dates from the time when we had the central-heating system altered,” said Miss Yale, “and we had to supply the foreman with a key so that he was able to let his men into the stoke-hole without having to bother the janitor or you for yours. When the job was finished he returned the extra key. I should have handed it over to you, I suppose, but I hung it on a hook with my lecture-room key and thought no more about it.”

Henry returned with the key. It fitted not only the lock on the ante-room door, but the door of Gascoigne’s study as well.

“Must be a master-key,” said Miss Yale. “Wonder what else it unlocks?”

“Most perturbing. Most perturbing,” said Gascoigne. “I think we had better find out. Of course, whoever placed my javelin in that cubicle was acting merely in jest, but—oh, well, come along with me, Miss Yale, and let us test this Open Sesame of yours.”

“What about Kirk?” asked Henry, as the Warden went towards the door.

“Oh, Kirk can wait until I return. I shall not be long. He has to get dried and dressed, in any case. He won’t be over just yet,” the Warden responded.

“All the same, Dame Beatrice and I will make ourselves scarce, I think,” said Henry. “I don’t think he ought to find us here when he arrives.”

“Of course,” said Henry, when he and Dame Beatrice had left the Warden’s room, “either the thought that Jones was murdered has never entered Gassie’s head, or, if it has, he is still determined to disregard it. Whom do you want to see next?”

“Hamish himself, I think. He should be made acquainted with the position in which Mr. Kirk has placed him.”

Hamish received the news calmly.

“The little such-and-such,” he said, “has had it in for me all the term, I suppose. Well, I’d better begin by establishing an alibi, had I not, Mrs Dame, dear? By the way, my devotion to my mamma has taken the form of giving her my room. It’s a very nice room and commands a spacious view. You, I hear, have been allotted Jonah’s magnificent quarters because they include a rather splendid sitting-room which the thoughtful Henry, to whom are referred most of the matters which require thought in this institution, felt you might be glad to use as a consulting- room while you are interviewing the suspects. With whom do you propose to begin? I am at your service, if you desire to start with me.”

“Some of the students may provide me with more scope for my enquiries, I think,” said Dame Beatice, “so if Mr. Henry will conduct me to these quarters you describe, I will leaf through the material which Mr. Medlar has so kindly provided.”

“ I hope you don’t object to using Jonah’s quarters,” said Henry, opening the sitting-room door of these. “We’ve had all his things moved out. The police agreed to that, as soon as they’d finished with his rooms.”

“They are indeed palatial,” said Dame Beatrice, surveying the handsome furniture and fittings. Henry closed the door and they advanced further into the room. “You know that Hamish sent for me, I suppose?”

“I guessed as much. Well, I expect you would like me to leave you while you look through Gassie’s papers. I had better be on hand when he finishes with Kirk. He hates being angry with a student.”

chapter

10

Gascoigne Medlar

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Gascoigne’s case-book was interesting and informative, and Dame Beatrice perused it carefully until the bell she had been told to expect indicated that it was time to dress for dinner. She had been told by Henry that Richard was the oldest student in College and was twenty-one years of age. As no student was accepted until he or she had passed the sixteenth birthday, she needed only to study the entries for the past five years to gain knowledge of the students who were now in residence.

Most of the entries she skipped through. It was interesting to note that most of them for the past three years