Scold's Bridle

And that of course was true.

Charlie gestured towards the door. 'May we talk to your husband now, Mrs. Orloff?'

'Is that necessary? He won't be able to tell you anything and it'll just make him grumpy for the rest of the day.'

'I'm afraid it is.' He produced a paper from his pocket with an air of apology. 'We also have a warrant to search your house, but I assure you, we'll be as careful as we can.' He raised his voice. 'Bailey! Jenkins! Watts! Show yourselves, lads. We're ready to go.'

Quite bewildered by this sudden turn of events, Violet stood meekly to one side while Jones, Cooper and three DCs filed into her hallway. Behind their backs, she crept away with the stealth of a guilty person into the kitchen.

Duncan's small eyes watched the two senior policemen closely as they eased into the cramped living-room, but otherwise he showed remarkably little concern at this sudden invasion of his privacy. 'Forgive me if I don't get up,' he said courteously, 'but I find I'm not as mobile as I used to be.' He waved towards a delicate two-seater sofa, inviting them to sit down. They declined with equal courtesy, afraid of breaking it under their combined weight. 'I've met Detective Sergeant Cooper but I don't know you, sir,' he said, examining Charlie with interest.

'Detective Chief Inspector Jones.'

'How do you do.'

Charlie inclined his head in a brief salute. He was assailed with doubt as he looked at the fat old man in the oversized armchair, his huge stomach overhanging his thighs like the meat from a split sausage skin. Could such ungainly bulk have performed the delicate artistry of Mrs. Gillespie's murder? Could he even have abstracted himself from this room without waking his wife? He listened to the shallow wheezing breaths, each one a battle against the smothering pressure of flesh, and recalled Hughes's description of the man who had used the key to open the back door. His voice was all breathy like he had trouble with his lungs. 'Was Mrs. Gillespie aware that you knew about the key under the flowerpot?' he asked without any attempt at preamble.

Duncan looked surprised. 'I don't understand you, Inspector.'

'No matter. We have a witness who can identify you. He was there when you let yourself in one morning in September.'

But Duncan only smiled and shook his fat cheeks in denial. 'Let myself in where?' There was a sound above them as one of the DCs moved a piece of furniture across the floor, and Duncan's gaze shifted to the ceiling. 'What exactly is all this in aid of?'

Charlie produced the warrant and handed it to him. 'We are searching these premises for Mrs. Gillespie's diaries or, more likely, the remains of Mrs. Gillespie's diaries. We have reason to believe you stole them from the library of Cedar House.'

'How very peculiar of you.'

'Are you denying it?'

He gave a low chuckle. 'My dear chap, of course I'm denying it. I didn't even know she kept diaries.'

Charlie changed tack. 'Why didh't you tell my Sergeant on the Monday after the murder that Miss Ruth Lascelles had been in Cedar House during the afternoon? Or indeed that Mrs. Jane Marriott had had a row with her in the morning?'

'How could I tell him something I didn't know myself?'

'If you were here, Mr. Orloff, you could not have avoided knowing. Jane Marriott describes her confrontation with Mrs. Gillespie as a screaming match and Ruth says she rang the doorbell because she left her key at school.'

'But I wasn't here, Inspector,' he said affably. 'I took the opportunity of my wife's absence in Poole to go for a long walk.'

There was a gasp from the doorway. 'Duncan!' declared Violet. 'How can you tell such lies? You never go for walks.' She advanced into the room like a small ship under sail. 'And don't think I don't know why you're lying. You can't be bothered to assist the police in their enquiries, just like you haven't been bothered all along. Of course he was here, and of course he will have heard Jane and Ruth. We always heard Ruth when she came back. She and her grandmother couldn't be in a room together without arguing, any more than she can be in a room with her mother without arguing. Not that I altogether blame her. She wants love, poor child, and neither Mathilda nor Joanna were capable of such an emotion. The only people Mathilda had any fondness for were the Blakeneys, you know, the artist and his wife. She used to laugh with them, and I think she even took her clothes off for him. I heard her in her bedroom, being very coy and silly, saying things like 'Not bad for an old woman' and 'I was beautiful once, you know. Men competed for me.' And that was true, they did. Even Duncan loved her when we were all much younger. He denies it now, of course, but I knew. All us girls knew we were only second best. Mathilda played so hard to get, you see, and that was a challenge.' She paused for breath and Cooper, who was beside her, smelt the whisky on her lips. He had time to feel sadness for this little woman whose life had never blossomed because she had lived it always in the shade of Mathilda Gillespie.

'Not that it matters,' she went on. 'Nothing matters that much. And it's years since he lost interest. You can't go on loving someone who's rude all the time, and Mathilda was always rude. She thought it was funny. She'd say the most appalling things, and laugh. I won't pretend we had a close relationship, but I did feel sorry for her. She should have done something with her life, something interesting, but she never did and it made her bitter.' She turned a severe gaze on her husband. 'I know she used to tease you, Duncan, and call you Mr. Toad, but that's no reason not to help find her murderer. Murder is inexcusable. And I can't help feeling, you know, that it was particularly inexcusable to put that beastly scold's bridle on her head. You were very upset when she put it on you.' She turned back to Charlie. 'It was one of her horrible jokes. She said the only way Duncan would ever lose weight was if he had his tongue clamped, so she crept up behind him one day when he was asleep in the garden with his mouth open and popped that horrid rusty thing over his head. He nearly died of shock.' She paused for another breath but this time she had run out of steam and didn't go on.

There was a long silence.

'I suppose that's how you put it on her,' murmured Charlie finally, 'when she was already asleep, but I'd be