to be charged with their murder.’
‘Which I don’t happen to have committed,’ said Wilt. ‘Ah well, these things happen. The moving finger writes and having writ…’
‘Fuck the moving finger. Where are they? Where did you put them? You’re going to tell me.’
Wilt sighed. ‘I wish I could,’ he said, ‘I really do. Now you’ve got that plastic doll…’
‘No we haven’t. Not by a long chalk. We’re still going down through solid rock. We won’t get whatever is down there until tomorrow at the earliest.’
‘Something to look forward to,’ said Wilt. ‘Then I suppose you’ll let me go.’
‘Like hell I will. I’ll have you up for remand on Monday.’
‘Without any evidence of murder? Without a body? You can’t do that.’
Inspector Flint smiled. ‘Wilt,’ he said, ‘I’ve got news for you. We don’t need a body. We can hold you on suspicion, we can bring you up for trial and we can find you guilty without a body. You may be clever but you don’t know your law.’
‘Well I must say you fellows have an easy job of it. You mean you can go out in the street and pick up some perfectly innocent passer-by and lug him in here and charge him with murder without any evidence at all?’
‘Evidence? We’ve got evidence all right. We’ve got a blood spattered bathroom with a busted-down door. We’ve got an empty house in a filthy mess and we’ve got some bloody thing or other down that pile hole and you think we haven’t got evidence. You’ve got it wrong.’
‘Makes two of us,’ said Wilt.
‘And I’ll tell you another thing, Wilt. ‘The trouble with bastards like you is that you’re too clever by half. You overdo things and you give yourselves away. Now if I’d been in your shoes, I’d have done two things. Know what they are?’
‘No,’ said Wilt, ‘I don’t.’
‘I’d have washed that bathroom down, number one, and number two I’d have stayed away from that hole. I wouldn’t have tried to lay a false trail with notes and making sure the caretaker saw you and turning up at Mr Braintree’s house at midnight covered in mud. I’d have sat tight and said nothing.’
‘But I didn’t know about those bloodstains in the bathroom and if it hadn’t been for that filthy doll I wouldn’t have dumped the thing down the hole. I’d have gone to bed. Instead of which I got pissed and acted like an idiot.’
‘Let me tell you something else. Wilt.’ said the Inspector. ‘You are an idiot, a fucking cunning idiot but an idiot all the same. You need your head read.’
‘It would make a change from this lot,’ said Wilt.
‘What would?’
‘Having my head read instead of sitting here and being insulted.’
Inspector Flint studied him thoughtfully. ‘You mean that?’ asked.
‘Mean what?’
‘About having your head read? Would you be prepared to undergo an examination by a qualified psychiatrist?’
‘Why not?’ said Wilt. ‘Anything to help pass the time.’
‘Quite voluntarily, you understand. Nobody is forcing you to, but if you want…’
‘Listen, Inspector, if seeing a psychiatrist will help to convince you that I have not murdered my wife I’ll be only too happy to. You can put me on a lie detector. You can pump me full of truth drugs. You can…’
‘There’s no need for any of that other stuff,’ said Flint, and stood up. ‘A good shrink will do very nicely. And if you think you can get away with guilty but insane, forget it. These blokes know when you’re malingering madness.’ He went to the door and paused. Then he
