at first she had thought about the weapon. She took out the small magnifying glass which she invariably carried, and examined all that she could see of the knife. Almost the full length of the blade had been driven home, but she was able to examine the way in which the top of it met the hilt. The knife was not of the Service type, after all. It was, although a neat and powerful job, home-made. Well-forged and even handsome though it was, there was still no doubt that the work had never been done by Wilkinson’s.
She doubted whether this fact would help the police very much. Private manufacturers of lethal weapons do not usually advertise their wares, and it was unlikely, she thought, that the murderer’s fingerprints would be on record.
Chapter Four
DETECTIVE-INSPECTOR VARDON
‘O they have hunted in good green-wood
The back1 but and the rae,2
And they’ve drawn near Brown Robin’s bow’r
About the close of day.’
Border Ballad –
« ^ »
‘And you never saw her before, Miss Menzies?’ inquired Detective-Inspector Vardon (Dolly to his intimates).
‘Never before.’
‘Yet you were staying at the same hotel here in Cromlech?’
‘Yes, of course. But the only time I could have seen her was at breakfast on the first morning of my stay, and, as it happens, I went out for an early swim and by the time I had got back to the hotel, and made myself presentable for breakfast, Miss Faintley had left the dining-room.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Mark Street pointed out her table later on. I suppose, that first morning, Miss Faintley had gone up to get ready for their outing.’
‘Yes?’
‘Miss Faintley was not in to lunch that day, of course. She had gone with Mark to Torbury. She did not come back to the hotel.’
‘Thank you, Miss Menzies. Now, if you had never seen Miss Faintley, what made you come to the conclusion that the dead body you found was hers?’
‘Be yourself, Inspector,’ urged Laura reproachfully. ‘I guessed it was Miss Faintley because of the way she… it… was dressed – Mark had described her to me before I went into Torbury – and partly because I knew Miss Faintley was missing and that you had been inquiring about her from the Street family.’
‘How was it that you came upon the body?’
‘I was trespassing.’
‘Oh, you do realize that you had no business to be up there?’
‘I don’t agree at all about that,’ replied Laura with spirit. ‘I contend that if selfish people mark off part of the coast as their private property they deserve to have trespassers and worse. Not litter-fiends, though,’ she added hastily. ‘I do bar those at all times.’
‘I understand that you had climbed over into a garden. That, surely, was a different kind of trespass. You will be required to give evidence at the inquest, of course. You’ll be prepared for that, won’t you? Finding the body, you know.’
He left her and tackled Mark again. Mark, although slightly uneasy, was feeling that he had a place in the sun. For once he would be the chief
‘Hullo, Mark. Sit down. Now, listen. Whose idea was it that you and Miss Menzies took that early walk and found Miss Faintley dead?’
‘Sorry, not a clue,’ said Mark. ‘I don’t think it was anyone’s idea. We just simply went, that’s all.’
‘Miss Menzies’ idea,’ wrote the Inspector in his shiny little notebook. ‘Right, Mark. Where were you when Miss Menzies found the body?’
‘I was…“ (Fingerprints? Better tell the truth! They’re sure to know!)’I was, well, actually, I was climbing a post.’
‘A post?’
‘Yes, well, the post with the notice-board on it. You know… “Trespassers will be Dealt With”.’
‘Dealt with?’
‘That’s what it said. We had read it from the other side the day before. It got us sort of mad, so we thought we’d try to get in the other way round.’
