Spotted Hemlock

way and, at the end, when the waitress had cleared the table, they lounged in two of the armchairs with which the room was provided and invited their hostess to come to the point.

‘What do you want to know about the rats and the rhubarb?’ asked Soames. ‘You know where the rats came from, and we can soon tell you about the rhubarb. At our end-of-term dance it formed the sole subject of conversation of a young girl whom some of us felt called upon, as hosts, to squire round the ballroom. So I said “Why not?” The rats, I admit, were an afterthought, and not a particularly good one. Now to tell us what it’s all in aid of.’

‘The murder of Carrie Palliser, the young woman whose body was found in the coach. It was owing to the fact that the Calladale students were anxious to return the rhubarb, which they felt certain had come from Highpepper, that the body was discovered at the time. There is not much doubt that whoever put it there hoped it would lie hidden much longer.’

‘More difficult to identify it,’ said Preddle, nodding his head. ‘Wasn’t it thought at first to be the younger sister, though? I saw something in the local paper, didn’t I, indicating that it was the elder one, after all?’

‘That is impossible, Mr Preddle! The police have been most careful to keep that particular bit of information out of the news. The dead girl was buried in the name by which she was identified, and she was identified as Norah Coles, nee Palliser, a student at Calladale College. Officially, the body is still that of Norah Coles.’

‘Then where did I get it from?’ asked Preddle, frowning. ‘Because it really isn’t a new idea to me that it was the older sister.’

‘I would very much like to know where you got it from. Possibly from Mr Basil? I believe he was once a lecturer at Highpepper.’

‘He was, yes, but that was long before my time. No, it wasn’t from Basil. Could it have been from one of the Calladale girls?’

‘That also seems unlikely. But, if so, which one, Mr Preddle?’

Preddle, perplexed, scratched his head.

‘How can I make myself remember? Let’s see. I know so many of them in a vague and amateurish way. All the same, I suppose I ought to be able…’ He frowned. ‘Oh, yes, I know! It didn’t seem possible, you see, as I pointed out to Miss Colin.’

‘How, not possible?’

‘Well, we heard that Miss Palliser—Mrs Coles, the one at Calladale, of course—was going off on a holiday toot with Basil. You reminded me that he used to be one of the lecturers at our place. Well, from what I can learn, it was quite incredible that one of Basil’s piecee-missies should have gone and got herself murdered. Quite out of character, if you understand me.’

‘I don’t understand you, Mr Preddle. I knew of the holiday adventure, of course. They appear to have spent a week together at the Bracklesea holiday camp. Then we were given to understand that Mr Basil went climbing in the Cairngorms with a friend and broke his leg. This report of his accident turned out to be false.’

‘The Basil I’ve heard about wouldn’t have gone nearer the Cairngorms than Sauchiehall Street,’ said Soames. ‘My older brother was up when Basil was at our place. He seems to have been a bit of a legend. I can’t think why Ma McKay took him on. Surely his reputation had gone before him?’

‘One can hardly think so. Some facts are known to students, I believe, which would be received with incredulity in the Staff Common Room.’

‘You’re telling us, Dame Beatrice!’ said Soames, grinning. ‘But to Preddle’s point. Why “out of character,” old man?’

‘Once a girl gets into Basil’s grip, she stays gripped until he’s tired of her. He hadn’t got tired of Mrs Coles. They used to meet in road-houses and motoring hotels and so on, near Garchester, and frequently, at that.’

‘The week at the holiday camp may have caused an old man’s fancy to shy away from thoughts of love,’ suggested Soames. ‘Oh, I received some instruction in Eng. Lit. at school,’ he added, for the benefit of Dame Beatrice.

‘It does not appear to be the case that Mr Basil had fallen out of love with Mrs Coles,’ said she. ‘When he pretended that he was in hospital with a broken leg, Mrs Coles was keeping house for him in Northern Ireland. She was thought to have returned to college at the beginning of term and then disappeared. Several weeks later came the discovery of the body which was identified by her mother. Of course, the sisters were much alike. But I confess that I do not take your point, Mr Preddle, that it could not have been Mrs Coles’ body.’

‘Well, thank God for my good dinner and if you must know, Dame Beatrice, she’s been seen. I remember everything now.’

Dame Beatrice was not often completely taken aback, but Preddle’s statement astonished her beyond measure. She did not ask him whether he was certain that his information was correct. She felt sure it was.

‘Tell me more, Mr Preddle,’ she said. ‘We cannot leave it at that. Chapter, verse and witnesses, if you please.’

‘I had it from my tutor, Gastien. The best plan would be for you to meet him. He was with Upminster, only Upminster doesn’t know the girl, so he won’t be much good to you as a witness. I don’t know how Gastien came to recognise her, as a matter of fact. Oh, yes, I do, too! He is—or was—very pally with Basil, so I dare say he saw the girl several times with him. I don’t suppose he realised that she was a Calladale student, though. His brain’s very myopic except where his job and his beer are concerned.’

‘But this sounds as though Mrs Coles went about openly with Mr Basil.’

‘Of course she did. Basil always has some wench or other in tow. He’s notorious for it. I heard he got the sack from our place—only it was given out that he had relinquished the job of his own free will, because that sounded better— because he bestowed his favours on one of the housemaids. Of course, I don’t know whether that’s true. It may just be a bit of common or garden slander. Personally, I should think it is that; otherwise Sellaclough would hardly have let Miss McKay take him on her staff. Still, straws show which way the wind blows, and there’s no smoke without fire.’

‘You do not know, of course, what Mr Gastien thought when he saw Mrs Coles, but do you know, more or less, when it was?’