Pageant of Murder

work of a moment to dump the basket and make a quick dash across the high street for a pint, and, if they’re innocent, I bet that’s exactly what they did. They’d have had heaps of time, knowing about the interval and everything!”

“But their costumes, Dog!”

“What are overcoats for? Think of the coy members of Toc H when we were waiting for the procession to move off! Besides, everybody in the borough knew about the pageant and about the show at the Town Hall. Apart from a beery jest or two—possibly not even that—I don’t suppose anybody in the pub bothered about what they looked like. Perhaps some sportsman even stood them a drink.”

“What worries me is the thought of that sword—the real one, you know. I ought to have stopped them using it, I suppose, but I simply didn’t notice it was real.” There was silence until Kitty added, “The murder could have been committed during the interval, I suppose. Do you think they all rushed over to the pub?”

“Probably not the women, anyway, and probably not the stage-manager. He’d have had to be on hand to direct the Council workmen who were to put up the scenery for the second scene,” said Laura. “But what I do think is that Page and Ford would have put off their swords during the interval. Cussed things, swords. Get between your legs and trip you up if you’re not jolly careful. Besides, the real sword would have been heavy.”

“So anybody could have committed the murder, then, and you’ve changed your mind. You mean it was done during the interval. Oh, but, Dog…”

“Yes, that’s the snag, isn’t it?”

“How did you guess what I meant?”

“Because I’d just thought the same thing myself. The murderer, unless he was one of the cast, couldn’t have known he’d find a weapon all ready to hand, and even the cast couldn’t have known that Ford and Page would put off their swords during the interval.”

“Whoever did it may have intended to use some other method, Dog, and then spotted the sword and decided it was a better idea.”

“Came armed with his own weapon, you mean?”

“You know, the more I think of it, Dog, the more certain I am that your first idea was right, and that it must have been done before the interval, and it must have been done by an outsider. Nobody in the cast would have murdered the chief character before the play was over. It’s dead against human nature. But how would a stranger get in?”

“By the same way as those comedians went out, of course. You didn’t have anybody on duty at the side door, did you?”

“The door that opens on to Smith Hill? No, I didn’t. I didn’t think it was necessary. I had warned everybody beforehand, and when I let those awful comedians out I knew they were tight, so I impressed on them about walking uphill to the high street and not downhill into the Thames. I wouldn’t have gone back-stage at all, except that I was afraid one of them might have hurt himself when he fell.”

“You didn’t bother about gate-crashers?”

“The house was full. A gate-crasher wouldn’t have been able to get a seat, even if he’d known about the side door. And, of course, Dog, you’ve got to remember that there were plenty of people who had a perfect right to be behind the scenes, apart from the cast and the workmen.”

“You mean the mob who were also contributing items to the show? Yes, I appreciate that, and so do the police, I imagine. Well, the two comedians are in the clear, unless they oiled back after you’d seen them off, and I don’t suppose they did that.”

“I ought to tell the police they were drunk, Dog. They may have been intending a drunken jape and it went too far. Alcohol clouds the judgment, and they were steeped to the hair-parting in it.”

“That’s quite a thought. Assing about with the swords—yes, it’s more than possible. That is, of course, if they sneaked back. But why should they? I wouldn’t mind betting they stayed in the pub until closing time—that is, if they’d got enough money.”

“Oh, they’d got enough money. I’d paid them.”

“In coin of the realm?”

“Yes, they had two guineas each. I didn’t think they’d take a cheque, you see.”

“That should have seen them through the evening. Two guineas will buy a lot of beer.”

“Yes, but, Dog, would the barman have gone on serving them that long, considering they were plastered already?”

“Hm! I don’t really know. But, if he didn’t, and they got grouchy, nothing is more likely than that they did oil back to the Town Hall and get into mischief.”

“Unless they crawled to another pub or two.”

“Yes, that’s more likely still, I suppose. Oh, well! What about anybody else?”

“The Tots—little nuisances!—stayed in the wings to see and hear the comedians. The formation team cleared them out of the way, I expect, but I bet they were still getting dressed while the interval was on, because the formation team’s effort only took about ten minutes, if you remember, and the first scene of The Merry Wives was played so fast that that didn’t take long, either, once their bally scenery was up.”

“Yes, kids do take an age to get changed and do up their shoes and all that. But I can’t say I can see that vinegar-faced old pussy of theirs running a sword through anybody. What happened to the formation mob when their turn was over?”

“I’ve no idea. They came in a motor-coach, and were all togged up ready for the fray, so I suppose they just filtered out. They didn’t have to be paid, you see.”