Fault in the Structure

‘It was usually kept locked, then?’

‘Yes. In these days one doesn’t provide hidey-holes in a women’s College.

‘So why did Mrs Lawrence have a key?’

‘She was a keen photographer and had permission to use part of the cellar as a darkroom.’

‘And the porters?’

‘The cellar used to be a prison for recalcitrant nuns, so it is divided into several small cells. Mrs Lawrence used the largest of these and the porters kept my garden-party deckchairs in the others.’

‘So, if Mrs Lawrence was in her darkroom, the door to the cellar would not be locked.’

‘As I’ve pointed out to the police, anybody bold enough to take the risk could have followed her down there, as the College grounds are open to daytime visitors. The fact that the porters had keys is therefore quite irrelevant, but the police can’t get that missing parcel out of their obstinate heads and, of course, Mrs Lawrence had made herself very unpleasant about it.’

‘The murderer, if you exonerate the porters, had to get into the College grounds by daylight, then. At what time of day did Mrs Lawrence use the darkroom?’

‘In the evenings, after her secretarial duties were over. Oh, and in the daytime during the vacations, I suppose. She had a key to the main gate, just as my own secretary has.’

‘Lawrence, of course, would have known of his wife’s hobby and also that she had a key to the gate.’

‘I suppose so, although I believe they were only together out of term-time. He was at his own university in term and she was here. It seemed an odd arrangement to me for a married couple, but no worse, I suppose, than being married to a sailor or both partners being on the stage.’

‘Did Mrs Lawrence live in College?’

‘No. She had rooms in the town, but very close at hand.’

‘Did nobody realise she was missing? It seems to have been some time between the murder and the discovery of the body.’

‘Nobody at all. Of course, when her body was found, her landlady was questioned, but she knew nothing. She had gone on holiday the week before College went down. She says that when she returned, a fortnight later, she assumed that Mrs Lawrence had gone on holiday, too, although she admitted she was a little surprised that Mrs Lawrence had not followed her usual practice of leaving a forwarding address for letters.’

‘At what time do you lock your gate at night?’

‘At ten. The dons, as you know, have keys. Students on late passes have to ring for the porter, who is on duty until midnight. The bell connects with the Dean’s quarters after that, so anybody coming back later than midnight has to be let in by the Dean and, unless there is a cast-iron reason for lateness, the offender is very likely to be rusticated.’ She smiled and added, ‘Even if only for getting the Dean out of bed. The students know the rules and, even in this undisciplined age, I do my best to see that those rules are kept. It’s for the students’ own good. They can’t do their work if they are going to make whoopee at all hours of the night.’

It was arranged that the visitors should spend the night at the College. On their way home after breakfast on the following morning, Laura asked:

‘Didn’t you want to examine that gatehouse cellar for yourself?’

‘With what object? The police will have searched it exhaustively and the floor and the walls will have been cleaned up long before this.’

‘I wonder what made them think of looking there?’

‘They would have been told about Mrs Lawrence’s darkroom, no doubt, when the body was identified and they could get no help at her lodging.’

‘Would anybody but the porters have moved the corpse, do you think? Surely any outsider would simply have left it to be found. It was taking an awful risk to drag it across to the cloister. Another thing: if Lawrence and his wife usually spent their holidays together, isn’t it rather surprising that he doesn’t seem to have reported that she was missing?’

‘If they usually spent their holidays together it would be more than surprising; it would be incredible. However, we have no proof that they were accustomed to spend their holidays in each other’s company.’

‘Doctor Durham-Basing seemed to think they did.’

‘Oh, no doubt the couple kept up appearances, but it need have been no more than that. According to what we know, Lawrence spent some part of his vacations with Sir Anthony and certainly did so this year.’

‘With fatal results. I say, it does all hang together,’ said Laura. ‘I mean, if Mrs Lawrence knew that there had been funny business in connection with Sir Anthony’s death and that Lawrence was coming in for a lot of money, money enough to get him out of the jam he was in…’

‘Yes, but we cannot argue ahead of our data. Be patient, and let time pass,’ said Dame Beatrice.

CHAPTER 9

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We come to speak for the silent,

To be heard for the unheard,