Safer?’

‘I do not like this particular murder.’

‘I see. You mean we don’t need to offer hostages to fortune and all that. It hadn’t occurred to me that the murderer might know that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs.’

CHAPTER 10

« ^ »

Afraid of honest men with honest minds.

Afraid, even, of an old woman like me.

‘That watch has turned up again, so the inspector informs me,’ said the Chief Constable, when Dame Beatrice telephoned him again after her return to the Stone House. ‘You’ve been to Blackpool, have you? Any news?’

‘A little, but, so far as the College porters are concerned, perhaps yours is better worthwhile. Could you spare the time to come over and have a chat? I should like very much to hear about the watch.’

‘And I should like a detailed account of your visit to Blackpool. You gave me an outline, so perhaps you would be good enough to fill it in?’

‘Most willingly. May we expect you to lunch tomorrow?’

‘Could it be the following day? The inspector is planning an identity parade, putting both porters in it. It will take a bit of arranging because for obvious reasons he doesn’t want to call upon local people to join in. Following the message which you telephoned on your way home – from Preston, I think you said – he’s putting Lawrence in the parade, too, I believe – not that I can see much point in it – the parade, I mean.’

‘Where is Lawrence now?’

‘Still in Sir Anthony’s old house. He owns it, of course, and, although it is on the market, it has not been sold yet.’

‘Can the inspector insist that he appear in a parade?’

‘Oh, well, I suppose that so long as he has nothing to hide, there is no reason why he should refuse to appear. A police car will be sent to bring him here and take him home afterwards. If he has a guilty conscience he will hardly dare to refuse the inspector’s request. I have had a talk with the inspector and he has suggested that if Lawrence seems reluctant to appear in the identity parade, he should tell him that the man dragging the sack was seen and that it is necessary for him to prove that he was not that man. I’m dubious about the ethics of this, but it’s the inspector’s case now. I could wish we hadn’t had to divert Nicholl to this bank robbery.’

‘As I am certain that Lawrence was that man, the procedure does not affront me as it might do under other circumstances,’ said Dame Beatrice, with an eldritch cackle which disconcerted her hearer at the other end of the line.

When the Chief Constable arrived he was able to report that the Mrs Lawrence case, as he called the murder of the second wife, had shown some interesting developments.

‘We photographed a similar sort of watch by permission of the horological section of the University Museum,’ he said, ‘and got the BBC and ITV to put it out on all networks.’

‘Not merely in case of its having been stolen, I assume,’ said Dame Beatrice.

‘Oh, no. We told them it was connected with a murder enquiry.’

‘And you obtained a result?’

‘Yes. An antique dealer in London rang us and said that he had purchased such a watch and gave us the date of the sale. It fitted well enough and it also fitted with the story told by the two porters when they were brought before the magistrates. Those, as you know, released them on bail while we continued our enquiries into the murder, for that, of course, far more than the theft of the watch, was the point of interest.’

‘And the porters’ reaction?’

‘They repeated what they had already told the magistrates: that they knew nothing about the watch. At last we believe them.’

‘What makes you believe their story now, whereas previously you doubted it?’

‘The identity parade. The antique dealer came along and scanned the ranks. He had, at our request, brought his woman assistant with him. The inspector had produced seven men and five women, let Lawrence and the two porters stand anywhere they liked in the line and then had in the dealer and, after him, his assistant. When the dealer had made his pick he was not allowed to meet his assistant until she, too, had made her choice. Do you want to make a guess, Dame Beatrice?’

‘I would not, for the world, anticipate the denouement.’

‘I see that you have made a guess. Yes, without hesitation, each picked out Lawrence. He won’t admit it, but we rather think he obtained the watch when, instead of entering Coralie St Malo’s lodgings that evening, he went to those of his wife. Her landlady did not see him because she was already on holiday. We asked him how he had come by the watch. He said, “The watch? Good Lord! I thought you were sorting out my wife’s murderer! You won’t get the tabs on me for that! My dear old friend Sir Anthony gave me the watch, but it was much too ornate for me to wear. I much prefer a wristwatch, anyway. I was going on holiday with Sir Anthony the next day, so I sold the thing to get some holiday money, as I was a bit short. I didn’t tell the old boy what I’d done. I let him think my wife was minding the watch for me, as I thought he would be hurt to think I’d sold it.” Lawrence is certainly a cool customer, Dame Beatrice, and no mistake.’

‘I suppose he swiped the watch,’ said Laura. ‘What a specimen! Still, it lets out the porters, which is what the High Mistress wanted. I suppose you can’t arrest Lawrence for theft and so hold on to him until you can prove he’s

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