The Death-Cap Dancers

‘Yes, including that of the murderer. Fortunately Inspector Ribble has listed the hostel addresses in the notes he gave me, so we have that much help.’

‘Will it be sufficient?’

‘Unless the murderer gave a false address. It is quite likely that he did. It is a pity that Hermione’s home address was on record in the files stolen from the forest warden, but, as I say, Stanton St John is a long way from here.’

‘The murderer wouldn’t know that the girls have gone there.’

‘It may not take him long to find out. He has all their home addresses.’

‘Is Hermione herself in any danger?’

‘All four girls are in some danger, perhaps. That depends upon how far our murderer is prepared to go; but the greatest danger is to Miss Tamsin Lindsay. When I have done what still remains to be done here, I shall make it my business to go to the farm and keep an eye on things.’

‘I don’t see what else can be done here that Ribble can’t do.’

‘Well, perhaps not here, exactly. It is very fortunate that I was able to see Mrs Beck’s register before it was stolen.’

‘I thought you got the dancers’ addresses from Ribble. You didn’t need—’

‘Oh, I like to check my information,’ said Dame Beatrice airily. ‘To add to yours, I will disclose to you all my suspicions and my reasons for them, but, until today’s encounter, I had nothing to go on except applied psychology.’

‘Where is our next assignment? — and with whom?’

‘The inquest on Miss Peggy Raincliffe is to be held at Gledge End tomorrow. I am anxious to hear the medical evidence. After that, I hope to be allowed to talk to young Mr Marton before we go to Stanton St John.’

‘Meanwhile, what about this girl Pippa?’

‘She is under police protection and Inspector Ribble has promised me that she will be extremely well-guarded until the murderer is caught. There is nothing more that she can tell us, although I may perhaps go to see her at her home.’

‘Surely she’s got some suspicions of who killed the other girls and attacked her brother?’

‘Except for her music, she is an exceptionally imperceptive child, I think.’

‘Well, I’m all agog for information. Who dunnit?’

Dame Beatrice told her, but added, ‘There isn’t an atom of proof, of course, that would stand up to lawyers’ arguments.’

The coroner sat with a full complement of jurors, seven men and four women, and he explained to them that he could accept a majority verdict provided that not more than two of them dissented from it.

‘So nine of you have to be agreed,’ he said, stressing his point. ‘This is not a trial, I would have you remember. It is an enquiry into the cause of death, when and at what place death occurred, and whether the deceased has been formally identified and by whom. You are permitted to ask questions of the witness, but I shall rule out any queries which I deem to be irrelevant or in any way mischievous. You are to find your verdict purely on the evidence that you will hear, putting out of your minds any rumours, gossip or slander which may have come to your ears.’

Having done his best to cow them and added the further warning that he had power to override their verdict if he did not agree with it, he opened the proceedings by calling for the identification of the body. This was sworn to by the mother of the deceased, and the medical evidence followed.

Death had been assured by one heavy blow in the centre of the forehead which had rendered the victim unconscious and which could not have been self-inflicted. It was followed by other assaults after she had fallen down. There were more blows to the back of the head which would have caused death. The weapon had probably been a heavy stone with a rough surface.

Inspector Ribble was called. He said that he had been asked to go to St Vortigern’s Church Hall as there had been an accident. When he arrived he was shewn two bodies, one still alive, the other dead.

‘Who telephoned you?’ asked the coroner.

‘William Dexter, the caretaker at the church hall. He had also telephoned for a doctor.’

When the caretaker was called he made as good and as laconic a witness as the inspector had done, having forgotten none of his training as a policeman in the art of giving evidence in court. All the same, his story took some time to tell, as the corner asked for a good many details.

‘You knew nothing of what had happened until you went to your broom-cupboard?’

‘Not a thing, sir.’

‘Did nothing strike you as being out of the ordinary?’

‘Yes, sir. I noticed, soon as I went in, that the back door was wide open.’

‘Was that unusual?’

‘Most unusual, being that it’s always kept bolted on the inside.’

‘Why is that?’

‘We get tramps, sir, and boys up to mischief. There’s a fair bit of waste ground outside that door. There’s trees and bushes.’

‘To whom does it belong?’

‘I reckon it belongs to the hall, sir, but nobody tends it and children use it as a playgound. If I left the back door of the hall unlocked, tramps might use that room as a doss-down or boys could get in and do damage. It’s happened, sir, so I had vicar order the bolts to be put on. The window is too high up to be reached without a ladder, and the little window in the washroom adjoining is too small even for a thin boy to get through, so vicar and me have found the bolts quite adequate.’

‘But not on this occasion.’

‘One of the party as hired the hall opened the door from the inside — must have done, sir. There’s no other way.’

‘Well, as whoever did that is not present…’

‘No, he’s in hospital and won’t be available yet for questioning,’ said Ribble from his seat.

‘Thank you, Inspector.’ The coroner turned again to the witness. ‘After you had found the deceased’s body…’

‘That there body found him, as I understand it,’ put in a juryman.

‘Just so. The point is immaterial.’

‘Begging your leave, it ent nothing of sort. Ask him how long that corpse would have stayed in cupboard if he hadn’t happened to go to it for his broom.’

‘Well, Dexter, you may answer the question,’ said the coroner.

‘I reckon it would have stayed there till Wednesday, when I should have needed my broom to sweep the hall for the Women’s Institute Keep Fit, them doing some of their exercise laying on the floor. The hall wasn’t let to any outsiders this week, so I could make one sweep-up sufficient.’

‘Sufficient for several days?’ asked a woman juror.

‘I don’t sweep up after the Saturday Youth Club, the man that runs it being an ex-sergeant who don’t allow smoking nor litter, and, if the hall ent let, there’s no need to sweep up after the Sunday school until the W.I.’s on Wednesday. Then it does again until the Saturday, those being my orders and by arrangement with the churchwardens.’

‘Well, your question seems to have been relevant, after all,’ said the coroner to the juror. ‘Now, Dexter, how did you come to discover the injured man?’

‘When I went to close the back door, sir, thinking it unwise to leave it open, I saw his foot sticking out from under a bush on that bit of waste ground I mentioned. Then I phoned about him and the body.’

‘You seem to have acted very promptly and sensibly all through. Well, I think we have heard enough. The jury may consider their verdict.’

‘Person or persons unknown,’ said Ribble to Dame Beatrice, when they had left the court. ‘Unanimous, too, as it could hardly fail to be. I thought that one or two of them would have liked to ask something more about this boy who’s in hospital. I’m applying again for permission to question him. I’ve seen him, but they wouldn’t let me stay. He doesn’t know yet that the girl is dead. That will have to be broken to him because he will have to give