Bogolepov saw him looking. ‘All presents from my cousin in America,’ he explained with a contemptuous wave of his hand. ‘Most useful for a man who lives almost exclusively on whisky and dope, don’t you think? Of course, Cousin Reuben is in the trade so he gets them at cost price. When I get a little short of money I sell a piece or two of American culture to my neighbours. I sold Sir John Counter the very latest electric shaver only the other day. Would you believe it, it has six separate speeds! Who in God’s name wants to be able to shave at six different speeds? But then, I think our civilization is wonderful, don’t you?’
Dover reached for his bowler hat.
‘My dear Inspector, must you leave so soon? I was hoping you and your charming assistant would stay for lunch. I’ve got another bottle of whisky cooling in the fridge.’
‘I’m afraid we’ve got to get on, sir,’ said Dover with a dead-pan face.
‘Well, then, I can only wish you success in your work-I believe that is the right phrase. You must forgive me if I do not take your researches too seriously. I have seen five hundred people killed in a day and, after that, what does one Juliet Rugg more or less in the world matter?’
‘She matters in this country, sir,’ said Dover stiffly.
Bogolepov smiled charmingly and shook his head. ‘Ah, you English! We poor foreigners will never understand, will we?’
‘Apparently not, sir,’ said Dover.
Chapter Seven
‘’STREWTH!’ said Dover when they got outside. ‘Well, if I was his American cousin I’d get him certified pretty damned quick! Remind me to warn the Chief Constable to keep an eye on him.’
‘Do you think he was telling the truth, sir?’ asked MacGregor.
‘God only knows!’ replied Dover, shaking his head in despair. ‘I’ve heard enough bloody twaddle in the last thirty-six hours to do me for a lifetime. Anyhow, he’s right about one thing, if you’re a dipso and a junky, you aren’t likely to be chasing women as well-that’s for sure. Apart from the fact that his inclinations seem to lie in another direction.’
Sergeant MacGregor looked disappointed. ‘Do you think it’s a sex crime then, sir?’
‘Well, I’m damned if I can see what else it can be, can you? From what everybody says the only thing that girl had was sex.’
‘Then, we’re looking for a man?’
Dover wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. ‘I dunno we can go as far as that. Might be a woman. Jealousy, you know. And then there’s this blackmail business. That might be mixed up in it somewhere. But I’m not really bothered about who did it at the moment. I’d just like to know where the flaming body is! We still haven’t got a single line on that at all. I don’t understand it, you can’t just sweep a girl that size under the carpet, dead or alive. She must be somewhere, blast her!’
‘What are we going to do now, sir?’
Dover looked at Sergeant MacGregor in blank astonishment.
‘We’re going to go and see this Chubb-Smith fellow and his wife. What did you think we were going to do – go to Brighton for the week-end? You’ll never make a successful detective, Sergeant, if you can’t sort your priorities out. Once you get yourself bogged down under a lot of useless information, you’ll never be able to see the wood for the trees. Get yourself a working hypothesis, soon as you can, work out a plan and stick to it! It’s no good going round with an open mind like a vacuum cleaner because all you’ll finish up with is ’ Dover paused to work this one out ‘ . . . is fluff!’ he concluded triumphantly.
‘Yes, sir,’ said Sergeant MacGregor, poker-faced.
Michael Chubb-Smith was understandably embarrassed when he showed the two detectives into the drawing-room.
‘I’m afraid,’ he apologized, snatching up a couple of dusters and tucking an apron behind a cushion, ‘that the place is a bit upset.’ He trundled a carpet-sweeper rapidly out of the room. ‘I was just giving my wife a hand with the housework.’
Dover sniffed. ‘Very commendable,’ he said with a marked lack of approval. He held very strong views about husbands undertaking domestic chores and in his own house things were arranged differently. Michael Chubb-Smith hurriedly pulled the furniture back into its proper place.
‘I suppose your mother has told you about the conversation she had with me yesterday, sir?’
‘Well, yes, she has.’ Michael Chubb-Smith smiled hopefully. ‘I do hope there’ll be no need to mention all this little business to my wife, Inspector? It would only upset her and really the whole thing’s just a lot of fuss about nothing.’
‘Oh? You didn’t take Miss Rugg’s threats of exposure seriously, then?’
‘Well, in a way. She was quite capable of letting the cat out of the bag to Maxine all right. She was a spiteful little bitch in many ways, you know. What I meant was that my mother would have kept her mouth shut when it came to the point. She always makes a hell of a fuss about money, but she’d have paid up in the end. She always does.. We shall probably be moving from here soon, my wife and I. I shall be going in with my father-in-law; we may even be going abroad. Once we were out of the way Juliet would be stumped and she’d have
