Dover Goes to Pott

But the days kept going by and in the end even I had to admit that she was probably right and she’d really clicked this time. Well, it was then she decided that she couldn’t wait any longer. She was going to go to the doctor and get it absolutely definite from him that she was pregnant. So, one day last week, off she goes —still not saying a word to her hubbie, of course. Well, of course, two months gone is pretty early so the doctor had to take a blood test or something. Cynthia did tell me, something to do with rabbits, I think. So, that meant another wait until the results came through. Well, they came through yesterday morning. They were positive and, believe me, that poor girl was just about taking off with excitement. After three years she’d finally made it! Well, of course, she just couldn’t wait to tell her old man the good news. She made a point of never phoning him up at the office — he didn’t like it, seemingly — but on this occasion she was going to make an exception. And that was the last time I saw her alive, poor thing, when she walked out of my kitchen to go and telephone her husband. And then this rotten thing had to happen to her! Just, when she was so happy . . . ’

Young Mrs Carruthers’s voice faltered and she brushed the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. The kitchen suddenly seemed very quiet. MacGregor glanced at Dover to see if he was prepared to put the necessary questions. From the look on his face, he apparently wasn’t. MacGregor was gratified. This meant that the burden of the interrogation would fall on his younger and more capable shoulders and the investigation now stood a good chance of taking a decisive step forward.

‘What you’re saying, Mrs Carruthers, is that Mrs Perking was pregnant?’

Mrs Carruthers, who was about to blow her nose on her handkerchief, paused and looked at MacGregor in some amazement. She was under the impression that she had made the situation crystal-clear. ‘Yes,’ she said.

MacGregor treated her to a patronizing smile. ‘It’s just to get the record quite straight,’ he assured her. ‘And her husband knew of her condition?’

‘Well, I suppose so. I didn’t actually hear her tell him, if that’s what you mean. No, Albertina! Leave Auntie’s coffee cup alone, there’s a good girl! No, now don’t do that, darling! Oh, you naughty girl—just look what a mess you’ve made all over the table!’ Mrs Carruthers sighed and smiled wanly at MacGregor. ‘Thank God for plastic tablecloths, eh? It just run straight off. Oh, has it gone on your trousers? It’s funny but I’ve noticed it before, that table does seem to slope that way. There’s a dishcloth in the sink if you’d like to mop yourself up a bit. There, Albertina, you see what you’ve done now, don’t you? Just you say you’re sorry or this nice gentleman’ll come along and lock you up in a cell and you won’t like that, will you?’

While MacGregor tried to forestall the total ruin of a pair of very expensive trousers, Dover creaked into some semblance of life. A couple of trusting infants were attempting to climb up on to his knees. Dover detached them with alacrity and, as they retreated bawling into a corner, he turned to Mrs Carruthers.

‘You were in here all yesterday afternoon, were you?’

‘Well, me and the kids, that is,’ agreed Mrs Carruthers, eyeing Dover uneasily.

‘Did you go over to the Perking’s house at all yesterday?’

‘No, of course, I didn’t. It was Cynthia who always came in here to see me. I can’t leave the kids, can I? If you turn your back for one minute the little devils have this place torn apart.’ Dover stared gloomily at her. ‘So, if a witness said she saw you going into the Perking’s house at five o’clock yesterday afternoon, she’d be lying, would she?’

‘She certainly would!’ Young Mrs Carruthers went very red in the face. ‘I was in this very kitchen all afternoon and I never left the house for one single moment.’

‘Can you prove it?’

‘Well, no—of course I can’t prove it!’ spluttered Mrs Carruthers. ‘Here, what are you getting at?’

‘And if a witness said she saw you coming out of the Perking’s house at a quarter to six, that’d be another lie would it?’

‘It definitely would!’ Mrs Carruthers’s eyes narrowed. ‘It’s that Hutchinson bitch, isn’t it?’ she asked angrily. ‘Her right opposite, across the back lane? The rotten old cow! She’s nothing but a wicked old trouble-maker, that’s all she is. Right, well she’s met her match this time! You two can just stop here for a couple of minutes and keep an eye on the kids while I go across and deal with old mother Hutchinson once and for all! Only, this time, I’ll black both her bleeding eyes!’

Chapter Four

MACGREGOR turned away from the sink and stared at Dover in incredulous and mute reproach. Upstairs Mrs Carruthers could be heard muttering to herself as she crashed around in search of a hat suitable for the doing of Mrs Hutchinson. In the kitchen, once the initial shock had worn off, the infants set up an ear-splitting yowl of deprivation.

MacGregor forgot about his ruined trousers. ‘Sir, how could you?’ he reproached his Chief Inspector. ‘There isn’t a witness, is there? You haven’t taken a statement from anybody! You can’t have done. You . . . ’

‘There’s no need to take a knife and fork to it!’ growled Dover. ‘Besides, I never said there was a witness, did I? I just asked her what she’d say if. It was a purely hypothetical question.’

‘A hypothetical question?’ repeated MacGregor, only just stopping his voice rising to a shriek which would have beaten the infants at their own game. ‘But what on earth did you want to go putting a