Otto was at his jauntiest and appeared not in the least perturbed when Maisry boarded the ship and extracted him therefrom to the annoyance of his captain and the interest of the first officer.
‘Glad you don’t belong to the uniformed branch,’ Otto said chattily, when he was in Maisry’s car. ‘Bad for the morale of the crew to see the second officer being carted off to the jug. I suppose it is to the jug, isn’t it? You know, like the last time, when you had to let me go because you knew you’d boobed.’
‘Just to the station itself, to answer a few questions,’ said Maisry gently. ‘You can refuse, of course, or you can ask to have your lawyer present.’
‘Mean to say you haven’t put the bracelets on your mass-murderer? Bad, you know, Detective-Inspector! A lot of slackness somewhere.’
‘Just as you say,’ said Maisry unemotionally. ‘I’ve got Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley at the station. She wants to talk to you about psychiatry. You’ll find her very interesting and, if I may offer a word of advice, I wouldn’t try to be too clever, if I were you. She probably eats a couple of young lads like you as a snack between meals.’
‘Glad you cautioned me. Where’s the bit about “be taken down and may be used in evidence”, though?’
Maisry did not reply and a little of Otto’s ebullience appeared to leave him, for he said nothing more until they reached headquarters and he was taken into the office which Phillips had put at Maisry’s disposal. There, having mentioned that the colour of the walls clashed with the colour of his eyes, he sobered down again, took the chair which was offered him and looked at Dame Beatrice with an innocent, enquiring expression. She said,
‘Good afternoon, Mr Schumann. Would you mind doing a word test for me?’
‘You say “bird” and I say “wench” – that kind of thing?’
‘Talking of “that kind of thing”, we now know that you were correct about one thing you told us about Maria Machrado.’
‘Only in one thing? Surely that’s understating it? I could tell you a bookful about that Spanish doll, and it would all be true.’
‘But possibly not useful. After you had parted from her, she did go back to your mother’s cottage. That is where we believe she was murdered.’
‘Oh? What gave you that idea?’
‘It fits with what we know of the other murders,’ said Maisry, ‘so it would be a good idea if you told us your story of the quarrel you had with her.’
‘Look here, when I told the other dick – what’s his name? – Phillips, that Maria said she was going back to my mother’s cottage, I told him a shiner. Why would she go back there? My mother hated the sight of her, and she knew it. The best she could hope for there was to be shown the door.’
‘And the worst, that she would be murdered,’ said Maisry. ‘Now, Mr Schumann, I am not cautioning you yet, but in fairness I must emphasize that you do not have to answer my next question. Who, besides yourself, could have known that Maria Machrado intended to go back to the cottage?’
Otto stared at his fingers. They were thick, long and strong. He flexed them and then, turning both hands over, he studied the golden hairs on the backs of them.
‘I dunno,’ he said at last.
‘Will you give us an account, as full a one as you can manage, of the last time you saw Miss Machrado alive?’
‘Look, I’ve done all this before! Remember? You had nothing on me at all, and you had to let me go. You can’t arrest a man twice for the same offence!’
‘You can’t try a man twice for the same offence. There is a difference. I advise you to help us, not to try to lay us a stymie. I will admit to you that we did not proceed against you that last time because we were convinced then that all the murders were committed by the same person. Now we are not nearly so sure. We know who killed your sister. We know it was not you. But it is up to you to convince us that neither did you kill Miss Machrado. No …’ for Otto had begun to bluster … ‘that kind of attitude won’t help you. Just sit there and do a bit of quiet thinking. You’re in a spot, my boy, and don’t you lose sight of that fact. You’re known to have been running around with the girl, you’re known to have had a quarrel with her at which blows were exchanged, and you’re known to have a violent temper. Furthermore, it seems as though you, and you only, knew that she intended to return to your mother’s cottage and demand shelter.’
‘Demand? A fine position she was in to demand anything!’
‘Her demand would be based upon the fact that she was carrying your child.’
‘You can’t prove that!’
‘I think we should have little difficulty in getting a jury to believe it.’
‘I see.’ He was silent. All the bounce had gone out of him. It was an extremely dejected boy who sat there, staring down again at his large hands.
‘Tell me,’ said Dame Beatrice, ‘when you have answered, or decided not to answer, Detective-Inspector Maisry, all that you remember about your father.’
‘My father? What’s he got to do with it? He’s been dead five years.’
‘I know that. What was your relationship with him?’
‘Not too good. Karen was his pick. She shared his interests, such as they were.’
‘How do you mean – such as they were?’
‘Oh, religion and all that. He never made any money, you know. We lived on my mother and the dogs. I used
