'There is nothing I can tell you about it. We thought she had attempted to drown herself, thought better of it, got as far as her bed and then collapsed.'
'And the state of her head, sir? How do you account for that?'
'I don't have to account for it. I suppose a burglar broke in and hit her in case she wasn't quite dead. It doesn't sound likely, but it's the only conclusion we could reach.'
'You used to swim in your little cove in the summer, of course?'
'Oh, yes, frequently, but the water was warm in the summer.'
'Did any of your tenants do the same?'
'They may have done. The bathing here is free. I don't keep track of everything my tenants do.'
'Did you ever know Miss Minnie to do anything of the sort? - to go bathing in the sea?'
'I knew almost nothing about her. In any case, the answer to that is the same as I have given you in connection with the other tenants. I had neither the time nor the inclination to keep tabs on their activities.'
'Your housekeeper has mentioned some obnoxious letters which came for you.'
'Not only for me. She herself had a couple and so did two of my tenants, two girls. There may have been others.'
'Two girls? Who would they be, sir?'
'A Miss Kennett and a Miss Barnes. They moved out a few weeks ago. I think the letters were the cause of their leaving.'
'Can you give me their present address, sir?'
'Sorry, but no. They didn't tell us where they were going to live. No doubt the Post Office would have an address for forwarding letters.'
'No doubt, sir. About the window-fastenings: you said, I think, that they were only a precautionary measure.'
'That's right.'
'But not entirely true, sir. I understood that you suspected the deceased of breaking into the house at night and prowling about in the other tenants' rooms.'
'I think that was other people's idea, not mine. I saw nobody prowling around, but I had the fastenings put on as a precautionary measure, just as I said.'
'Quite so, sir. You will forgive a very personal question, I hope? How did you come into possession of this property and the money to repair and convert it?'
'I told you that, the last time you were here. I was left the money and the estate by a Mrs Dupont-Jacobson who entertained the remarkable theory that I had saved her from drowning.'
'In the sea, sir?'
'Yes, off Funchal, Madeira.'
'We know that the deceased claimed to be Mrs Dupont-Jacobson's next of kin. Are you sure she proposed to contest the will?'
'So I was informed. I was never approached personally in the matter.'
'But you were sufficiently impressed by what you had heard to go to your solicitors about it.'
'Merely another precautionary measure, Chief Superintendent. I was assured that there was no substance in the claim.'
'That must have gratified you, sir.'
'Not particularly. If the claim had been a valid one, the time to have made it was when the will was proved, not more than two years afterwards.'
'Two years, sir?'
'More than. Nearer three. I was a year in Paris while the renovations and some structural alterations were carried out, and my tenants, as I told you, have been in residence since May twelvemonth.'
'Thank you for your help, sir. I wonder whether you can place a room at the disposal of my sergeant and myself?'
'Do you mean you want an interview room? I thought you saw everybody on your first visit.'
'Mr Evans and Mr Targe, who were with you when you broke into the bungalow, may be able to help us.'
'Well, I expect my housekeeper will be prepared to give up her office to you for an hour or so.'
He and the sergeant remained for the rest of the morning. When they had gone, little Shard came to see me. The tenants wanted another mass meeting. Evans was to take the chair and they hoped very much that Niobe and I would be present.
This sounded ominous. Niobe thought so, too. She said she did not like it. They must have been putting their heads together. She hoped that the mass meeting was not to herald a mass walkout.
'Well, I suppose you couldn't blame them,' I said. 'Nobody likes being mixed up with the police, especially in a case of murder.'
The mass meeting took place in Evans's large sitting-room immediately after lunch and Niobe's pious hopes were soon dashed. It was clear that, as soon as the police would allow it, a mass walk-out was planned.
Evans, as one would expect, proved a competent, business-like chairman. He was hospitable, too. Coffee and an assortment of liqueurs were dispensed by Constance. The armchairs, some indigenous, some borrowed, were extremely comfortable. The tenants settled down ghoulishly.
'I want to make it clear,' said Evans, 'that no personal feelings are involved. I'm sure we have all been very happy at Weston Pipers and the last thing we would have wanted is to leave.'
Here Niobe spoke up with some abruptness.
'I hope you remember that you have all signed a three-year agreement,' she said.
'So had Billie and Elysée,' Constance Kent pointed out, 'but they went and so shall we.'
'Please! No arguments at this stage,' said her husband, 'although circumstances do alter cases. The point is, Chelion, that whereas the fact of a murder wouldn't do some of us any harm because of the nature of our work, it must have its effect on others of us. Besides, all this police questioning and probing is a confounded waste of our time and it also saps our concentration. I need all my energies for a damned Chapter Eight which is refusing to come right. I am not willing to expend them answering questions from the Chief Superintendent about matters which are no concern of mine.'
'But you would still be subject to questioning, even if you left today,' said Niobe.
'Granted, and I have no doubt I could survive it, but there are others, as I say.'
'Including me,' said the soldierly Constance. 'The publicity over
