‘ think it might be the police.”
Dalziel spoke again, very slowly, articulating each word with great care.
“The room you are in is no longer part of the administration offices of this college. It is temporarily the police headquarters of a murder investigation. Any papers, files or other material in this room is not college property and interference with it will make you liable to very serious charges. This is a police matter, not a college matter. The college authorities will not be able to exercise discretion in the matter of prosecution. That will be up to me. And, by God, if there’s any damage, I’ll prosecute every last one of you!”
Only in the last sentence did his voice deviate from an impersonal official monotone. Pascoe had reappeared. With him was a constable in uniform whom Dalziel recognized as the local man.
“Someone telephoned him,’ explained Pascoe. ‘ met him on the drive. The others will be here shortly.”
Telephoned?” “A Miss. Disney, sir,’ said the constable.
“I thought our lives were in danger when the noise woke me up,’ declared the lady, unrepentant before Lander’s reproving glance.
Tine,’ said Dalziel giving unexpected support. ”s Shattuck, isn’t it?
Get round into the garden, unobtrusively as you can. Watch the window of this room. Anyone tries to get out of it, grab ‘. Sergeant, wait outside for the others. Let me know when they arrive.”
“Superintendent, you will be careful?’ It was Landor, worry deepening the lines of his finely drawn face. ‘ they think I’ve brought a whole gang of police in — well, records of this kind of thing show that when the police have been involved, reactions can be very violent. Panic, anger — not your fault I know, but… “
I’ll be discreet as possible, and the main body of students is in the new admin, block, not here, I gather,’ said Dalziel. ‘ I won’t let any consideration prevent me from dealing with this lot.”
He nodded fiercely towards the door which at that moment swung quietly open.
“Come in, Superintendent,’ said Franny, standing courteously by the door like a butler.
Dalziel stepped forward, Landor and Disney hard on his heels, but the door was closed quietly but firmly in their faces and he found himself alone in the room with about two dozen students. Some he knew: Roote, Cockshut. Others were familiar though he had no names. Some few he had never seen before. The room itself was reasonably tidy. There was no sign of damage; the filing cabinet showed no evidence of any attempt to force it open. He walked over to it, stepping carefully across the bodies of some students — who lay sprawled on the floor and examined it without touching. The same with the desk, ignoring the couple who lay on it, fast in each other’s arms, mouths pressed together as though in violent passion, but their eyes open, following his every move.
“Satisfied, fat man?’ said Cockshut who was sitting arrogantly in his chair. He had the top of a Thermos flask in his hand; there was other evidence — packets of sandwiches, crisps, blanket-rolls — that they had come prepared for a lengthy stay. Dalziel locked eyes with Cockshut and leaned so close to him he could smell the whisky fumes rising from his plastic cup.
“I will be before I leave,’ he said quietly.
“Ah, get stuffed!”
Roote coughed politely behind him.
“I’m sorry, Superintendent. We didn’t realize that this was no longer the principal’s study. If we had known that the police had taken over the room absolutely, of course we wouldn’t have entered.”
Dalziel turned and saw for the first time the long wall facing the window. Across it someone had scribbled his name, misspelling it but managing the accompanying four letter word correctly.
“An odd thing to write if you thought you were occupying Dr. Lander’s room,’ he said with a faint smile.
Franny returned the smile apologetically.
“It was done when you started shouting at the door. I’m sorry. I’ll send someone in to wash it off.”
“I’d be obliged,’ replied Dalziel.
Tine,’ said Franny. ”ll leave quietly now and go and join the others in the new block. This is purely an internal dispute, of course. I’m extremely sorry you’ve been fetched from your bed. Right, everybody.
Pack up! We’re leaving.”
There was a general bustle round the room, everybody moving except Cockshut who sat glowering at the superintendent. Roote walked over to the door, unlocked it and opened it. Landor and Disney were still outside, joined by a group of other members of staff now. Ellie Soper was there, Marion Cargo and Miss. Scotby. Also Pascoe who nodded at Dalziel, and received a slight jerk of the head in reply. He turned and went out of the main door.
“Good evening, Dr. Landor,’ said Franny. ”re just leaving.”
A look of relief passed over the principal’s face, but did not linger long.
“No,’ said Dalziel.
Everyone stopped. Everyone looked at him.
“No one’s leaving.”
For a second nobody moved, then there was a general surge towards the open door.
“Sergeant!”
Through the main entrance came Pascoe accompanied by half a dozen uniformed policemen. They filled the study doorway in a very solid fashion. There was only one of Constable Shattuck who came and stood outside the window, but seen through a glass darkly, he looked even more stern and unpassable than those within.
Dalziel spoke.
“I am holding everyone in this room on suspicion of illegal entry, of interfering or being accessories to interfering with evidence and statements in an official investigation ‘
“But we’ve touched nothing!’ protested Franny.
“I really think,’ began Landor nervously, but Dalziel ignored them both.
‘ — of causing damage to property by defacing a wall and — ‘ he sniffed the air ‘ — I think we might add illegal possession of the drug, cannabis. Sergeant. I want the names of everyone here, I want them cautioned individually, I want their statements and I want their fingerprints.” “He can’t do it,’ said Cockshut, mockingly. ‘ fat bastard’s bluffing.”
He lifted the cup to his lips. Dalziel moved swiftly across and took it from his hand, careful not to spill the contents.
“I want this analyzed as well, Sergeant. If, as my sensitive nose tells me, it is Glen Grant that’s being debased in this coffee, I think we’ll add a charge of theft against Mr. Cockshut. Right, now, who’s got the keys?”
Again a stunned silence.
“Keys?’ said someone tremulously.
“The set of duplicate, or master keys,’ said Dalziel patiently. The ones you used to get into this room, to unlock my desk and my filing cabinet.
Those keys. Oh come on, Mr. Roote, you’re an intelligent man, I hear.
There’ll be fingerprints over every bit of paper you touched in there.
And over my whisky bottle too I’ve no doubt.”
“You’re mistaken, I assure you,’ said Franny, spreading out his hands before him, the picture of injured innocence. ‘ I do think if you’re going to make this absurd fuss, lovey, we ought to have some legal representation. We’re entitled, aren’t we?”
He picked up the telephone before anyone could stop him. Obviously someone was sitting at the ready at the other end of the line.
“Hello, love,’ he said softly. ‘ here. We’re having a bit of trouble with the police down in Simeon’s old study. Yes, the police.
Just tell the others in case they’re worried, there’s a dear. And get Mr. Pearl, the solicitor, on the line. Ask him to come over. Many thanks.”
He replaced the receiver. Dalziel had made no attempt to interrupt, but his face was hard.
“Dr. Landor, these students’ names please.”
Landor’s face was a mask of misery as he hesitated whether to speak or not, but he was saved from the decision and its attendant obloquy by Miss. Disney who pushed forward, majestic in her voluminous, quilted dressing-gown, and said, ‘ is outrageous!” For a second, Dalziel thought she was referring to him. But instantly she followed it up by beginning a recital of the names of those present.
