pounds.'
'I thought over and over again about Mr. Treves and the story he had told that evening. Even then I didn't connect it with Nevile. Treves had mentioned some physical peculiarity by which he could recognise the child of long ago. I've got a scar on my ear, but I don't think anyone else has any sign that you'd notice.'
Battle said: 'Miss Aldin has a lock of white hair. Thomas Royde has a stiff right arm, which might not have been only the result of an earthquake. Mr. Ted Latimer has rather an odd-shaped skull. And Nevile Strange — '
He paused.
'Surely there was no physical peculiarity about Nevile?'
'Oh, yes, there was. His left-hand little finger is shorter than his right. That's very unusual, Mrs. Strange — very unusual indeed.'
'So that was it?'
'That was it.'
'And Nevile hung that sign on the lift?'
'Yes. Nipped down there and back whilst Royde and Latimer were giving the old boy drinks. Clever and simple — doubt if we could ever prove that was murder.'
Audrey shivered again.
'Now, now,' said Battle . 'It's all over now, my dear. Go on talking.'
'You're very clever … I haven't talked so much for years!'
'No, that's what's been wrong. When did it first dawn on you what Master Nevile's game was?'
'I don't know exactly. It came to me all at once. He himself had been cleared and that left all of us. And then, suddenly, I saw him looking at me — a sort of gloating look. And I knew! That was when — ' She stopped abruptly.
'That was when what — ?'
Audrey said slowly: 'When I thought a quick way out would be — best.'
Superintendent Battle shook his head.
'Never give in. That's my motto.'
'Oh, you're quite right. But you don't know what it does to you being so afraid for so long. It paralyses you — you can't think — you can't plan — you just wait for something awful to happen. And then, when it does happen' — she gave a sudden, quick smile — 'you'd be surprised at the relief! No more waiting and fearing — it's come. You'll think I'm quite demented, I suppose, if I tell you that when you came to arrest me for murder I didn't mind at all. Nevile had done his worst and it was over. I felt so safe going off with Inspector Leach.'
'That's partly why we did it,' said Battle . 'I wanted you out of that madman's reach. And besides, if I wanted to break him down I wanted to be able to count on the shock of the reaction. He'd seen his plan come off, as he thought — so the jolt would be all the greater.'
'If he hadn't broken down would there have been any evidence?'
'Not too much. There was MacWhirter's story of seeing a man climb up a rope in the moonlight. And there was the rope itself confirming his story, coiled up in the attic and still faintly damp. It was raining that night, you know.'
He paused and stared hard at Audrey as though he were expecting her to say something.
As she merely looked interested he went on: 'And there was the pinstripe suit. He stripped, of course, in the dark on that rocky point on the Easterhead Bay side, and thrust his suit into a niche in the rock. As it happened, he put it down on a decayed bit of fish washed up by the flood tide. It made a stained patch on the shoulder — and it smelt. There was some talk, I found out, about the drains being wrong in the hotel. Nevile himself put that story about. He'd got his raincoat on over his suit, but the smell was a pervasive one. Then he got the wind up about that suit afterwards and at the first opportunity he took it off to the cleaners and, like a fool, didn't give his own name. Took a name at random, actually one he'd seen in the hotel register. That's how your friend got hold of it and, having a good head on him, he linked it up with the man climbing up the rope. You step on decayed fish, but you don't put your shoulder down on it unless you have taken your clothes off to bathe at night, and no one would bathe for pleasure on a wet night in September. He fitted the whole thing together. Very ingenious man, Mr. MacWhirter.'
'More than ingenious,' said Audrey.
'M'm, well, perhaps. Like to know about him? I can tell you something of his history.'
Audrey listened attentively. Battle found her a good listener. She said: 'I owe a lot to him — and to you.'
'Don't owe very much to me,' said Superintendent Battle. 'If I hadn't been a fool I'd have seen the point of that bell.'
' Bell ? What bell?'
'The bell in Lady Tressilian's room. Always did feel there was something wrong about that bell. I nearly got it, too, when I came down the stairs from the top floor and saw one of those poles you open windows with.'
'That was the whole point of the bell, see — to give Nevile Strange an alibi. Lady T. didn't remember what she had rung for — of course she didn't, because she hadn't rung at all! Nevile rang the bell from outside in the passage with that long pole; the wires ran along the ceiling. So down comes Barrett and sees Mr. Nevile Strange go downstairs and out, and she finds Lady Tressilian alive and well. The whole business of the maid was fishy. What's the good of doping her for a murder that's going to be committed before midnight! Ten to one she won't have gone off properly by then. But it fixes the murder as an inside job, and it allows a little time for Nevile to play his role of first suspect — then Barrett speaks and Nevile is so triumphantly cleared that no one is going to inquire very closely as to exactly what time he got to the hotel. We know he didn't cross back by ferry, and no boats had been taken. There remained the possibility of swimming. He was a powerful swimmer, but even then the time must have been short. Up the rope he's left hanging into his bedroom and a good deal of water on the floor, as we noticed (but without seeing the point, I'm sorry to say). Then into his blue coat and trousers, along to Lady Tressilian's room — we won't go into that — wouldn't have taken more than a couple of minutes; he'd fixed up that steel ball beforehand — then back, out of his clothes, down the rope and back to Easterhead.'
'Suppose Kay had come in?'
'She'd been mildly doped, I'll bet. She was yawning from dinner on, so they tell me. Besides, he'd taken care to have a quarrel with her, so that she'd lock her door and keep out of his way.'
'I'm trying to think if I noticed the ball was gone from the fender. I don't think I did. When did he put it back?'
'Next morning when all the hullabaloo arose. Once he got back in Ted Latimer's car, he had all night to clear up his traces and fix things, mend the tennis racquet, etc. By the way, he hit the old lady backhanded, you know. That's why the crime appeared to be left-handed. Strange's backhand was always his strong point, remember!'
'Don't — don't' — Audrey put up her hands. 'I can't bear any more.' He smiled at her.
'All the same, it's done you good to talk it all out. Mrs. Strange, may I be impertinent and give you some advice?'
'Yes, please.'
'You lived for eight years with a criminal lunatic — that's enough to sap any woman's nerves. But you've got to snap out of it now, Mrs. Strange. You don't need to be afraid any more — and you've got to make yourself realise that.'
Audrey smiled at him. The frozen look had gone from her face; it was a sweet, rather timid, but confiding face, with the wide-apart eyes full of gratitude.
She said, hesitating a little: 'You told the others there was a girl — a girl who acted as I did?'
Battle slowly nodded his head.
'My own daughter,' he said. 'So you see, my dear, that miracle had to happen. These things are sent to teach us!'
III
