'The situation now is as follows: Proudfoot has returned to join the keeper and will keep watch on the site for the rest of the night. In the meantime, the Sussex police are putting together a force of uniformed officers, some of whom will be armed. As you will be.
We'll rendezvous with them at first light and surround the area.
'To anticipate your questions, I did consider taking action along these lines tonight, but decided against it. The presence of up to two dozen policemen stumbling around in the woods in darkness seemed to me more likely to alert this man and drive him off than achieve any useful end.
'As a precaution, however, in the event that he might be planning to attack some household tonight, a number of constables were dispatched to Stonehill from Crowborough earlier today. The site of the pit is about three miles from the village and the police will patrol houses in the district all night, making no attempt to hide their presence. After considerable thought, I've decided not to alert the villagers. Anything we say to them will only create panic and add to our difficulties.'
One of the sergeants held up his hand. 'What if he slips away in the meantime, sir?'
Sinclair shook his head. 'That's the one thing I'm not concerned about. Always supposing it is Pike, we believe he's engaged in constructing a military-type dugout in the forest. It's what he did in the woods above Melling Lodge before he attacked the house. He takes his time over building it. Provided he's not disturbed there's no reason to think he won't be back.
And when he does, we'll be waiting for him.
'But let me say straight away — I don't expect him to leave tonight. Tomorrow is Sunday, a day of rest, and I've no doubt he'll want to put it to use.'
The sergeant spoke up again: 'Did Hogg get a good look at the pit, sir? Could he describe it?'
'The answer to both questions is no.' Sinclair's expression was wry. 'It appears Hogg was dead drunk, which may explain why he fell into the hole in the first place. He doesn't seem to have noticed anything, except that it was a hole that wasn't there before.'
The sergeant grunted. 'What time do we move tomorrow, sir?'
'I want you all on duty at a quarter to five. Spend the night here if you wish, or go home. But don't be late. We'll draw weapons from the armoury and proceed to Stonehill by motor-car. The Yard has put two vehicles at our disposal.' The slight ironic emphasis given by the chief inspector to the numeral was noticed only by Bennett. 'I have something further to say to you.'
He paused deliberately and let his gaze settle on each officer in turn. When he spoke again it was in an altered tone.
'I have every intention of arresting Amos Pike, if it is he, and bringing him before the courts. But be under no illusion. This is likely the most dangerous man you will ever be asked to face. His military record was outstanding, but while that may have been of benefit to his country, it's no comfort to us. He's a hardened killer, with no reason not to kill again. Keep that in mind. He may well choose to resist arrest. If he fires on you with his rifle, or refuses to drop it on command, you are to shoot him. If he threatens you with rifle and bayonet, you are to shoot him. You will shoot to kill. I take full responsibility. Is that clear?'
Silence greeted his pronouncement. Then a low mutter came from the semi-circle.
'Very well. That will be all for now. We'll meet tomorrow morning.'
He watched as the men filed out. Styles, at a signal from Hollingsworth, followed the sergeant into the side office and shut the door behind them. Bennett rose. 'Well, Chief Inspector!'
They regarded each other in silence.
'I must call the Sussex chief constable.' The deputy moved towards the door. 'Where's Madden, by the way?'
'He spent the afternoon in Highfield, sir. He rang me from Waterloo half an hour ago. I told him to go home and get some sleep. He'll be here first thing tomorrow.'
Bennett paused at the door. 'Looking better lately, I thought.'
'Sir?'
'Inspector Madden. Less… less hunted, if you take my meaning.'
'Yes, I do, sir,' Sinclair agreed. He smiled for the first time that evening.
Breakfast was late at Croft Manor that Sunday morning. The silver chafing dishes, which were customarily placed on the sideboard punctually at half past eight, had not yet appeared when the three adult members of the Merrick family gathered in the dining room. (The children ate upstairs in the nursery.) Annie McConnell, who was in the habit of casting an eye over the breakfast table when she came downstairs to see that all was in order, sped off to the kitchen to investigate. She returned with some startling news.
'Did you know the village was crawling with policemen last night, sir?' she asked William Merrick, who said he most certainly did not.
'Yes, and more arrived today. Two carloads from London, they say, and a van from Tunbridge Wells.
More than twenty coppers in all.' Annie's eyes were bright with the news. 'And now they've gone off into the forest, the whole pack of them.'
Word had been brought to the house by Rose Allen, one of the maids, and Mrs Dean, the cook, who both lived in the village, a mile away. The excitement there had been the cause of their late arrival and consequent delay in preparing breakfast.
'They're at it now,' Annie assured the family, with a special smile for Mrs Merrick. She was concerned about her mistress, who seemed particularly disconcerted by what she had just heard.
Annie had to wait until after breakfast to discover what the trouble was and then chided herself for not having guessed it in the first place.
'William will just use this as another excuse to put off leaving for Cornwall. First they were going on Friday, then it was Saturday. Now who knows when he'll decide to start?'
They were taking their usual post-breakfast turn in the garden. Annie had ceased to wonder at her mistress's increasing anxiety over the delay in her family's departure on holiday. She sought only to comfort her.
'Now don't go putting ideas into Master William's head,' Annie counselled. The boys had always been 'Master William' and 'Master Tom' to her, long after they had grown up. 'Let him slip along to the village and find out what's going on. Chances are, it's all a great fuss about nothing.'
Earlier William had donned his cap, backed the Lagonda out of the garage and driven into Stonehill to discover, as he put it, 'what the devil this is all about'.
He returned an hour later, in no better mood than when he had left. His wife and mother were waiting in the morning room to hear what he had to tell them.
'It's the most extraordinary business.' William seated himself on the settee beside Charlotte. 'Half a dozen police constables were sent here from Crowborough last night, and the others arrived at dawn, and just as Annie says they all marched off into the forest and haven't been seen since.'
William had obtained the information from an elderly police sergeant from Crowborough, who had been left behind at the village hall to receive and act on any messages sent back. He had professed ignorance of the purpose of the operation, but assured William that, 'Everything's in hand, sir, and there's nothing to worry about.'
From other sources William had learned that word had been put about in the strongest terms that no one was to accompany the police, who had been last seen heading off in the direction of Owl's Green, on the other side of the village, nor attempt to follow in their tracks. Explanations would be made in full in due course.
'The one man who might have told me something was nowhere to be seen,' William Merrick complained bitterly. 'I mean Proudfoot. Apparently he's there with them. According to his wife he was out all night.'
Harriet Merrick listened with sympathy to her son.
He was a man of consequence in the district, a Justice of the Peace. It was clear he felt he should have been consulted. She saw him instinctively rub his withered arm, and almost in the same instant, as though acting on a signal, his wife turned to him, putting her hand on his.
'Don't worry about it, darling. I bet you it turns out to be nothing.'
'Nothing! With twenty policemen tramping about the countryside!' William made his annoyance plain.
'Nothing that'll come to anything, I mean.'
William rose. 'I'm going to ring Richards,' he declared, referring to a magistrate they knew in Crowborough.
'I want to get to the bottom of this.' He went out.
