The morning dawned, clear and frosty with a pale sun shining down on a calm sea.
After breakfast the colonel, who seemed in good spirits, suggested they all take a stroll along the pier. 'I want to show you a bit where the pier is becoming definitely unsafe,' he said. 'These old Victorian piers are part of Britain's heritage. Perhaps, if you all agree with me, we could get up a petition.'
Well wrapped up, hatted and gloved and wearing warm coats, they all walked along the pier--like some geriatric school outing, thought Agatha.
The colonel stopped them half-way along. 'Now I want you all to lean over and look down at the piles. They are covered in layers of seaweed but definitely rotted in some parts. The sea is very calm today, so you should all be able to get a good look at what I'm talking about.'
They dutifully leaned over. Glassy rolling waves surged under the pier.
'What's that white thing in the water?' asked Jennifer.
'Where?' asked Mary.
'Just there.' Jennifer pointed. Then she said huskily, 'Oh, my God.'
The white thing rolled over on a wave and the dead face of Janine stared up at them, her blonde hair floating out about her head, her muslin dress floating about her body.
FIVE
MARY was sobbing into Jennifer's flat chest. She's not wearing that padded bra I recommended, thought Agatha numbly. Daisy was trembling and weeping. Harry Berry was sitting on the boards on the pier, his old head in his hands. And the tall figure of the colonel could be seen striding off down the pier to call the police.
Agatha fumbled in her handbag for her change purse. She extracted three pound coins and a fifty-pence piece and walked to the cigarette machine. She put in the coins and pressed a button. A cigarette packet rattled down into the tray below. Agatha picked it up, stripped off the wrapping, extracted a cigarette and put it in her mouth. She lit it up and took a deep draw. Her head swam and she felt dizzy. She staggered to the rail and hung on, but she took another puff. A sea-gull alighted on the rail next to her and gazed at her assessingly with its beady prehistoric eyes.
Some teenagers came down the pier, laughing and chattering. One of them spied the figure of Harry and stopped. 'What's up, guv?' he called. 'Want us to call a doctor?'
Harry shook his head. 'There's a body in the water,' he said hoarsely.
'Cor!' The teenagers ran to the rail.
If it wasn't that husband of hers, it was one of us, thought Agatha. Surely we were the last to see her.
The wail of police sirens tore through the air. Blue lights flashed at the end of the pier. The tall figure of the colonel came into view. Beside him walked Detective Constable Ian Tarret and Detective Sergeant Peter Carroll. Behind them came more police.
'Stand back!' ordered Tarret. 'Who spotted the body?'
Agatha found her voice. 'We did. Us from the hotel.'
His eyes bored into her. 'You again. Move along,' he said to the teenagers. 'The rest of you stay where you are.'
Agatha began to shiver. Then she saw Jimmy hurrying along the pier, his long black coat flapping. Tarret led him to the rail and pointed down.
'If I may make a suggestion?' said the colonel.
'Yes?' Jimmy looked at him, his eyes first sliding past Agatha. 'As none of us had anything to do with this outrage, I suggest as we are all elderly and the day is cold, we should be allowed to return to the hotel where we will await your questions.'
Agatha, despite her shock, did not like being including in that 'elderly.'
'Very well,' said Jimmy. He called forward a policeman. 'Go with them and keep a watch on them until I can get to them.'
They helped Harry to his feet. Then they followed the policeman down the pier past gawping onlookers and so to the hotel. Mr. Martin, the manager, came to meet them. 'What now?' he cried. In a few succinct sentences, the colonel told him. 'We will all foregather in the lounge,' he said. 'Is the fire made up?'
'Not yet.' Mr. Martin rubbed his hands in distress. 'This is terrible, terrible.'
'Get someone to light the fire,' barked the colonel.
They trooped into the lounge and collapsed into chairs around the fire. 'I think tea with a lot of sugar,' said the colonel, pressing the bell on the wall.
Agatha lit another cigarette. I quit once. I can quit again, she told herself with the true optimism of the addict.
Mary had stopped crying but she was very white. Daisy kept letting out odd little whimpers of distress and looking to the colonel for sympathy. But the colonel was watching the hotel servant lighting the fire, his head sunk on his chest.
Through the long window, Agatha could see Janine's husband hurrying along the pier. He would tell the police about the seance. She turned to the others. 'I wonder if it was the husband after all.'
No one replied. Tea arrived and the colonel poured. They all helped themselves to milk and sugar and digestive biscuits.
'I wonder what happened? I wonder who did it?' Agatha asked desperately.
'Put lots of sugar in your tea, Daisy,' urged the colonel.
Agatha looked at them in bewilderment. All of them were avoiding eye contact with her. Were they
Jimmy Jessop came into the lounge. 'The manager has kindly let us use the office, which will save all of you going down to the police station. I will take you one at a time. You first, Mrs. Raisin. You will all have to come to the police station later on today to make official statements.'
Agatha followed him into the office, where Detective Sergeant Peter Carroll was waiting. Jimmy looked at her as if he had ever seen her before. 'The dead woman's husband said you were all at a seance last night. Begin there and tell us what happened.'
So Agatha began. She described the seance. She described how she had heard the supposed voice of her dead husband. 'I always thought the voice of the dead was supposed to come from the medium's mouth,' she said, 'but this voice was in the room.'
'And what did this voice say?'
'Just a lot of rot,' said Agatha. 'How was I, things like that.'
'And then?'
'And then the supposed voice of Francie filled the room. She got to the point when she told Janine she knew who had murdered her and then Mary screamed. She said someone had kicked her. The colonel said we weren't paying, Cliff got ugly, the colonel threatened to call the police and so we all got out of there. We went for a walk on the pier this morning and Jennifer spotted the body in the water, or rather she said something like, 'What's that white thing?' and when we looked over, the body turned in the water and we saw it was Janine. The body was below the surface but the water was clear and glassy so we all saw it was her.'
'Nothing else you can think of?'
'Like what?'
'Like what were the reactions of the others when you all saw the body?'
'Harry Berry slumped down and sat on the pier as if his legs had given way. Mary was holding on to Jennifer and crying. Daisy was squeaking and whimpering. The colonel went off to call the police.'
'And you?'
'I went and bought a packet of cigarettes from the machine on the pier. I'd given up smoking, but suddenly, more than anything, I wanted a cigarette.'
