this, young man. We're not under oath. My name is Larkin, and I'm a respectable widow, and that's all you need to know.'
Hadley shuffled through the papers.
`Larkin,' he repeated. `H'm. We must look into this. When the net goes out, we often get small fish we're not after at all…. Larkin, Larkin here it is. 'Mrs Amanda Georgette Larkin.' The 'Mrs' in brackets; she wants that clearly understood. Stiff handwriting. Address — Hallo!'
He put down the sheets and frowned. `Well, well! The address is 'Tavistock Chambers, 34 Tavistock Square.' So she lives in the same building as young Driscoll, eh? This is getting to be quite a convention.'
Sir William had been rubbing his jaw uneasily. He said: `Look here, Hadley, don't you think you'd better bring Mrs Bitton away from the crowd? — She's my sister-in-law, you know, and after all…'
`Most unfortunate,' said Hadley, composedly. `Where's that man Parker?'
Parker had been standing hatless and coatless in the fog just outside the crack of the door, waiting to be summoned. At Hadley's remark he knocked; came inside, and stood at attention.
He was a square, brownish man with a military cut. Like most corporals of his day, he ran largely to moustache; nor did he in the least resemble a valet. The high white collar pinioned his head, as though he were having a daguerreotype taken.
`You are General Mason's orderly?' Hadley inquired. Parker looked pleased. 'Yussir.'
`Mr Dalrye has already told us of the two phone calls
from Mr Driscoll… You answered the phone both times, I believe?'
`Yussir. On both occasions.'
`So you had some conversation with Mr Driscoll?'
`I did, sir. Our talks was not lengthy, but full of meat.' `Could you swear it was Mr Driscoll's voice both times?' Parker frowned. `Well, sir, when you say, 'Could you swear it?' ‘- that's a long word,' he answered, judicially. `To the best of my knowledge and discernment from previous occasions, sir, it were.'
`Very well. Now, Mr Dalrye left here in the car shortly before one o'clock. Do you remember at what time Mr Driscoll arrived?'
'One-fifteen, sir.'
'How are you so positive?'
`Excuse me, sir,' Parker said, stolidly. 'I can inform you of everything that happens at the time which it happens, exact, sir, by the movements at the barracks. Or by the bugles. One-fifteen it was.'
Hadley tapped his fingers slowly on the desk.
`Now, take your time, Parker. I want you to remember everything that happened after Mr Driscoll arrived. Try to remember conversations, if you can… First, what was his manner? Nervous? Upset?'
`Very nervous and upset, sir.' 'And how was he dressed?'
`Cloth cap, light-brown golf suit, worsted stockings, club tie, sir. No overcoat. He asked for Mr Dalrye. I said Mr Dalrye had gone to his rooms in response to his own message. He then demonstrated incredulity. He used strong language, at which I was forced to say, 'Mr Driscoll, sir,'
I said, 'I talked to you myself.' I said, 'When I answered the telephone you thought I was Mr Dalrye; and you said all in a rush, `Look here, you've got to help me out I can't come down now,' and — `That's what you said'.'' Parker cleared his throat. `I explained that to him, sir.'
`What did he say?'
'He said, 'How long has Mr Dalrye been gone?' I told him about fifteen' minutes. And he said, 'Was he in the car?' and I said 'Yes,' and he said — excuse me, sir,’ 'Oh, my God! that's not long enough to drive up there on a foggy day.' But, anyway, he went to the telephone and rang up his own flat.' There was no, answer. He said to get him, a drink, which I did. And while I was getting it I noticed that he kept looking out of the window…. ‘
Hadley- opened his half-closed eyes. `Window? What window?'
`The window of the little room where Mr Dalrye works, sir, in the east wing of the King's House.'
'What can you see from there?'
Parker, who had become so interested in his story that he forgot to be flowery, blinked and tried to right his thoughts. 'See, sir?'
`Yes! The' view. Can you see the Traitors' Gate, for instance?’
'Oh. Yussir! I thought you was referring to… well, sir, to something I saw, which I didn't think was important, but now I get to thinking.. '
You saw something?'
`Yussir. That is, it was after Mr Driscoll had left me, sir.' '
Hadley seemed to fight down a desire to probe hard. He had half-risen, but he sat back and said, evenly: `Very well. Now go on with the story, Parker, from the time you saw Mr Driscoll looking out of the window.'
'Very good, sir. He finished his drink, and had another neat. I asked, him why he didn't go back to his flat, if he wanted to see Mr Dalrye. And he said, 'Don't be a fool; I don't want to take the chance of missing him again. We'll keep ringing my place every five minutes until I know where he is.'
Parker recounted the conversation in a gruff, sing-song voice, and in such a monotone that Rampole could tell only with difficulty where he was quoting Driscoll and where he spoke himself.`But he could not sit still, sir. He roamed about. Finally 'he said: 'My God — I can't stand this; I'm going for a walk in the grounds.. So he went out.’`How long was he with you?'
'A matter of ten minutes, say, sir. No; it was less than that… Well, sir, I paid no more attention. I should not have seen anything, except ' Parker hesitated. He saw the veiled gleam in Hadley's eyes; he saw Sir William bent forward, and Dalrye pausing with a match almost to his cigarette. And he seemed to realize he was a person of importance. He gave the hush its full value.
`except, sir,' he suddenly continued in a louder voice; `for the match-in-ashuns of fate. I may remark, sir; that earlier in the day there had been a light mist. But nothing of what might be termed important. It was possible to see some distance and objects was distinct: But it was a-growing very misty. That was how I come to look out of the window. And that was when I saw Mr Driscoll.'
Hadley's fingers stopped tapping while he scrutinized the other.
'How did you know it was Mr Driscoll? You said the mist was thickening….'
'I didn't say I saw his face. Nobody could have recognized him that way: he was just an outline. But, sir, wait! There was his size. There was his plus-fours, which he always wore lower-down than other gentlemen. And when he went out he was a wearing his cap: with the top all pulled over to one side. Then I saw him walking back and forth in Water Lane.'
`But you can't swear it was actually he?'
`Yussir. I can. Becos, sir, he went to the rail in front of
Traitors' Gate and leaned on it. And whereupon he struck a match to light a cigarette. Just for a second I saw part of his face. Yussir, I'm positive. I know. I saw 'im just before the other person touched 'im on the arm…. '
`What?' demanded Hadley, with such suddenness that Parker took it for a slur on his veracity.
`Sir, so help me God' The other person that was standing over by the side of Traitors' Gate. And that came out and touched Mr Driscoll on the arm.'
`Did you see this other person, Parker?'
`No sir. It was too dark there; shadowed, sir. I shouldn't even have seen Mr Driscoll if I hadn't been watching him and saw 'im strike the match.'
`Could you tell whether this person was a man or a woman?'
'Er — no, sir. I turned away then. I was not endowed with the opportunity to see no further occurrences.'
`Quite. Do you know at what time this was?' `It were shortly past one-thirty.'
Hadley, brooded, his head in his hands. After a time he looked across at General Mason.
`And the doctor here said, General, that when you discovered the body at two-thirty. Driscoll had been dead at least half an hour — probably three-quarters? Yes. Well, that's that. He was murdered within ten minutes or fifteen minutes after this other person touched his arm at the rail.
The police surgeon will be able to tell us exactly.'
He paused, and looked at Mason's orderly.
`Very well, Parker. That's all, and thank you. You've been most helpful.'
