have any effect… A few drinks, will get, me tight, usually.;
`I had, during that time, about twenty minutes to think and think hard. I'd thought it must be hours since I'd seen Phil lying there. But when I looked at my watch I couldn't understand; it was only eight minutes past two. And all the time my brain was going like a machine shop I was talking to the General — I don't know what we talked about. It began to dawn on me that I had one chance. And that if I worked that chance I might have a real alibi… ’
`You see? If I could get inside the Tower grounds, and dump the body somewhere without detection, no sane person would ever believe I had ridden from town beside General Mason with a corpse in the rear of the car. They would believe, it suddenly dawned on me, that Driscoll had never left the Tower….’
`I had to nerve myself for one last effort. I told the General about the 'fake' telephone call that had lured me away; and I wondered what it was all about… ’
`Then we were inside the Tower grounds as two-thirty struck. I had calculated it neatly, and I knew the place. If there were nobody else about as we went along Water Lane I knew what I should do. You were quite right, Doctor, in saying that anybody would think of Traitors' Gate as the place to hide a corpse on a foggy day. And this was the place, because I could stop there without suspicion.
`You see?' Dalrye demanded, leaning forward eagerly. `I had to let the General out opposite the, gate to the Bloody Tower. I waited until he was well up under the archway on his way to the King's House, and then I acted. I opened the rear door, tossed the body over the rail, and was back in the car in a second, driving on….
`But, my God! I cut it fine! The General, on his way up, remembered an errand or something in St Thomas's Tower, and he discovered the body. That — that's about all, sir. There's — there's only one other thing. With this terrible thing over me, I'd forgotten about the money Phil had the money I owed to…. Well, I'd forgotten it, anyway. When the General sent me after the doctor, and the rest of it, I had to go up to my room to get something to steady my nerves. The reaction was too much. There was a letter on my table. I don't remember opening it; I don't even know why I opened it. I found myself standing with a brandy and soda in my hand, and the letter in front of my face. The letter said,' suddenly Dalrye gagged, as though he were swallowing medicine, `the letter said, 'Don't worry any more about it. It's paid. Don't mention this to my brother, and don't be such a quixotic young fool again.' It was signed Lester Bitton.'
Dalrye got up out of his chair and faced them. He was flushed and his eyes burned brightly.
`I'm drunk' he said, wonderingly. 'I'm drunk. I hadn't noticed it, not till this; minute. Lester Bitton got rid of what I owed, and never said a word. And when you accused him to-right — and he shot himself — you see why I had to tell you….'
He stood straight, a little wrinkle between his brows.
`I told you I was a swine, he went on in an even voice, `but I'm not so bad as that. I know what it means. It means the rope. They, won't believe me, of course, after what I did to cover myself; and I can't blame them. They shoot you out of a door, and it's all over in a few seconds…. I can't think how I came to be so drunk. I don't drink much, as a rule…. What was I saying? Oh yes. If you hadn't blamed it on Major Bitton, if you gave out that you hadn't been able to find out who the murderer was, I'd have kept quiet. Why not? I love Sheila. Some day I might have… Never mind. I'm not going to let you think I'm pitying myself. It's only that I appreciate people who are kind to me. I never had much kindness. People all thought I was too much of a joke. But, by God old joke parson-face had the police guessing, didn't he?' Momentarily there was a blaze in his face. `Old — joke — parson-face!' said Robert Dalrye…. The fire was sinking now. Dalrye, his hand clenched, stared across the dusky room. He had spoken for a long time. There was a faint hint of dawn in the windows towards the garden.
Hadley rose quietly from his chair.
`Young man,' he said, 'I have an order for you. Go out into one of the other rooms and sit down. I'll call you back in a moment. I want to speak to my friends. There is one other thing. On no account speak a word to anybody until you are called back.'
`Oh, well,' said Dalrye. `Oh, well. Go ahead and phone for your Black Maria, or whatever you use. I'll wait.:.. By the way, there was something I didn't tell you. I'm afraid I nearly scared that poor devil Arbor into a fit. I didn't mean to. I was in the Warders' Hall on the other side of the Byward Tower, where the visitors were detained when he was coming out from your conference. And I was talking to your sergeant, only about ten feet away from Arbor. He hadn't recognized my voice before, but I was afraid he did then. It nearly killed him…. I say! I feel as though I had no legs. I hope I'm not staggering. That would be the devil of a way to go to gaol. Excuse me….'
With his shoulders back, he moved with careful steps towards the door.
`Well?' asked Dr Fell, when he had gone.
Hadley stood before the dying fire, a stiff military figure against the white-marble mantelpiece, and in his hand were the notes he had taken of Dalrye's recital. Hadley hesitated. There were lines drawn slantwise under his eyes; he shut his eyes now.
'I told you,' he said, quietly, 'I was getting old. I am sworn to uphold the law. But I don't know. I don't know. The older I get, the more I don't know. Ten-years, ago I should have said, 'Too bad, and… You know what I'm thinking, Fell. No jury would ever believe that boy's testimony: But I do.'
`And without speaking of Lester Bitton,' said the doctor, `the case can remain unsolved. Good man, Hadley! You know what I think. If this is a tribunal, will you put it up to a vote?'
`Lord help me,' said Hadley, `I will. Well, Fell?' He assumed a stern air, but a curious, wise, ancient smile crept about his mouth. `Dr Fell, your vote?''Unsolved,' he said.`Mr Rampole?'
'Unsolved,'' said Rampole instantly.
The dying firelight lit Hadley's face as he half turned.; He upturned his hand; the white note-sheets fluttered from it and drifted down into the blaze. They caught fire and leaped in a puff. Hadley's hand remained motionless, the ancient, wise smile still on his face.
'Unsolved,' ' he said.
