'How do you mean, 'as things were'?'
'What with Jim and the gentleman at the curio shop.'
Luke nodded thoughtfully. Mrs. Church went on, 'Miss Waynflete is a very nice lady, but very particular about brass and silver and everything being dusted and the mattresses turned. Amy wouldn't have put up with the fussing if she hadn't been enjoying herself in other ways.'
'I can imagine that,' said Luke dryly. He turned things over in his mind. He could see no further questions to ask. He was fairly certain that he had extracted all that Mrs. Church knew. He decided on one last tentative attack: 'I dare say you can guess the reason for all these questions. The circumstances of Amy's death were rather mysterious. We're not entirely satisfied as to its being an accident. If not, you realize what it must have been.'
Mrs. Church said, with a certain ghoulish relief, 'Foul play!'
'Quite so. Now, supposing your niece did meet with foul play, who do you think is likely to be responsible for her death?'
Mrs. Church wiped her hands on her apron. 'There'd be a reward, as likely as not, for setting the police on the right track?' she inquired meaningly.
'There might be,' said Luke.
'I wouldn't like to say anything definite –' Mrs. Church passed a hungry tongue over her thin lips — 'but the gentleman at the curio shop is a queer one. You'll remember the Castor case, sir, and that poor girl. And there've been five or six other poor girls served the same way later. Maybe this Mr. Ellsworthy is one of that kind?'
'That's your suggestion, is it?'
'Well, it might be that way, sir, mightn't it?'
Luke admitted that it might. Then he said, 'Was Ellsworthy away from here on the afternoon of Derby Day? That's a very important point.'
Mrs. Church stared. ' Derby Day?'
'Yes, a fortnight ago last Wednesday.'
She shook her head. 'Really, I couldn't say as to that. He usually was away on Wednesdays; went up to town as often as not. It's early closing Wednesday, you see.'
'Oh,' said Luke, 'early closing.'
He took his leave of Mrs. Church, disregarding her insinuations that her time had been valuable and that she was therefore entitled to monetary compensation. He found himself disliking Mrs. Church intensely. Nevertheless, the conversation he had had with her, though not strikingly illuminative in any way, had provided several suggestive small points.
Chapter 15
He went over things carefully in his mind. Yes, it still boiled down to those four people — Thomas, Abbot, Horton and Ellsworthy. The attitude of Miss Waynflete seemed, to him, to prove that. Her distress and reluctance to mention a name. Surely that meant — that must mean — that the person in question was someone of standing in Wychwood, someone whom a chance insinuation might definitely injure. It tallied, too, with Miss Fullerton's determination to take her suspicions to headquarters. The local police would ridicule her theory. It was not a case of the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. It was not a case of a mere garage mechanic. The person in question was one against whom an accusation of murder was a fantastic and, moreover, a serious matter. There were four possible candidates. It was up to him to go carefully once more into the case against each one and make up his own mind.
First to examine the reluctance of Miss Waynflete. She was a conscientious and scrupulous person. She believed that she knew the man whom Miss Fullerton had suspected, but it was, as she had pointed out, only a belief on her part. It was possible that she was mistaken. Who was the person in Miss Waynflete's mind? Miss Waynflete was distressed lest an accusation by her might injure an innocent man. Therefore, the object of her suspicions must be a man of high standing, generally liked and respected by the community. Therefore, Luke argued, that automatically barred out Ellsworthy. He was practically a stranger to Wychwood; his local reputation was bad, not good. Luke did not believe that, if Ellsworthy was the person in Miss Waynflete's mind, she would have had any objection to mentioning him. Therefore, as far as Miss Waynflete was concerned, wash out Ellsworthy.
Now, as to the others. Luke believed that he could also eliminate Major Horton. Miss Waynflete had rebutted with some warmth the suggestion that Horton might have poisoned his wife. If she had suspected him of later crimes, she would hardly have been so positive about his innocence of the death of Mrs. Horton.
That left Doctor Thomas and Mr. Abbot. Both of them fulfilled the necessary requirements. They were men of high professional standing, against whom no word of scandal had ever been uttered. They were, on the whole, both popular and well liked, and were known as men of integrity and rectitude.
Luke proceeded to another aspect of the matter. Could he, himself, eliminate Ellsworthy and Horton? Immediately he shook his head. It was not so simple. Miss Fullerton had known — really known — who the man was. That was proved, in the first case, by her own death, and, in the second case, by the death of Doctor Humbleby. But Miss Fullerton had never actually mentioned a name to Honoria Waynflete. Therefore, though Miss Waynflete thought she knew, she might quite easily be wrong. We often know what other people are thinking but sometimes we find out that we did not know, after all, and have, in fact, made an egregious mistake.
Therefore, the four candidates were still in the field. Miss Fullerton was dead and could give no further assistance. It was up to Luke to do what he had done before, on the day after he came to Wychwood — weigh up the evidence and consider the probabilities.
He began with Ellsworthy. On the face of it, Ellsworthy was the likeliest starter.
'Let's take it this way,' said Luke to himself. 'Suspect everyone in turn. Ellsworthy, for instance. Let's say he's the killer. For the moment, let's take it quite definitely that I know that. Now we'll take the possible victims in chronological order. First, Mrs. Horton. Difficult to see what motive Ellsworthy could have had for doing away with Mrs. Horton. But there was a means. Horton spoke of some quack nostrum that she got from him and took. Some poison like arsenic could have been given that way. The question is: Why?
'Now the others. Amy Gibbs. Why did Ellsworthy kill Amy Gibbs? The obvious reason — she was being a nuisance. Threatened an action for breach of promise, perhaps? Or had she assisted at a midnight orgy? Did she threaten to talk? Lord Easterfield has a good deal of influence in Wychwood, and Lord Easterfield, according to Bridget, is a very moral man. He might have taken up the matter against Ellsworthy if the latter had been up to anything particularly objectionable. So, exit Amy. Not, I think, a sadistic murder. The method employed is against that.
'Who's next? Carter? Why Carter? Unlikely he would know about midnight orgies — or did Amy tell him? Was the pretty daughter mixed up in it? Did Ellsworthy start making love to her? Must have a look at Lucy Carter. Perhaps he was just abusive to Ellsworthy, and Ellsworthy resented it. If he'd already committed one or two murders, he would be getting sufficiently callous to contemplate a killing for a very slight reason.
'Now Tommy Pierce. Why did Ellsworthy kill Tommy Pierce? Easy. Tommy had assisted at a midnight ritual of some kind. Tommy threatened to talk about it. Perhaps Tommy was talking about it. Shut Tommy's mouth.
'Doctor Humbleby. Why did Ellsworthy kill Doctor Humbleby? That's the easiest of the lot. Humbleby was a doctor, and he'd noticed that Ellsworthy's mental balance was none too good. Probably was getting ready to do something about it. So Humbleby was doomed. There's a stumbling block there in the method. How did Ellsworthy insure that Humbleby should die of blood poisoning? Or did Humbleby die of something else? Was the poisoned finger a coincidence?
'Last of all, Miss Fullerton. Wednesday's early closing. Ellsworthy might have gone up to town that day. Has he a car, I wonder? Never seen him in one, but that proves nothing. He knew she'd suspected him, and he was going to take no chances of Scotland Yard believing her story. Perhaps they already knew something about him then?
'That's the case against Ellsworthy! Now, what is there for him? Well, for one thing, he's certainly not the man Miss Waynflete thought Miss Fullerton meant. For another, he doesn't fit — quite — with my own vague
