'The point is that the man's name was Humbleby — Doctor Humbleby. My old lady said Doctor Humbleby would be the next, and she was distressed because he was 'such a good man.''
'Well?' said Jimmy.
'Well, look at this.' Luke passed over the paper, his finger pressed against an entry in the column of deaths.
Humbleby — On June 12, suddenly, at his residence Sandgate, Wychwood under Ashe, John Ward Humbleby, M.D., beloved husband of Jessie Rose Humbleby. Funeral Friday. No flowers, by request.
'You see. Jimmy? That's the name and the place, and he's a doctor. What do you make of it?'
Jimmy took a moment or two to answer.
His voice was serious when he said, at last, rather uncertainly, 'I suppose it's just a damned odd coincidence.'
Luke wheeled round suddenly. 'Suppose that every word that dear bleating old sheep said was true! Suppose that that fantastic story was just the plain literal truth!'
'Oh, come now, old boy! That would be a bit thick. Things like that don't happen.'
'How do you know? They may happen a good deal oftener than you suppose.'
'There speaks the police wallah! Can't you forget you're a policeman, now that you've retired into private life?'
'Once a policeman, always a policeman, I suppose,' said Luke. 'Now look here, Jimmy. The case stands like this. I was told a story — an improbable but not an impossible story. One piece of evidence — the death of Doctor Humbleby — supports that story. And there's one other significant fact. Miss Fullerton was going to Scotland Yard with this improbable story of hers. But she didn't get there. She was run over and killed by a car that didn't stop.'
Jimmy objected, 'You don't know that she didn't get there. She might have been killed after her visit, not before.'
'She might have been, yes; but I don't think she was.'
'That's pure supposition. It boils down to this: You believe in this — this melodrama.'
Luke shook his head sharply. 'No. I don't say that. All I say is, there's a case for investigation.'
'In other words, you are going to Scotland Yard?'
'No, it hasn't come to that yet — not nearly. As you say, this man Humbleby's death may be merely a coincidence.'
'Then what, may I ask, is the idea?'
'The idea is to go down to this place and look into the matter.'
'So that's the idea, is it?'
'Don't you agree that that is the only sensible way to set about it?'
Jimmy stared at him, then he said, 'Are you serious about this business, Luke?'
'Absolutely.'
'Suppose the whole thing's a mare's nest?'
'That would be the best thing that could happen.'
'Yes, of course.' Jimmy frowned. 'But you don't think it is, do you?'
'My dear fellow, I'm keeping an open mind.'
Jimmy was silent for a minute or two.
Then he said, 'Got any plan? I mean, you'll have to have some reason for suddenly arriving in this place.'
'Yes, I suppose I shall.'
'No 'suppose' about it. Do you realize what a small English country town is like? Anyone new sticks out a mile!'
'I shall have to adopt a disguise,' said Luke, with a sudden grin. 'What do you suggest? Artist? Hardly; I can't draw, let alone paint.'
Jimmy said, 'Wait a sec. Give me that paper again.' Taking it, he gave it a cursory glance and announced triumphantly, 'I thought so! Luke, old boy, to put it in a nutshell, I'll fix you O.K. Everything's as easy as winking.'
Luke wheeled round. 'What?'
Jimmy was continuing with modest pride, 'I thought something struck a chord! Wychwood under Ashe. Of course! The very place!'
'Have you, by any chance, a pal who knows the coroner there?'
'Not this time. Better than that, my boy. Nature, as you know, has endowed me plentifully with aunts and cousins; my father having been one of a family of thirteen. Now listen to this: I have a cousin in Wychwood under Ashe.'
'Jimmy, you're a blinking marvel.'
'It is pretty good, isn't it?' said Jimmy modestly.
'Tell me about him.'
'It's a her. Her name's Bridget Conway. For the last two years she's been secretary to Lord Easterfield.'
'The man who owns those nasty little weekly papers?'
'That's right. Rather a nasty little man too. Pompous! He was born in Wychwood under Ashe, and being the kind of snob who rams his birth and breeding down your throat and glories in being self-made, he has returned to his home village, bought up the only big house in the neighborhood — it belonged to Bridget's family originally, by the way — and is busy making the place into a model estate.'
'And your cousin is his secretary?'
'She was,' said Jimmy darkly. 'Now she's gone one better! She's engaged to him!'
'Oh,' said Luke, rather taken aback.
'He's a catch, of course,' said Jimmy. 'Rolling in money. Bridget took rather a toss over some fellow. It pretty well knocked the romance out of her. I dare say this will pan out very well. She'll probably be kind but firm with him and he'll eat out of her hand.'
'And where do I come in?'
Jimmy replied promptly, 'You go down there to stay. You'd better be another cousin. Bridget's got so many that one more or less won't matter. I'll fix that up with her all right. She and I have always been pals. Now, for your reason for going there — witchcraft, my boy.'
'Witchcraft?'
'Folklore, local superstitions — all that sort of thing. Wychwood under Ashe has got rather a reputation that way. One of the last places where they had a witches' Sabbath; witches were still burnt there in the last century, all sorts of traditions. You're writing a book, see? Correlating the customs of the Mayang Straits and old English folklore — points of resemblance, and so on. You know the sort of stuff. Go round with a notebook and interview the oldest inhabitant about local superstitions and customs. They're quite used to that sort of thing down there, and if you're staying at Ashe Manor, it vouches for you.'
'What about Lord Easterfield?'
'He'll be all right. He's quite uneducated and completely credulous — actually believes things he reads in his own papers. Anyway, Bridget will fix him. Bridget's all right. I'll answer for her.'
Luke drew a deep breath. 'Jimmy, old scout, it looks as though the thing was going to be easy. You're a wonder. If you can really fix me up with your cousin –'
'That will be absolutely O.K. Leave it to me.'
'I'm no end grateful to you.'
Jimmy said, 'All I ask is, if you're hunting down a homicidal murderer, let me be in at the death.' He added sharply, 'What is it?'
Luke said slowly, 'Just something I remembered my old lady saying to me. I'd said to her that it was a bit thick to do a lot of murders and get away with it, and she answered that I was wrong — that it was very easy to kill.' He stopped, and then said slowly, 'I wonder if that's true. Jimmy? I wonder if it is –'
'What?'
'— easy to kill.'
