definitely wouldn't talk.'
'That's where I can help,' said Ginger confidently. 'She'd tell me things she wouldn't tell you. Can you arrange for us to meet? Your friend and her and you and me? A show, or dinner or something?' Then she looked doubtful. 'Or is that too expensive?'
I assured her that I could support the expense.
'As for you -' Ginger thought a minute. 'I believe,' she said slowly, 'that your best bet would be the Thomasina Tuckerton angle.'
'But how? She's dead.'
'And somebody wanted her dead, if your ideas are correct! And arranged it with the Pale Horse. There seem two possibilities. The stepmother, or else the girl she had the fight with at Luigi's, and whose young man she had pinched. She was going to marry him, perhaps. That wouldn't suit the stepmother's book – or the girl's, if she was crazy enough about the young man. Either of them might have gone to the Pale Horse. We might get a lead there. What was the girl's name, or don't you know?'
'I think it was Lou.'
'Ash blonde dank hair, medium height, rather bosomy?'
I agreed with the description.
'I think I've met her about. Lou Ellis. She's got a bit of money herself.'
'She didn't look like it.'
'They don't – but she has, all right. Anyway, she could afford to pay the Pale Horse's fees. They don't do it for nothing, I suppose.'
'One would hardly imagine so.'
'You'll have to tackle the stepmother. It's more up your street than mine. Go and see her -'
'I don't know where she lives or anything.'
'Luigi knows something about Tommy's home. He'll know what county she lived in, I should imagine. A few books of reference ought to do the rest. But what idiots we are! We saw the notice in The Times of her death. You've only got to go and look in their files.'
'I'll have to have a pretext for tackling the stepmother,' I said thoughtfully.
Ginger said that that would be easy.
'You're someone, you see,' she pointed out. 'A historian, and you lecture and you've got letters after your name. Mrs Tuckerton will be impressed, and probably tickled to death to see you.'
'And the pretext?'
'Some feature of interest about her house?' suggested Ginger vaguely. 'Sure to have something if it's an old one.'
'Nothing to do with my period,' I objected.
'She won't know that,' said Ginger. 'People always think that anything over a hundred years old must interest a historian or an archeologist. Or how about a picture? There must be some old pictures of some kind. Anyway, you make an appointment and you arrive and you butter her up and be charming, and then you say you once met her daughter – her stepdaughter – and say how sad, etc… And then, bring in, quite suddenly, a reference to the Pale Horse. Be a little sinister if you like.'
'And then?'
'And then you observe the reaction. If you mention the Pale Horse out of the blue, and she has a guilty conscience, I defy anyone not to show some sign.'
'And if she does – what next?'
'The important thing is, that we'll know we're on the right track. Once we're sure, we can go full steam ahead.'
She added thoughtfully:
'There's something else. Why do you think the Grey woman told you all she did tell you? Why was she so forthcoming?'
'The common-sense answer is because she's potty.'
'I don't mean that. I mean – why you? You in particular? I just wondered if there might be some kind of tie up?'
'Tie up with what?'
'Wait just a moment – while I get my ideas in order.'
I waited. Ginger nodded twice emphatically and then spoke.
'Supposing – just supposing – it went like this. The Poppy girl knows all about the Pale Horse in a vague kind of way – not through personal knowledge, but by hearing it talked about. She sounds the sort of girl that wouldn't be noticed much by anyone when they were talking – but she'd quite likely take in a lot more than they thought she did. Rather silly people are often like that. Say she was overheard talking to you about it that night, and someone ticks her off. Next day you come and ask her questions, and she's been scared, so she won't talk. But the fact that you've come and asked her also gets around. Now what would be the reason for your asking questions? You're not police. The likely reason would be that you're a possible client.'
'But surely -'
'It's logical, I tell you. You've heard rumours of this thing – you want to find out about it – for your own purposes. Presently you appear at the fete in Much Deeping. You are brought to the Pale Horse – presumably because you've asked to be taken there – and what happens? Thyrza Grey goes straight into her sales talk.'
'I suppose it's a possibility.' I considered… 'Do you think she can do what she claims to do, Ginger?'
'Personally I'd be inclined to say of course she can't! But odd things can happen. Especially with things like hypnotism. Telling someone to go and take a bite out of a candle the next afternoon at four o'clock, and they do it without having any idea why. That sort of thing. And electric boxes where you put in a drop of blood and it tells you if you're going to have cancer in two years' time. It all sounds rather bogus – but perhaps not entirely bogus. About Thyrza – I don't think it's true – but I'm terribly afraid it might be!'
'Yes,' I said somberly, 'that explains it very well.'
'I might put in a bit of work on Lou,' said Ginger thoughtfully. 'I know lots of places where I can run across her. Luigi might know a few things too.
'But the first thing,' she added, 'is to get in touch with Poppy.'
The latter was arranged fairly easily. David was free three nights ahead, we settled on a musical show, and he arrived with Poppy in tow. We went to the Fantasie for supper and I noticed that Ginger and Poppy after a prolonged retirement to powder their noses, reappeared on excellent terms with each other. No controversial subjects were raised during the party on Ginger's instructions. We finally parted and I drove Ginger home.
'Not much to report,' said she cheerfully. 'I've been on to Lou. The man they quarrelled about was Gene Pleydon, by the way. A nasty bit of goods, if you ask me. Very much on the make. The girls all adore him. He was making quite a play for Lou and then Tommy came along. Lou says he didn't care for her a bit, he was after her money – but she'd probably want to think that. Anyway, he dropped Lou like a hot coal and she was naturally sore about it. According to her, it wasn't much of a row – just a few girlish high spirits.'
'Girlish high spirits! She tugged Tommy's hair out by the roots.'
'I'm just telling you what Lou told me.'
'She seems to have been very forthcoming.'
'Oh, they all like talking about their affairs. They'll talk to anyone who will listen. Anyway, Lou has got another boyfriend now – another dud, I'd say, but she's already crazy about him. So it doesn't look to me as though she'd been a client of the Pale Horse. I brought the term up, but it didn't register. I think we can wash her out. Luigi doesn't think there was much in it, either. On the other hand, he thinks Tommy was serious about Gene. And Gene was going for her in a big way. What have you done about the stepmother?'
'She was abroad. She comes back tomorrow. I've written her a letter – or rather I got my secretary to write it, asking for an appointment.'
'Good. We're getting things moving. I hope everything doesn't peter out.'
'If it gets us anywhere!'
'Something will,' said Ginger enthusiastically. 'That reminds me. To go back to the beginning of all this, the theory is that Father Gorman was killed after being called out to a dying woman, and that he was murdered because of something she told him or confessed to him. What happened to that woman? Did she die? And who was
