fellow.”
Inspector Neele said slowly:
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“It’s actually possible—yes. But I cannot
see—really. Miss Marple, I cannot see—what
he stood to gain by it. Granted that unless old
Fortescue died the business would soon be on
the rocks, is Lance’s share big enough to
cause him to plan three murders? I don’t
think so. I really don’t think so.”
“That is a little difficult,” admitted Miss
Marple. “Yes, I agree with you. That does
present difficulties. I suppose . . .” She
hesitated, looking at the Inspector. “I
suppose—I am so very ignorant in financial
matters—but I suppose it is really true that
the Blackbird Mine is worthless?”
Neele reflected. Various scraps fitted
together in his mind. Lance’s willingness to
take the various speculative or worthless
shares offPercival’s hands. His parting words
to-day in London that Percival had better get
rid of the Blackbird and its hoodoo. A gold
mine. A worthless gold mine. But perhaps
the mine had not been worthless. And yet,
somehow, that seemed unlikely. Old Rex
Fortescue was hardly likely to have made a
mistake on that point, although of course
there might have been soundings recently.
Where was the mine? West Africa, Lance had
said. Yes but somebody else—was it Miss
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Ramsbottom–had said it was in East Africa.
Had Lance been deliberately misleading
when he said West instead of East? Miss
Ramsbottom was old and forgetful, and yet she might have been right and not Lance.
East Africa. Lance had just come from East
Africa. Had he perhaps some recent knowledge?
Suddenly with a click another piece fitted
into the Inspector’s puzzle. Sitting in the
train, reading The Times. Uranium deposits
found in Tanganyika. Supposing that the
uranium deposits were on the site of the old
Blackbird? That would explain everything.
Lance had come to have knowledge of that,
being on the spot, and with uranium deposits
there, there was a fortune to be grasped. An
enormous fortune! He sighed. He looked at
Miss Marple.
“How do you think?” he asked reproachfully, “that I’m ever going to be able to prove
all this?”
Miss Marple nodded at him encouragingly,
as an aunt might have encouraged a bright
nephew who was going in for a scholarship
exam.
“You’ll prove it,” she said. “You’re a very, very clever man, Inspector Neele. I’ve seen
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that from the first. Now you know who it is
you ought to be able to get the evidence. At
that holiday camp, for instance, they’ll recognise
his photograph. He’ll find it hard to
explain why he stayed there for a week calling
himself Albert Evans.”
Yes, Inspector Neele thought. Lance
Fortescue was brilliant and unscrupulous- but he was foolhardy, too. The risks he took
were just a little too great.
Neele thought to himself, “I’ll get him!”
Then, doubt sweeping over him, he looked at
Miss Marple.
“It’s all pure assumption, you know,” he
said.
“Yes–but you are sure, aren’t you?”
“I suppose so. After all, I’ve known his
kind before.”
The old lady nodded.
“Yes–that matters so much–that’s really
why 7’m sure.”
Neele looked at her playfully.
“Because of your knowledge of criminals.”
“Oh no–of course not. Because of Pat–a
dear girl–and the kind that always marries a
bad lot–that’s really what drew my attention
to him at the start—-”
“I may be sure–in my own mind,” said the
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Inspector–“but there’s a lot that needs
explaining–the Ruby MacKenzie business
for instance. I could swear that—-”
Miss Marple interrupted:
“And you’re quite right. But you’ve been
thinking of the wrong person. Go and talk to
Mrs. Percy.”
II
“Mrs. Fortescue,” said Inspector Neele, “do
you mind telling me your name before you
were married.”
“Oh!” Jennifer gasped. She looked
frightened.
“You needn’t be nervous madam,” said
Inspector Neele, “but it’s much better to
come out with the truth. I’m right, I think, in
saying that your name before you were married
was Ruby MacKenzie?”
“My–well, oh well–oh dear–well, why
shouldn’t it be?” said Mrs. Percival
Fortescue.
“No reason at all,” said Inspector Neele
gently, and added, “I was talking to your
mother a few days ago at Pinewood Sanatorium.”
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“She’s very angry with me,” said Jennifer.
“I never go and see her now because it only