suitable that he should remain at the hotel.”
“The Golf Hotel?”
“Yes.”
“Quite,” said Inspector Neele.
Ellen gathered up the sheets and towels and
went out of the room.
Mary Dove looked inquiringly at Neele.
“You wanted to see me about something?”
Neele said pleasantly:
“It’s becoming important to get exact times
very clearly stated. Members of the family all
seem a little vague about time–perhaps
understandably. You, on the other hand, Miss Dove, I have found extremely accurate
in your statements as to times.”
“Again understandably!”
“Yes–perhaps–I must certainly congratu-
166
late you on the way you have kept this house
going in spite of the–well panic–these last
deaths must have caused.” He paused and
then asked curiously: “How did you do
it?”
He had realised, astutely, that the one
chink in the armour of Mary Dove’s inscrutability
was her pleasure in her own efficiency.
She unbent slightly now as she answered.
“The Crumps wanted to leave at once, of
course.”
“We couldn’t have allowed that.”
“I know. But I also told them that Mr.
Percival Fortescue would be more likely to
be–well–generous–to those who had spared
him inconvenience.”
“And Ellen?”
“Ellen does not wish to leave.”
“Ellen does not wish to leave,” Neele
repeated. “She has good nerves.”
“She enjoys disasters,” said Mary Dove.
“Like Mrs. Percival, she finds in disaster a
kind of pleasurable drama.”
“Interesting. Do you think Mrs. Percival
has–enjoyed the tragedies?”
“No–of course not. That is going too far. I
would merely say that it has enabled her
to–well–stand up to them—-”
167
“And how have you yourself been affected,
Miss Dove?”
Mary Dove shrugged her shoulders.
“It has not been a pleasant experience,” she
said dryly.
Inspector Neele felt again a longing to
break down this cool young woman’s defences–to
find out what was really going on
behind the careful and efficient understatement
of her whole attitude.
He merely said brusquely:
“Now–to recapitulate times and places:
the last time you saw Gladys Martin was in
the hall before tea, and that was at twenty
minutes to five?”
“Yes–I told her to bring in tea.”
“You yourself were coming from where?”
“From upstairs–I thought I had heard the
telephone a few minutes before.”
“Gladys, presumably, had answered the
telephone?”
“Yes. It was a wrong number. Someone
who wanted the Baydon Heath Laundry.”
“And that was the last time you saw her?”
“She brought the tea-tray into the library
about ten minutes or so later.”
“After that Miss Elaine Fortescue came
in?”
168
“Yes, about three or four minutes later.
Then I went up to tell Mrs. Percival tea was
ready.”
“Did you usually do that?”
“Oh no—people came in to tea when they
pleased—but Mrs. Fortescue asked where
everybody was. I thought I heard Mrs.
Percival coming—but that was a mistake——”
Neele interrupted. Here was something
new.
“You mean you heard someone upstairs
moving about?”
“Yes—at the head of the stairs, I thought.
But no one came down so I went up. Mrs.
Percival was in her bedroom. She had just
come in. She had been out for a
walk——”
“Out for a walk—1 see. The time being
then——”
“Oh—nearly five o’clock, I think——”
“And Mr. Lancelot Fortescue arrived—
when?”
“A few minutes after I came downstairs
again—I thought he had arrived earlierbut——”
Inspector Neele interrupted:
“Why did you think he had arrived
earlier?”
169
“Because I thought I had caught sight of
him through the landing window.”
“In the garden, you mean?”
“Yes—I caught a glimpse of someone
through the yew hedge—and I thought it
would probably be him.”
“This was when you were coming down
after telling Mrs. Percival Fortescue tea was
ready?”
Mary corrected him.
“No—not then—it was earlier—when I
came down the first time.”
Inspector Neele stared.
“Are you sure about that. Miss Dove?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly sure. That’s why I was
surprised to see him—when he actually did
ring the bell.”
Inspector Neele shook his head. He kept
his inner excitement out of his voice as he
said:
“It couldn’t have been Lancelot Fortescue
you saw in the garden. His train—which was
due at 4.28, was nine minutes late. He arrived
at Bay don Heath Station at 4.37. He had to