Jefferson shook his head. “Never. Don’t believe she knew them. Sure she didn’t. She didn’t know anybody but theatrical folk and that sort of thing.” He paused, and then asked abruptly, “What’s Bantry got to say about it?”
“He can’t account for it in the least. He was out at a Conservative meeting last night. The body was discovered this morning. He says he’s never seen the girl in his life.”
Jefferson nodded. He said, “It certainly seems fantastic.”
Superintendent Harper cleared his throat. He said, “Have you any idea at all, sir, who can have done this?”
“Good God, I wish I had!” The veins stood out on his forehead. “It’s incredible, unimaginable! I’d say it couldn’t have happened, if it hadn’t happened!”
“There’s no friend of hers from her past life, no man hanging about or threatening her?”
“I’m sure there isn’t. She’d have told me if so. She’s never had a regular boy friend. She told me so herself.” Superintendent Harper thought. Yes, I dare say that’s what she told you. But that’s as may be. Conway Jefferson went on, “Josie would know better than anyone if there had been some man hanging about Ruby or pestering her. Can’t she help?”
“She says not.”
Jefferson said, frowning, “I can’t help feeling it must be the work of some maniac — the brutality of the method, breaking into a country house, the whole thing so unconnected and senseless. There are men of that type, men outwardly sane, but who decoy girls, sometimes children away and kill them.”
Harper said, “Oh, yes, there are such cases, but we’ve no knowledge of anyone of that kind operating in this neighbourhood.”
Jefferson went on, “I’ve thought over all the various men I’ve seen with Ruby. Guests here and outsiders — men she’d danced with. They all seem harmless enough, the usual type. She had no special friend of any kind.”
Superintendent Harper’s face remained quite impassive, but unseen by Conway Jefferson, there was still a speculative glint in his eye. It was quite possible, he thought, that Ruby Keene might have had a special friend, even though Conway Jefferson did not know about it. He said nothing, however.
The chief constable gave him a glance of inquiry and then rose to his feet. He said, “Thank you, Mr. Jefferson. That’s all we need for the present.”
Jefferson said, “You’ll keep me informed of your progress?”
“Yes, yes, we’ll keep in touch with you.”
The two men went out. Conway Jefferson leaned back in his chair. His eyelids came down and veiled the fierce blue of his eyes. He looked, suddenly, a very tired man. Then, after a minute or two, the lids flickered. He called, “Edwards?”
From the next room the valet appeared promptly. Edwards knew his master as no one else did. Others, even his nearest, knew only his strength; Edwards knew his weakness. He had seen Conway Jefferson tired, discouraged, weary of life, momentarily defeated by infirmity and loneliness. “Yes, sir?”
Jefferson said, “Get on to Sir Henry Clithering. He’s at Melborne Abbas. Ask him, from me, to get here today if he can, instead of tomorrow. Tell him it’s very urgent.”
When they were outside Jefferson’s door. Superintendent Harper said, “Well, for what it’s worth, we’ve got a motive, sir.”
“Hm,” said Melchett. “Fifty thousand pounds, eh?”
“Yes, sir. Murder’s been done for a good deal less than that.”
“Yes, but-”
Colonel Melchett left the sentence unfinished. Harper, however, understood him. “You don’t think it’s likely in this case? Well, I don’t either, as far as that goes. But it’s got to be gone into, all the same.”
“Oh, of course.”
Harper went on, “If, as Mr. Jefferson says, Mr. Gaskell and Mrs. Jefferson are already well provided for and in receipt of a comfortable income, well, it’s not likely they’d set out to do a brutal murder.”
“Quite so. Their financial standing will have to be investigated, of course. Can’t say I like the appearance of Gaskell much, looks a sharp, unscrupulous sort of fellow, but that’s a long way from making him out a murderer.”
“Oh, yes, sir, as I say, I don’t think it’s likely to be either of them, and from what Josie said I don’t see how it would have been humanly possible. They were both playing bridge from twenty minutes to eleven until midnight. No, to my mind, there’s another possibility much more likely.”