Hastily downing the last fragments of toast and marmalade with a drink of coffee Colonel Bantry hurried out into the hall and was relieved to see Colonel Melchett, the chief constable of the county, descending from a car, with Inspector Slack in attendance. Melchett was a friend of the colonel’s; Slack he had never very much taken to. An energetic man who belied his name and who accompanied his bustling manner with a good deal of disregard for the feelings of anyone he did not consider important.
“Morning, Bantry,” said the chief constable. “Thought I’d better come along myself. This seems an extraordinary business.”
“It’s — it’s-” Colonel Bantry struggled to express himself “it’s incredible fantastic!”
“No idea who the woman is?”
“Not in the slightest. Never set eyes on her in my life.”
“Butler know anything?” asked Inspector Slack.
“Lorrimer is just as taken aback as I am.”
“Ah,” said Inspector Slack. “I wonder.”
Colonel Bantry said, “There’s breakfast in the dining room, Melchett, if you’d like anything.”
“No, no, better get on with the job. Haydock ought to be here any minute now…. Ah, here he is.” Another car drew up and big, broad-shouldered Doctor Haydock, who was also the police surgeon, got out. A second police car had disgorged two plain-clothes men, one with a camera.
“All set, eh?” said the chief constable. “Right. We’ll go along. In the library Slack tells me.”
Colonel Bantry groaned. “It’s incredible! You know, when my wife insisted this morning that the housemaid had come in and said there was a body in the library, I just wouldn’t believe her.”
“No, no, I can quite understand that. Hope your missus isn’t too badly upset by it all.”
“She’s been wonderful, really wonderful. She’s got old Miss Marple up here with her from the village, you know.”
“Miss Marple?” The chief constable stiffened. “Why did she send for her?”
“Oh, a woman wants another woman don’t you think so?”
Colonel Melchett said with a slight chuckle, “If you ask me, your wife’s going to try her hand at a little amateur detecting. Miss Marple’s quite the local sleuth. Put it over us properly once, didn’t she Slack?”
Inspector Slack said, “That was different.”
“Different from what?”
“That was a local case, that was, sir. The old lady knows everything that goes on in the village, that’s true enough. But she’ll be out of her depth here.”
Melchett said dryly, “You don’t know very much about it yourself yet, Slack.”
“Ah, you wait, sir. It won’t take me long to get down to it.”
In the dining room Mrs. Bantry and Miss Marple, in their turn, were partaking of breakfast. After waiting on her guest, Mrs. Bantry said urgently, “Well, Jane?” Miss Marple looked up at her slightly bewildered. Mrs. Bantry said hopefully, “Doesn’t it remind you of anything?”
For Miss Marple had attained fame by her ability to link up trivial village happenings with graver problems in such a way as to throw light upon the latter.
“No,” said Miss Marple thoughtfully. “I can’t say that it does not at the moment. I was reminded a little of Mrs. Chetty’s youngest Edie, you know but I think that was just because this poor girl bit her nails and her front teeth stuck out a little. Nothing more than that. And of course,” went on Miss Marple, pursuing the parallel further, “Edie was fond of what I call cheap finery too.”
“You mean her dress?” said Mrs. Bantry. “Yes, very tawdry satin, poor quality.”
Mrs. Bantry said, “I know. One of those nasty little shops where everything is a guinea.” She went on hopefully, “Let me see. What happened to Mrs. Chetty’s Edie?”
“She’s just gone into her second place, and doing very well, I believe,” said Miss Marple. Mrs. Bantry felt slightly disappointed. The village parallel didn’t seem to be exactly hopeful.
“What I can’t make out,” said Mrs. Bantry, “is what she could possibly be doing in Arthur’s study. The window was forced, Palk tells me. She might have come down here with a burglar, and then they quarreled. But that seems such nonsense, doesn’t it?”
“She was hardly dressed for burglary,” said Miss Marple thoughtfully.