‘Thank you, Miss Believer. Who else went into that room before we arrived?’ ‘Mr Serrocold, of course. He remained there when I came to meet you. And Mrs Serrocold and Miss Marple went there. Mrs Serrocold insisted.’ ‘Mrs Serrocold and Miss Marple,’ said Inspector Curry. ‘Which is Miss Marple?’ ‘The old lady with white hair. She was a school friend of Mrs Serrocold’s. She came on a visit about four days ago.’ ‘Well, thank you, Miss Believer. All that you have told us is quite clear. I’ll go into things with Mr Serrocold now. Ah, but perhaps – Miss Marple’s an old lady, isn’t she? I’ll just have a word with her first and then she can go off to bed. Rather cruel to keep an old lady like that up,’ said Inspector Curry virtuously. ‘This must have been a shock to her.’ ‘I’ll tell her, shall I?’ ‘If you please.’ Miss Believer went out. Inspector Curry looked at the ceiling.
‘Gulbrandsen?’ he said. ‘Why Gulbrandsen? Two hundred odd maladjusted youngsters on the premises.
No reason any of them shouldn’t have done it. Probably one of them did. But why Gulbrandsen? The stranger within the gates.’ Sergeant Lake said: ‘Of course we don’t know everything yet.’ Inspector Curry said: ‘So far, we don’t know anything at all.’ He jumped up and was gallant when Miss Marple came in. She seemed a little flustered and he hurried to put her at her ease.
‘Now don’t upset yourself, m’am.’ The old ones like M’am, he thought. To them, police officers were definitely of the lower classes and should show respect to their betters. ‘This is all very distressing, I know. But we’ve just got to get the facts clear. Get it all clear.’ ‘Oh yes, I know,’ said Miss Marple. ‘So difficult, isn’t it? To be clear about anything, I mean. Because if you’re looking at one thing, you can’t be looking at another. And one so often looks at the wrong thing, though whether because one happens to do so or because you’re meant to, it’s very hard to say. Misdirection, the conjurers call it. So clever, aren’t they? And I never have known how they manage with a bowl of goldfish – because really that cannot fold up small, can it?’ Inspector Curry blinked a little and said soothingly: ‘Quite so. Now, m’am, I’ve had an account of this evening’s events from Miss Believer. A most anxious time for all of you, I’m sure.’ ‘Yes, indeed. It was all so dramatic, you know.’ ‘First this to-do between Mr Serrocold and’ – he looked down at a note he had made – ‘this Edgar Lawson.’ ‘A very odd young man,’ said Miss Marple. ‘I have felt all along that there was something wrong about him.’ ‘I’m sure you have,’ said Inspector Curry. ‘And then, after that excitement was over, there came Mr Gulbrandsen’s death. I understand that you went with Mrs Serrocold to see the – er – the body.’ ‘Yes, I did. She asked me to come with her. We are very old friends.’ ‘Quite so. And you went along to Mr Gulbrandsen’s room. Did you touch anything while you were in the room, either of you?’
‘Oh no. Mr Serrocold warned us not to.’ ‘Did you happen to notice, ma’m, whether there was a letter or a piece of paper, say, in the typewriter?’ ‘There wasn’t,’ said Miss Marple promptly. ‘I noticed that at once because it seemed to me odd. Mr Gulbrandsen was sitting there at the typewriter so he must have been typing something. Yes, I thought it very odd.’ Inspector Curry looked at her sharply. He said: ‘Did you have much conversation with Mr Gulbrandsen while he was here?’ ‘Very little.’ ‘There is nothing especial – or significant that you can remember?’ Miss Marple considered.
‘He asked me about Mrs Serrocold’s health. In particular, about her heart.’ ‘Her heart? Is there something wrong with her heart?’ ‘Nothing whatever, I understand.’ Inspector Curry was silent for a moment or two, then he said: ‘You heard a shot this evening during the quarrel between Mr Serrocold and Edgar Lawson?’ ‘I didn’t actually hear it myself. I am a little deaf, you know. But Mrs Serrocold mentioned it as being outside in the park.’ ‘Mr Gulbrandsen left the party immediately after dinner, I understand?’ ‘Yes, he said he had letters to write.’ ‘He didn’t show any wish for a business conference with Mr Serrocold?’ ‘No.’ Miss Marple added: ‘You see, they’d already had one little talk.’