Frankie rose.
‘Well,’ she said. ‘It’s been very nice to hear all this.’ She slipped a note out of her purse. ‘You must let me leave you a er – little present. I’ve taken up so much of your time.’ ‘Well, thank you kindly, I’m sure, ma’am. Good day to you and your good gentleman.’ Frankie blushed and retreated rather rapidly. Bobby followed her after a few minutes. He looked preoccupied.
‘Well,’ he said. ‘We seem to have got at all she knows.’ ‘Yes,’ said Frankie. ‘And it hangs together. There seems no doubt that Savage did make that will, and I suppose his fear of cancer was genuine enough. They couldn’t very well bribe a Harley Street doctor. I suppose they just took advantage of his having made that will to do away with him quickly before he changed his mind. But how we or anyone else can prove they did make away with him I can’t see.’ ‘I know. We may suspect that Mrs T gave him “something to make him sleep”, but we can’t prove it. Bassingtonffrench may have forged the letter to the coroner, but that again we can’t prove by now. I expect the letter is destroyed long ago after being put in as evidence at the inquest.’ ‘So we come back to the old problem – what on earth are Bassington-ffrench and Co. so afraid of our discovering?’ ‘Nothing strikes you as odd particularly?’ ‘No, I don’t think so – at least only one thing. Why did Mrs Templeton send out for the gardener to come and witness the will when the house-parlourmaid was in the house. Why didn’t they ask the parlourmaid?’ ‘It’s odd your saying that, Frankie,’ said Bobby.
His voice sounded so queer that Frankie looked at him in surprise.
‘Why?’ ‘Because I stayed behind to ask Mrs Pratt for Gladys’s name and address.’ ‘Well?’ ‘The parlourmaid’s name was Evans!’
CHAPTER 32 Evans
Frankie gasped.
Bobby’s voice rose excitedly.
‘You see, you’ve asked the same question that Carstairs asked. Why didn’t they ask the parlourmaid? Why didn’t they ask Evans?’ ‘Ohi Bobby, we’re getting there at last” ‘The same thing must have struck Carstairs. He was nosing round, just as we were, looking for something fishy – and this point struck him just as it struck us. And, moreover, I believe he came to Wales for that reason. Gladys Evans is a Welsh name – Evans was probably a Welsh girl. He was following her to Marchbolt. And someone was following him – and so, he never got to her.’ ‘Why didn’t they ask Evans?’ said Frankie. ‘There must be a reason. It’s such a silly little point – and yet it’s important. With a couple of maids in the house, why send out for a gardener?’ ‘Perhaps because both Chudleigh and Albert Mere were chumps, whereas Evans was rather a sharp girl.’ ‘It can’t be only that. Mr Elford was there and he’s quite shrewd. Oh! Bobby, the whole situation is there – I know it is.
If we could just get at the reason. Evans. Why Chudleigh and Mere and not Evans?’ Suddenly she stopped and put both hands over her eyes.
‘It’s coming,’ she said. ‘Just a sort of flicker. It’ll come in a minute.’ She stayed dead still for a minute or two, then removed her hands and looked at her companion with an odd flicker in her eyes.
‘Bobby,’ she said, ‘if you’re staying in a house with two servants which do you tip?’ ‘The house-parlourmaid, of course,’ said Bobby, surprised.
‘One never tips a cook. One never sees her, for one thing.’ ‘No, and she never sees you. At least she might catch a glimpse of you if you were there some rime. But a houseparlourmaid waits on you at dinner and calls you and hands you coffee.’ ‘What are you getting at, Frankie?’ ‘They couldn’t have Evans witnessing that will – because Evans would have known that it wasn’t Mr Savage who was making it’ ‘Good Lord, Frankie, what do you mean? Who was it then?’ ‘Bassington-ffrench, of course! Don’t you see, he impersonated Savage? I bet it was Bassington-ffrench who went to that doctor and made all that fuss about having cancer. Then the lawyer is sent for – a stranger who doesn’t know Mr Savage but who will be able to swear that he saw Mr Savage sign that will and it’s witnessed by two people, one of whom hadn’t seen him before and the other an old man who was probably pretty blind and who probably had never seen Savage either. Now do you see?’ ‘But where was the real Savage all that time?’ ‘Oh! he arrived all right and then I suspect they drugged him and put him in the attic, perhaps, and kept him there for twelve hours while Bassington-ffrench did his impersonation stunt.