And this time it was Augustus Remington who came in, shepherded by one of the Ledshire constables. He had a fretful expression on his face, and was wrapped in a large shawl-like cape which he immediately discarded. Under it he wore a violet smock and a pair of black velveteen slacks. He gazed about him, shuddered at the body of Peveril Craddock, and recoiled with a hand before his eyes.
“No-really-this is too much! What has happened? Is he dead? How extremely shocking! I should have been warned. I am entirely allergic to violence of any kind-the vibrations are alarmingly disturbed. Perhaps a glass of water-” He sank down upon the nearest chair and closed his eyes.
Jackson said sharply,
“I’m afraid we have none here. Pull yourself together, Mr. Remington! Are you sure that this is a shock to you?”
A murmured “Terrible!” came from the parted lips. The violet smock heaved in a succession of painful gasps…
The constable advanced to the table and laid something down upon it.
“Burning them, he was,” he said briefly, and fell back.
On the green leather which covered the table there lay a pair of soiled wash-leather gloves. The two Inspectors bent an enquiring gaze upon them. Everyone looked in the same direction. Anna sat dumb and staring, her mouth half open as it had been when she checked on her last word.
Frank Abbott took hold of the left-hand glove and spread it out. It smelt of the fire, and there were marks of singeing. Part of the little finger was burned away. There was a small triangular tear between the first finger and the one next to it. The seam had come undone, and an end of the broken thread stood up beyond the gap.
He said, “Miss Silver-” and she came forward to stand between him and Inspector Jackson.
“Anything here that you recognize?”
Looking down at the glove, she said,
“Yes.”
“Could you swear to it?”
She said, “Yes,” again. She turned to go back to her seat. The moment of tension was over-the moment when everyone had been looking at her and at the wash-leather glove and no one had been looking at anything else. At anything or at anyone. Now that the strained attention had been released it turned inevitably to the man who had tried to burn the glove.
And he wasn’t there.
Only a moment before he had been gasping for breath in his chair beside the door. Now he wasn’t there any longer. The violet smock was gone, and so was Augustus Remington, and no one had seen him go. The door beside him may have been ajar, or it may not. It was ajar now, and he was gone.
CHAPTER XXXIX
Miss Silver did not join in the search. She remained in the study with Thomasina and the sergeant who had been put in charge of Anna Ball. Another of those dreadful times of waiting.
Anna had not moved at all. Looking at her rigid face, Miss Silver felt a stern compassion. So thwarted, so twisted a creature, and now in so much pain. And at the root of it all the dreadful poisons of jealousy and envy. How necessary to guard against them in the child, to correct them in the developing thought. For how much unhappiness, how much crime, were they not responsible?
Thomasina had her thoughts too. She remembered so many things. She had tried to be kind to Anna. The kindness that has to try isn’t enough. It doesn’t reach people. She felt humble and ashamed. She had been pleased with herself. She had thought pretty well of Thomasina Elliot. If she ever felt like that again she would remember Anna Ball.
The time passed. It was not really very long. Frank Abbott and Peter Brandon came back. Frank said,
“He’s got away. The girl had a car. We got out through the garage in time to see his tail-light go off down the north drive. Jackson and Thomas have gone after him in Craddock’s car. It would have taken too long to go round the house for one of ours, and they would have lost him.”
Anna drew a long deep breath and said,
“He’s gone-he’s got away! He’s too clever for you! He’s always been too clever for you-he always will be!” The triumph went out of her voice. It broke halfway and dropped. “He’s gone-” she said.
Her voice whispered and stopped. She looked all round the room in a hesitating, bewildered kind of way, her hands twisting in her lap. She did not speak again.
There was coming and going. An ambulance arrived, and the body was removed. The sergeant sat at the desk and was busy with the telephone. Calls went out to all stations with a description of Augustus Remington. As to the car in which he had gone, there was no description available. Anna, questioned, did not even reply. She twisted her hands in her lap and stared at them. In the end they took her away with the policewoman who had come out from Ledlington in the ambulance.
Peter took Thomasina back to the Miss Tremletts, and Miss Silver returned to the Craddocks’ wing. The study was left with a couple of constables in charge.
Thomasina and Peter walked across the park in silence. When there is too much to say it is easier to say nothing at all. They did not speak. Thomasina was alive, and she might so very easily have been dead. There could have been two bodies in the ambulance now on its way to Ledlington. As often as Peter wrenched his mind from this thought, it swung back again.
Thomasina did not think about how narrowly she had escaped. She thought about Anna Ball. Those twisting hands, and the cold misery in her voice when she said, “He’s gone-”
Coming to the Miss Tremletts was like coming into another world. They wept, they talked, they were avid for every possible detail, they were instant with cups of tea. By the time they had reached the second brew they were beginning to be quite sure that they had always thought there was something odd about Augustus Remington.
Mr. John Verney had a word with Miss Silver before he too went back to his own wing.
“You’ll tell Emily-”
“About Mr. Craddock’s death-yes. As to your identity, Mr. Verney, I think you must be aware that she recognized you, and that that was why she fainted. Your disguise was a very good one. The loose untidy clothes, the beard, the country drawl-all these were a most efficient barrier to recognition. But when Mr. Craddock was speaking you broke into quite spontaneous and natural laughter. She recognized your laugh.”
“He was being so pompous-”
“It has been a very great shock.” Miss Silver’s tone held a note of reproof. “Mrs. Verney is not at all strong. She is going to need care.”
“I know, I know. I’ve been a deplorable husband. That was why-I wanted to be sure- You’ll do your best for her, won’t you?” He took her hand, held it very hard for a moment, and then dropped it abruptly.
They went their way to their separate wings.
CHAPTER XL
It was Augustus Remington’s violet smock that gave him away, in spite of the coat with which he had covered it and the dark wig which concealed his pallid hair. He had to stop for petrol, because Anna hadn’t done what he had told her to do. She was not going far, and she had either forgotten to have the tank filled up, or she had not thought it necessary. When the gauge showed how low the petrol was, there was nothing for it but to chance the first all-night station. And when he stretched out a hand to pay, a long pointed end of violet cuff came out of the coat sleeve and hung there dangling.
Since all petrol stations had been warned, it was enough. The man in charge was a brawny fellow. He put a hand on Augustus Remington’s arm and said, “Just a moment, sir,” and the game was up. There never was a chance to use the revolver which was found in the coat pocket.
Frank Abbott dropped in to see Miss Silver a few days later.
“Of course he never intended to make a get-away, or he wouldn’t have been wearing those ridiculous clothes, and he wouldn’t have let himself run out of petrol. It was Anna Ball who was to disappear, but she wasn’t to go far, so I suppose she didn’t bother. He had to have her up at Deepe House in case he couldn’t stage a convincing suicide for Craddock. I don’t know what had passed between the two men, but there’s no doubt that Craddock had become a danger and was to be eliminated. Anna Ball’s pleasant little monologue in the garage makes that clear, and if Augustus couldn’t make it look as if Peveril had shot himself, they were going to put him in the car and run him over Quarry Hill with enough petrol to make sure that there wouldn’t be any clues. And of course Augustus couldn’t have shifted the body by himself. Anna had to be there to give a hand-she’s quite a hefty wench. And when it was all over Augustus was going to fade back into his art needlework, whilst Anna put in time somewhere not too far away. He seems to have trusted her completely. All the notes from the Ledlington robbery and about half the Enderby Green ones were stowed away in the car. There were false backs to both the cubby holes in the dashboard, as well as one in the boot. That’s where they found Anna’s golden wig. There was a red one too and a beard, which is what Augustus wore for the Enderby Green affair, and when they gave the Sandrow story a build-up by letting Miss Gwyneth see them in Ledlington. Anna drove the car at Enderby Green. She was dressed as a boy. We found the whole outfit.” Miss Silver said soberly,