‘But he did turn up. He must have done, or I wouldn’t have found him dead in that passage, would I?’
‘Please confine yourself to answering my questions. What were you doing in that passage?’
‘Falling over dead bodies, I suppose.’ As soon as I had said it, I realised in what very bad taste it was. ‘Sorry,’ I said quickly. ‘Actually, I had sneaked out to have a smoke.’
‘A number of people seem to have been smoking in the dance-room, sir. Couldn’t you have had your cigarette in there?’
‘Yes, but it was noisy and overcrowded. I wanted some fresh air.’
‘The passage you chose does not lead out to the fresh air.’
‘The porter chap, Bull, thought I wanted the cloakroom.’
‘Why should he have thought that, if you did not ask for it?’
‘Because he’s an officious idiot, I suppose.’
That, with my previous unfortunate remark, did it. I felt I had queered my pitch with the detective-inspector. However, we pressed on, or, rather, retraced our steps, since most of it was a repetition of what had gone before. I believe this is typical police procedure. They keep taking you over your story in the hope that you will change it in some way and give them a chance to pounce.
I realised that I had to be careful. I had to blot out from my mind the day we had lost our way in the mist. I summed him up as an experienced but not over-bright member of his profession. All the same, he was probably bright enough, owing to his experience, to know when a witness was holding out on him. I was made very much aware that this was the case when, having taken me through my story all over again, he said, ‘Are you sure you have left nothing out, sir? What about the time between when you left Inveroran and arrived at the Kingsbridge hotel? That part of your trip seems to have taken a good deal of time.’
‘For two reasons. First, we didn’t set out very early — we had walked a long way since we left Drymen and, although we took The Way in easy stages day by day, I knew that Miss Camden was getting pretty tired. Secondly, we ran into a thick mist and were obliged to stay in a shepherd’s hut until it cleared.’
‘A shepherd’s hut? You didn’t mention that before, and you did not mention the mist.’ As the hut was a complete fabrication, I knew I had to be extra careful at this point.
‘We also spent a longer time than usual over lunch, but I can’t see that any of this is important,’ I said. ‘The mist cleared and the rain came down, that’s all. As for the time we took, well, what with the delay and the distance between Inveroran and Kingshouse and the fact that we had covered well over forty miles in just a few days and Miss Camden was tired —’
I realised that I was talking too much, so I stopped and then I said that that was how it had been.
‘Just so,’ he said, making a disquieting entry on the notes which he had in front of him on the table. ‘Now, sir, holding the opinion of Mr Carbridge which you do —’
‘Did,’ I corrected him.
‘Quite so. Holding this opinion which, as you stated it, is that he was’ — he referred to his notes — “a rather irritating ass and a bit of a megalomaniac”, why did you attend the reunion party at which, presumably, you expected to meet him again?’
This was an easy one and I answered it self-confidently.
‘I wouldn’t have accepted if the invitation had come from him, but it didn’t. It came from the students and I would have hurt their feelings by refusing.’
‘But did you expect to find Mr Carbridge at the gathering?’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, yes, but not by falling over his dead body!’
‘Now, now, Mr Melrose, there is no need to be alarmed.’
But I felt that there was every need for this. He had realised that my last outburst was the result of fear and I could tell that he intended to exploit it. He did not do so at once. To my surprise, he thanked me for my help and dismissed me, merely adding that, if anything occurred to me which I thought he ought to know, he was sure that I would impart it to him.
I did not feel much like contacting Hera. Her last remarks had been anything but sympathetic. I did not blame her. Everybody had had a severe shock and hers must have been worse than anybody’s except my own. I went straight back to my flat to brood over the situation and to wonder what other tricks Fate had tucked up its sleeve where I was concerned.
I had not been in for more than about half an hour before I had a caller. It was Trickett.
‘There’s going to be hell to pay over all this,’ he said, when I had asked him in. I shared his gloom. ‘How did you get on?’ he asked, when I had poured out the drinks. ‘What do you think that damn-fool policeman has done now? He’s only rounded up the chaps and girls who played the pop music for us! As though they could have done that to Carbridge! So far as I know, they hadn’t even met him.’
‘I suppose the police have to question everybody who was on the premises,’ I said. ‘Not to worry about the orchestra people. That detective may question them, but only as possible witnesses. The people he will put on the spot are the walking party and especially me. Look here, you won’t let on that I found that other body, will you?’
‘To be frank with you, Melrose, only if it comes to the crunch. I wish you hadn’t told me about that, but the fact remains that you did tell me, so if one of our lot — the poly gang, you know — looks like taking the rap, well, you see what I mean.’
‘Yes, I see what you mean and I can’t say I blame you.’ We both took a heartening gulp from our glasses. ‘The trouble is,’ I went on, ‘that it must be somebody who was at the party. Nobody else would have known that Carbridge was going to be there.’
‘I’ve been thinking about that. Carbridge must have had other acquaintances, you know, apart from those of us who were on the walk. Suppose he mentioned the party and the date and so on — these things pop up in casual conversation — and somebody who had a grudge saw a good chance to pay off old scores without being suspected?’
‘How would the murderer have managed to get into your hall of residence?’
‘By bluffing it out with Bull that he had been invited to the party, of course. Bull wouldn’t have known any different. He knew me and Freddie and the two girls, Coral and Patsy, but nobody else except the members of the orchestra. They were all poly people, of course.’
‘Another point: if Bull let the murderer and Carbridge in, they must have turned up early and anyway Bull must have seen the murderer. The police will have shown Bull the body —’
‘They wouldn’t need to. He and I both saw it before they came, if you remember. You went with us along that passage when I put in the new electric bulb. Bull saw the body then.’
‘He didn’t say he recognised it.’
‘I bet he has said so by now.’
‘And, of course, it’s not very likely that Carbridge and his murderer turned up together. If you had planned to kill a chap, the last thing you would want would be to be seen in his company just before the deed was done.’
‘The time factor bothers me a bit. The police aren’t giving anything away, but it seemed likely that Carbridge was killed before the actual party got going. It looks as though he had an assignation with the murderer. I wish we knew how long he’d been dead when you fell over the body.’
‘Why the hell it should have to be me, I can’t think!’ I exclaimed bitterly. ‘I’d already fallen over one dead man. Why should it have to be two?’
‘Well, they say coincidence has a long arm.’
‘Not much comfort when the hand at the end of that arm has got you by the short hairs.’
‘I think you might do worse than have a word with Bull. You can get him to tell you what he said to the police.’
‘How is that going to help?’
‘I don’t know, but, in your shoes, I think I would want to know what people had been saying.’