Dance to Your Daddy

'I do not think we need call him, although I understand that he is available. Now, Doctor, I note that you do not rule out the possibility of suicide. However, that is a matter over which I need not detain you. Call Detective-Inspector Kirkby.'

Kirkby was sworn and agreed that he was the person he represented himself to be.

'Now, Detective-Inspector, I understand that you are making some enquiries as to how Mr Willoughby Lestrange met his death. You have heard the medical evidence. Have you any comment to make, as a result of your investigations?'

'No, sir, except to say that, at first, the body was wrongly identified.'

'Wrongly identified? By whom?'

'By Mr Romilly Lestrange, sir. He was mistaken in thinking that the body was that of the deceased's brother, the Reverend Hubert Lestrange.'

'Dear me! That seems to have been a strange error. Perhaps we had better recall Mr Romilly Lestrange, so, if you would stand down for a few minutes, Detective-Inspector, we will hear you again when we have heard what Mr Romilly has to say.'

'Very good, sir.'

'Call Mr Romilly Lestrange. Now, sir, remember that you are still under oath. Can you tell us why you should have thought that the deceased was the Reverend Hubert Lestrange?'

'I can't really say. I had not seen either of my nephews, except in photographs, as I had been living abroad for some years.'

'Why, though, did you suppose the dead man to be Mr Hubert, and not Mr Willoughby?'

'I was expecting them both to visit me, and I thought it more likely, when I found the body, that an absent-minded clergyman would have taken a wrong turning to my house and fallen over the cliff, than that a business-like young man, such as a secretary, would have done so.'

'Had you any reason to think that Mr Hubert was absent-minded?'

'It is a thing one connects with scholars and clergymen.'

'You thought, then, that the deceased had missed his way and fallen over the cliff?'

'Yes, it was the obvious thing to think.'

'What did you do, after you had found the body?'

'I returned to my car and drove to the nearest coast-guard station.'

'Were you present when the body was recovered?'

'Yes, I came back with assistance, and pointed out where the body was lying.'

'Did you do anything more?'

'Oh, I knew that the doctor would see to anything that was necessary. The police sent for Dr Randall at once, of course, and he had the body moved to the infirmary, where Detective-Inspector Kirkby saw it.'

'But you still did not realise that the death was not accidental, but was caused by suicide or murder?'

'No, of course I did not realise it. There was no reason, so far as I knew, for one of my nephews to commit suicide, particularly as I was still convinced that the body was that of Hubert, to whom, with his beliefs, suicide would have been a deadly sin, and one hardly thinks of one's close relatives being murdered.'

'Suicide is indeed a "deadly" sin. I think we may agree with you there. When you heard that the body had received a stab wound, what were your reactions?'

'Until much later, I had no idea in what form death had taken place, except that I concluded it was either from the fall from the cliffs or by drowning. It was a great surprise to me, and I may say a considerable shock, when I knew that Detective-Inspector Kirkby was treating the case as one of murder. He has haunted my house continually since I reported the discovery of the body, but gave me no details as to the cause of death. I had assumed, of course, that it was accidental.'

'You have heard now that death was the result of a wound caused by stabbing.'

'Yes.'

'Did you pick up a sword which you found lying in the grass on the cliffs above the part of the coast known as Dancing Ledge?'

'Yes.'

'Did you show it to the police?'

'Yes. I thought it might be dangerous if children got hold of it.'

'Did you recognise it as being your property?'

'No, it doesn't belong to me.'

'Thank you, Mr Lestrange. Call Marlene Cobb.'

This woman was Romilly's cook. The sword was handed to her.

'Do you recognise this weapon?'

'That I do.'

'You have seen it before, then?'

'Ah, at Christmas time.'

'Under what circumstances, Mrs Cobb?'

'Beg pardon?'

'Why do you relate this sword to Christmas time?'

'Because the master cut the cake with it. Very lively and many goings-on had there been atween him and Mrs Judith, so-calling herself housekeeper, and very blaspheemious he was.'

'Indeed? What do you mean by that?'

'He told me to ice the cake with the words, "The family, God bless 'em," which I done.'

'That doesn't-that is not blasphemous, is it?'

'No, but after the goings-on-something shocking they was-he cuts the cake with this 'ere knife what you're showing me, and as he does it he gives a kind of a nasty giggle and he says, "I come not to bring peace, but a sword." Wouldn't you call that blaspheemious?'

'And you are certain that this is the same sword? How can you be sure?'

'Because I be sure. That's how.'

'Well,' said the coroner, when Marlene Cobb had been dismissed, 'I will now ask the jury to retire and consider their verdict, reminding them that this is primarily an enquiry into the cause of death. It is not a criminal court.'

'Might I ask a question?' said a woman juror. 'There is a point I'd like to clear up. The defendant-I mean Mr Lestrange-identified the body as that of the Reverend Hubert. Isn't it equally likely that Mr Rose, the hotel manager, is mistaken in thinking it was Mr Willoughby? I mean, it's simply one word against another, isn't it?'

'Mr Rose is not unsupported in his assumption, madam. Two members of his staff have asserted, independently of him and of one another, that the body is that of Mr Willoughby. Moreover, Mr Romilly is prepared to agree that the mistake was his,' said Kirkby.

The verdict of the jury was unanimous and was never in doubt. As he left the court, Romilly found himself touched on the shoulder by Kirkby.

'I'm sorry, sir,' said the latter, 'but I'm afraid I shall have to ask you to come with me. There will be a formal charge, and you have the right to ask for your lawyer to be present.'

CHAPTER TWELVE

ZAPATOS-GOODY TWO-SHOES

And he that will caper with me for a thousand marks, let him lend me the money, and have at him!'

Henry IV,Part 2.

(1)

At the police station Romilly was formally charged and two days later he was brought before a magistrate who, in view of the nature of the charge, was sitting alone, and the examination was held in private, reporters and the general public being excluded.

The charge was read, and then Kirkby said:

'If it please Your Worship, the police ask that the accused may be remanded for two weeks pending further enquiries.'

'Remanded in custody, you mean?'

'In view of the nature of the charge, yes, Your Worship.'

'What reason have you for asking that the prisoner be remanded?'

'As I stated, Your Worship, the police wish to make further enquiries into this case. We hope to have further evidence available at the next hearing.'

The magistrate, who was a woman, glanced across at Romilly's solicitor, but he made no sign.

'Very well,' she said, 'but first I should wish to hear the evidence upon which the defendant has been brought here.'

The evidence, given in the usual police-court parrot-utterance, did not seem particularly impressive.

'You accuse him of murder, and of giving a false identification of the dead person, do you, Detective-Inspector?'

'Yes, Your Worship, of deliberately making a misleading statement on the second matter, with intent to defeat the ends of justice.'

'And he was the person who discovered the body?'

'Under what we believe to be suspicious circumstances, Your Worship. There seems to be good reason to suppose that the accused wanted the victim out of the way, and that is the line along which we should like to acquire more evidence. Further to that, the accused has stated, in front of witnesses, that he believes his own life to be in danger. If he is right...'