‘So many lies and half-lies have been told me and there has been so much wriggling and squirming since Professor Veryan’s death, sir, that I am very anxious to find out whether any of your party can lead me to the truth, or at any rate can give me a clue to the disappearance of these men, Stickle and Stour.’
‘Oh, I appreciate that, but nobody here can possibly account for their knocking off work. There is one other thing, though, and you can check this with the others if my word is not good enough for you. I had my suspicions the first day those fellows did not turn up. Yesterday, while your sergeant was busying himself with the young people, I made a more detailed inspection which fully confirmed what I have been thinking for some time.’
‘Oh, yes, sir?’
Tynant became impressive. He swept back the dark elf-lock from a noble forehead, raised an arm towards his trench and said,
‘On several nights since Professor Veryan’s death somebody has been here, dug deeper into my trench and then tried to make the soil look as though nothing had been disturbed.’
‘No damage, then, I take it, sir.’
‘Could easily come to damage if it goes on. If amateurs begin messing about on the site, they may do irreparable harm and bring my whole project to a point where it is useless for me to continue here.’
‘Looks to me,’ said Detective-Sergeant Harrow, when Tynant had gone, ‘as if those two chaps have given up daytime work in favour of doing a night-shift.’
‘But why on earth should they do that?’
‘All the neighbourhood thinks Tynant is digging for buried treasure, not prehistoric graves, sir.’
‘Oh, that poppycock! I thought Veryan had had a reporter from the Holdy Bay Messenger and had explained to him what the dig was all about.’
‘A newspaper article wouldn’t alter local opinion, sir.’
‘That’s obvious, I suppose, if some jokers have been sneaking along by night and having a go at Tynant’s trench for themselves.’
‘Stickle and Stour, don’t you think, sir?’
‘Oh, well, if so, it’s up to Tynant to catch them at it, although I don’t see what he could charge them with. They don’t seem to have done any damage, and it isn’t his property, anyway.’
13
Vandalism
« ^ »
Mowbray, having thought matters over, went back to the castle again, walked under the arch of the cleared gatehouse and up the slope to where Tynant was pegging out his second circle assisted by Susannah, and asked, ‘Could I interrupt you for a moment, sir?’ Susannah moved away.
‘Of course. No trace of my workmen, I suppose?’ said Nicholas.
‘It is concerning them that I’ve come. I’ve been wondering whether you or any of your companions have missed anything?’
‘Had something stolen? Not that I know of. You think those men made off with some of our property?’
‘It occurred to me, sir. Now, about their means of transport. They lodged a good way from here.’
‘I thought you knew that they came on a biggish old motorbike, with a sidecar. I don’t know which of them it belonged to or whether it was jointly owned. Why?’
‘What about tools for the digging? Did you supply those, or did they bring their own?’
‘I supplied a pick and two shovels. The ground is rock-hard and has to be broken up before we can excavate.’ A pickaxe was lying on the ground near where the sweating Bonamy and Tom were shifting soil out of the almost completed outer trench. Tynant motioned towards it and went on, ‘Young Hassocks has been using it. I wasn’t too keen on letting him try, but he said he had used one before. You can give yourself a very nasty wound on the foot if you’re not careful. The curve on the blade, or whatever it’s called, is deceptive.’
‘Yes, I tried taming a wild part of my garden with a reaping-hook last year and gave myself the deuce of a chop on the shin before I got the hang of the thing,’ said Mowbray.
‘A scythe is worse still. Anyway, so far, Tom has done himself no mischief with the pick, and we really can’t manage without it.’
‘I suppose you have contacted the hostel again where Stickle and Stour were staying, sir?’
‘Oh, yes. They haven’t been back there. The warden promised to let me know if they turned up again. If they don’t come back, I must still try to get somebody else.’
‘Why did Professor Veryan settle for the hostel chaps, and not men from the village, sir?’
‘Goodness knows. I don’t suppose he had any particular reason. Just had to make a choice, I suppose. Perhaps he preferred men who came from a distance. I believe there has been some resentment in the village because of the ruins being closed to the public. The hotel bars and the little restaurant have probably suffered from a lack of tourists, and the shopkeepers and the petrol pumps as well. A place like Holdy lives on the summer visitors and they only come to climb about on the ruins, so – no castle, no visitors.’
‘I see that the ladies’ caravan is no longer here, sir. We had it put back after the inquest, as you know.’
‘Now that the two lads have moved out of the keep, the girls were not very keen on staying here at night.’
‘Not even though there were three of them?’
‘There weren’t, you see. I persuaded Dr Lochlure that it would be better if she moved into one of the hotels and the students moved into the cottage which I’m renting for the boys. When Susannah found out how nervous Priscilla was feeling at being so near the spot where Malpas was killed, and Fiona’s being all upset after an encounter she had with a licentious gamekeeper—’
‘Oh, Miss Broadmayne told you about that, did she?’
‘No, she told Susannah and Susannah told me. I then suggested the cottage for the girls and, at that, Susannah agreed to move into the hotel.’
‘The Barbican?’
‘Yes. They agreed to put somebody else into Veryan’s room, as she would hardly like to sleep in there, and they have given her a bed on another floor. I must say that I am glad of her company at table. She makes a very agreeable addition, as the two boys, I’m sure, would agree.’
‘Where did Stickle and Stour leave their motorbike and sidecar while they were at work, sir?’
‘In the inn yard at the Barbican. Veryan made them sign on each morning, so that was the most convenient place.’
‘Could I see the signing-on book, sir?’
‘The men met him in the inn yard each morning, so I expect it’s somewhere in Veryan’s car. I myself haven’t bothered with it. I should have thought your chaps found it when they looked at the car and at his room.’
‘Would it be a small black notebook with shiny covers?’
‘I don’t believe I ever saw it.’
‘We tested it for fingerprints and put it back in the glove compartment, where we found it.’
‘So you’ve got those fellows’ prints.’
‘No, sir – at least, not from the notebook. It contained dates and crosses, and the only prints we have from the notebook are those of Professor Veryan himself, which we verified from the body.’
‘Why did you need to check?’
‘Just routine procedure, sir, in following up a doubtful matter.’ Mowbray thought that Tynant was about to ask another question, but it did not come, so he went over to the two young men. They had knocked off work and were leaning on their shovels. Mowbray gestured towards the pick.
‘Warm work,’ he said, ‘in this weather.’
‘Don’t mock,’ said Tom.
‘And how do you like your new quarters, sir?’
‘We no longer have them to ourselves, but we’re not there much. We still eat at the Barbican and we let the girls have first go at the bathroom in the cottage, so they’re up and away before we turn out. It seems to work out all right and, as we are not doing the paying, we can’t grumble.’