‘I would not, for the world, anticipate the dénouement.’
‘I see that you have made a guess. Yes, without hesitation, each picked out Lawrence. He won’t admit it, but we rather think he obtained the watch when, instead of entering Coralie St Malo’s lodgings that evening, he went to those of his wife. Her landlady did not see him because she was already on holiday. We asked him how he had come by the watch. He said, “The watch? Good Lord! I thought you were sorting out my wife’s murderer! You won’t get the tabs on me for that! My dear old friend Sir Anthony gave me the watch, but it was much too ornate for me to wear. I much prefer a wristwatch, anyway. I was going on holiday with Sir Anthony the next day, so I sold the thing to get some holiday money, as I was a bit short. I didn’t tell the old boy what I’d done. I let him think my wife was minding the watch for me, as I thought he would be hurt to think I’d sold it.” Lawrence is certainly a cool customer, Dame Beatrice, and no mistake.’
‘I suppose he swiped the watch,’ said Laura. ‘What a specimen! Still, it lets out the porters, which is what the High Mistress wanted. I suppose you can’t arrest Lawrence for theft and so hold on to him until you can prove he’s a murderer?’
‘We can’t disprove his story about the watch, Mrs Gavin. The servant at Mrs Lawrence’s digs says that the lodgers always take in the post, so she has no knowledge of any parcels. In any case, to accuse a man of stealing from his own wife is a tricky business under any circumstances; impossible when she isn’t even alive to confirm or deny his account of the matter.’
‘I always thought that the theft, if it was a theft, took place at Sir Anthony’s own house,’ said Dame Beatrice, ‘but I also think that Mrs Lawrence’s accusation against the porters was made, however wrongheadedly, in good faith. Sir Anthony’s covering letter describing the watch has not been found among her effects, I suppose?’
‘No. We looked – the inspector looked – most carefully at all her papers and correspondence.’
‘I have no doubt the letter was sent, or she could hardly have described the watch so exactly. However, one good thing has come out of all this, as Laura pointed out.’
‘Oh, yes, the porters are completely exonerated, so now we can turn all our attention to the murder. What impression did you get of the St Malo girl?’
‘Not an impression of a girl, but of a mature, tough, self-reliant young woman. According to her account, the quarrel with Lawrence at the Bicester public house was soon resolved. He appears to have planned to divorce the second Mrs Lawrence and to re-unite himself in matrimony with Coralie.’
‘I see. Could that constitute a motive for the murder?’
‘I hardly think so, for, if Miss St Malo is to be believed, she would have nothing to do with the proposition, so I do not think the question of divorce, whether the second Mrs Lawrence would have agreed to it or not, would have come up.’
‘But you still think Lawrence is our murderer?’
‘Failing any other candidates, I really think he must be. There is only one doubt in my mind.’
‘I know. He’s a devious, cowardly devil, as I read him, but not the type to go for the rough stuff.’
‘Exactly. He brought about old Sir Anthony’s death, I believe, but by a method which can hardly be held against him, since there is no proof that he did not do his best (as he saw it) for the old gentleman in what turned out to be a fatal illness.’
‘That is true. We shall never get anywhere on those lines.’
‘But if Mrs Lawrence had evidence that Lawrence had knowledge that a sudden shock would kill the old gentleman, especially if medical aid was not forthcoming as soon as the symptoms of a serious condition appeared…’
‘But we can never prove that Mrs Lawrence did have any such knowledge.’
‘And, of course, Coralie St Malo may have been lying when she told me that she had refused Lawrence’s offer of re-marriage. After all, he is now a very wealthy man.’
‘And you summed her up as a bit of a gold-digger, did you?’
‘No, but certainly not the reverse. She struck me as a woman who (to repeat a vulgarism) would know on which side the bread was buttered.’
‘Well, the inspector will just have to press on with his enquiries. But to return to a point we agreed on a little earlier; Lawrence doesn’t strike either of us as the type who would drag a woman’s head back and slit her throat.’
‘Quite. What is entirely out of character is unlikely to be the truth. On the other hand, Lawrence could still have been the prowler who buried the body. Another thing is that he has what seems to be a complete alibi for the time the doctors agree that the murder was committed, even allowing for the limits they suggest. He was either with Sir Anthony in Norfolk and still with him when the old man died, or in his College lodgings. His landlady is prepared to swear that once he had returned to his northern digs, he did not leave them again until well after the time-limit which the doctors say is the latest date on which the murder could have been committed.’
‘It looks as though we’d better lean pretty heavily on the St Malo woman, then, although throat-slitting hardly seems a woman’s crime.’
‘Unless in her formative years she had seen pigs killed,’ said Dame Beatrice, ‘and in her part of the country that would hardly have been an uncommon occurrence, I dare say.’
‘Well, now that the High Mistress’s mission is accomplished without any help from us – for the porters are well and truly cleared – we may take up the even tenor of our way again and you can go off to visit Eiladh and her aunt and uncle in Scotland as soon as ever you like,’ said Dame Beatrice.
‘Well—’ said Laura dubiously.
‘You had better take my car instead of your own. I shall not be needing it while George has his holiday.’
‘Well—’
‘No, no. Your plans were made weeks ago and now that we can leave everything connected with the murder in the hands of the police, there is no reason whatever for changing the arrangements. Now that the porters are cleared, our interest in the murder of Mrs Lawrence is no longer anything but academic.’
She herself was not at all convinced of this, although the thought that she might be in danger of receiving a visit from Lawrence did not cross her mind. She did realise, later on, that it might have been as well if she had had the opportunity to familiarise herself with Lawrence’s features and general appearance, but there had been no opportunity offered her for this, neither had she sought one.
When, therefore, he rang her front-door bell a day or two after Laura and the chauffeur had left the Stone House and her elderly French housekeeper came to the library to announce that a Mr Randolph had called, Dame Beatrice merely asked:
‘What does he want? I’m busy.’
‘He wish to consult madame.’
‘What about?’
‘Le psychologie. Disturbances of ze mind. Les hallucinations, madame.’
‘Really?’ said Dame Beatrice. ‘Well, tell him that I am no longer in private practice and that, in any case, I see no one without either a personal invitation or by appointment.’
‘Bien, madame.’ Célestine withdrew, but before Dame Beatrice could settle down to work again on a paper she was writing for a learned journal, Célestine was back, this time in a state of high indignation.
‘Imagine, madame! This assassin of whom I speak to you! He refuses to leave. He has tried to bribe me, madame! He offers me a pourboire – and a very small one, at that! – to show him in to you. It is insupportable!’