Lamb turned the ring to the light. There was no mark at all on the inner surface of the gold.
“Perhaps she had the initials taken out.”
Ella shook her head.
“Well then, she didn’t, for when she told me about the trick she was playing on Major Armitage she told me she showed him the ring, and what he looked like when he saw it. Seems he remembered it, though he didn’t remember her. She said he turned it over at once to see if the initials were there, and looked as vexed as vexed to think she had his mother’s ring.”
Miss Silver said, “Dear me!” She turned to the Inspector with a deprecatory cough.
“Major Armitage was expected when I left Mrs. Underwood’s flat. He will, I am sure, have arrived by now. Do you think-”
Lamb nodded, and Frank Abbott got up and went out.
“It isn’t Carrie’s ring,” said Ella Jackson. “Major Armitage will tell you the same as I do. But if it’s not Carrie’s-and it isn’t- well, I’ve got an idea that I know whose it may be. It was only last night when she was telling me about showing it to Major Armitage she said, ‘Funny there should be two rings like this in Vandeleur House. Dead spit and image of each other too. I saw her look at mine the other day going down in the lift. She might have thought I’d been pinching hers if she hadn’t had it on. She’s that sort.’”
“Miss Roland said that?”
“Yes, she did.”
“Who was she talking about-who had the other ring?”
“Miss Garside in No. 4. Mind you, I’m not saying anything against her.”
Miss Silver was watching the Inspector’s face. She saw his eyes go to the papers on his right. He half put out a hand and drew it back again. Then he said in a slow, meditative way,
“Miss Garside… Did your sister know her?”
“No, she didn’t. Very stiff and stand-offish, Carrie said. Not so much as a good-morning if you met her in the lift.”
“Not a chance that the rings might have got mixed up-when they were washing their hands-anything like that?”
“Not an earthly.”
Lamb said, “H’m!”
There was a brief silence, and then Giles Armitage came in, followed by Sergeant Abbott. He came right up to the table and said,
“What is it, Inspector? I’m told you want to see me.”
Lamb said, “H’m!” again. Then he held out the ring.
“I want to know whether you can identify this ring.”
Giles frowned and said,
“Yes-it was my mother’s. My brother gave it to Carola.”
“When did you see it last?”
His frown deepened.
“She was wearing it yesterday.”
“She showed it to you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you examine it?”
“Yes.”
“Was there any mark by which you could be certain of identifying it?”
“My mother’s initials were in it-M. B. for Mary Ballantyne. It was her engagement ring.”
“You actually saw those initials yesterday when you handled the ring?”
“Yes.”
Lamb reached across the table. The diamond took the light.
“Do you see them now?”
Giles put out his hand for the ring, turned it about, and stared incredulously.
“No. But-” He broke off, looked up and down again, and came out bluntly with, “This isn’t the ring.”
Lamb sat back in his chair.
“Sure of that, Major Armitage?”
“Yes, quite sure. It hasn’t got the initials. It isn’t the ring I saw yesterday.” He went to the light switch and pulled it down, then came back to the middle of the room. “She had the light on yesterday when I was here. I stood where I am standing now. This stone isn’t such a good one, the ring is a little lighter in the hand-at least that’s my impression-I can’t be sure. But I’m quite sure about the initials.”
Lamb said,
“Thank you, Major Armitage-we needn’t keep you.” He turned to Ella. “We’ll look into the matter, Mrs. Jackson. Perhaps you would just go through the rest of your sister’s things and let us know if anything else is missing.”
When the bedroom door had closed upon her, and the outer door of the flat upon Giles Armitage, Frank Abbott came back into the room and shut that door too.
Miss Silver looked from him to the Inspector. Her small, neat features wore a look of mild but inflexible obstinacy. She coughed and said,
“I really do not see how it could have been Miss Garside.”
Lamb looked at her with the indulgence of a man who holds the winning card.
“If this is her ring she’ll have to explain how it got into Carola Roland’s bathroom on the night of the murder. If it isn’t her ring, she’ll have to prove that by producing her own. And when she’s done all that, she’ll still have to explain how she came to leave her fingerprints pretty well all over this flat.”
“Dear me!” said Miss Silver in a tone of distress. “Did she do that?”
Lamb nodded.
“On the outer door, both inside and out-on the bathroom door and on the ledge where the rings were found-on the bedroom door-and on the door of this room.”
“Dear me!” said Miss Silver.
CHAPTER 34
Miss Silver sat in front of a gas fire in Mrs. Spooner’s sitting-room and studied the neatly written time-table with which Sergeant Abbot had furnished her. The privacy of No. 7 was a boon, the room a most comfortable one. The carpet, it is true, was a little too modern in design to appeal to her old-fashioned taste, but the colours were nice and bright, and the suite with its large deep couch and two well-cushioned chairs upholstered in moss-green velvet was, she considered, most tasteful and luxurious. She studied the time-table with attention.
6:15 Major Armitage arrives No. 3 (Mrs. Underwood’s flat).
6:30 to 6:50-Armitage at No. 8 (Miss Roland’s).
6:30 or so-Ivy Lord leaves No. 3.
6:35 Miss Lemming short call at No. 3.
6:50 Armitage returns to No. 3.
6:55 Armitage leaves No. 3.
About this time Mr. and Mrs. Willard in No. 6 appear to have been having a row.
7:00 Mrs. Jackson to No. 8 to see her sister.
7:10 Willard to No. 8. Refused admittance. Goes to his brother at Ealing for the night.
7:20 Mrs. Jackson leaves to catch 7:25 bus at corner accompanied by Miss Roland. Miss Garside in No. 4 sees them go.
7:28 Miss Roland returns, followed from bus stop by Mrs. Underwood. Ivy Lord close behind. Roland by lift to No. 8. Underwood waits for lift, and is seen going up in it by Ivy.
7:30 Ivy to No. 3. Finds Mrs. Underwood has not returned.
7:40 Mrs. Underwood to No. 3. She explains this ten minute hiatus by saying she went up to top floor with intention of seeing Miss Roland but changed her mind.
8:20 Bell to Hand and Glove. Nightly habit. Punctual to the dot. Sees man going away from house to farther gate. Cannot identify or describe. Car starts up and passes him.
8:35 Miss Garside seen coming up from basement (Miss Crane). Says she went to get Bell to change faulty washer. N. B. Bell’s punctual habits matter of common knowledge. Duplicate keys of flat hang on dresser in old kitchen. Miss Underwood borrowed key of No. 7 earlier in day. Replaced it some time during afternoon, Bell doesn’t know when. Did Miss Garside go down to borrow key of No. 8? She had reason to think Roland was out, having seen her leave with her sister.
9:30 Return of Bell. Keys all present and correct.
12:00 midnight Armitage telephones Miss Underwood to say everything is all right.
8:00 a.m. Mrs. Smollett discovers body.
9:45 Willard returns No. 6. Interviewed by Curtis, he and Mrs. Willard appear to be in considerable distress-Willard had been crying, Mrs. Willard has apparently been up all night.
This leaves the time between 7:40 and 8:30 p.m. for the unknown male visitor who had drinks with Miss Roland. They may have had a row-he may have killed her. He may have been the man Roland was expecting to marry, or he may have been Armitage-he had time to come back. Or he may have been someone we don’t know anything about. On the other hand, Roland may have been killed by Miss Garside, who had procured key of No. 8 and believed flat to be empty. If she had the bright idea of changing her paste ring for Roland’s diamond, and if Roland caught her in the act, she might have snatched up the statuette and struck when Roland’s back was turned, as it might have been if she was going to call up the police. Telephone fixture on table a yard or two to the left of where body was found.