“Mr. Jernigham senior, sir.”
And the squire walked in.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Miss Prentice Feels the Draught
i
“— So you see,” said Alleyn, “I was led to wonder if, to speak frankly, the object of her visit was blackmail.”
The squire’s face was drained of all its normal colour, but now it flushed a painful crimson.
“I cannot believe it.”
“In view of the record — ”
The squire made a violent, clumsy gesture with his right hand. Standing in the centre of the stage under those uncompromising lights, he looked at once frightened and defiant. Alleyn watched him for a moment and then he said:
“You see, I think I know what she had to say to you.”
Jernigham’s jaw dropped.
“I don’t believe you,” he said hoarsely.
“Then let me tell what I believe to be her hold on you.”
Alleyn’s voice went on and on, quietly, dispassionately. Jernigham listened with his gaze on the floor. Once he looked up as though he would interrupt, but he seemed to think better of this impulse and fell to biting his nails.
“I give you this opportunity,” said Alleyn. “If you care to tell me now — ”
“There is nothing to tell you. It’s not true.”
“Mrs. Ross did not come this afternoon with this story. She did not make these very definite terms with you?”
“I cannot discuss the matter.”
“Even,” said Alleyn, “in view of this record?”
“I admit nothing.”
“Very well. I was afraid you would take this line.”
“In my position — ”
“It was because of your position I gave you this opportunity. I can do no more.”
“I can’t see why you want this general interview.”
“Shock tactics, sir,” said Alleyn.
“I–I don’t approve.”
“If you wish, sir, I can hand my report in and you may make a formal complaint at the Yard.”
“No.”
“It would make no difference,” said Âlleyn. “I think the others have arrived. This is your last word?”
“I have nothing to say.”
“Very well, sir.”
Roper tapped at one of the supper-room doors.
“Hullo!” shouted Alleyn.
“Here they be, sir, every living soul, and all come together.”
“All right, Roper. Show them in.”
ii
Miss Prentice came in first, followed by Dinah, the rector and Henry. Alleyn asked Miss Prentice to sit in the most comfortable chair, which he had placed on the prompt side of the table. When she dithered, he was so crisply polite that she was there before she realised it. She looked quickly towards the rector, who took the chair on her right. Dinah sat on her father’s right with Henry beside her. The squire looked furtively at Alleyn.
“Will you sit down, sir?” invited Alleyn.
“What! Yes, yes,” said the squire convulsively, and sat beside Henry.
Mrs. Ross came in. She was dressed in black and silver, a strangely exotic figure in those surroundings. She said: “Good-evening,” with her customary side-long smile, bowed rather more pointedly to Alleyn, and sat beside the squire. Templett, seeming ill at ease and shame-faced, followed her.
Miss Prentice drew in her breath and began to whisper:
“No, no, no! Never at the same table. I can’t—!”
Alleyn sat on her left in the one chair remaining vacant and said, “Miss Prentice — please!”
His voice had sufficient edge to silence Miss Prentice and call the others to a sort of guarded alertness.
His long hands lay clasped before him on the table. He leant forward and looked with deliberation round the circle of attentive faces.
He said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I shall not apologise for calling you together to-night. I am sure that most — not all, but most — of you are only too anxious that this affair should be settled, and I may tell you that we have now collected enough evidence to make an arrest. Each of you in turn has provided evidence; each of you has withheld evidence. From the information you have given, and from the significance of your several reticences, has emerged a pattern which, as we read it, has at its centre a single person: the murderer of Miss Idris Campanula.”
They sat as still as figures in a tableau, and the only sound, when Alleyn paused, was the sound of rain and the uneasy stirring of the wind outside.
“From the beginning, this strange affair has presented one particularly unusual problem: the problem of the murderer’s intention. Was it Miss Idris Campanula for whom this trap was set, or was it Miss Eleanor Prentice? If it was indeed Idris Campanula, then the number of possible suspects was very small. If it was Miss Prentice, the field was a great deal wider. During most of yesterday and part of to-day my colleague, Inspector Fox interviewed the people who have known and come into contact with both ladies. He could find no motive for the murder of either of them, outside the circle of people we have found motive. Money, jealousy, love and fear are the themes most usually found behind homicide. All four appeared in this case if Miss Campanula was the intended victim: the last three, if the intended victim was Miss Prentice. The fact that on Friday evening at five o’clock Mr. Henry Jernigham showed the automatic to all of you, except his father, who is the owner, was another circumstance that suggested one of you as the guilty person.”
Henry rested his head on his hand, driving his fingers through his hair. Templett cleared his throat
“At the inquest this morning you all heard the story of the water-pistol. The booby-trap was ready at 2.30 on Friday. The water-pistol was no longer in position at noon on Saturday when Miss Prentice used the soft pedal. Yet some time between Friday at 2.30 and noon on Saturday, somebody sat at the piano and used the soft pedal and the booby-trap worked.”
Alleyn lifted the cloth from the table. Miss Prentice gave a nervous yelp. He took up the “Venetian Suite” and pointed to the circular blister and discoloured splashes on the back.
“Five hours after the catastrophe, this was still damp. So was the torn silk round the hole in the front of the piano. Miss Prentice has told us that her music was left on the piano earlier in the week. All Saturday morning the hall was occupied. It seems, therefore, that the water-pistol was removed before Saturday morning, and presumably by the guilty person, since an innocent person would not have kept silent about the booby-trap. On Friday afternoon and evening the hall was deserted. At this stage I may say that Mr. Jernigham and Dr. Templett both have alibis for Friday afternoon, when they hunted up till a short time before the rehearsal-for-words at Pen Cuckoo. Dr. Templett has an alibi for Friday and well into Saturday morning, during which time he was occupied with professional duties. It is hardly conceivable that he would enter the hall in the small hours of Saturday morning to play the piano. The helpers arrived soon after nine o’clock on Saturday, and by that time the pistol had been removed.
“Now for the automatic. If, as we suppose, the water-pistol was discovered on Friday, it is of course possible that the automatic was substituted before Saturday. This possibility we consider unlikely. It was known that the helpers would be in the hall all Saturday morning, and the murderer would have run the risk of discovery. It was only necessary for someone to disarrange the rotten silk in the front of the piano to reveal the nozzle of the Colt. True, this piece of music was on the rack; but it might have been removed. Somebody might have dusted the piano. It is also true that nobody was likely to look in the top, as the person who removed the water-pistol had taken pains to re-fasten the bunting with drawing-pins and to cover the top with heavy pot plants. Still, there would have been considerable risk. It seems more probable that the murderer would leave the setting of the automatic until as late as possible. Say about four o’clock on Saturday afternoon.”