Charles ordered another large whisky. A little mild investigation was called for.
Things could not have worked out better when he returned to Coates Gardens. Pam Northcliffe was in the dining-room alone mixing porridge to roughcast Pyramus and Thisbe’s wall. The cooks of the day were clattering about in the kitchen preparing a dinner whose main ingredient smelled like cabbage.
Pam looked up, red-eyed and guilty when he entered. ‘Hello.’
‘Hi. Feeling better?’
‘Yes.’ Spoken with determination.
‘I was going down to the pub for a drink and looking for someone to join me. Do you fancy it?’
‘What? Me?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, I…’ She wiped a porridgy hand on the back of her jeans, adding another streak to the existing collage. ‘All right.’
A half of lager for Pam and, since he was now thirsty, a pint of ‘heavy’ for Charles. ‘How are the props? Coming together?’
‘I think so. I’m spending over my budget on them.’
‘D.U.D.S. will find the money.’
‘I hope so.’ She spoke with great care, as if the accumulated tension inside her might break out at the slightest provocation.
Charles knew that discussion of Willy’s death might be exactly that sort of provocation. But it was what he had to investigate. He approached obliquely. ‘Everyone settling down a bit now.’
‘Yes, I suppose so. All too busy to think about it.’
‘That’s a blessing.’
‘Yes.’ Silence. Charles tried to think how he could get her back on to the subject without causing too much pain. But fortunately he did not have to. She seemed anxious to talk it out of her system without prompting. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone dead.’
‘It is nasty. But you do forget.’
‘I mean, you see it on films, and on the box and it all… well, it doesn’t seem important. But when you actually see…’ Her lower lip started to quiver.
‘Don’t talk about it.’
As Charles hoped, she ignored his advice. ‘And the trouble is.. apart from just the shock and things, I feel responsible. I mean, I was in charge of the props, so I must have got the knives mixed up.’
‘Do you really think you did?’
‘Oh Lord, I just don’t know now. I would have said definitely not. I remember counting them before I put them in my carrier bag. The police asked me all this and, you know, at the end I couldn’t remember what I’d done. You think so much about something, after a time you just don’t know what’s true any more…’
‘I know what you mean.
‘And it’s so stupid, because I shouldn’t have done the knives like that anyway. Michael Vanderzee told me what he wanted, and I thought the best thing would be to get real knives with hollow handles and unscrew them and take the blades out. And Michael said that was daft and expensive and I should have improvised and…’ Her voice wavered with the remembered rebuke. ‘It’s the first time I’ve done props. And I got it all wrong. If I hadn’t done the knives that way, Willy would still be alive.’
Charles did not feel so certain of that. He felt sure that if the knives had not been to hand, the murderer would have found some other method. But it was not the moment to voice such suspicions. ‘Pam, you really mustn’t blame yourself. Even if you did mix the knives up. And it’s quite possible that you didn’t. Somebody else may have been playing about with them and made the mistake. I mean, presumably they were just lying round the house, so anyone could get at them?’ He left the question hanging disingenuously in the air.
‘Yes. I suppose so.’
‘Toy knives have a fascination for people. Anyone might have started fooling around with them. How long were they there?’
‘I was up late finishing them on Monday night. And I left them out on the table till the next morning.’
‘Why? So that the paint could dry?’
‘Yes, but it didn’t actually. I got some awful oily lacquer that stayed sticky for ages.’
‘Was the real knife with the others?’
‘Yes, it was. You see, it was daft, but I was sort of rather proud of the ones I’d made because they did look so realistic. So I left them all out on the table.’
‘So that people would see them when they came down to breakfast?’
‘Yes.’ She looked sheepish. ‘I haven’t made lots of things and I thought they looked good.’
‘They did. Look very good.’ He almost added ‘Unfortunately’, but realised that might be tactless. ‘So then they were put away while people had breakfast?’
‘Yes, I put them in a carrier bag, and I thought I left the real one in a box with my scissors and sellotape and glue and all that rubbish.’
‘And they stayed in your carrier bag in the sitting-room till you brought them down to the hail at about three o’clock?’
‘Yes.’
‘So there was lots of time for anyone in the house to play around with them during the day and mix them up?’
‘I suppose so.’
‘You weren’t there during the morning?’
‘No, I had to go out to buy some cardboard and stuff.’
‘Well, I should think that’s what happened. Someone was fooling about with them on the Tuesday morning and mixed them up.’ It was not what he really meant, but Pam looked reassured. What he did mean was that the knives had been on show for every member of the company, that the murderer had realised their potential and arranged the switch when the sitting-room was empty at some point during the Tuesday morning. Then he had had to wait and see what happened. Which might well have been nothing. The chances were that someone would notice the real knife before the stabbing could take place, and the murderer would have to find another method. But the impatience of the photographer at the photo-call had given no one time to inspect their weapons closely.
Though the murder method was now clear, the identity of its deviser remained obscure. From Pam’s account, virtually anyone who was in the house on the Tuesday morning could have switched the knives. And that meant virtually every member of the D.U.D.S. company. Which in turn meant checking everyone’s movements. Which sounded a long, boring process.
‘Did you know Willy Mariello well?’ Charles tried another tack.
Pam blushed. ‘No, hardly at all.’
‘But you must have seen him round the University.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘During term-time. If he was involved in the Dramatic Society.’
‘Oh, but he wasn’t. He was nothing to do with the University.’
‘Then where did he come from?’
‘He used to play with Puce.’
‘What?’
‘The rock band. He was lead guitar. Until they broke up earlier this year. Oh, come on, you’ve heard of Puce.’
Charles had to confess he hadn’t.
They walked back to Coates Gardens together. Pam seemed calmer; she had almost recaptured her customary bounce. A nice girl. No beauty, but good-natured. Needed a man who appreciated her.
She was telling him about her parents’ home in Somerset as they entered the hall. At that moment Anna Duncan came out of the Office. ‘Hello,’ said Charles. She grinned.
Pam paused in mid-sentence: He realised his rudeness. ‘I’m so sorry. I… what were you saying?’
‘Oh, it wasn’t important. I’d better get on with my wall.’ And she disappeared gracelessly downstairs.
‘Taking other women out when you’ve already stood me up,’ said Anna with mock reproach.
‘I hardly think we’d have had a very relaxed dinner with policemen taking statements between courses.’
‘No, I didn’t mean it.’
‘Rehearsing tonight?’
‘Finishing at half past eight.’
‘Shall we pretend the last two days haven’t happened, and pick up where we left off?’
‘That sounds a nice idea.’
‘Shall I see you here?’
‘No. If Mike gives us another of his rolling about on the floor workshops, I’ll need to go back to the flat and have a quick bath.’
‘Well, let’s meet at the restaurant. Do you know L’Etoile?’