“This one,” Alleyn said drily, “may be said to have died for it.”
v
It was a quarter past two when Grizel Locke was carried in her coffin down to a mortuary van that shone glossily in the moonlight. Two hours later Alleyn and Dupont walked out of the Château de la Chèvre d’Argent. They left two men on guard and with Raoul went down the passage-way to the open platform. It was flooded in moonlight. The Mediterranean glittered down below and the hills reared themselves up fabulously against the stars. Robin Herrington’s rakish car was parked at the edge of the platform.
Alleyn said: “These are our chickens come home to roost.”
“Ah!” said M. Dupont cosily. “It is a night for love.”
“Nevertheless, if you will excuse me—”
“But, of course!”
Alleyn, whistling tunelessly and tactfully, went over to the car. Robin was in the driver’s seat with Ginny beside him. Her head was on his shoulder. He showed no particular surprise at seeing Alleyn.
“Good morning,” Alleyn said. “So you had a breakdown.”
“We did, sir, but we think we’re under our own steam again.”
“I’m glad to hear it. You will find the Chèvre d’Argent rather empty. Here’s my card. The gendarme at the door will let you in. If you’d rather collect your possessions and come back to Roqueville, I expect we could get rooms for you both at the Royal.”
He waited for an answer but it was perfectly clear to him that although they smiled and nodded brightly they had not taken in a word of his little speech.
Robin said: “Ginny’s going to marry me.”
“I hope you will both be very happy.”
“We think of beginning again in one of the Dominions.”
“The Dominions are, on the whole, both tolerant and helpful.”
Ginny, speaking for the first time, said: “Will you please thank Mrs. Alleyn? She sort of did the trick.”
“I shall. She’ll be delighted to hear it.” He looked at them for a moment and they beamed back at him. “You’ll be all right,” he said. “Get a tough job and forget you’ve had bad dreams. I’m sure it will work out.”
They smiled and nodded.
“I’ll have to ask you to come and see me later in the morning. At the Préfecture at eleven?”
“Thank you,” they said vaguely. Ginny said: “You can’t think how happy we are, all of a sudden. And just imagine, I was furious when the car broke down! And yet, if it hadn’t, we might never have found out.”
“Strange coincidence,” said Alleyn, looking at Robin. And seeing that they were incapable of coming out of the moonlight he said: “Good morning and good luck to you both,” and left them to themselves.
On the way down to Roqueville he and Dupont discussed the probable development of the case. “Oberon,” Alleyn said, “has gone to pieces, as you see. He will try and buy his way out with information.”
“Callard also is prepared to upset the peas. But thanks to your admirable handling of the case we shall be able to dispense with such aids, and Oberon, I trust, will be tried with Baradi.”
“Of the pair, Oberon is undoubtedly the more revolting.” Alleyn said thoughtfully. “I wonder how many deaths could be laid at the door of those two. I don’t know how you feel about it, Dupont, but I put their sort at the top of the criminal list. If they hadn’t directly killed poor Grizel, by God, they’d still be mass murderers.”
“Undoubtedly,” said Dupont, stifling a yawn. “I imagine we take statements from the painter, the actress Wells and the two young ones and let it go at that. They may be more useful running free. Particularly if they return to the habit.”
“The young ones won’t. I’m sure of that. As for the others: there are cures.”
In the front seat, Raoul, influenced no doubt by the moonlight and by his glimpse of Ginny and Robin, began to sing:
“La nuit est faite pour l’amour.”
“Raoul,” Alleyn said in French for his benefit, “did a good job of work tonight, didn’t he?”
“Not so bad, not so bad. We shall have you in the service yet, my friend,” said Dupont. He leaned forward and struck Raoul lightly on the shoulder.
“No, M. le Commissaire, it is not my métier. I am about to settle with Teresa. And yet, if M. l’Inspecteur Alleyn should come back one day, who knows?”
They drove through the sleeping town to the little Square des Sarracins and put Alleyn down at the hotel.
Troy was fast asleep, with Ricky curled in beside her. The little silver goat illuminated himself on the bedside table. The French windows were wide open and Alleyn went out for a moment on the balcony. To the east the stars had turned pale and the first dawn cock was crowing in the hills above Roqueville.
The End