“Isn’t she at home?”
“She is not. She walked out of the house on Friday morning and hasn’t been seen since. She is supposed to be with you, and Lucinda is frightfully upset about it. It is apparently worse to be compromised than to be arrested for murder.”
“But this is awful! Where can she be?”
“Perfectly safe, I am sure-you can trust Mavis for that. Now look here, Bobby, I’ve got that tenner you asked for in my pocket. If you shot Ross, take it and make the best get-away you can. But if you didn’t-if you didn’t-take my advice and come along with me to Scotland Yard.”
“Give myself up?”
“You’ve got it in one.”
“But they’ll arrest me.”
“Bound to. But they’ll do that anyhow. If you come along of your own accord, say you got the wind up and bolted, and then tell the yarn you’ve just told me, you’ll get a much better kick-off than if you’re arrested in some purlieu after a nerve-racking time of dodging the police. They’ll get you in the end, so you might as well save yourself the wear and tear and come willingly.”
Bobby came.
Chapter XXXIII
Inspector Lamb sat immovably in his office chair. Mr. Peter Renshaw had been talking for some time. There might be something in what he said, but then again there might not. Time would show. It was a good job getting Foster under lock and key. There was always a lot of chatter about the police if they let anyone slip through their fingers. Mr. Renshaw had done a good job there, persuading him to come in. All in his own interests too, if he was innocent.
Mr. Renshaw reached his peroration.
“It’s the timetable you’ve got to concentrate on, Inspector-you must see that-the timetable, and that outside door. Rush shuts it at eleven. I come in at twelve, find it shut, and leave it as I find it. Ross and Miss Grey come in at one o’clock. I don’t see how anyone is going to argue that they left the door open. Ross opened it with his latchkey-and he withdrew the key, because it was found on him. To my mind it’s quite impossible to suppose that he did that, and didn’t shut the door. Now the murderer went out of that door at a quarter past two and left it open. Miss Craddock, arriving a moment later, finds it open, finds Ross dead, and runs out of the house, leaving all the doors open behind her. About ten minutes or so later Bobby Foster rolls up. He finds the doors open. He finds Ross dead, and the shock sobers him. He says he noticed the clock on the mantelpiece particularly, and that the time was between half past two and five-and-twenty to three. Being sober, he realizes his position and legs it, leaving all doors open. Rush finds the street door open in the morning. Meanwhile Miss Fenton walks in her sleep. She is already standing over Ross with the revolver in her hand when Miss Grey comes in to get the bag she left there earlier in the evening. This was somewhere between ten and five minutes to three. Miss Fenton drops the revolver and wanders back to her own flat. Miss Grey kneels down by Ross to see if he is really dead and gets her dress stained, then looks for her bag, finds it, and comes away, switching off the sitting-room light and shutting the door of the flat. That’s when Miss Bingham saw her the second time. All this is what Miss Grey told her aunt, and it is what decided Miss Craddock to volunteer her statement, because of course if Miss Craddock saw Ross dead at two-fifteen, Miss Grey’s presence in the flat at three o’clock no longer exposes her to suspicion.”
The Inspector broke the pause which followed.
“First of all,” he said, “Miss Craddock’s statement is uncorroborated. Secondly, Mr. Foster’s statement is uncorroborated. She says she was there at two-fifteen. He says he was there at two-thirty. They’ve both got very strong motives for mentioning those particular times, Miss Craddock because she clears her niece, and Mr. Foster because he clears himself.”
“Bobby Foster didn’t know about Miss Craddock’s statement. He didn’t know that the time he mentioned would clear him.”
“It was in the papers,” said the Inspector.
Peter made an impatient gesture.
“I tell you he didn’t know it! Good Lord, man, you’ve seen him! He couldn’t act to deceive a child-you must see that.”
“That’s as may be. Then there’s another thing. You say Mr. Craddock couldn’t have left the front door open when he came in with Miss Grey. But Miss Craddock found it open at a quarter past two. She says she saw someone come down the steps. Well, our theory is that this someone was Mr. Foster. You say it couldn’t have been, because Mr. Foster hadn’t got a key and how did he get in? Well, who had got a key? We’ve communicated with the other tenants. They are all in the places where they are supposed to be, and they’ve all got their keys with them-I’m talking about the street door keys. Do you see where that leaves us? If Mr. Craddock didn’t leave that door open himself, then someone inside the house came down and opened it-and who would be so likely to let Mr. Foster in as Miss Mavis Grey? You’ll say how did she know he was there, but you’ve got to remember it was a hot night and all the windows were open and the curtains back. She may have seen him from her window, or he may have attracted her attention.”
“He didn’t know she was there, man!”
“He was afraid she might be. And he was drunk-you’ve got to remember that. He’d do things a sober man wouldn’t. He may have called her name. There’s no evidence about that. But if you’re going to say, ‘How did he get in?’ then I’m going to say, ‘why shouldn’t Miss Grey have let him in?’ It’s no good just saying he hadn’t got a key.”
Peter ran his hands violently through his hair.
“The whole thing’s crazy! Sober or drunk, Bobby never shot anyone. But look here, talking about keys, did Rush tell you that one of the keys of Ross’s flat went missing about ten days ago? He sticks to it that someone pinched it to get at Ross’s papers, and he firmly believes that this someone came back and shot Ross on Tuesday night.”
The Inspector moved a slow gaze to Peter’s face and kept it there.
“This is the first I’ve heard about that, Mr. Renshaw. What does he say?”
“Says the key went missing-thinks Ross left it sticking in the door and someone pinched it-says Ross raised Cain about his papers being disturbed, and forgot himself to the extent of accusing Rush of having disturbed them.”
“Yes, we got that part. The daily woman, Mrs. Green, was listening in. She made a statement about the quarrel, and Rush admitted it afterwards-very reluctantly.”
Peter leaned forward.
“Did she mention the key?”
“I don’t think so.” He opened a drawer. “I’ve got her statement here, but I’m sure there wasn’t anything about a key.” He turned some pages and extracted a type-written sheet. “Here we are: ‘I heard it with my own ears as I was coming across the landing.’ She was listening of course. An eavesdropping woman-we know her sort. Well, she goes on, ‘Mr. Craddock, he was in a proper shouting rage. He says as loud as a bull, “You’ve been mucking up my papers!” and Rush, he answers him back as bold as brass, “And what would I want with your papers, Mr. Ross?” Mr. Craddock says, “How do I know what you want? Blackmail, I shouldn’t wonder!” and Rush says, “You did ought to be ashamed of yourself, Mr. Ross.” And Mr. Craddock says, “Get to hell out of here!” and Rush come out.’ Well, there’s nothing about a key there, you see.”
Peter said, “This is what Rush said to me. He said Ross had him in and accused him of having been at his despatch-box, and he said he reminded him then about the key that he had lost, but he was past listening to reason, so Rush said he turned his back and walked out. ‘And there was that snivelling hen of a Mrs. Green on the landing.’ That’s what he said. Now why didn’t your eavesdropping Mrs. Green hear that bit about the key, or if she heard it, why didn’t she pass it on? It was obviously a most important piece of evidence. Why didn’t she tell you about it?”