‘Probably nothing. Now, Mrs Beck, can you tell us something more about the rest of the party? I shall have to see them all if this girl is the one we think, but it would be useful to know your opinion of them first.’
‘Has something happened worse than what you’ve said?’
‘Yes, I’m afraid it has, ma’am. The accident was a fatal one and the evidence suggests that something more than what I call an accident may have taken place, so anything you can tell me will be very helpful. Now, ma’am, just give me a line on the other youngsters.’ He pointed to her entries in her ledger. ‘These will be the biggish party that you’ve also bracketed together, I take it? A very useful procedure on your part, I’m sure. Keeps everything shipshape, eh?’
‘That’s right. Well, as you can see, there are nine of them. I can’t tell you a lot about them. We get all kinds, some rough diamonds, some quite cultured, and them all using the hostel because it’s cheap and most of them are young. This lot, the dancers and singers, are the sort that are no trouble at all. I had them last year at this time and I was glad to have them again.’
‘You mentioned some kind of disagreement. Did you gather what it was about?’
‘No, but I think it was between Judy and another of the girls. Is it Judy who is dead? You mean this convict killed her?’
‘We don’t know. When we get the body identified, I shall be able to tell you more. Don’t worry your head at present, ma’am, or begin jumping to conclusions. Just answer the questions, then we shall know where we are. I see that the party booked in on Wednesday.’
‘And are allowed three nights, so tonight is their last.’
‘Do you know where they are staying after tonight?’
‘No, I don’t. All I know is that they are giving a concert at Gledge End tomorrow afternoon, but if Judy has left I don’t see how they will manage. But this girl you’re talking about, oh, it couldn’t be Judy! She can’t have been murdered, not a respectable girl like her.’
‘Well, that’s what we’re not too sure about,’ said Ribble, giving up his comforting tone. ‘She seems to have been knocked or dragged off her bicycle, but we can’t talk about murder until we know that she wasn’t hit by a passing car. On the other hand, her injuries don’t really suggest a hit-and-run driver and our knowledge of our bird who is on the run from Hangwood gaol doesn’t suggest that he killed the girl who may not be Judy Tyne anyway. He is a convicted murderer, it’s true, but he is a poisoner and only of his wife, at that, so—’
‘Only of his wife? I like that!’ exclaimed Mrs Beck, perking up a little. ‘Are you married, Inspector?’
‘Yes. I didn’t mean it quite the way it sounded. I meant that he is most unlikely to murder anybody else, that’s all. What I would like you to do is to sum up these dance people for me. You say they have stayed here before and you see so many youngsters that you must be a pretty good judge of them. You mentioned a quarrel, and that, in case of violent death, is something which ought not to be overlooked.’
‘I don’t want my words to get anybody into trouble.’
‘Of course not. Personal opinion is only a very rough guide and can’t incriminate anybody. Just fire away. We are very discreet.’
‘But the sergeant is going to write down what I say.’
‘Nothing but names and addresses. Nothing you tell us can be used in evidence, but it would help me to get a line on these young people. First of all, what about the quarrel which caused Judith Tyne to take herself off? How serious would you say it was?’
‘I don’t know anything about it, but I think it must have been on account of one of the boys. Giles is the leader, and a very nice boy and I should think very capable. I don’t think the quarrel was anything to do with him. Then there is Willie. He is Scottish by birth, tall and dark. He might be the brooding type, but I wouldn’t think he bothered much about girls. Probably got a girl of his own back home, anyway. Micky is the youngest and very slight and fair, very like his sister to look at. The others are Ronnie, another nice boy, and then there is Peter. I’m sure Ronnie is much too lazy to bear malice to anybody. I wonder he can even exert himself to dance. He’s always saying how tired he is, but he’s big and healthy enough. Just bone idle when it comes to pulling his weight, but all the others seem to like him, and I must say I’ve got a soft spot for him myself.’
‘What about Peter?’ asked Ribble, checking the names in the book.
‘I don’t know. He seems very quiet and sort of nondescript, if you know what I mean. Keeps himself to himself. He’s the artistic one and very clever at making things.’
‘Could he be a dark horse, do you think?’
‘I really couldn’t say. I shouldn’t think he has enough character to be anything very much, but you never know, do you? Look at Doctor Crippen.’
‘Ah,’ said Ribble, looking alert. ‘You connect Peter with Doctor Crippen, do you?’
‘Good gracious, no! Who ever heard of such a thing? Don’t you put words into my mouth that I never intended!’
‘I’m sorry, ma’am. Well, what about the last of the boys?’
‘They call him Plum. He’s big-made and very much a man. He could be the oldest of them, as a matter of fact. I’ve nothing to tell you about him except my dog doesn’t like him.’ Upon this, the warden burst into tears. ‘Oh, dear! Oh, dear!’ she sobbed. ‘I knew no good would come of all that fussing over Mick.’
Ribble waited and then, as she calmed herself, he repeated what she had said, but put it in the form of a question.
‘No good would come of all this fussing over Mick?’ he said.
‘Yes. There were the three of them, you see. Well, Willie is a boy, so he hardly counted, if you know what I mean, but the other two, Judy and Peggy, they were always going out of their way to treat him as if he was like a delicate piece of china and might get broken if they weren’t extra careful. Not that there was anything I would have called delicate about him. So far as I could see, he may have looked slim and pretty — more like a girl in some ways — but he could dance the legs off the rest of them, I reckon, and from the extras he bought at the hostel shop I don’t think there was anything wrong with his appetite.’
‘But the two girls thought him fragile? What about the boys? You mentioned Willie. What about the others?’
‘Treated him just like one of themselves and used to joke with him about Judy and Peggy. If you ask me, he liked the fuss the girls made of him. Boys do like having a fuss made of them, don’t they? I suppose it starts with their mothers.’
‘To put it clearly, ma’am,’ said Sergeant Nene, ‘were both the girls in love with him?’
‘Oh, no,’ she replied without hesitation. ‘It was nothing like that. He was so young, you see, compared to the other boys. He was younger than his sister, but so very much like her to look at that you’d think she would get the same treatment, but nobody ever spoilt Pippa. She seemed always a bit apart from the others, I always thought, and wasn’t really very interested in the dancing, but only in the music.’
‘Well, thank you for your help, ma’am. There is one more thing you can do for us if you will. It will take us a little time to establish the identity of this dead girl unless you will help us. If she isn’t Judy Tyne I shall be glad; if she is, well, we shall have saved a lot of time.’
‘She’s Judy. I know it in my bones,’ said the warden, this time looking grim instead of becoming tearful, ‘and if there is anything I can do to help catch whoever killed her I shall do it. It means the mortuary, I suppose. If it is Judy I must tell the others. It would come better than from a stranger.’