Why do you take such pleasure in mystifying people? If only Mr Masters were here, the party would be complete, wouldn't it?'
'I don't take pleasure in it, dammit 1 ' grumbled H.M., and quite seriously believed this. 'It's only that people take such unholy joy in doin' me in the eye, that I got to get a bit of my own back.' He was soothing. 'You stick to business, here. Read the rest of the time-table. I'm merely askin' you: if Jim Answell isn't the murderer, who is?'
'No, thanks,' said Evelyn. 'I've been had like that before. And much too often. You did it in France, and you did it in Devon. You parade out a list of suspects, and we take our choice; and then it always turns out that you've got someone else altogether. I dare say in this case you'll show the murder was really committed by Sir Walter Storm or the judge. No, thanks.'
'Meanin' what?' enquired H.M., looking at her over his spectacles.
'Meaning this. You've called our attention to his timetable, and that's a most awfully suspicious sign. You seem to concentrate attention on people who were actually lurking about the place at the time of the murder. But what about the others?'
'What others?'
'There are at least three others, I mean Reginald Answell, and even Mary Hume herself, and Dr Hume. For instance, the Attorney-General "put it to" the Hume girl to-day that Reginald wasn't in London at alclass="underline" he was in Rochester: and didn't reach London until nearly midnight. You didn't contradict him - at least, you didn't re-examine the witness. Well, where was he? We know he was at the house at some time on the night of the murder, even if it was late: I heard him say so himself, when he was going down the stairs at the Old Bailey. Mary Hume was also there, also late. Finally, there's the doctor, who's missing now. First you rather indicate that Dr Hume has got an alibi; and last night, Ken tells me, he writes a letter swearing he actually saw the murder committed. How do you propose to straighten out all that?'
'If you'd only read the rest of your time-table -' howled H.M., and then grew, reflective. 'Some of it's worryin' me,' he admitted. 'You knew, did you, that there's a court order out to arrest Spencer? When we knew he'd run off, Balmy Rankin wouldn't let that pass. If they ketch him, Balmy'll commit him to clink for deliberate contempt of court in a murder case. I thought Walt Storm rather too easily decided to dispense with that witness, when he should 'a' moved an adjournment. Walt must have known he'd done a bunk. But so did Balmy. Burn me, I wonder ... never mind. Have you got any ideas, Ken?*
My position was simple. 'Not having much sense of social justice, I don't care so much who killed him as how it was done. I'm like Masters: "Never mind the motive: let's hear about the mechanics." There are three alternatives: (1) Answell really did stab him after all; (2) Hume killed himself, either by accident or suicide; (3) there's an unknown murderer and an unknown method. H.M., will you answer a couple of straight questions, without technical evasions or double meanings?'
His face smoothed itself out.
'Sure, son. Fire away.'
'According to you, the real murderer made his entrance by means of the Judas window. Is that straight?' 'Yes.'
'And the murder was committed with a cross-bow. Is that your argument?' 'That's right.'
'Why? I mean, why a cross-bow?'
H.M. considered. 'It was the most logical thing, Ken: it was the only weapon that fitted the crime. Also, it was much the easiest weapon to use.'
'The easiest weapon? That whacking big clumsy thing-you showed us?'
'Easy,' said H.M. sharply. 'Not in the least big, son. Very broad, yes; remember that; but not long. You saw it yourself: it was the short "stump" crossbow. And easy? At a very short distance, you heard Fleming admit himself, not even an amateur could miss.'
'I was coming to that. From what distance was the arrow fired?'
H.M. regarded us over his spectacles with a kind of sour whimsicality. 'The court-room manner is gettin' infectious. I feel like a medical man said at one triaclass="underline" "This is like a college examination under oath." That, Ken, is the one thing I can't tell you within a couple of inches, since you want me to be so goddam precise. But, just in case I'm accused of evasion, I'll tell you this - not much more than three feet, at the very longest. Satisfied?'
'Not quite. What was Hume's position when the arrow was fired?'
'The murderer was talkin' to him. Hume had been by the desk, bendin' over to look at something. As he bent forward, the murderer casually pulled the trigger of the cross-bow: hence the rummy angle of the arrow, which was shot in rather a straight line. Walt Storm made an awful lot of fun of that, but it's the strict truth.'
'Bending over to look at something?'
'That's right.'
Evelyn and I looked at each other. H.M., nibbling at the stump of his cigar, pushed the time-table across to me.
'Now that you've got that off your chest, why not pay a bit of attention to matters just as relevant? Spencer Hume, for instance. He's a gap in the proceedings, because he didn't testify in court. Not that he did much of importance when he got back to the house; but what he did is interestin’. Y'know, Spencer must have got one hell of a shock when he learned it really was. Jim Answell they'd caught, and not Reginald.'
'Did he know either of the cousins by sight?'
'Yes,' said H.M., with another odd look. 'He knew both of them; and he was the only one in the whole flamin' case who did.'
Table
9.46 Spencer Hume arrives In Grosvenor Street.
Uncle Spencer, vide police state merits, has got an absolutely water-tight alibi. From 5.10 to 6.40 he was walking wards of hospital. At 6.40 he went downstairs and waited in foyer. Finally went out on steps. At 6.43 (fast driving), A. Jordan whizzed up in car and told him to come quickly and take wheel, saying Avory was dead and Mary's fiance was loopy.
Uncle Spencer is o-u-t. Gobble gobble.
6.46-6.50. P.C. Hardcastle tries to question Answell; then telephones to police-station.
6.46-6.50. Spencer Hume takes Amelia Jordan upstairs: doctor necessary.
6.51-6.55. Spencer Hume goes to study. In presence of Fleming and Dyer, Answell says: 'You are a doctor; for God's sake tell them I have been doped.' Spencer says: 'I can find no sign of it.'
Why didn't Spencer own up to truth about drugged drink? Too dangerous?
6.55. Inspector Mottram and Sergeant Raye arrive
First time study is searched by police
6.55-7.45. First examination of Answell by Inspector Mottram; other witnesses questioned; study is searched by Inspector Mottram and Sergeant Raye.
No dust in thin vertical line down shaft of arrow. Very rummy; projected?
Feather torn in half completely; couldn't be done in struggle; powerful clean break - caught somewhere. Mechanism? Projected?
What kind of mechanism? Find out what there might be in archer's house.
(Later.) J. Shanks, odd-jobs man for three houses, reports crossbow missing from box in shed in back garden.
Cross-bow missing.
Golf suit missing.
1 + 1 Equo ne credite, 0, coppers.
7.45. Divisional Police-surgeon Dr Stocking arrives.
7.45-8.10. Examination of body.
Note position of body. Direction of wound? Maybe! Does not
fit.
8.15. Spencer Hume telephones to Mary Hume at Frawnend