“And what about Arnold Bray? You’ve rather left him out, haven’t you?”
“I was about to mention him, but I see that there was no need for me to do so.”
“No, as it happens, there wasn’t. The locals have had their eye on Bray from the word go. As a matter of fact he very nearly qualifies as being ‘known to the police’.”
“Dear me!”
He nodded.
“He hasn’t actually ever been run in, though he got as far as having his fingerprints taken a couple of years ago in connection with a case of blackmail. There had been anonymous letters of the ‘pay up or I’ll tell’ order, and he was under suspicion, but there wasn’t enough of a case and he slipped through the net. If he was in the house and any dirty work was going on, I should expect him to have a finger in it, but there’s a strong consensus of opinion that he wouldn’t be the man behind the gun. A petty small-town near crook and definitely allergic to firearms-that is how Arnold seems to strike those who know him- I won’t say best.”
Miss Silver pulled on her ball of wool.
“Mr. Bellingdon gave me very much the same description.”
“Well, we can put Arnold through it. Sprinkling snuff on Garratt’s pillows might be right up his street. We’ll see what he has to say about it. Is there anyone else you fancy?”
She remained silent for a little. Then she said,
“There is Mr. Gaunt’s connection with Miss Paine. I do not see how it can be more than a coincidence, and as a coincidence it is easily accounted for. Mrs. Herne is acquainted with Miss Sally Foster who has a flat in Miss Paine’s house. She and David Moray, another tenant of Miss Paine’s, are here for the week-end-David Moray because Mr. Bellingdon has just bought his portrait of Miss Paine, which he considers to be a very fine picture. You see, all these people were loosely linked together before the robbery and murder took place. David Moray had not, I gather, met Mrs. Herne before, but the other two young people knew her quite well, so that what I mentioned as a coincidence is not really one at all. I was, I believe, merely thinking aloud when I used the expression.”
He gave her a quizzical look tempered with affection.
“You pay me quite a compliment.”
She went on as if he had not spoken.
“There is, however, a circumstance which I think you should know about, and which concerns Mrs. Herne. She is not really Mr. Bellingdon’s daughter but an adopted child, and she was adopted without his knowledge or consent. I gather that there is no very strong tie of feeling between them.”
She told him what Annabel Scott had said about Moira Herne’s marriage and Oliver Herne’s death, and continued,
“I have thought that perhaps some enquiries as to their friends and associates might be advisable. They may have been in contact with people who would have been interested in Mr. Bellingdon’s wealth and his more valuable possessions, such as the Queen’s Necklace. You will understand that I am not suggesting complicity on Mrs. Herne’s part, but it is obvious that this crime was very carefully planned and could hardly have been carried out without professional backing. One of the men whom Miss Paine watched in the gallery had no part in the shooting or the actual robbery, but he was certainly indispensable to the success of the plot.”
Frank nodded.
“He would be the fence. The other, the man who spoke, was of course the murderer, and it was he who must have been an intimate. Now, just let us sum up what we know about him, and we can start with that. He must not be recognized. Hubert Garratt would have recognized him, and so would Arthur Hughes. Therefore whoever fetches the necklace cannot be allowed to survive. For some reason he does not wish to shoot Hubert Garratt-or, let us say, he would prefer to shoot Arthur Hughes. Hence the snuff on Garratt’s pillow. So we know that he is an intimate, that he cannot risk being recognized, and that he either doesn’t want to shoot Garratt, or that he does want to shoot Hughes. In either case he is taking a tremendous risk and there must be a correspondingly strong motive to induce him to take it. The necklace is said to be worth thirty thousand pounds, but it would probably have to be broken up, and he’d be lucky if he got five thousand.”
“Murder has been done for a great deal less than that, Frank.”
“Of course it has. But-”
She put up her hand to stop him and said gravely,
“You conclude that Hubert Garratt was incapacitated in order that Arthur Hughes might take his place. Since talking to Mrs. Scott I have been considering that there might have been another and a far more likely substitute.”
“My dear ma’am!”
She continued in the same tone.
“Arthur Hughes was a young man. He had not been very long in Mr. Bellingdon’s employ, though he had been on social terms with the family both before he went up to college and after he came down. He was about to leave his appointment as secretary and take up another one. Mr. Bellingdon was annoyed at his attentions to Mrs. Herne. In these circumstances, do you consider that there was any justification for supposing that, with Mr. Garratt incapacitated, it would necessarily have been Arthur Hughes who would be deputed to fetch the necklace?”
“You mean the idea that someone might want Arthur Hughes out of the way won’t hold water?”
“I mean something more than that. I mean that if Hubert Garratt were not able to fetch the necklace, the most natural person to do so would have been Mr. Bellingdon himself.”
“Lucius Bellingdon!”
“I do not think the possiblity could have been ignored. It may even have been desired and counted upon. A motive for the murder of Arthur Hughes eludes me, but it is not difficult to imagine that there might be strong and compelling motives for the murder of Lucius Bellingdon.”
He was looking at her, his eyes cold and intent. He said,
“As what?”
“He is a very wealthy man. He controls large interests. His death would endow Mrs. Herne with a fortune. There are a number of young men vaguely connected with this affair whose interest in her is apparent. While Mr. Bellingdon lives he will continue to hold the purse-strings. He can disinherit Mrs. Herne. He wishes her to marry again, but he wishes her to marry suitably. He has a very marked partiality for Mrs. Scott. No one who has seen them together would be surprised if they were to announce an engagement.”
He said, “You really mean all this?”
“My dear Frank!”
“With all the implications? I’m not insulting you by asking you whether you realize what they are.”
“I believe I am fully aware of them.”
“In fact you suggest that the theft of the necklace is no more than a cover up? That Arthur Hughes was shot merely because he was there and could have identified the criminal? And that the real purpose of the plot was the murder of Lucius Bellingdon?”
“I consider it to be a possibility.”
“All right, let us go on considering it. It involves believing that Hughes was shot because he might have recognized the man who carried out the crime. And if the sole purpose of the crime was to kill Bellingdon, where was the need to run the risk of murdering Hughes? It would be known that he was the messenger in plenty of time to have called the whole thing off. Even if there was no accomplice in the household, or no opportunity of warning the man on the job- which is something I would find very difficult to believe-the man himself would have had the opportunity of sheering off. He must have been following Hughes for the best part of a mile and a half. He must have known that he wasn’t following Bellingdon. Even at the last moment when he came abreast of him before driving him off the road and forcing him to stop there would be time for him to change the plan and draw back from murdering Hughes.”