‘I quite understand. If I might have an order to view?’ She thought the three men would be back from their fishing trip and it would be too early for them to find the village pub open. She knocked on the door, therefore, at twenty minutes to six and presented the house agent’s order to view.
‘Oh, Lord! I’m afraid we’re in an awful mess,’ said the youth who had answered the door. ‘We didn’t reckon on clearing up until the day before we go.’
Dame Beatrice said that she quite understood and that if she might just take a quick look round she could soon satisfy herself as to whether the cottage would meet with her requirements.
‘Righto. Well, if you don’t mind waiting a minute, I’ll see whether the other two are viewable. We rather tend to sit about in what you might call déshabillement these very warm evenings.’ He came back after a few moments and invited her in.
The other two were in the kitchen. One took his feet off the table and both rose politely at her entrance. Dame Beatrice wished them good evening and said that she was sorry to disturb them, but if she might be permitted to look over the cottage she would be very grateful. She hardly thought it would be large enough for her requirements, as she would be bringing a party of six, including a teenage boy and girl.
‘Then it won’t be large enough,’ said the man who appeared to be the oldest of the party and was, she judged, in his late thirties. ‘There are only two bedrooms with a single bed in each, and the third one of us – well, we take it in turns to doss down on the very hard couch in the sitting-room. It’s supposed to open out to make a double bed, but something’s gone wrong with the works.’
‘You seem to have much the same accommodation as there is in another cottage I visited and found unsuitable. In a way I am somewhat relieved, as my two youngest friends are reckless and, I’m afraid, irresponsible, and I believe there was a drowning fatality here recently.’
‘Stupid girl swam on an outgoing tide. People do the daftest things when they’re on holiday.’
‘Did you know her?’
‘Sort of. She conned us into taking her fishing one day, but fortunately – although it wasn’t much fun at the time – she got most fearfully sea-sick, so that put an end to that.’
‘She was an oncoming little bit of goods,’ said the young man who had answered the door, ‘and once she’d got her hooks into you she was as sticky as a burr.’
‘Was she an attractive young girl?’
‘Lord, no,’ said the unchivalrous trio.
‘The newspapers referred to her as a pretty brunette of twenty summers,’ said Dame Beatrice. ‘I suppose the drowning was an accident?’
‘So the newspapers said. Personally, I prefer to keep an open mind. Her sort can be the hell of a nuisance when all a man wants is fishing and the pub,’ said the youth who had had his feet on the table.
‘Does any other holidaymaker take regular fishing-trips?’
‘Not regular trips, no. As a matter of fact, most of the chaps you meet down here are yachtsmen and own their boats. They may do a bit of fishing at times. We wouldn’t know.’ He glanced at the others for confirmation.
‘You’ll excuse me for asking,’ said the eldest suddenly, ‘but haven’t I seen you before somewhere?’
‘I have no idea,’ said Dame Beatrice.
‘Well, I’m a solicitor. My name is Billington. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you in court at some time.’
‘Not in the dock, I trust.’
‘No, no, of course not. Wait a minute. Didn’t you appear as a witness in one of Sir Ferdinand Lestrange’s cases at the Central Criminal Court a year ago?’
‘It is probable. He is my son, so I am always prepared to support him.’
‘That’s right. He was prosecuting. Ah! I’ve got it. You are Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley and you were called to testify that the prisoner was fit to plead. The defence said he wasn’t and claimed diminished responsibility, but you made hay of their psychiatrist and the prisoner got life, and a good thing, too. He was a public menace and had more than one murder to his credit, although he was only indicted for the death of an old lady. Shall I stick my neck out and suggest that, like me, you don’t believe that girl’s death was an accident?’
‘I still have an open mind.’
‘And that this idea of wanting to look at the cottage was only an excuse for having a look at us?’
‘Dear me!’ said Dame Beatrice admiringly.
‘Well, now that’s settled, I think we’ll send my brother and Carleton off to the pub, while you and I settle down to have a good talk.’
‘I should like that very much.’ The younger men removed themselves and the host produced sherry.
‘Well, now,’ he said invitingly, ‘let’s pool our ideas.’
‘I have very few to contribute. I was asked to make some enquiries, but, so far, little has resulted from them. I should be interested to know why you suspect foul play.’
‘Well, like you, I don’t exactly suspect it, but it seems to me a distinct possibility. I suppose the nature of my job conditions me. Our firm is sometimes concerned with cases of violent crime — muggings, rape, armed robbery, even murder – so I suppose I look on the violent or unexpected deaths of young women with a particularly jaundiced eye and, my word! — this specimen went about positively begging for trouble, as my young brother indicated.’
‘I suppose – perhaps it is an unfair question – but I suppose you have no suspicions of anybody in particular?’
‘No. She was quite promiscuous. One heard of skirmishes among the dunes and all that sort of thing. Chaps at the pub used to make jokes about her, you know. The better read called her Moll Flanders and to the coarser grained she was known as Eskimo Nell, so that will show you.’
‘She was very young to have gained that sort of notoriety.’
‘She gained it in so short a time, too. I have wondered whether somebody she knew at home – she was a Londoner, so the papers said – followed her down here with intent to do the deed, but it’s only a theory.’
‘What about the man who found the body?’
‘Yes, I know. Interesting you should mention him. That’s another matter on which I’ve pondered, but I guess the police investigated that possibility very thoroughly. After the deceased’s nearest and dearest relatives, the person who finds the body becomes the number one suspect. The fellow is still down here, if you want to speak to him. He was out cockling early in the morning when he saw her lying there, or so he said at the inquest. I spoke to him afterwards.’
‘I should like to speak to him. I doubt whether it is reasonable to suspect him, since I suppose that, if he was guilty, he would not have reported to the authorities. Simpler to have emulated the priest and the Levite, and passed by on the other side. There appear to have been no witnesses to his discovery of the body.’
‘Well, none came forward, but it’s quite extraordinary how many people do get up early on holiday so as to make the most of the day. Besides, there are the cockles to be had – they leave tell-tale marks on the sandy mudflats – and I believe you can also find small crabs. Some people – the locals mostly, I suspect – also gather edible samphire on the marshes. I don’t think you could guarantee that nobody would spot you, however early in the morning it was, if you were up to a bit of no good, but nobody else came forward. Then there are the off-shore yachtsmen. They all carry binoculars and could have seen if anything fishy was going on.’
‘I think the drowning – whether by accident or design – happened at night. In that case the cockler could quite innocently have come upon the body next morning. Will you give me his address?’