The Affair of the Mutilated Mink (27 page)

'My job, sir?'

'Yes. I'm going down to your station again for a while. I'm hoping for a number of important messages and I've arranged to receive them there. I should be back by mid-afternoon.' He started for the door.

Wilkins said, 'Sir, please, before you go, there is something I ought to say. You see, thinking about the case last night and having spoken to Leather on the phone and learnt much of what happened here yesterday, I came to the conclusion—'

'Wilkins, please.' Allgood raised both hands. 'I've told you repeatedly that I don't want to know. Your conclusions would just cloud the issue for me. Now, carry on with your assignment, there's a good fellow.'

Allgood hurried from the house.

* * *

Allgood arrived back at Alderley at three o'clock. He had a word with Chalky — who, with Paul now up and about, had been able to abandon his guard duty - and then went to the small music room. Here he found Wilkins, who'd been joined by Leather, waiting for him.

'Oh, there you are, sir,' Wilkins said wearily. 'No luck, I'm afraid. I've questioned everybody in the house. Nobody saw, or at least will admit to seeing, anyone on the phone at five-fifteen on Friday.'

'Oh, you needn't have bothered,' Allgood said airily. 'The case is solved.'

'You mean you know who did it sir?'

'I do. Took a bit longer than I expected, thanks to those nitwits in the criminal records office at the Yard, but I'm almost ready to make an arrest.'

'May we know of whom, sir?'

'You may.' He told them.

Wilkins listened, his eyes growing wider and wider. When Allgood had finished he said slowly, 'That's remarkable, sir. An amazing piece of deduction, if I may make so bold.'

'Elementary, my dear Wilkins.' Allgood rubbed his hands together. 'Now, I want everyone gathered on the landing at the top of the stairs right away. Arrange it, will you?'

Allgood looked round the ring of faces. They gazed back, some anxious, some curious, some impassive. Paul looked quite fit and remarkably cheerful, perhaps because Gerry was standing next to him, holding his hand.

Allgood said, 'I'm glad to say that the ordeal, for most of you, is almost over. But first I need everybody's help in conducting a little experiment. When the shot was fired on Friday night, you all, except Lady Geraldine - and Carter, of course - stated that you were in your rooms. I'd like you to go to them now, shut the door and do whatever you were doing at that time. If you were in bed, lie down on the bed. In a few minutes you will again hear a gunshot. Then I want you to re-enact what you did that night. Allow as much time as you think you took for getting out of bed, putting on dressing-gowns, slippers and so on. Then come out and make your way to the scene of the murder at the same speed as the other night. Will you all do that?'

There was a general nodding of heads. 'Go now then, please,' Allgood said, 'and be sure to close your doors.'

All those present except Gerry, Paul, Wilkins, Leather, and Allgood himself moved in the direction of their rooms. When they'd gone, Allgood said, 'Lady Geraldine, if you would kindly go and stand in the bathroom and when you hear the shot run as you did the other night.'

She nodded and walked away. Allgood went on, 'Wilkins, you wait here. Leather, you go to the corner of the main corridor and the west wing and remain there. Both make a mental note of everything you see.'

Leather moved off.

Paul said, 'What about me?'

'You come with me.' He strode in the direction of the east wing with Paul following meekly behind.

Allgood turned on the light in the east corridor and at the far end he drew the curtains across the window. Then he opened the door of Laura Lorenzo's room, turned on the light, and drew the curtains in there, too. 'Must get the lighting conditions as identical as possible,' he said.

'Do you want me to do what I did the other night?' Paul asked.

'That won't be necessary. I want you to play the part of the person who pushed you.'

He opened the bathroom door and looked inside. 'Good, the window is open.' He unbuttoned his jacket to reveal a shoulder holster, holding a 38-caliber revolver. He drew it and passed it to Paul. 'When I nod, stand in the middle of the corridor and fire that through the open bathroom door and out of the window. Then immediately step into the bathroom, close it all but a crack, and peer through. Whenever you think you can slip out without being noticed, do so, and join the crowd jostling in the doorway.'

'OK.'

Allgood took from one pocket his notebook and pencil, and from another pocket a stopwatch. Then he gave Paul a nod. Paul raised the pistol, took careful aim for the bathroom window, and squeezed the trigger. The report rang out, echoing through the corridor. Paul hastily stepped into the bathroom and pushed the door nearly to. At the same moment Allgood started the watch.

Within ten seconds Gerry appeared round the corner at the far end. She sprinted along the corridor. As she arrived Allgood said, 'All right, look into the room, see Carter and the body.' He glanced at the watch and made a jotting in the notebook.

Only a few seconds passed before Hugh's door opened and he joined Gerry, followed almost immediately by Maude Fry. Rex was the next to arrive; then the Earl and Countess, Sebastian and Cecily together, and Haggermeir. Allgood continued to make notes, all the while urging them into the doorway.

It was after Haggermeir's arrival that Paul opened the bathroom door wide, took a quick glance along the corridor and then, obviously unnoticed by the others, joined the gathering. It was a further thirty seconds before Gilbert arrived, followed at last by Jemima Dove.

Allgood stopped the watch and drew back the curtains. 'Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Now, can anyone—' He broke off. 'No, we can't talk here; it's too crowded.' He addressed the Earl: 'Burford, do you think we might move into the gallery for a while? I don't want to go all the way downstairs again. There may be one or two other points I want to demonstrate up here at the scene of the crime.'

'Oh, of course. Gladly.' Lord Burford led the way to the gallery doors, saying as he did so, 'Still locked, actually, but think I've got the key here.'

He fumbled in his pocket, found the key, opened one of the huge double doors, and stood aside. The others trooped. As they were doing so, Chalky came along the corridor and whispered to Allgood for a few seconds. Allgood gave a satisfied nod. Then he and Chalky followed the Earl into the gallery and Chalky closed the door.

Allgood said, 'Those of you who'd care to sit, please do. We may be here some little time.'

Lord and Lady Burford, Cecily and Sebastian, Jemima Dove, Maude Fry, Gilbert, and Haggermeir moved to various of the sofas and upright chairs placed by the walls and sat down. Gerry, Paul, Rex, and Hugh remained on their feet, the latter ostentatiously strolling across to a Reynolds portrait of the fifth Earl and studying it lazily, his hands in his pockets and his back to Allgood. Wilkins and Leather took up position, sentry-like, at each side of the doors, with Chalky a little further along. Allgood moved to the centre of the room and surveyed his audience.

'This has been a quite interesting little case,' he said. 'Teasing, without being too baffling. It was complicated by a number of strange incidents which preceded the actual murder, and I intend to start by looking at those. First I'd like you to begin, Lady Geraldine, by telling everybody about your adventure Thursday night.'

Gerry looked a little aback, but collected her thoughts and gave a concise account of the struggle with the prowler in her father's study. When she'd finished and her parents and the others were still staring at her in amazement, Allgood said quietly, 'Lady Geraldine, do you know who the prowler was?'

She nodded.

'Tell us, please.'

She gulped, then said, 'It - it was Mr Gilbert.'

'What?' Gilbert leapt to his feet with a roar. 'That's a lie! I've never been near the study.'

She said doggedly, 'You admitted it to me Friday morning in the music room.'

'I did no such thing!'

'I told you it was I who scratched your face.'

His eyes bulged. 'That wasn't in the study. That was up here, near the top of the stairs.'

She gave a gasp. 'I never struggled with anybody there.'

'Well, I did. And I'm pretty sure it was a woman.'

'I suppose that was after you'd finished skulking about in Rex's room, was it?' she said bitingly.

Gilbert looked as thought he was going to burst. 'Skulking about where?'

'You heard what I said. And don't try to deny it. Rex told me about it.'

'Jupiter's teeth, it's a conspiracy!' Gilbert turned to Allgood. 'There's not a word of truth in any of this.'

Gerry said, 'I'm sorry, Rex, but I'll have to ask you to back me up.'

All eyes turned suddenly on Rex. He smiled a little nervously. 'Back you up?'

'Confirm what you said about Gilbert being in your room. I know the other night you said I'd misunderstood you, but we both know I didn't.'

Rex took out a cigarette case and lighter, lit up and inhaled deeply. He said, 'I'm sorry, Gerry, but Gilbert's never been in my room, as far as I know.'

Gerry gazed at him coldly. 'You're lying,' she said quietly. 'I thought when it came to the crunch you'd have more guts.'

Paul put his arm around her and addressed Allgood angrily, 'I don't know what's going on here, but Gerry's about the most truthful person I know. And she's certainly not crazy. I believe her implicitly.' Allgood just shrugged.

Gerry dashed a sudden tear from her eye. She said, 'I don't have to stay and put up with this. Take me out, Paul. Let's go away at once, after all. When we get back they'll all be gone.'

'Yes, of course, darling.' He started to lead her towards the door.

'Stop!'

The voice rang out like a whipcrack. It came from Rex. Under his tan his face was pale. He said, 'It's no good. I could never stand to see a woman cry. Sorry I let you down, Gerry.' He looked at Allgood. 'It's true. Gilbert was in my room Thursday night. We had a bit of a scrap.'

Gilbert raised both arms skywards and gave a howl of rage. 'It's a frame-up! I'll have you all in court! Slander! Libel! Defamation!' He pointed a finger at Allgood. 'You put them up to this, you - you — guttersnipe.'

'Kindly keep a civil tongue in your head, sir. If there's any conspiracy I'll get to the bottom of it. Now sit down and be quiet.'

Gilbert stared at him silently for a moment, then subsided, muttering, on to a sofa.

Allgood said, 'Ransom, why did you deny this just now?'

Rex inhaled deeply on his cigarette. 'Because - because I'm being blackmailed.'

'Blackmailed?'

'Yes, a photo was taken in my room Thursday night. I've since received a copy of it and a note demanding two thousand pounds for the negative. I was going to pay up. But I've changed my mind.' Suddenly his chin rose and his voice rang out proudly. 'In the immortal words of your Duke of Wellington, "Let them publish and be damned".' It was a beautifully delivered line.

'Hear, hear, sir. Well said.' This from the Earl. For a moment Gerry thought he was going to clap. Rex made him the slightest of bows.

'We'll look into this later,' Allgood said. 'But first tell me one thing, Ransom: what evidence do you have that the intruder was Gilbert?'

'I punched him in the eye. Gilbert had a shiner the next morning. He said he'd bumped into the closet door.'

'Was that true, Gilbert?' Allgood asked him. 'If not, I strongly advise you to tell the truth now, for your own sake.'

Gilbert hesitated, then shook his head. 'No, it wasn't. The man I struggled with near the top of the stairs did it.'

'The man? I thought you said it was a woman.'

Gilbert's eyes flickered. 'Both,' he said gruffly.

Allgood stared. 'Both?'

'Yes,' Gilbert snapped. 'First a man ran into me and blacked my eye and then a minute later a woman scratched my cheek.'

'Oh, for Pete's sake!' Rex gave a groan and looked at Allgood. 'You surely don't believe that, do you?'

'I neither believe it nor disbelieve it for the moment. But let's for the sake of argument suppose it's true. It means that apart from yourself and Lady Geraldine, another man and another woman were prowling about the house that night. Unlikely, but perhaps a little less unlikely if they weren't acting independently of each other, but were a couple, working together. Well, apart from the Earl and Countess, there was only one couple here.'

Allgood looked directly at Sebastian. 'Well, Mr Everard?'

Sebastian's mouth fell open. 'Me? Us? Walking about in the dark? Oh, no. Never. Both asleep. Cec and me. Sorry and all that.'

'You and who?'

'Cecily. My wife.'

'Ah, yes, of course.' Allgood suddenly swung round to face the Countess. 'Lady Burford, when did you last see your cousin, Cecily Bradshaw?'

'Before this weekend? Oh, twenty-five years ago, I should think.'

'You have not seen her this weekend, Lady Burford. I regret to say that Cecily Bradshaw was killed eight years ago in a car crash, in Australia.'

Every eye in the room turned on the woman they'd known as Cecily. She'd gone deathly pale and didn't speak.

Allgood said, 'I should add that her second husband, Sebastian Everard, died in the same crash.'

He stepped across to where Sebastian and Cecily were sitting and looked down at them. 'If you have an explanation I would like to have it now.'

Sebastian stood up. Suddenly he looked different: less limp and languid, harder and tougher altogether. When he spoke his voice was different, too. The foppish drawl had gone completely.

'Yes, we're impostors. My name is Ned Turner. This is my wife, Mabel. And let me say first that this is absolutely nothing to do with her. I talked her into it, much against her will.'

'Talked her into what exactly?' Allgood asked in a silky soft voice. 'Into - murder?'

'No! We had nothing to do with that. I mean talked her into coming here and posing as Sebastian and Cecily Everard.'