“Anybody see you on this walk of yours, Mr. Wright?”
“A few cars passed me, I think, on the road. I did not see anyone I knew, if that’s what you mean. The lane was little more than a cart-track and too muddy for cars.”
“So between the time you left the hotel at a quarter past four until six o’clock when you arrived back again, I’ve only your word for it as to where you were?”
Gerald Wright continued to smile in a superior fashion.
“Very distressing for us both, Inspector, but there it is.”
Inspector Neele said softly:
“Then if someone said they looked out of a landing window and saw you in the garden of Yewtree Lodge at about 4:35—” he paused and left the sentence unfinished.
Gerald Wright raised his eyebrows and shook his head.
“Visibility must have been very bad by then,” he said. “I think it would be difficult for anyone to be sure.”
“Are you acquainted with Mr. Vivian Dubois, who is also staying here?”
“Dubois. Dubois? No, I don’t think so. Is that the tall, dark man with a pretty taste in suede shoes?”
“Yes. He also was out for a walk that afternoon, and he also left the hotel and walked past Yewtree Lodge. You did not notice him in the road by any chance?”
“No. No. I can’t say I did.”
Gerald Wright looked for the first time faintly worried. Inspector Neele said thoughtfully:
“It wasn’t really a very nice afternoon for walking, especially after dark in a muddy lane. Curious how energetic everyone seems to have felt.”
IV
On Inspector Neele’s return to the house he was greeted by Sergeant Hay with an air of satisfaction.
“I’ve found out about the blackbirds for you, sir,” he said.
“You have, have you?”
“Yes, sir, in a pie they were. Cold pie was left out for Sunday night’s supper. Somebody got at that pie in the larder or somewhere. They’d taken off the crust and they’d taken out the veal and ’am what was inside it, and what d’you think they put in instead? Some stinkin’ blackbirds they got out of the gardener’s shed. Nasty sort of trick to play, wasn’t it?”
“ ‘Wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?’ ” said Inspector Neele.
He left Sergeant Hay staring after him.
Chapter Eighteen
I
“Just wait a minute,” said Miss Ramsbottom. “This patience is going to come out.”
She transferred a king and his various impedimenta into an empty space, put a red seven on a black eight, built up the four, five and six of spades on her foundation heap, made a few more rapid transfers of cards and then leaned back with a sign of satisfaction.
“That’s the Double Jester,” she said. “It doesn’t often come out.”
She leaned back in a satisfied fashion, then raised her eyes at the girl standing by the fireplace.
“So you’re Lance’s wife,” she said.
Pat, who had been summoned upstairs to Miss Ramsbottom’s presence, nodded her head.
“Yes,” she said.
“You’re a tall girl,” said Miss Ramsbottom, “and you look healthy.”
“I’m very healthy.”
Miss Ramsbottom nodded in a satisfied manner.
“Percival’s wife is pasty,” she said. “Eats too many sweets and doesn’t take enough exercise. Well, sit down, child, sit down. Where did you meet my nephew?”
“I met him out in Kenya when I was staying there with some friends.”
“You’ve been married before, I understand.”
“Yes. Twice.”
Miss Ramsbottom gave a profound sniff.
“Divorce, I suppose.”
“No,” said Pat. Her voice trembled a little. “They both—died. My first husband was a fighter pilot. He was killed in the war.”
“And your second husband? Let me see—somebody told me. Shot himself, didn’t he?”
Pat nodded.
“Your fault?”
“No,” said Pat. “It wasn’t my fault.”
“Racing man, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve never been on a race course in my life,” said Miss Ramsbottom. “Betting and card playing—all devices of the devil!”
Pat did not reply.
“I wouldn’t go inside a theatre or a cinema,” said Miss Ramsbottom. “Ah, well, it’s a wicked world nowadays. A lot of wickedness was going on in this house, but the Lord struck them down.”
Pat still found it difficult to say anything. She wondered if Lance’s Aunt Effie was really quite all there. She was, however, a trifle disconcerted by the old lady’s shrewd glance at her.
“How much,” demanded Aunt Effie, “do you know about the family you’ve married into?”
“I suppose,” said Pat, “as much as one ever knows of the family one marries into.”
“H’m, something in that, something in that. Well, I’ll tell you this. My sister was a fool, my brother-in-law was a rogue, Percival is a sneak, and your Lance was always the bad boy of the family.”
“I think that’s all nonsense,” said Pat robustly.
“Maybe you’re right,” said Miss Ramsbottom, unexpectedly. “You can’t just stick labels on people. But don’t underestimate Percival. There’s a tendency to believe that those who are labelled good are also stupid. Percival isn’t the least bit stupid. He’s quite clever in a sanctimonious kind of way. I’ve never cared for him. Mind you, I don’t trust Lance and I don’t approve of him, but I can’t help being fond of him . . . He’s a reckless sort of fellow—always has been. You’ve got to look after him and see he doesn’t go too far. Tell him not to underestimate Percival, my dear. Tell him not to believe everything that Percival says. They’re all liars in this house.” The old lady added with satisfaction: “Fire and brimstone shall be their portion.”
II
Inspector Neele was finishing a telephone conversation with Scotland Yard.
The assistant commissioner at the other end said:
“We ought to be able to get that information for you—by circularizing the various private sanatoriums. Of course she may be dead.”
“Probably is. It’s a long time ago.”
Old sins cast long shadows. Miss Ramsbottom had said that—said it with a significance, too—as though she was giving him a hint.
“It’s a fantastic theory,” said the AC.
“Don’t I know it, sir. But I don’t feel we can ignore it altogether. Too much fits in—”
“Yes—yes—rye—blackbirds—the man’s Christian name—”
Neele said:
“I’m concentrating on the other lines too—Dubois is a possibility—so is Wright—the girl Gladys could have caught sight of either of them outside the side door—she could have left the tea tray in the hall and gone out to see who it was and what they were doing—whoever it was could have strangled her then and there and then carried her body round to the clothesline and put the peg on her nose—”
“A crazy thing to do in all conscience! A nasty one too.”
“Yes, sir. That’s what upset the old lady—Miss Marple, I mean. Nice old lady—and very shrewd. She’s moved into the house—to be near old Miss Ramsbottom—and I’ve no doubt she’ll get to hear anything that’s going.”
“What’s your next move, Neele?”
“I’ve an appointment with the London solicitors. I want to find out a little more about Rex Fortescue’s affairs. And though it’s old history, I want to hear a little more about the Blackbird Mine.”
III
Mr. Billingsley, of Billingsley, Horsethorpe & Walters, was an urbane man whose discretion was concealed habitually by a misleadingly forthcoming manner. It was the second interview that Inspector Neele had had with him, and on this occasion Mr. Billingsley’s discretion was less noticeable than it had been on the former one. The triple tragedy at Yewtree Lodge had shaken Mr. Billingsley out of his pr
ofessional reserve. He was now only too anxious to put all the facts he could before the police.
“Most extraordinary business, this whole thing,” he said. “A most extraordinary business. I don’t remember anything like it in all my professional career.”
“Frankly, Mr. Billingsley,” said Inspector Neele, “we need all the help we can get.”
“You can count on me, my dear sir. I shall be only too happy to assist you in every way I can.”
“First let me ask you how well you knew the late Mr. Fortescue, and how well do you know the affairs of his firm?”
“I knew Rex Fortescue fairly well. That is to say I’ve known him for a period of, well, sixteen years I should say. Mind you, we are not the only firm of solicitors he employed, not by a long way.”
Inspector Neele nodded. He knew that. Billingsley, Horsethorpe & Walters were what one might describe as Rex Fortescue’s reputable solicitors. For his less reputable dealings he had employed several different and slightly less scrupulous firms.
“Now what do you want to know?” continued Mr. Billingsley. “I’ve told you about his will. Percival Fortescue is the residuary legatee.”
“I’m interested now,” said Inspector Neele, “in the will of his widow. On Mr. Fortescue’s death she came into the sum of one hundred thousand pounds, I understand?”
Billingsley nodded his head.
“A considerable sum of money,” he said, “and I may tell you in confidence, Inspector, that it is one the firm could ill have afforded to pay out.”
“The firm, then, is not prosperous?”
“Frankly,” said Mr. Billingsley, “and strictly between ourselves, it’s drifting onto the rocks and has been for the last year and a half.”
“For any particular reason?”
“Why yes. I should say the reason was Rex Fortescue himself. For the last year Rex Fortescue’s been acting like a madman. Selling good stock here, buying speculative stuff there, talking big about it all the time in the most extraordinary way. Wouldn’t listen to advice. Percival—the son, you know—he came here urging me to use my influence with his father. He’d tried, apparently and been swept aside. Well, I did what I could, but Fortescue wouldn’t listen to reason. Really, he seems to have been a changed man.”
“But not, I gather, a depressed man,” said Inspector Neele.
“No, no. Quite the contrary. Flamboyant, bombastic.”
Inspector Neele nodded. An idea which had already taken form in his mind was strengthened. He thought he was beginning to understand some of the causes of friction between Percival and his father. Mr. Billingsley was continuing:
“But it’s no good asking me about the wife’s will. I didn’t make any will for her.”
“No. I know that,” said Neele. “I’m merely verifying that she had something to leave. In short, a hundred thousand pounds.”
Mr. Billingsley was shaking his head violently.
“No, no, my dear sir. You’re wrong there.”
“Do you mean the hundred thousand pounds was only left to her for her lifetime?”
“No—no—it was left to her outright. But there was a clause in the will governing that bequest. That is to say, Fortescue’s wife did not inherit the sum unless she survived him for one month. That, I may say, is a clause fairly common nowadays. It has come into operation owing to the uncertainties of air travel. If two people are killed in an air accident, it becomes exceedingly difficult to say who was the survivor and a lot of very curious problems arise.”
Inspector Neele was staring at him.
“Then Adele Fortescue had not got a hundred thousand pounds to leave. What happens to that money?”
“It goes back into the firm. Or rather, I should say, it goes to the residuary legatee.”
“And the residuary legatee is Mr. Percival Fortescue.”
“That’s right,” said Billingsley, “it goes to Percival Fortescue. And with the state the firm’s affairs are in,” he added unguardedly, “I should say that he’ll need it!”
IV
“The things you policemen want to know,” said Inspector Neele’s doctor friend.
“Come on, Bob, spill it.”
“Well, as we’re alone together you can’t quote me, fortunately! But I should say, you know, that your idea’s dead right. GPI by the sound of it all. The family suspected it and wanted to get him to see a doctor. He wouldn’t. It acts just in the way you describe. Loss of judgment, megalomania, violent fits of irritation and anger—boastfulness—delusions of grandeur—of being a great financial genius. Anyone suffering from that would soon put a solvent firm on the rocks—unless he could be restrained—and that’s not so easy to do—especially if the man himself has an idea of what you’re after. Yes—I should say it was a bit of luck for your friends that he died.”
“They’re no friends of mine,” said Neele. He repeated what he had once said before:
“They’re all very unpleasant people. . . .”
Chapter Nineteen
In the drawing room at Yewtree Lodge, the whole Fortescue family was assembled. Percival Fortescue, leaning against the mantelpiece, was addressing the meeting.
“It’s all very well,” said Percival. “But the whole position is most unsatisfactory. The police come and go and don’t tell us anything. One supposes they’re pursuing some line of research. In the meantime everything’s at a standstill. One can’t make plans, one can’t arrange things for the future.”
“It’s all so inconsiderate,” said Jennifer. “And so stupid.”
“There still seems to be this ban against anyone leaving the house,” went on Percival. “Still, I think among ourselves we might discuss future plans. What about you, Elaine? I gather you’re going to marry—what’s-his-name—Gerald Wright? Have you any idea when?”
“As soon as possible,” said Elaine.
Percival frowned.
“You mean, in about six months’ time?”
“No, I don’t. Why should we wait six months?”
“I think it would be more decent,” said Percival.
“Rubbish,” said Elaine. “A month. That’s the longest we’ll wait.”
“Well, it’s for you to say,” said Percival. “And what are your plans when you are married, if you have any?”
“We’re thinking of starting a school.”
Percival shook his head.
“That’s a very risky speculation in these times. What with the shortage of domestic labour, the difficulty of getting an adequate teaching staff—really, Elaine, it sounds all right. But I should think twice about it if I were you.”
“We have thought. Gerald feels that the whole future of this country lies in right education.”
“I am seeing Mr. Billingsley the day after tomorrow,” said Percival. “We’ve got to go into various questions of finance. He was suggesting that you might like to make this money that’s been left to you by Father into a trust for yourself and your children. It’s a very sound thing to do nowadays.”
“I don’t want to do that,” said Elaine. “We shall need the money to start up our school. There’s a very suitable house we’ve heard of for sale. It’s in Cornwall. Beautiful grounds and quite a good house. It would have to be built onto a good deal—several wings added.”
“You mean—you mean you’re going to take all your money out of the business? Really, Elaine, I don’t think you’re wise.”
“Much wiser to take it out than leave it in, I should say,” said Elaine. “Businesses are going phut all over the place. You said yourself, Val, before Father died, that things were getting into a pretty bad state.”
“One says that sort of thing,” said Percival vaguely, “but I must say, Elaine, to take out all your capital and sink it in the buying, equipping and running of a school is crazy. If it’s not a success, look what happens? You’re left without a penny.”
“It will be a success,” said Elaine, doggedly.
“I’m with you.” Lance, lying spr
awled out in a chair, spoke up encouragingly. “Have a crack at it, Elaine. In my opinion it’ll be a damned odd sort of school, but it’s what you want to do—you and Gerald. If you do lose your money you’ll at any rate have had the satisfaction of doing what you wanted to do.”
“Just what one might have expected you to say, Lance,” said Percival, acidly.
“I know, I know,” said Lance. “I’m the spendthrift prodigal son. But I still think I’ve had more fun out of life than you have, Percy, old boy.”
“It depends on what you call fun,” said Percival coldly. “Which brings us to your own plans, Lance. I suppose you’ll be off again back to Kenya—or Canada—or climbing Mount Everest or something fairly fantastic?”
“Now what makes you think that?” said Lance.
“Well, you’ve never had much use for a stay-at-home life in England, have you?”
“One changes as one gets older,” said Lance. “One settles down. D’you know, Percy my boy, I’m quite looking forward to having a crack at being a sober business man.”
“Do you mean. . . .”
“I mean I’m coming into the firm with you, old boy.” Lance grinned. “Oh, you’re the senior partner, of course. You’ve got the lion’s share. I’m only a very junior partner. But I have got a holding in it that gives me the right to be in on things, doesn’t it?”
“Well—yes—of course, if you put it that way. But I can assure you, my dear boy, you’ll be very, very bored.”
“I wonder now. I don’t believe I shall be bored.”
Percival frowned.
“You don’t seriously mean, Lance, that you’re coming into the business?”
“Having a finger in the pie? Yes, that’s exactly what I am doing.”
Percival shook his head.
“Things are in a very bad way, you know. You’ll find that out. It’s going to be about all we can do to pay out Elaine her share, if she insists on having it paid out.”
“There you are, Elaine,” said Lance. “You see how wise you were to insist on grabbing your money while it’s still there to grab.”