Its a logical suggestion, Phillpot said, but I know of no reason why anyone should.
Some important mineral deposit, I suggested, that nobody knows about.
Hm, I doubt it.
Something like buried treasure. Oh, I know it sounds absurd. Or well, say the proceeds of some big bank robbery.
Phillpot was still shaking his head but rather less vehemently now.
The only other proposition, I said, is to go one step farther back as you did just now. Behind Mrs Lee to the person who paid Mrs Lee. That might be some unknown enemy of Ellies.
But you cant think of anyone it would be likely to be?
No. She didnt know anyone down here. That Im sure of. She had no links with this place. I got up. Thank you for listening to me, I said.
I wish I could have been more helpful.
I went out of the door, fingering the thing that I was carrying in my pocket. Then, taking a sudden decision, I turned on my heels and went back into the room.
Theres something Id like to show you, I said. Actually, I was going to take it down to show Sergeant Keene and see what he could make of it.
I dived into my pocket and brought out a stone round which was wrapped a crumpled bit of paper with printed writing on it.
This was thrown through our breakfast window this morning, I said. I heard the crash of the glass as I came down the stairs. А stone was thrown through the window once before when we first came here. I dont know if this is the same person or not.
I took off the wrapping paper and held it out for him. It was a dirty, coarse bit of paper. There was some printing on it in rather faint ink. Phillpot put on his spectacles and bent over the piece of paper. The message on it was quite short. All it said was, It was a woman who killed your wife!
Phillpots eyebrows went up.
Extraordinary, he said. Was the first message you got printed?
I cant remember now. It was just a warning to go away from here. I cant even remember the exact wording of it now. Anyway, it seems pretty certain that that was hooligans. This doesnt seem quite the same.
Do you think it was thrown in by someone who knew something?
Probably just a bit of silly cruel malice in the anonymous letter class. You get it, you know, a good deal in villages.
He handed it back to me.
But I think your instinct was right, he said, to take it to Sergeant Keene. Hell know more about these anonymous things than I should.
I found Sergeant Keene at the police station and he was definitely interested.
Theres queer things going on here, he said.
What do you think it means? I asked.
Hard to say. Might be just malice leading up to accusing some particular person.
It might be just accusing Mrs Lee, I suppose?
No, I dont think it would have been put that way. It might be Id like to think it was it might be that someone saw or heard something. Heard a noise or a cry or the horse bolted right past someone, and they saw or met a woman soon afterwards. But it sounds as though it was a different woman from the gipsy, because everyone thinks the gipsys mixed up in this anyway. So this sounds as though another, an entirely different woman was meant.
What about the gipsy? I said. Have you had news of her, found her?
He shook his head slowly.
We know some of the places she used to go when she left here. East Anglia, that way. Shed friends there among the gipsy clan. Shes not been there, they say, but theyd say that anyway. They clam up, you know. Shes fairly well known by sight in those parts but nobodys seen her. All the same, I dont think shes as far away as East Anglia.
There was something peculiar about the way he said the words.
I dont quite understand, I said.
Look at it this way, shes scared. Shes got good reason to be. Shes been threatening your wife, frightening her, and now, say, she caused an accident and your wife died. The policell be after her. She knows that, so shell go to earth, as you might say. Shell put as big a distance between herself and us as she possibly can. But she wont want to show herself. Shed be afraid of public transport.
But youll find her? Shes a woman of striking appearance[65].
Ah yes, we shall find her eventually. These things take a little time. That is, if it was that way.
But you think it was some other way.
Well, you know what Ive wondered all along. Whether somebody was paying her to say the things she did?
Then she might be even more anxious to get away, I pointed out.
But somebody else would be anxious too. Youve got to think of that, Mr Rogers.
You mean, I said slowly, the person who paid her.
Yes.
Supposing it was a a woman who paid her.
And supposing somebody else has some idea of that. And so they start sending anonymous messages. The woman would be scared too. She neednt have meant this to happen, you know. However much she got that gipsy woman to frighten your wife away from this place she wouldnt have meant it to result in Mrs Rogers death.
No, I said. Death wasnt meant. It was just to frighten us. To frighten my wife and to frighten me into leaving here. And now whos going to be frightened? The woman who caused the accident. And thats Mrs Esther Lee. And so shes going to come clean, isnt she? Say it wasnt really her doing. Shell admit even that she was paid money to do it. And shell mention a name. Shell say who paid her. And somebody wouldnt like that would they, Mr Rogers?
You mean this unknown woman that weve more or less postulated without even knowing theres any such person?
Man or woman, say someone paid her. Well, that someone would want her silenced pretty quickly, wouldnt they?
Youre thinking she might be dead?
Its a possibility, isnt it? said Keene. Then he made what seemed quite an abrupt change of subject. You know that kind of Folly place, Mr Rogers, that youve got up at the top of your woods?
Yes, I said, what of it? My wife and I had it repaired and fixed up a bit. We used to go up there occasionally but not very often. Not lately certainly. Why?
Well, weve been hunting about, you know. We looked into this Folly. It wasnt locked.
No, I said, we never bothered to lock it. There was nothing of value in there, just a few odd bits of furniture.
We thought it possible old Mrs Lee had been using it but we found no traces of her. We did find this, though. I was going to show it to you anyway. He opened a drawer and took out a small delicate gold-chased lighter. It was a womans lighter and it had an initial on it in diamonds. The letter C. It wouldnt be your wifes, would it?
Not with the initial C. No, its not Ellies, I said. She hadnt anything of that kind. And its not Miss Andersens either. Her name is Greta.
It was up there where somebody had dropped it. Its a classy bit of goods cost money.
C, I said, repeating the initial thoughtfully. I cant think of anyone whos been with us whose initial is C except Cora, I said. Thats my wifes stepmother. Mrs van Stuyvesant, but I really cant see her scrambling up to the Folly along that overgrown path. And anyway she hasnt been staying with us for quite a long time. About a month. I dont think Ive ever seen her using this lighter. Perhaps I wouldnt notice anyway, I said. Miss Andersen might know.
Well, take it up with you and show it to her.
I will. But if so, if its Coras, it seems odd that weve never seen it when weve been in the Folly lately. Theres not much stuff there. Youd notice something like this lying on the floor it was on the floor?
Yes, quite near the divan. Of course anybody might use that Folly. Its a handy place, you know, for a couple of lovers to meet any time. The locals Im talking about. But they wouldnt be likely to have an expensive thing of this kind.
Theres Claudia Hardcastle, I said, but I doubt if shed have anything as fancy as this. And what would she be doing in the Folly?
She was quite a friend of your wifes, wasnt she?
Yes, I said, I think she was Ellies best friend down here. And shed know we wouldnt mind her using the Folly any time.
Ah, said Sergeant Keene.
I looked at him rather hard. You dont think Claudia Hardcastle was a an enemy of Ellies do you? That would be absurd.
Doesnt seem any reason why she should be, I agree, but you never know with ladies.
I suppose I began and then stopped because what I was going to say would seem perhaps rather odd.
Yes, Mr Rogers?
I believe that Claudia Hardcastle was originally married to an American an American named Lloyd. Actually the name of my wifes principal trustee in America is Stanford Lloyd. But there must be hundreds of Lloyds and anyway it would only be a coincidence if it was the same person. And what would it have to do with all this?
It doesnt seem likely. But then he stopped.
The funny thing is that I thought I saw Stanford Lloyd down here on the day of the the accident Having lunch in the George at Bartington
He didnt come to see you?
I shook my head.
He was with someone who looked rather like Miss Hardcastle. But probably it was just a mistake on my part. You know, I suppose, that it was her brother who built our house?
Does she take an interest in the house?
No, I said, I dont think she likes her brothers type of architecture. Then I got up. Well, I wont take any more of your time. Try and find the gipsy.
We shant stop looking, I can tell you that. Coroner wants her too.
I said goodbye and went out of the police station. In the queer way that so often happens when you suddenly meet someone youve been talking about, Claudia Hardcastle came out of the post office just as I was passing it. We both stopped. She said with that slight embarrassment that you have when you meet someone thats been recently bereaved:
Im so terribly sorry, Mike, about Ellie. I wont say any more. Its beastly when people say things to you. But I have just just to say that.
I know, I said. You were very nice to Ellie. You made her feel at home here. Ive been grateful.
There was one thing I wanted to ask you and I thought perhaps Id better do it now before you go to America. I hear youre going quite soon.
As soon as I can. Ive got a lot to see to there.
It was only if you were putting your house on the market I thought it might be a thing youd set in motion before you went away And if so if so, Id rather like to have the first refusal of it[66].
I stared at her. This really did surprise me. It was the last thing Id expected.
You mean youd like to buy it? I thought you didnt even care for that type of architecture?
My brother Rudolf said to me that it was the best thing hed done. I dare say he knows. I expect youll want a very large price for it but I could pay it. Yes, Id like to have it.
I couldnt help thinking it was odd. Shed never shown the faintest appreciation of our house when shed come to it. I wondered as Id wondered once or twice before what her links with her half-brother really were. Had she really a great devotion to him? Sometimes Id almost thought that she disliked him, perhaps hated him. She spoke of him certainly in a very odd way. But whatever her actual emotions were, he meant something to her. Meant something important. I shook my head slowly.
I can see that you might think Id want to sell the place and leave here because of Ellies death, I said. But actually thats not so at all. We lived here and were happy and this is the place I shall remember her best. I shant sell Gipsys Acre not for any consideration! You can be quite sure of that.
Our eyes met. It was like a kind of tussle between us. Then hers dropped.
I took my courage in both hands and spoke.
Its no business of mine, but you were married once. Was the name of your husband Stanford Lloyd?
She looked at me for a moment without speaking. Then she said abruptly:
Yes, and turned away.
Chapter 21
Confusion Thats all I can remember when I look back. Newspapermen asking questions wanting interviews masses of letters and telegrams Greta coping with them
The first really startling thing was that Ellies family were not as we supposed in America. It was quite a shock to find that most of them were actually in England. It was understandable, perhaps, that Cora van Stuyvesant should be. She was a very restless woman, always dashing across to Europe, to Italy, to Paris, to London and back again to America, to Palm Beach, out West to the ranch; here, there and everywhere. On the actual day of Ellies death she had been not more than fifty miles away, still pursuing her whim of having a house in England. She had rushed over to stay in London for two or three days and gone to fresh house agents for fresh orders to view and had been touring round the country seeing half a dozen on that particular day.
Stanford Lloyd, it turned out, had flown over in the same plane ostensibly for a business meeting in London. These people learnt of Ellies death, not from the cables which we had dispatched to the United States but from the public Press.
An ugly wrangle developed about where Ellie should be buried. I had assumed it was only natural that shed be buried here where she had died. Here where she and I had lived.
But Ellies family objected violently to this. They wanted the body brought to America to be buried with her forebears. Where her grandfather and her father, her mother and others had been laid to rest. I suppose it was natural, really, when one comes to think of it.
Andrew Lippincott came down to talk to me about it. He put the matter in a reasonable way.
She never left any directions as to where she wished to be buried, he pointed out to me.
Why should she? I demanded hotly. How old was she twenty-one? You dont think at twenty-one youre going to die. You dont start thinking then the way you want to be buried. If wed ever thought about it wed assume wed be buried together somewhere even if we didnt die at the same time. But who thinks of death in the middle of life?
A very just observation, said Mr Lippincott. Then he said, Im afraid youll also have to come to America, you know. Theres a great deal of business interests youll have to look into.
What sort of business? What have I got to do with business?
You could have a great deal to do with it, he said. Dont you realize that youre the principal beneficiary under the will?