Taverner glanced at his watch.
Im afraid, he said, Ive been keeping you from your lunch.
Wont you stay and lunch with us, Chief Inspector? asked Philip.
Thank you, Mr Leonides, but I am meeting Dr Gray in Swinly Dean.
Philip turned to the lawyer.
Youll lunch with us, Gaitskill?
Thank you, Philip.
Everybody stood up. I edged unobtrusively towards Sophia.
Do I go or stay? I murmured. It sounded ridiculously like the title of a Victorian song.
Go, I think, said Sophia.
I slipped quietly out[90] of the room in pursuit of[91] Taverner. Josephine was swinging to and fro on a baize door leading to the back quarters. She appeared to be highly amused about something.
The police are stupid, she observed.
Sophia came out of the drawing-room.
What have you been doing, Josephine?
Helping Nannie.
I believe youve been listening outside the door. Josephine made a face at her and retreated.
That child, said Sophia, is a bit of a problem.
Chapter 11
I came into the ACs room at the Yard to find Ta ve rner finishing the recital of what had apparently been a tale of woe.
And there you are, he was saying. Ive turned the lot of them inside outand what do I getnothing at all! No motives. None of them hard up. And all that weve got against the wife and her young man is that he made sheeps eyes at her when she poured him out his coffee!
Come, come, Taverner, I said. I can do a little better than that for you.
You can, can you? Well, Mr Charles, what did you get?
I sat down, lit a cigarette, leaned back and let them have it.
Roger Leonides and his wife were planning a getaway abroad next Tuesday. Roger and his father had a stormy interview on the day of the old mans death. Old Leonides had found out something was wrong, and Roger was admitting culpability.
Taverner went purple in the face.
Where the hell did you get all that from? he demanded. If you got it from the servants
I didnt get it from the servants. I got it, I said, from a private inquiry agent.
What do you mean?
And I must say that, in accordance with the canons of the best detective stories, he, or rather sheor perhaps Id better say ithas licked the police hollow!
I also think, I went on, that my private detective has a few more things up his, her or its sleeve[92].
Taverner opened his mouth and shut it again. He wanted to ask so many questions at once that he found it hard to begin.
Roger! he said. So Rogers a wrong un, is he?
I felt a slight reluctance as I unburdened myself. I had liked Roger Leonides. Remembering his comfortable, friendly room, and the mans own friendly charm, I disliked setting the hounds of justice on his track. It was possible, of course, that all Josephines information would be unreliable, but I did not really think so.
So the kid told you? said Taverner. She seems to be wise to everything that goes on in that house.
Children usually are, said my father dryly.
This information, if true, altered the whole position. If Roger had been, as Josephine confidently suggested, embezzling the funds of Associated Catering and if the old man had found it out, it might have been vital to silence old Leonides and to leave England before the truth came out. Possibly Roger had rendered himself liable to criminal prosecution.
It was agreed that inquiries should be made without delay into the affairs of Associated Catering.
It will be an almighty crash, if that goes, my father remarked. Its a huge concern. There are millions involved. If its really in Queer Street, it gives us what we want, said Taverner. Father summons Roger. Roger breaks down and confesses. Brenda Leonides was out at a cinema. Roger has only got to leave his fathers room, walk into the bathroom, empty out an insulin phial and replace it with the strong solution of eserine and there you are. Or his wife may have done it. She went over to the other wing after she came home that daysays she went to fetch a pipe Roger had left there. But she could have gone over to switch the stuff before Brenda came home and gave him his injection. Shed be quite cool and capable about it.
I nodded. Yes, I fancy her as the actual doer of the deed. Shes cool enough for anything! And I dont really think that Roger Leonides would think of poison as a meansthat trick with the insulin has something feminine about it.
Plenty of men poisoners, said my father dryly.
Oh, I know, sir, said Taverner. Dont I know! he added with feeling.
All the same I shouldnt have said Roger was the type.
Pritchard, the Old Man reminded him, was a good mixer.
Lets say they were in it together.
With the accent on Lady Macbeth, said my father, as Taverner departed. Is that how she strikes you, Charles?
I visualized the slight, graceful figure standing by the window in that austere room.
Not quite, I said. Lady Macbeth was essentially a greedy woman. I dont think Clemency Leonides is. I dont think she wants or cares for possessions.
But she might care, desperately, about her husbands safety?
That, yes. And she could certainly bewell, ruthless.
Different kinds of ruthlessness That was what Sophia had said.
I looked up to see the Old Man watching me.
Whats in your mind, Charles?
But I didnt tell him then.
I was summoned on the following day and found Taverner and my father together.
Taverner was looking pleased with himself and slightly excited.
Associated Catering is on the rocks, said my father.
Due to crash at any minute, said Taverner.
I saw there had been a sharp fall in the shares last night, I said. But they seem to have recovered this morning.
Weve had to go about it very cautiously, said Ta verner. No direct inquiries. Nothing to cause a panicor to put the wind up our absconding gentleman. But weve got certain private sources of information and the information is fairly definite. Associated Catering is on the verge of a crash[93]. It cant possibly meet its commitments. The truth seems to be that its been grossly mismanaged for years.
By Roger Leonides?
Yes. Hes had supreme power, you know.
And hes helped himself to money
No, said Taverner. We dont think he has. To put it bluntly, he may be a murderer, but we dont think hes a swindler. Quite frankly hes just beena fool. He doesnt seem to have had any kind of judgement. Hes launched out where he ought to have held inhes hesitated and retreated where he ought to have launched out. Hes delegated power to the last sort of people he ought to have delegated it to. Hes a trustful sort of chap, and hes trusted the wrong people. At every time, and on every occasion, hes done the wrong thing.
There are people like that, said my father. And theyre not really stupid either. Theyre bad judges of men, thats all. And theyre enthusiastic at the wrong time.
A man like that oughtnt to be in business at all, said Taverner.
He probably wouldnt be, said my father, except for the accident of being Aristide Leonides son.
That show was absolutely booming when the old man handed it over to him. It ought to have been a gold mine! Youd think he could have just sat back and let the show run itself.
No, my father shook his head. No show runs itself. There are always decisions to be madea man sacked herea man appointed theresmall questions of policy. And with Roger Leonides the answer seems to have been always wrong.
Thats right, said Taverner. Hes a loyal sort of chap, for one thing. He kept on the most frightful dudsjust because he had an affection for themor because theyd been there a long time. And then he sometimes had wild impractical ideas and insisted on trying them out in spite of the enormous outlay involved.
But nothing criminal? my father insisted.
No, nothing criminal.
Then why murder? I asked.
He may have been a fool and not a knave, said Taverner. But the result was the sameor nearly the same. The only thing that could save Associated Catering from the smash was a really colossal sum of money by next (he consulted a notebook) by next Wednesday at the latest.
Such a sum as he would inherit, or thought he would have inherited, under his fathers will?
Exactly.
But he wouldnt be able to have got that sum in cash.
No. But hed have got credit. Its the same thing.
The Old Man nodded.
Wouldnt it have been simpler to go to old Leonides and ask for help? he suggested.
I think he did, said Taverner. I think thats what the kid overheard. The old boy refused point blank, I should imagine, to throw good money after bad. He would, you know.
I thought that Taverner was right there. Aristide Leonides had refused the backing for Magdas playhe had said that it would not be a box-office success. Events had proved him correct. He was a generous man to his family, but he was not a man to waste money in unprofitable enterprises. And Associated Catering ran to thousands, or probably hundreds of thousands. He had refused point blank[94], and the only way for Roger to avoid financial ruin was for his father to die.
Yes, there was certainly a motive there all right.
My father looked at his watch.
Ive asked him to come here, he said. Hell be here any minute now.
Roger?
Yes.
Will you walk into my parlour, said the spider to the fly? I murmured.
Taverner looked at me in a shocked way.
We shall give him all the proper cautions, he said severely.
The stage was set, the shorthand writer established. Presently the buzzer sounded, and a few minutes later Roger Leonides entered the room.
He came in eagerlyand rather clumsilyhe stumbled over a chair. I was reminded as before of a large friendly dog. At the same time I decided quite definitely that it was not he who had carried out the actual process of transferring eserine to an insulin bottle. He would have broken it, spilled it, or muffed the operation in some way or the other. No, Cle mencys, I decided, had been the actual hand, though Roger had been privy to the deed.
Words rushed from him.
You wanted to see me? Youve found out something? Hallo, Charles. I didnt see you. Nice of you to come along. But please tell me, Sir Arthur
Such a nice fellowreally such a nice fellow. But lots of murderers had been nice fellowsso their astonished friends had said afterwards. Feeling rather like Judas, I smiled a greeting.