Death in the Stocks (21 page)

She was silent for a moment, still very white, her eyes fixed on the glowing end of her cigarette. She raised them presently, and said: 'You mentioned something about Kenneth. But, whatever happened no one can suspect him of having had anything to do with it. He was at the Albert Hall last night with Leslie Rivers.'

'He was at the Albert Hall, I know,' agreed Giles. 'But the Albert Hall is not five minutes' walk from Roger's fiat, Miss Williams. Nor are the police at all satisfied that he didn't leave the dance for a time during the course of the evening. In fact, though he won't admit it, I am pretty sure that not only did he leave the dance, but he also called on Roger.'

'I'm sure he didn't!' she said quickly. 'Why should he? There could be no reason for doing such a stupid thing.'

He hesitated. 'I think there was a reason,' he answered. 'May I speak quite frankly?'

'Oh, please do!'

'Well, Miss Williams, Kenneth has — as you probably know - a very jealous temperament. Do you remember that on the evening when we all dined with Roger he invited you to dine with him again on the night of the ball?'

She said rather coldly: 'Yes, certainly I remember that, but it was merely a joke.'

'It is just possible that Kenneth took it seriously,' Giles said.

'Really, I think that is a little too ridiculous!' she said, half-laughing. 'Why do you assume that he was at Roger's flat last night? Does he admit it?'

'No. But we found his pipe, with the ash in it, on the mantelpiece in Roger's sitting-room,' he replied.

'His pipe — ?'she stared at him. 'How do you know it was his?'

'Both Hannasyde and I recognised it.'

'Recognised a pipe!' she exclaimed. 'How could you?'

He smiled. 'To a pipe-smoker all pipes don't look the same, Miss Williams. But that's beside the point.

Kenneth admitted it was his as soon as he saw it.'

She looked at him with an expression of incredulous horror in her eyes. 'But it's impossible! I don't believe it!

What time was Kenneth in the flat? What was he doing there?'

'That is precisely what I, as his legal adviser, want to find out,' said Giles. 'According to Miss Rivers he was never out of her sight the entire evening. Kenneth corroborated that statement, but only after a moment's perceptible hesitation, Miss Williams. To put it baldly, he was quite obviously lying. His tale - or rather Miss Rivers's tale - is that the whole party met after each dance, in the box they were sharing. Superintendent Hannasyde has only to question the other members of the party to find out whether that is true or not. If - as I am very much afraid — it is not true, Kenneth will be in an extremely dangerous position. And since he has this bee in his bonnet, that he's capable of handling his own case without assistance, I can't do anything to help him.'

'But why do you come to me?' she interrupted. 'What has it got to do with me? What can I do about it?'

'I hope very much that you will exert your influence to make him see sense,' replied Giles. 'He doesn't realise how serious the situation is, nor how essential it is that I at least should know the truth about his movements last night.'

She struck her hands together, as though exasperated. 'He's a fool!' she said. 'Why on earth should he elect to call on Roger last night? What took him there? It's utterly mad!'

'There is one all too obvious reason, Miss Williams,' said Giles.

She looked at him uncomprehendingly for a moment. 'I can't imagine -' She stopped; her eyelids flickered.

'I see what you mean,' she said. 'You will hardly be surprised at my not considering that. Nothing would induce me to believe that he had any hand in Roger's death! You can't think -'

'No, I don't think it,' he said. 'I am trying to discover what other reason he can have had for that visit. What I suspect is jealousy.'

'I don't understand you.'

Giles said deliberately: 'He heard Roger invite you to dine with him, Miss Williams. It was evident that he didn't like the idea. He is, as I said, an extremely jealous young man, and we know that he resented from the outset any friendliness on your part towards Roger. Last night - at the eleventh hour - you cried off that dance, didn't you?'

'I never definitely said I'd go with him,' she answered. 'I always disapproved of it, and hoped he'd give it up.'

'Quite. But you did allow him to think that you might go with him after all, didn't you?'

'Oh, to avert a scene - ! But I didn't promise.'

'At any rate, your last-minute refusal made him angry,' said Giles. 'Now, I know what Kenneth is like when he's roused. I think that he lashed himself into suspecting that you had cried off the dance so that you could spend the evening with Roger. That may be why he called on Roger -just to assure himself you were not at the flat.'

'I never heard of anything so insulting!' she said, stiffening. 'I in Roger's flat at that hour? It may interest him to know that so far from being with Roger I was at home the entire evening! And if he doesn't believe me, you may tell him to apply to Miss Summertown, who came to dinner with me and stayed till eleven, when I went to bed!'

'I don't suppose that in his cooler moments Kenneth would dream of suspecting you,' said Giles in his calm way. 'And if he went to Roger's flat he must know you weren't there, mustn't he?'

'Perhaps he suspects I hid behind a screen,' she said icily. 'I think it is just as well that I can produce a witness to prove that I was in my own home the whole evening!'

'Well, please don't condemn him on the strength of what may prove to be my idle imagination,' he said, smiling. 'He may have had another reason for going to see Roger.'

She was silent, her lovely mouth compressed into a thin red line. She sat very straight in her chair, one hand clenched on the arm. There was an air of implacability about her, and the unconscious hardening of her face made her beauty seem a brittle thing, surface-deep.

She turned her head presently, and looked directly at Giles. 'You're thinking that I'm stupidly annoyed?' she said. 'Well, I am rather annoyed, but that doesn't matter. I mean, it's so much more important to get Kenneth out of this dreadful mess. Personally, I have an absolute conviction that it was suicide. I don't know what your reasons are for thinking it wasn't, but I keep remembering things Roger said. I didn't set any store by them at the time - at least not enough to foresee this - but now that I look back I can't help feeling that I ought to have guessed. Only I don't know what I could have done, quite, if I had. I did speak to Kenneth about it, but he paid no heed.'

'It wasn't suicide, Miss Williams.'

She frowned. 'I don't see how you can say that so positively. Why wasn't it?'

'I don't think you'd be much the wiser if I explained,' he answered. 'It is a question of where the empty cartridge-case should have been found. More-over, I can't for the life of me see what could have induced Roger to shoot himself when he must have known that there was no evidence against him. He was no fool.'

'Technicalities about pistols are beyond me, I'm afraid. Where ought the empty case to have been found?'

'In quite a different place,' he replied. 'There were other points too - minor ones, but significant.'

'I see. But they can't prove Kenneth did it. He might have left his pipe there any time, and if Leslie sticks to her story -'

'If Arnold Vereker had not been murdered things might not look so black,' he said. 'But Arnold Vereker was murdered, and Kenneth had no alibi that he could prove. Everything he said was calculated to make the police look askance at him. He said he came here to see you. But he didn't see you. According to him you were out. He then said he went to a cinema. But he didn't know which one, and he slept through the greater part of the programme.'

'Oh, I know, I know!' she said. 'He was utterly impossible.'

'Well,' Giles said, getting up, 'he's being just as impossible now, Miss Williams. It amused him to see how far he could fool Hannasyde over the first murder, and he was so successful that it has gone to his head. But he's in a more precarious position now.'

She, too, rose. 'Yes, I quite see. I'll go round to the studio at once, and talk to him. Of course, he must take you into his confidence. I shall tell him so, and I expect he will call on you at your office.'

'Thank you,' said Giles. 'I hope he will.'

Chapter Twenty-one

From Violet's maisonette Giles drove to Adam Street, where he found his father upon the point of going out to lunch. Mr Charles Carrington looked him over, grunted at him, and said that he had better come to lunch too. 'Heaven knows I don't want to hear anything about this disgusting affair,' he said irascibly, 'but of course I shall have to. What's more, your mother's anxious. Says Kenneth isn't capable of murder. Bunkum! Did he do it?'

'Good God, I hope not!'

'Oh! Feel like that about it, do you? Quite agree with you. Don't like scandals. What was that red-headed little minx, Tony, up to last night?'

'She was with me,' replied Giles.

'The devil she was! So your mother was - What were you doing, the pair of you?'

'Dinner and the theatre,' said Giles. 'And mother was quite right. She usually is.'

Charles Carrington coughed, and changed the subject rather hastily.

Giles did not spend much of the afternoon in Adam street. At four o'clock he put through a call to Scotland Yard, and having ascertained that Superintendent Hannasyde was in the building, left his office and drove to Whitehall. The news of Roger Vereker's death was in the evening papers, and several glaring posters announced a startling sequel to the Stocks Mystery.

At Scotland Yard Giles was conducted almost immediately to Hannasyde's office, where he found not only the Superintendent, but Sergeant Hemingway as well.

'I rather expected you to look in,' Hannasyde said. 'Sit down, won't you? I've just had the report on the PM. You were quite right, Mr Carrington: Dr Stone considers that the pistol must have been fired from a distance of about two feet.'

'When, in his opinion, did death occur?' Giles asked.

The Superintendent glanced down at the typewritten report. 'Always a rather difficult question,' he said. 'Approximately between 10.0 p.m. and 2.0 a.m.'

'Thanks. Was anything found in the flat?'

'Nothing useful. A slight trace of oil on the handle of the sitting-room door, and a fingerprint - Miss Vereker's on the cartridge-case.'

'It was her gun, then?'

'Yes. She was here only half an hour ago' - he smiled faintly- 'displaying the greatest interest in the business of taking an impression of her own hand.'

'That I can imagine. And the position of the cartridge case?'

'You win over that too.' He paused, and looked squarely at Giles. 'You may as well know it now as later, Mr Carrington: the evidence of the other members of that party at the Albert Hall does not bear out the story told me by Miss Rivers and Mr Vereker. As a matter of fact, I was on the point of going to the studio when you rang.'

Giles nodded. 'I see. I'll come along, if you don't mind.'

'No, I don't mind,' said Hannasyde. 'I've no power to stop you if I did. It'll probably save time if you come, as I imagine Mr Vereker would be quite likely to refuse to talk until he'd consulted you - if only to annoy.'

Kenneth, however, when they found him a little while later at his studio, seemed to be in one of his more cheerful moods, and showed no desire to be obstructive.

His sister was present, and also Violet Williams and Leslie Rivers. It was evident that they had foregathered to discuss the situation, and equally evident that Kenneth himself was paying very little heed to what they were saying. Giles and Hannasyde entered the studio to discover him sketching idly on his knee. He looked up as the door opened, and said: 'I thought as much. A la lanterne!'

Antonia betrayed neither surprise nor dismay at the Superintendent's arrival, but the other two girls looked a trifle startled. Leslie threw a swift, anxious look at Kenneth, and seemed to stiffen herself.

Kenneth continued to sketch, 'Come in and make yourselves at home,' he invited. 'I won't say I'm pleased to see you, because that wouldn't be true.'

'You don't always stick so rigidly to the truth, I think, Mr Vereker,' said Hannasyde, closing the door behind him.

Kenneth smiled. 'Nearly always. Sometimes I get led astray, I admit. Tell me the worst.'

'Three members of your party last night state that for about half an hour you were missing from the ballroom,' said Hannasyde, without beating about the bush.

Kenneth looked up from his sketch. His eyes were narrowed and keen, but they were focused not on Hannasyde, but on Leslie Rivers.

'You've rather a nice-shaped head, Leslie,' he remarked. 'Don't move! Sorry, my friend-the-Superintendent. Anything else?'

'To be missing from the ballroom at a dance for half an hour is not unusual,' said Leslie. 'One sits out occasionally, Superintendent.'

'In a box, Miss Rivers. There is not, I believe, very much accommodation for sitting out anywhere else at the Albert Hall.'

'Except outside in one's car,' she replied.

'Hush, misguided child!' said Kenneth. 'The most elementary methods will discover that my car went to Hornet's Garage to be de-coked yesterday. Am I not right, Superintendent?'

'Quite,' said Hannasyde. 'And am I not right, Mr Vereker, in saying that you left the Albert Hall by the main entrance at twenty minutes past ten, and returned just before eleven?'

'Pausing on both occasions to exchange a few words with the commissionaire,' added Kenneth, still at work on his sketch. 'Thus doing what I could to stamp myself on his memory. The question which is worrying you at the moment is, of course, Am I diabolically cunning, or incredibly stupid?'

'Don't pay any attention to him!' Leslie said quickly. 'This is all nonsense - every word of it! He didn't leave the Albert Hall until we came away after four o'clock, together.'

Kenneth tossed the sketch aside. 'My dear girl, do, do dry up! I'm sick of this involved story, anyway, but don't you realise that at any moment now my friend-the Superintendent is going to produce that commissionaire out of his hat to identify me?' He glanced at Hannasyde. 'Well, my friend, produce him! Let it be admitted that I did leave the Albert Hall during the course of the evening. It does not follow that I went to my halfbrother's flat, and you know it. You have - as they say in American films - nothing on me.'

'Oh, yes, I have, Mr Vereker,' replied Hannasyde quietly.

Kenneth looked contemptuous. 'One pipe, which I may have left in Roger's flat four nights ago.'

'Not only your pipe. An automatic pistol also.'

'I shouldn't build on it,' said Kenneth. 'At a rough estimate, half a dozen other people could have laid their hands on that pistol.'

'Had half a dozen other people any motives for killing your half-brother, Mr Vereker?'

'Not having been in Roger's confidence, I can give you no information on that point,' replied Kenneth.

The Superintendent looked at him under his brows. 'What sort of hat were you wearing last night, Mr Vereker?'

Kenneth smiled. 'Unworthy of you, my friend. Didn't your commissionaire tell you?'

'I asked you.'

'Don't answer!' Leslie said, gripping her fingers together in her lap.

Violet's cool, well-modulated voice interrupted: 'Really, Leslie, you are making yourself positively ridiculous. You had much better keep quiet, if you don't mind my saying so. You seem to me to have done quite enough harm already.'

Leslie flushed, and answered rather unsteadily: 'It's easy for you to be superior. You weren't at the ball, you aren't involved! What do you care?'

'You forget, I think, that I am engaged to be married to Kenneth.'

Leslie was silent. Kenneth said: 'Leave the kid alone, Violet. If she's misguided, at least it's with the best intentions.'

'Oh, certainly, my dear!' Violet said silkily. 'But her anxiety to make us believe that you were with her all the evening would almost lead one to suppose that she would like to prove an alibi for herself.'

Antonia removed the cigarette from her mouth. 'Cat,' she remarked.

Hannasyde interposed. 'I am still waiting to know what sort of hat you wore last night, Mr Vereker.'

'A black felt,' said Kenneth.

'Thank you. When you left the Albert Hall shortly before ten-thirty, where did you go?'

'That question,' said Kenneth, 'I must regretfully decline to answer.'

There was a short pause. Violet looked towards Giles, who had strolled to the other end of the studio, and was standing by the window, one hand in his pocket, his shoulders propped against the wall.

'You realise, do you not, Mr Vereker, that your refusal to answer me may have extremely serious consequences?'

'Produce your handcuffs,' recommended Kenneth flippantly.

Giles's eyes rested thoughtfully on Hannasyde's face. It was quite impassive, nor was there much expression in Hannasyde's voice as he said: 'Very well, Mr Vereker. If you are determined not to answer, I have no option but to detain you.'

Giles carefully tipped the ash off the end of his cigarette. He still said nothing.

Kenneth's brows rose. 'Now, I thought you'd arrest me,' he remarked. 'Why don't you?'

The Superintendent made no reply. Antonia got up rather suddenly, and said with a curtness which informed all those who knew her how much alarmed she was: 'Giles! For God's sake, why don't you do something?'

He said in his calm way: 'There is nothing I can do at the moment, Tony. Don't panic.'

'But it's impossible! You're making an absurd mistake, Superintendent!' Leslie cried. 'He didn't do it! I know he didn't do it!'

Violet, who had turned very pale, fixed her eyes on Hannasyde's face and said slowly: 'One sees, naturally, that the evidence is very strong, but surely you are being a little hasty? I mean, Kenneth isn't the only person who could have done it. And I must say - though I know perfectly well that it won't be appreciated - that I should like very much to know what Tony was doing last night.'

'Thanks, we'll cut out that bit,' said Kenneth. 'Tony was out with Giles, as you very well know.'

'You needn't look at me like that,' said Violet. 'I know she says she was with Mr Carrington until twelve, but personally I feel -'

'No one is interested in your feelings, personal or otherwise. Dry up!'

She rose, a spot of colour on each cheek. 'It's no use talking to me in that rude way! I've a right to say what I think - more right than Leslie Rivers, let me tell you! Of course, I'm getting used to being snubbed in this household whenever I open my mouth, but I'll thank you to remember that I'm your fiancée, Kenneth!'

He looked at her in a detached way, as though he found her a curious but not uninteresting specimen. 'Funny,' he remarked. 'Tony always said you had a streak of vulgarity. I see what she means now.'

'How dare you insult me?' she flashed, her lips thin with anger.

'If you don't want me to insult you, lay off my sister!' he said, a hard light in his eyes.

'I shall do no such thing. You've behaved like a fool over the whole of this affair, but if you won't help yourself you needn't think I shall keep my mouth shut! If you weren't utterly selfish you'd try and understand my point of view. You don't suppose I'm going to enjoy seeing you arrested for murder, do you? You haven't even thought of what will happen to me if they convict you?'

'No,' said Kenneth, with a crooked smile. 'I haven't.'