Chapter 15
Dryden-Jones broke the silence that followed the solicitor’s revelation.
Scarlet with embarrassment, he gabbled, “Needn’t tell you, shan’t breathe a word, none of my business.
Mum as the grave. Oh dear, not the best way to put it!
” He pulled his gold hunter watch from his fob.
“Dash it, is that the time? Bit of a rush, don’t you know.
Anything my people can do for you, Chief Inspector .
. . Know you’ll excuse me, Mrs. Fletcher! ”
Routed again, he bowed and fled, to Daisy’s vast relief. “ ‘Stand not upon the order of your going,’ ” she muttered to herself, “ ‘but go at once.’ And don’t come back.” She doubted he’d know how to start his car, but the van driver could move it when he came down.
Alec looked after him grimly. “Let us hope he really can keep a still tongue in his head. Sir,” he said to Mr. Lewin, “while I appreciate the information, I can’t but feel it would have been preferable to convey it privately. I take it you are Sir Harold’s lawyer?”
Lewin was almost as red in the face as Struwwelpeter had been.
“I don’t know what came over me,” he stuttered.
“I assure you, Chief Inspector, it is not my practice to . . . er . . . broadcast my clients’ confidential affairs.
Lewin’s the name, of Lewin, Lewin, Pent and Lewin.
I trust . . . er . . . dare I hope—that you will overlook my disgraceful error of judgement and not mention it to anyone?
I feel it very deeply, indeed I do.” He took out a handkerchief, blotted his forehead and polished his glasses.
“You can count on my discretion, Mr. Lewin, and that of my men. And my wife’s.” Alec cast a minatory glance at Daisy, who had installed herself on the sofa by the fire. “The Lord Lieutenant’s I cannot speak for. We shall need to take a statement from you.”
“Oh no!”
“I’m afraid so. Detective Sergeant Tring will accompany you to the billiard room and you can tell him exactly what Sir Harold said to you. Thank you for coming forward, sir. Lawyers are rarely so accommodating to the needs of the police.”
With witnesses to his outburst, Lewin hadn’t a leg to stand on. Looking very hangdog, he followed Tom through the door to the passage.
“That was a nasty dig, darling,” said Daisy as Alec sat down beside her, and Piper opposite. “I suppose he deserved it, but I must say Mr. Dryden-Jones is enough to make anyone forget himself. Thank heaven he’s gone.”
“Yes, but Daisy, what’s this about Gooch? All I know is a maid brought a message from Miss Tyndall saying he’d crashed his car. He was upset when he left us, but I didn’t suppose him incapable of driving or I’d not have let him go!”
“He looked fearfully upset when he passed us—Babs and I were walking along the drive—but he’d have managed if it hadn’t been for the rocket. It shot straight across in front of him. It would have been a miracle if he hadn’t lost control.”
“Did you see who set off the rocket?”
“No, but—”
“We’ll come back to that. Go on.”
“His car went into the ditch and hit the gatepost. He was unconscious and bleeding.” Daisy did her best not to picture the scene. “I don’t know what Babs and I would have done if the mortuary men hadn’t turned out to be St. John’s Ambulance men as well.”
“Where did they take him?”
“Babs said to bring him here. Upstairs, in Sir Harold’s dressing room.”
“Ernie.” Alec jerked his head towards the stairs.
“First floor, third door on the left,” Daisy directed as Piper hurried off. She moved closer to Alec and took his hand. “It was the greatest of luck, darling, not only the ambulance men, but then Dr. Prentice came along and took over.”
“Ah yes, I was expecting him. Good timing.”
“Except that Babs had already left to telephone for him when he arrived. Maybe I should have tried to catch up with her.”
“Certainly not! You didn’t try to help the doctor, did you?”
“He made me sit in his car. And then the others kept turning up, Struwwelpeter, then—”
“Daisy! Struwwelpeter?”
“Don’t you know that illustration of the children’s rhyme? German, I think. The boy with hair like a bush and long, curly fingernails. Not that I’ve noticed anything wrong with the Lord Lieutenant’s fingernails, but perhaps ingrowing hair would explain—”
“Daisy!” Alec reproved her again, but with a grin.
“Sir Nigel called him a stuffed orangutan.” She defended herself. “Or at least, told him not to sit there like a stuffed orangutan. He was just sitting there in his great big car, with all the drama going on, and when Sir Nigel pulled up behind him, he hopped out to see if he could help.”
“Wookleigh’s here, too?”
“Yes. He’s gone to look for Jack. And then that little lawyer arrived and started fussing about how he had to get through because it was his duty to tell you—But I never guessed he was going to make quite such a shattering announcement.”
“One of the maids told Tom she overheard Sir Harold threatening to cut young Tyndall out of the will, yesterday afternoon. She assumed it was just another row. But if Sir Harold actually went so far as to speak to the lawyer, it doesn’t look good for the boy.”
“Oh dear! I suppose you won’t tell me whether Tom found out anything else.”
“If he had, I wouldn’t, but he didn’t. He got the impression the butler was ‘holding out on him,’ as the Americans say, but the old man is so senile, he may just be imagining he has a secret.” Alec looked up as heavy footsteps came down the stairs.
“The ambulance men,” Daisy told him. “Mortuary men.”
He stood up and went over to them. “In case no one else has got around to it, I want to thank you for your attentions to the accident victim. Did you see the crash?”
“That we did, sir. We wasn’t too far behind the gentleman’s car. A blooming great rocket come out of nowhere. Spitting coloured fire, weren’t it, mate?”
“And making a noise fit to wake the dead. In a manner of speaking. Our van ain’t the quietest and we could hear the bangs. Went right acrost the road in front of the poor gentleman.”
“I don’t say as I wouldn’t’ve druv off the road meself, and I can’t say fairer’n that.”
“Did you see who fired the rocket?”
They looked at each other and both shook their heads regretfully.
“Nah, nor hide nor hair. In among the trees he must’ve bin, wouldn’t you say, mate? Well, sir, we gotta go pick up them corpuses of yourn, afore they gets up and walks away.”
“Great Scott, where are they?”
“Lying alongside of the drive, with t’other gentleman’s shover on guard, and no knowing when he’ll get tired of waiting.”
“Yes, you’d best be off. Thank you.” Alec returned to Daisy. “All right, love, you didn’t see who set off the rocket, but . . . ”
“Babs may have seen.”
“If she saw her brother, she’ll never tell us.”
“Jack! Why on earth should he fire a rocket at Gooch?”
“That I can’t say,” Alec admitted, “but Gooch knows something he’s not telling.”
“About Jack?”
“It could be. Jack may have heard Sir Harold talking to Lewin about changing his will and realized he was serious. In that case, Jack’s only hope was to kill his father before he did it.
He was in a hurry. He couldn’t wait for a chance to catch his father alone.
Whatever Mrs. Gooch’s reason for going with Sir Harold to the study, it’s quite likely that her husband kept an eye on her, and in so doing he’d have seen Jack following them. ”
“And Jack noticed him watching?” Daisy said sceptically.
“Or he told Jack he’d seen him. There’s still a whiff of blackmail about this whole affair.”
“I can’t believe Jack would shoot Mrs. Gooch, nor that Mr. Gooch would blackmail his wife’s murderer when he could denounce him. But suppose you’re right, I still want to know, why on earth should Jack fire a rocket at Gooch’s car? It’s a very uncertain way to get rid of someone.”
“True. There’s a chance, though, that he’d crash and be killed, and little or no risk in trying.”
“I call it pretty far-fetched. I bet Jack was with Miller the whole time. They were taking apart the firework scaffolding when I left.”
“Would Miller lie for Jack? For his own sake, or Gwen’s?”
“Give him a false alibi? I doubt it. Not when it’s a matter of murder, or attempted murder. In any case, it wasn’t Jack Babs saw, if she saw anyone. She was sure it was Adelaide’s boys.”
“That’s what she claimed?”
“I’d be very surprised if she’s wrong.”
“Because Jack says they stole some rockets.”
“And because when Gwen fetched me from the station, they threw squibs at the car in exactly the same place. Fortunately, Gwen has steady hands.”
“Fortunate indeed! If it can be proved the boys caused Gooch’s accident, they’re in serious trouble.”
“Don’t worry, Babs is going to give them what for, and she seems to be the one person they’re afraid of. They really are the most appalling children. To tell the truth, their mother’s pretty appalling, too.”
“I’m not looking forward to interviewing her.”
“Let Tom do it,” Daisy suggested, tongue in cheek. “She’d be so flabbergasted, she might even stop whining and showing off and give some sensible answers.”
“That’s an idea! Here he comes. All in order, Sergeant?”
“Yes, sir.”
Tom’s calm rumble contrasted with the agitated squeak of the solicitor. “I assure you, Chief Inspector, I have given every assistance I feel able to justify consonant with my duty to my clients.”
“Of course, sir. I take it you’ll be acting for the family should they be in need of legal advice?”
“Oh no, no, no indeed!” Lewin took off his spectacles and polished them vigorously.
“That is, you are referring to possible . . . er . . . criminal charges? Good gracious, no! Apart from the fact that I could, I fear, be called as a witness, my partners and I feel very strongly that . . . er . . . criminal matters are and should remain outside our province. I shall be happy, of course, to refer . . . er . . . anyone in need of such advice to a firm well versed in such issues. I shall consult my partners as to who might be suitable.”