Chapter Twenty #2
“And never was before she met you, Daisy! Have you already decided what happened? Who killed Harriman and moved the body to the maze?”
“Heavens no. There are too many suspects. I wasn’t misleading Ghastly Gant when I told him that. Harriman was too nasty to too many people to…” She stopped as the door opened.
Miss Bascombe came in. She looked very much under the weather, her face pale, her voice uncertain. “Miss Priestman asked me to take you to the San? It’s only a three minute walk.…”
“I hope you have umbrellas,” said Sakari. “I dislike walking in the rain even more than when it is fine.”
“There should be some in the stand by the door. Have Deva and Belinda been taken ill? I’m so sorry! I’ve been on duty and I ought to have known.”
Daisy, seeing Sakari open her mouth to answer, laid a hand on her arm. She didn’t really think Miss Bascombe had had anything to do with Harriman’s death, but nor did she think this was the moment to broach the subject, if that was what Sakari had been about to do.
“Nothing serious,” she said, as they followed the games mistress from the room.
“That usually means a rash that might be catching,” said Miss Bascombe with a sigh. “I hope we’re not in for an epidemic. Miss Priestman sent her apologies for not saying good-bye. She was on her way to see Mr. Rowntree.”
She led them out by a side door, collecting three umbrellas on the way.
“Miserable weather,” said Daisy, as raindrops pattered on the black oiled silk. “I don’t know why, but whatever it’s doing, sun or shine, I’m always sure it will go on forever. I didn’t even bring an umbrella or a mac.”
“I’m glad it held off till now,” said Miss Bascombe. “Taking the children down to Meeting in the rain involves such a fuss and bother.”
“It is fortunate,” said Sakari, “that we decided not to wait until this afternoon to take the girls to the Bridge End Gardens.”
Miss Bascombe gasped audibly.
“Are you all right?” Daisy asked, mentally castigating Sakari. She was apt sometimes to rush in where angels feared to tread—which admittedly was pretty much what Alec had been known to say of Daisy.
“Yes! Oh yes! I—I turned my ankle a little but it’s nothing.
You know how sometimes one is afraid for a moment that—that one has ricked it or even sprained it, but it turns out to be nothing.
There must have been a larger stone among the gravel, and I happened to step on it.
I’m quite all right, really. We were really very lucky that the fine weather held for sports day, weren’t we?
If anything is worse than running races in mud, I don’t know. …” Her voice trailed away.
She did know what was worse, Daisy thought.
Was it possible that Tesler, with his crippled hand, could have delivered the blow that killed Harriman?
He had surely developed the strength of his left arm and hand to compensate.
He might even be left-handed—Daisy realised she didn’t know.
But wouldn’t it have taken a two-handed swing to create that horrible dent in the victim’s skull?
Besides, what she had heard and observed of Tesler’s character argued against his having attacked the bully even verbally, let alone physically.
Miss Bascombe herself was a sportswoman.
She was probably quite strong enough to do the damage.
Tennis, rounders, hockey, netball, gymnastics, swimming, she taught all of them.
A hockey stick would make a good weapon, or a rounders bat, more likely close to hand at this time of year.
Had she swung out at Harriman in a fury when he taunted Tesler once too often?
Tesler’s principles might prevent his resorting to violence, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t help his sweetheart conceal her crime.
Supposing they had the means to transport Harriman’s body to the Garden at the other end of town, they’d still have quite a job to carry it into the Garden, even with two of them.
They would have had to do it after the place was closed to the public, which presumably would involve climbing over the wall.
Would Tesler be able to manage that, even without the deadweight of a body to contend with?
Then, why all the way to the maze? To delay discovery of the body, Daisy supposed. It might not have been found till it started to smell. Her nose wrinkled at the thought.
All the same, they would have risked getting lost in the maze—unless they’d visited it so often they knew every twist and turn.
Perhaps they’d even drawn up a plan of it, so as to find their way easily to the privacy of the central space.
Tesler was a scientist, after all, and scientists were always drawing diagrams, weren’t they?
Or the whole business might have taken place in Bridge End Garden in the first place.
If Tesler and Miss Bascombe had lingered after closing time and seen Harriman spying on them.
… No rounders bat available though. Daisy couldn’t think of anything they might have found or taken with them that could be used as a weapon. It hadn’t even been umbrella weather.
All sheer speculation, she thought with a mental sigh. She had built a house of cards on the couple’s obvious inquietude at the beginning of Meeting and Miss Bascombe’s present state of nervous tension. Doubtless they were on edge because of some minor disagreement.
While Daisy had been constructing her fragile edifice of wild theories, Miss Bascombe was babbling away rather feverishly to Sakari’s sceptical ear about the importance of physical exercise. As Daisy’s house collapsed under the weight of her own scepticism, they reached the Sanatorium.
Miss Bascombe opened the door and ushered them in. “Ring the bell,” she said, “and Sister will come. I do hope the girls are all right. Are you staying in town? To make sure they … haven’t caught anything really serious, I mean.”
“We’ll be staying on at the Rose and Crown for a couple of days at least.”
“Oh. That will … be nice for them.” She scurried away without giving them a chance to thank her for her guidance.
“I wonder why Miss Priestman sent a teacher to escort us,” said Daisy, “rather than one of the children.”
“Perhaps she feared that we might talk about Harriman. A teacher would be more discreet than a pupil about anything she overheard. Now, Daisy, you were very silent all the way here, and I bore with the young woman’s chatter to allow you to think in peace.
Have you at last worked out who killed Harriman? ”
“Don’t expect miracles! No, all I’ve done is demolish a theory or two.”
“I knew it!” said Sakari triumphantly. “Later you will tell me, and we shall stick the shards back together. We cannot allow Inspector Gant to reach a solution before us.”
Daisy laughed. “If I hadn’t met Gant, I’d say you were being excessively optimistic. As it is, it seems as likely—or unlikely—that we’ll solve it as that he will.”