Chapter Twenty-Eight
TWENTY-EIGHT
A knock on the door of the writing room was followed so abruptly by its opening that Inspector Gant scarcely had time to jump out of the way. His face irate, he swung round to blast the intruder. Daisy was ready to bless the waiter, come to clear away, for giving her time to think.
Instead of the expected waiter, Alec strolled in, followed by Tom Tring.
She exhaled a long breath. However furious Alec was with her, he wouldn’t let her be arrested. Behind his back, Tom winked at her.
“Good morning, Mr. Fletcher,” said Sakari composedly. “I shall send for more coffee.”
“Not just now, thank you, Mrs. Prasad.”
Gant stopped gaping and exploded. “Fletcher!”
“DCI Fletcher, CID.” Alec eyed him with disdain. So this was the man who had deserted the scene of the burials and then departed for Chelmsford headquarters, leaving only a most inadequate report. “You, I think, must be Detective Inspector Gant?”
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m afraid I’ve come to relieve you of this case.”
“The CC wouldn’t … But I’m just about to make an arrest!”
“How lucky I’ve arrived in time to prevent your making a nasty mistake. As it turns out, the murder of Harriman is part of the Epping investigation. However, this is no place to discuss the matter. Shall we adjourn to the local station?”
“B-but … What … How … I don’t…”
Daisy almost felt sorry for him.
“I’ll explain.” Alec stood aside.
“Sir.” Tom, holding the door, gestured courteously for Gant to precede him. The inspector went out, moving like a sleep-walker stuck in a bad dream. Tom went after him.
“I’ll see you later, Daisy,” Alec said grimly. “And you, Mrs. Prasad.” He smiled, at Sakari.
He departed. Gant’s acolyte, wordless, shrugged with his eyes raised to heaven and followed, closing the door behind him.
“Whew!” Once again Daisy expelled a lungful of breath. “Talk about saved by the bell! I’m not the only one, either.”
“The gardener. And the children, especially Elizabeth.”
“They’re the least of it!”
“What do you mean, Daisy? Do not tell me your theory proved correct?”
“‘Proved’ is just the word I want to avoid. I met both Miss Bascombe and Pencote at the San, quite fortuitously. You know I didn’t arrange to meet them.”
“Certainly.”
“And both of them wanted to talk.”
“People always want to talk to you.”
“Excluding the gardener.”
“To be sure. What did they say? They confirmed your theory? Are you not obliged to report this to Alec?”
“One question at a time, darling! They were both very cautious, fortunately. Well, call it wisely. If it weren’t for my theory, I wouldn’t have had a clue what they were talking about. As it was, both their stories fitted the theory perfectly.”
“So nothing is proved.”
“Exactly. I could tell Alec my speculations, but he hates it when I speculate about his cases. Now he’s sure he’s got the whole thing sewn up, he’d be even more upset. And if he’s blaming it on the Epping Forest murderer, there’s no one innocent going to suffer for it.”
“What if the murderer confesses to burying the three bodies but denies responsibility for Harriman’s death?”
“We’ll just have to hope they won’t believe him,” Daisy said optimistically.
“You do not think Mr. Pencote might kill someone else if he is not caught?”
“No. I’m sure it was an accident. Well, he struck at Harriman, admittedly, but he never expected to hit him.”
“I hope you are right, Daisy. I should greatly dislike to see any of Deva’s teachers arrested, and one cannot help but pity Mr. Pencote. What are you going to say to Alec?”
“It depends, really, on what Ghastly Gant tells him. I can’t see why he should mention the discrepancies in my story, but if he does, I don’t mind explaining to Alec. After all, I was protecting Bel, and he can’t very well disapprove of that. All the same, I’d like to put it off for a bit.”
“He is likely to be occupied with police business for some time, is he not? Perhaps we should just take the first train back to London.”
“Darling, you’re a genius! Let’s!”
“Daisy, I was not serious. The police have not given us leave to go.”
“No, but it was Gant who told us to stay, not Alec, and Alec is not very fond of Gant.” She thought for a moment, then sighed. “I expect you’re right, though. Gant’s going to be looking for any excuse to be awkward, and we don’t want to provide him with one.”
“Let us take a taxi to the Sanatorium and persuade Sister to allow the girls to go out to lunch with us. Thus we shall all be out of the way if for any reason any of the police come looking for us.”
“Good idea!” said Daisy. If Pencote was still there, she’d make an opportunity to reassure him.
In fact, when the taxi pulled up in front of the San, Pencote was just coming out, swinging wearily along on his crutches.
“Poor man,” said Sakari. “The taxi can take him round to the school while it is waiting for us. Tell him, Daisy, while I instruct the driver.”
Daisy went to meet Pencote. “I have news that should relieve your worries somewhat. Scotland Yard has taken the case out of DI Gant’s hands, and they seem quite certain it’s tied to the Epping Forest case. They believe the same person was responsible for Harriman’s death as well.”
He looked at her in astonishment. “The Epping murders? How extraordinary! Have they caught the murderer?”
“I don’t know.”
“But when they do, he’ll deny killing Harriman. Good morning, Mrs. Prasad.”
Sakari sailed by with a nod and a smile.
“He’ll deny killing all of them,” said Daisy, “if he has any sense. Don’t cross your bridges until you come to them. I don’t want the three of you arrested—I don’t think you really deserve it—but I do think you deserve to live with a little guilt and anxiety!”
“I do,” he said humbly, “and worse, but I wish I could be sure the others are safe.”
“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Oh dear, here I am talking to an English teacher in clichés!”
Pencote managed to summon up a smile. “You’ve been very kind, Mrs. Fletcher. I promise you, I’ve had a salutory shock. With Tesler’s help, I’m going to work very hard at mastering my wicked temper.”
“You couldn’t find a better tutor. I must go. Mrs. Prasad is counting on my support. Good-bye for now. Oh, I almost forgot: She arranged for the taxi to take you round to the school while it’s waiting for us.”
She walked on quickly to escape his thanks, wondering whether she had made the right decision. Time would tell, she thought with a sigh.
And there went another cliché.
Between Sakari and Daisy, even the formidable Sister didn’t stand a chance. They took the children out for lunch. Belinda was excited to hear her father was in Saffron Walden. Daisy said she would do her best to get him to come and see her.
“He’s in the middle of a case, though, darling, so he may not be able to.”
“Oh well, it’s not too long till the summer hols.”
“If he does come and see you, there’s no need to worry him about Lizzie finding the body.
” Encouraging the child to keep secrets from her father—disgraceful!
Daisy was going to be living with a good share of guilt herself.
She passed hurriedly on. “Because he’s arrived, the local police may soon allow Mrs. Prasad and me to go home.
Would it upset you if we left? How about you, Lizzie? ”
“I’m all right now, Mrs. Fletcher, honestly. It was sort of like our secret adventure, wasn’t it? And Sister says Miss Priestman wants us to stay in the San for the rest of the week, so it’ll be fun.”
Sister, consulted, said the less fuss made, the sooner the children would get over the experience. The way she said it suggested that the absence of their mothers would be of great assistance.
“Assuming the police let us leave, Sister, we’ll come back at once if we’re needed. Here, I’ll write down both our telephone numbers for you, though the school office has them, of course.”
“I’m sure they won’t be needed, Mrs. Fletcher. Between me and Miss Priestman, we’ll be able to cope, so don’t worry yourselves.”
Their consciences somewhat assuaged, Daisy and Sakari left.
Not that Daisy’s conscience was entirely easy about other matters.
On the way down the hill in the taxi, she expressed her qualms about having advised Belinda not to tell her father about Lizzie having been the one to stumble upon Harriman’s corpse.
“Nonsense, Daisy. What good would it do Alec to know? It would only distract him from his work.”
“But Bel will learn—”
“Belinda will learn that it is unnecessary and unwise for a woman to trouble her husband with all her little concerns.”
Looked at from that perspective, it was indeed a valuable lesson!
When they reached the Rose and Crown, a message awaited them saying they were free to leave.
Now that she was allowed to go, Daisy wanted to stay on for a while in hopes of seeing Alec, but Sakari said that would be tempting fate.
So Daisy wrote a note to Alec, while Sakari telephoned the school and asked them to tell the children.
They packed and caught the next train to town.
* * *
Once she had stopped worrying about Belinda, Daisy was consumed with curiosity about Alec’s investigation and how he had worked out that the two cases were one.
The newspapers seemed to have lost interest, after reporting little more than that the Epping Forest Executioner had killed himself when about to be apprehended. As far as they were concerned, the case was over. There was always plenty of fresh news with which to titillate their readers.
Three days passed before Alec came home early enough for questions, and then it was touch and go whether he would be willing to tell her. She asked after dinner, when he dropped wearily into an armchair in the sitting room.
“It’s left a nasty taste in my mouth, love. Can’t we let it go at that?”
“I’m sure it’s better to talk about it than to let it fester in your mind.”
His lips quirked. “Is that what Mrs. Prasad’s passed on to you from those psychology lectures she attends?”