She Came Back

“Well, we traced his back history. An uncle of his was the senior Mr. Codrington’s partner-that’s how this Mr. Codrington came to take him on. He’s a qualified solicitor of course. Got bitten with Fascist ideas when they were all the go, but dropped them-or I should say appeared to drop them-when Hitler was showing his hand and they weren’t so popular. He use to go off hiking in Germany. Lots of people did, and no harm in it, but if you wanted a cover-up for any fu

Miss Silver coughed.

“Dear me-how extremely shocking!”

Frank Abbott put up a hand to his mouth for a moment. A gleam of cynical amusement might have been observed by his companions, had either of them been looking in his direction. His thoughts were of a lively irreverence. “The old fox-he’s cribbed most of that from Maudie, and she’s letting him get away with it-she always does. Now just how far is he really kidding himself, and just how far does he think he is kidding Maudie-and me?” His conclusion being that it was as good as a play, he resumed the enjoyable pose of listener. His Miss Silver had just proffered a neat little bouquet of compliments. His Chief Inspector was accepting it heartily, if not with grace. The atmosphere was genial.

Lamb fairly shone with satisfaction as he said,

“Well, there it is-the police do earn their pay sometimes! Oh, by the way, we found the laundry-basket. It was in the corner of his garage. Nothing inside but a lot of crumpled-up paper. I should say there’s no doubt he took it along in the taxi and waited till he saw Sir Philip come out. Then he’d only to put the basket on his head and walk in and up the stair. It sounds a lot more risky than it was. If he had both his hands up steadying the basket, it would be easy enough to tip it so that anyone he met wouldn’t see his face.”

“You put it so clearly.” Miss Silver’s voice held an admiring note.

The Chief Inspector beamed.

“Oh, well-it’s guess-work. But we’ve got it pretty well figured out. This A

Miss Silver said gravely,

“I think she told him. From one or two things Miss Armitage said, I think A

Lamb nodded.

“That would be about the size of it. Well, let’s take it Trent knew they had been overheard. That would give him a very strong motive for getting rid of A

Miss Silver coughed.

“From the enquiries I have made since his arrest, I do not find that he and the so-called Lady Jocelyn had ever met. I think he would be very careful not to expose his identity. He undoubtedly disguised himself to keep those appointments at the hairdresser’s shop, and from what Sergeant Abbott has told me of the lighting arrangements in the office there, it is clear that the heavily shaded reading-lamp could have been so disposed as to leave him in shadow whilst turning all the light upon a visitor.”

“Yes, that’s the way it would be-and his voice kept down to a whisper like Miss Armitage says. It’s a queer thing, isn’t it, that he should have given himself away by falling into the very trick he had used as a safeguard. If he hadn’t said those same words to Miss Armitage in the same whispering voice that she’d heard on the other side of that door, he might have got clear away. Madame Dupont only knew him as Mr. Felix. With that co

Miss Silver said, “Yes, indeed.”

The Chief Inspector resumed.

“Well, there we are-he goes up with the laundry-basket, and she lets him in. She may have been expecting him-we can’t know about that-but she’d be pleased enough to see him, because she’d think she had got what he wanted. There’s no doubt, from the fingerprints, that she had been all through that code-book-copying it, no doubt. You may call it a guess, but it’s a pretty safe one. As you know, the code was out of date-part of the trap to catch her. A man in Trent ’s position would know enough to know that. He may have meant to kill her anyhow, but if she had let herself be trapped, he just couldn’t afford to leave her alive and risk what she might be able to give away. She took fright and tried to get to the telephone. He shot her down. Then he had a look for Sir Philip’s revolver and took it away with him. He may not have had to look-she may have tried to get it-we can’t know. He didn’t leave any fingerprints, so he must have worn gloves in the flat-probably slipped them on when he was waiting for her to open the door. He had the revolver on him, as you know, when he was arrested. It’s a perfectly watertight case, and a good riddance of three dangerous people-more, maybe, if Madame Dupont talks. Well, that’s about all there is to it. Excuse me, will you-I’ve got to see the Assistant Commissioner.”

When he had gone after a cordial handshake, Sergeant Abbott came over to lean against the table and looked down at his “revered preceptress.”

“Well?” he said. “What are you thinking about?”

She gave a slight hesitant cough.

“I was thinking of what the Chief Inspector said.”

Frank laughed.

“He said quite a lot, didn’t he?”

“At the end,” said Miss Silver-“when he said, ‘That is all there is to it.’ Because there are no circumstances in which that can be true.”

“And how?”

She looked at him simply and gravely.