Five Dead Canaries

‘As a married woman,’ said Keedy, ‘you’d expect her to know something about contraception as well.’

The comment brought the exchange to a stop. Marmion was keenly aware of the situation in their private life. As a healthy and passionate man in his thirties, Keedy was more or less bound to have had sexual experience in his earlier relationships. It raised the question of whether or not he and Alice had been to bed together. Though he did his best not to think about it, the question kept popping up at random to jab away at Marmion. He forced himself to resume the conversation.

‘The person we really need is Agnes Collier,’ he said.

‘Why is that?’

‘She could have told us exactly why she thought Florrie was pregnant.’

‘It was just a feeling she had — that’s what she told her mother, anyway.’

‘Who else did she tell?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’m wondering if Agnes spoke to anybody else about it.’

‘There’s one obvious candidate,’ said Keedy, ‘and it’s Maureen Qui

‘They saw a lot of each other and travelled to work together every day. Also, they were the only two members of the group who didn’t live in Hayes.’ He got up from his seat. ‘I can well imagine Agnes saying something to her friend.’

‘Where are you going?’

‘I’m going to call on Maureen,’ said Marmion, ‘and you’re coming with me.’

‘The Qui

‘This is a murder investigation, Joe. I don’t care if they barricade themselves in and pour boiling oil down on us. Whatever it takes, I mean to speak to Maureen.’

Before he could move, however, the telephone rang.

When she’d been grabbed in the dark, Maureen Qui

‘I didn’t mean to scare you, Maureen,’ he said.

‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded. ‘I know that you escaped because the police told us you had. It’s dangerous for you to come here, Niall.’

‘I wasn’t intending to stay.’

‘You were somewhere in Wales, weren’t you?’

‘That’s right. It was a nasty place called Frongoch. I was honest with them. The moment they locked me up, I warned them that they wouldn’t be able to hold me.’ He smiled at her. ‘Aren’t you glad that I got free?’

‘I’m not sure,’ she confessed.

‘I’m your cousin, Maureen. Blood is thicker than water.’

‘It terrifies me, having you here like this.’

‘I was only intending to come and go without disturbing any of you. If you hadn’t come out to the shed, you’d never have known I was even there.’

She was nonplussed. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘I came back for something,’ he told her. ‘I hid it in the shed when I was here last time. The police carried out a search when they arrested me but they never found the hiding place.’

‘What did you put in there, Niall?’

He produced a gun from inside his jacket. ‘It was this.’

When he held it up, Maureen almost fainted. Seeing her distress, he thrust the weapon out of sight again. It was too much for her. Maureen wished that she hadn’t reacted to the noise she heard from the garden. The news that a gun had been hidden in the garden shed all this time u

‘It’s only us!’ called Diane as she entered the house.

Realising there was no danger, Niall put the gun quickly inside his jacket again. A moment later, Diane came into the kitchen with her younger daughter. She froze when she saw the stranger there.

‘It’s Niall,’ said Maureen.

‘Dear God!’ exclaimed Diane.

‘I thought you were in prison,’ said Lily, goggling at him.

‘Go upstairs.’

‘But I want to talk to Niall.’

‘Go upstairs to your room now!’ ordered Diane, easing the girl through the door. ‘This doesn’t concern you.’

Lily went off reluctantly, leaving her mother to assess the situation.

‘Your uncle will have to be told,’ she decided.

‘I wasn’t meaning to stay,’ said Niall.

‘You can’t stay. Maureen will explain while I go and fetch Eamo

Niall turned to his cousin and gave her a wi

‘What is it you need to explain to me, Maureen?’

Before they left the police station in Hayes, they were delayed by a long telephone call from Scotland Yard. The superintendent wanted to defend his position. While exonerating himself from the charge of having sent them to Rochester on a fool’s errand, he reserved the right to criticise them for their naivety in believing that they were off to arrest their prime suspect. When Marmion told him they were seeking confirmation that Florrie Duncan might have been pregnant, he took care not to mention contraception. The subject was anathema to a strict Roman Catholic like the superintendent. While he didn’t put it into words, he was very unsympathetic towards Florrie’s predicament, clearly blaming it on the sin of having sexual intercourse outside marriage. When the call finally ended, Marmion rubbed his ear.

‘I’ve just listened to a sermon,’ he complained. ‘I’m surprised that Chat doesn’t have a pulpit erected in his office.’

‘You should have known better than to let him get on to religion.’

‘I couldn’t stop him, Joe.’

‘He roasted me earlier on,’ said Keedy. ‘Now it was your turn.’

‘Let’s be off before he rings again,’ said Marmion, reaching for his hat. ‘We need to get to Maureen’s house before she goes to bed.’

They went out to their car and the driver set off. For most of the journey they travelled in silence, each wrapped up in his own thoughts. The purpose of their visit was to establish that Florrie Duncan was pregnant but it was something else altogether that made Keedy eventually speak.

‘What Mr Harte told us was very interesting,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ agreed Marmion. ‘We learnt a little more about Florrie Duncan.’

‘It was the bit about her father that surprised me. Brian Ingles goes out of his way to impress people. You’d think he was rolling in money.’ Keedy turned to him. ‘Why should he need a large loan from the bank?’

Eamo

‘It’s always good to see you, Niall,’ he said, ‘but, as Maureen will have told you, this is not the ideal moment to call on us.’

‘Say the word, Uncle Eamo

‘You can stay the night, if you need to.’

‘That’s asking for trouble!’ cried Diane.

‘Keep out of this, woman.’

‘Remember what happened last time.’