Patricia Wentworth: The Ivory Dagger

She spoke with a kind of weary calm. The dreadful tension of the last few days was relaxed. This release was all that mattered. Fear, hope, passion, the poison of jealousy, even the will to survive, dissolved in it and were gone.

When Lamb asked her if she wished to make a statement she agreed without interest. What Frank Abbott then took down differed by scarcely a word from what she had already said. When the statement had been read over to her she signed it and asked if she could go to her room and lie down, because she thought that now she might be able to sleep.

Lamb let her go. With Mary Good in charge and a constable on the landing, it would be better to defer the arrest until her statement had been carefully checked over with that of Frederick Baines.

When she had gone Lamb said,

‘Well, that lets Miss Dryden and young Waring out. I thought that lad Frederick was speaking the truth, and she doesn’t deny it. Only says she found Sir Herbert dead-didn’t kill him herself. A pretty tall story!’

Miss Silver coughed.

‘You do not consider that it might perhaps be true?’

He slewed round to train a frown upon her.

‘Now, now, Miss Silver, don’t you start making things difficult. Here you bring in this boy Frederick and his evidence-he would have had to come across with it sooner or later of course, but I don’t say you didn’t do a good bit of work getting it out of him before there had been any arrest made-well, I say first you dig all this out of him, and then you start casting doubts on it.’

Miss Silver imparted a gentle distance to her manner. She esteemed the Chief Inspector, but she sometimes found him a little too blunt. The tone of her reply informed Frank Abbott; if not Lamb himself, that this was one of these occasions.

‘Oh, no, Chief Inspector, I have no intention of casting any doubt upon Frederick ’s evidence. I feel quite sure that he has spoken the truth. But I am certain that you will have noticed, as I do myself, that there is a very important time factor. Frederick says that he followed Miss Whitaker through the shrubbery, but remained at the foot of the steps when she went up on to the terrace and into the study. The question is, how long did he wait? Was there really time for the murder to have been committed by Miss Whitaker?’

Lamb said,

‘It wouldn’t take such a lot of time, you know. She admits that she came over here intending to kill him. She admits having left the glass door unbolted so that she could get in. Well, she comes in, and there he is, sitting at his table with the ivory dagger in front of him. As likely as not he was examining it with the Professor’s magnifying-glass. Probably was-it would account for the glass dropping and rolling to where it was found. Well, Miss Whitaker comes in. He may have known she was there, or he may not-in any case he wouldn’t disturb himself. She has only to come up behind him, lean over his shoulder to pick up the dagger, and stab him where he sits. Not likely he’d suspect a thing until it was too late. You don’t have to allow much time if it was done that way.’

Miss Silver inclined her head.

‘I understand that the medical evidence supports the view that Sir Herbert was sitting at the writing-table when he was stabbed, that he pushed back his chair, rose to his feet, turned to confront his assailant, staggered back a step or two, and collapsed. Was there sufficient time for all this? Did no words pass between Sir Herbert and the person who murdered him? Was there no cry, or sound of a fall? All these things have to be considered, and you will naturally wish to question Frederick very closely. I have made no attempt to do so, as I felt it was due to you that you should have his evidence just as he gave it, and without its being prompted or coloured by any questioning of mine.’

Lamb said gruffly…

‘Very good of you, I’m sure-I appreciate that. It’s easy enough to put ideas into a witness’s head. You didn’t question him at all?’

‘I very carefully avoided doing so.’

‘All right then, we’ll have the lad in. Ring the bell, Frank!’

Marsham took the message. He also took time enough to mend the fire and brush up the hearth. Since there appeared to be no need for either task, Frank Abbott suspected him of wishing, for some reason, to dally. Perhaps he wanted to have a look at the Chief Inspector-perhaps he wanted the Chief Inspector to have a look at him. Whichever of those purposes was in his mind, as it happened, both were served. When the door had closed behind his majestic presence, Lamb slapped his knee.

‘Good enough for a stage play-isn’t he? I didn’t know they made his sort any more. Puts me in mind of the butler up at the Hall when I was a boy.’

When Frederick came in it was obvious that this recall dismayed him. He sat awkwardly on the edge of the chair which he had been invited to take and wondered what they wanted with him now.

Lamb gave him quite a friendly nod.

‘It’s all right, my lad-don’t get the wind up. You’ve made a statement, and we just want to go into the question of how long some of the things you have described would take. You say you were at the foot of the steps when you heard the church clock strike twelve.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘You watched Miss Whitaker go up the steps and into the study, and you waited a bit before you followed her.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘How long did you wait?’

‘Only till I see her go in.’

‘You could see the door from where you were?’

‘I come up a step or two, and I see the door move. There was a bit of light coming through the curtains-it made a shine on the glass when it moved. So I thought she’d gone in.’

‘And after the glass moved and you thought she had gone in-how long did you wait before you followed her?’

‘I went right up, sir.’

‘Right up to the door?’

‘Yes, sir. I didn’t know it was Miss Whitaker till I see her in the room. I thought I did ought to see who it was.’

Lamb nodded approvingly.

‘You did quite right. Now-after the door moved and Miss Whitaker went in, did you hear anything.’

‘Only Miss Whitaker.’

‘Sure you didn’t hear Sir Herbert speak or cry out?’

‘Oh, no, sir.’

‘No sound of a cry-of a chair being pushed back-a fall?’

‘Oh, no, sir. There wasn’t nothing-only Miss Whitaker talking.’

Lamb said sharply,

‘When did you hear that?’

‘When I come up to the door like I told you, sir.’

Lamb was frowning. He put a hand on the table and got to his feet.

‘Look here, we’ll try this out. Miss Silver, would you mind taking Miss Whitaker’s part? Now, my lad, you go down those steps with her. She will come up them and in through this door the way you say Miss Whitaker did, and you follow her just the way you did on Saturday night.’ He turned to Inspector Abbott. ‘Take the time, Frank!’

Miss Silver came up the steps and on to the terrace, then up the two steps to the glass door, which Lamb had left ajar. It swung open and she passed inside.

Twelve seconds later Frederick ’s fair head came into view over the edge of the terrace steps. He stood for a moment when he reached the top, then came slowly between the rosemary bushes to the glass door.

Frank Abbott had drawn the curtains. He and Lamb stood on the terrace and watched. They saw Frederick stoop, part the curtains, and look between them. Thirty seconds from start to finish.

They took him back into the room and shut the door. Lamb resumed his seat and his questioning.

‘You didn’t hear anything at all-you’re sure about that?’

‘Only Miss Whitaker.’

‘Oh, yes-you said you heard her talking. Where were you?’