Alan Hunter: Gently through the Mill

‘We come to Thursday night. They spent the evening as usual, in the hotel. At approximately eleven-thirty Taylor went out alone, apparently for what was expected to be a shortish absence. When he hadn’t arrived back by one a.m. Roscoe and Ames, evidently anxious, questioned the night-porter. Then, after a conference, they went out looking for him, going in the direction of Fenway Road.

‘They returned nearly an hour later. They seemed angry as well as anxious. After a further conference they tipped the night-porter a pound, and left instructions for him to ring them the moment Taylor showed up.

‘Taylor, of course, didn’t show up — he was lying strangled in the flour-hopper — and in the morning Roscoe and Ames were overheard discussing him in angry terms. Towards lunchtime Roscoe went out and fetched the midday paper. It carried the news of the finding of the body in the stop-press.

‘They were too shaken by it to go in to lunch, and shortly afterwards they checked out of the hotel — taking steps, nevertheless, to prevent Taylor’s absence from being immediately reported to the authorities. They took a train to Ely from where it would be difficult to trace them, and then doubled back to a safe base near the scene of the operation.

‘Now, you will notice, they were in a position to bring irresistible pressure to bear. Taylor had been murdered, and they were aware of the identity of the murderer or murderers. They used this pressure. Roscoe received a letter which contained, without doubt, instructions as to the time and place for the pay-off. Ames, the muscle man, was sent to collect it, and a few hours later he was discovered floating down the river.

‘That brings us up to date from the point of view of Roscoe. This morning, once more, he was obliged to start on his travels. The question beside him is: will he carry on? — and personally, I don’t think he has much option.

‘The police are after him and so is the murderer, but there is a pretty big carrot dangling in front of his nose. If he can collect that carrot and come off unscathed, then there’s a chance for him to jump the country and give both of us the slip.

‘My hunch is that he’s doubled back again and is going to have one more try.’

Gently fished up his matches and relit his pipe. A lifetime of trying to do it had never yet convinced him that one couldn’t smoke while one talked. Across the square came two constables, walking satisfyingly in step. They were deep in conversation and paid no attention to the courting couples.

‘I still can’t see-’ The super cleared his throat. ‘You’re suggesting that somehow this money is connected, but the fact is that it was still in the bank at the time of the Newmarket meeting.’

‘That’s just what I was thinking, sir,’ put in Griffin. ‘Mr Pershore didn’t know he would need it until Tuesday or Wednesday of last week.’

‘But on Thursday several people could hazard a guess.’

Gently blew a casual smoke-ring.

‘Also, there was the preliminary five thousand — that was the initial gambit. Wherever it came from, it was safe and not likely to be missed.’

The super brooded over it with an expression of distaste. With the best will in the world, he felt on the defensive against Gently. Something was going to be pinned on to Lynton, he could feel it in his bones, but unless he was being denser than usual he failed to see how it was to be done.

‘In effect you are saying that these three men… on the first occasion they cleared up all the ready cash. Then, redoubling their demands, they forced their victim to a desperate act — and this person was aware that Mr Pershore had made a large cash withdrawal?’

‘Mmn.’ Gently nodded. ‘It could be something like that.’

‘But this Blacker scarcely fills the bill — he wouldn’t have had five thousand by him. And then again… well, he doesn’t, does he? How could this Roscoe lot ever have heard about him at Newmarket?’

‘Looks more like Fuller.’ Griffin was following shrewdly.

‘He might have produced five thousand at a pinch, and he would have seen Mr Pershore with his attache case.’

‘He did. I asked him.’

Gently shrugged indulgently.

‘Also, he happened to attend that meeting at Newmarket.’

‘Then surely, if there’s a tie-up-’

‘Let’s get back to the facts first. Up till now, we’ve only been considering them from Roscoe’s viewpoint.’

Both the super and Griffin looked as though they might have smart rejoinders up their sleeves, but neither of them hazarded one. Gently struck another match and tossed it into the super’s ashtray. Downstairs at the desk they could vaguely hear the duty sergeant asking somebody questions.

‘At the mill you’d got something going on which is happening every hour of the day and night — out there at the moment, as a matter of fact!

‘Fuller had fallen for the baker’s wife. They were neither of them people with much experience in conducting clandestine love affairs. At first it was just a kiss and cuddle in the office — the clerk having been sent out on an errand, no doubt. Then I dare say they laid plans for something more interesting, but they were stuck for an appropriate opportunity.

‘It came on the eve of Good Friday when two events coincided. One of them was Fuller’s stag party at The Spreadeagle, and the other the circumstance that the baker would be spending all night in the bakehouse. How long ahead they had been making arrangements I didn’t elicit, but what is certain is that they were very careless over them.

‘Blythely, the baker, had got wind of the assignation, and Blacker knew even the time and place. As a result, when they met outside the stable in the drying-ground, two people were stationed there to witness the fact.

‘Where Blacker was is conjectural, but he was certainly there. In the morning he used his knowledge to blackmail Fuller into making him foreman. Blythely, on the other hand, hid in a lean-to urinal. From there he could watch the stable but could see nothing of the yard.

‘And the times of these dispositions were roughly from half past eleven till half past midnight: at that critical time there were four people on the spot.

‘Fuller can tell us nothing, which is not surprising; nor, I imagine, can Mrs Blythely. They were in the hayloft busy with their own doings. Blythely, most unfortunately, could hear but not see, so we are left with Blacker as the solitary eyewitness.

‘What Blythely did hear, however, is very suggestive. He heard three or four separate sets of footsteps. Giving approximate times he heard the first set at eleven-forty. They entered the yard from the opening into Cosford Road, came down the yard and halted in the passage between the mill buildings and the bakehouse block. Five minutes later a second set followed them. Blythely says they were lighter and quicker, like a child’s, which suggests that they belonged to Taylor.

‘There was a short conversation between these two people which Blythely was unable to overhear, neither did he hear them leave the passage. A third set came down the yard at about ten minutes to twelve. They lingered in the passage and then came back running.

‘Finally there were steps from the passage at about twelve o’clock midnight — a little slow and hesitant, according to Blythely. Shortly after they had gone he may have heard a car started, but there was nothing further to report until the guilty party re-emerged at half past twelve.

‘Out of that timetable, I expect, you can begin to reconstruct the murder.’

It was not the implications but the completeness of the information which was making Griffin turn hot. You could see what he was thinking, with his neck growing scarlet. They’d both had their turn at it, he and Gently — about the same time each, but what a difference in their results! Surely there was an element of luck in the affair…?