Margot Bennett - The Man Who Didn't Fly

“It was for all I’ve got. No, that’s not quite true. I have a very small income from a trust fund.”

“The amount of the cheque?”

“It was for nine thousand, five hundred.”

“You’ve stopped this cheque, of course?”

Wade squirmed. “Actually – I – I was going to stop it, that Friday. Then we had the news. Then, then I thought everything was over. So – so I haven’t.”

“But if he sent it direct to his bank, it would form part of his estate. It wouldn’t revert to you.”

“Stop it now, by wire, Father,” Hester said.

He nodded.

“I wonder why you didn’t stop it before? Was it because you thought it would still draw attention to your quarrel?”

“Don’t say a word more. Don’t say a word until you get a lawyer,” Moira advised sharply.

Inspector Lewis hesitated. “Do you want a lawyer to be present, Mr Wade?” he asked formally.

“No. I’ve nothing to say except what is true. I have no complaint, if I’m judged on the truth.”

“I’m not here to judge you, Mr Wade. I’m here to try, with your help, to arrive at the truth. If you wish, I’ll wait until you have a lawyer to advise you. Also, if you prefer it, I’ll continue this interview privately.”

“No, let’s continue as we are,” Wade said, shivering, like a penitent who has chosen his own punishment.

“Then we’ll return to Maurice Reid. He decided to fly to Ireland either because he had been assaulted by you, Mr Marryatt, and feared another attack; or because he had your cheque in his pocket, Mr Wade. It might, you know, seem to some people, although not necessarily to me, that it was in both your interests to get rid of him. If it can be proved that he is the man who didn’t fly, I should very much like to know where he is now.” He turned on Marryatt. “The gun,” he demanded in his most formidable voice. “Where is the gun that Harry sold to Maurice Reid?”

“That’s just the kind of question they’re always asking at school,” Prudence said sympathetically.

“School?” Lewis said incredulously.

“Miss Barker-Smith, she teaches us English, she’s always appealing to our honour to make us tell the truth. Then if we’re simple enough to give it to her, she flies at us with lines and detentions. Now we’ve told you the truth, I can see it’s Dartmoor for us.”

“Prudence!” Hester warned faintly.

Lewis turned away.

“The gun?” he repeated.

Marryatt looked more arrogant than ever. “I couldn’t tell you. It’s not my habit to carry a gun. When I came in, this gun was lying on the fireplace. I picked it up. I might have had the idea of putting it out of Maurice’s reach, though I don’t believe he’d ever have had the guts to use a gun. I’m not sure what I did with it, then. I put it down somewhere. On that table, I think.” Sergeant Young walked across to the table where the drooping roses stood in the blue vase. He touched them reflectively, listening still to the questions and answers.

“It wasn’t here in the morning when you came in this room?” Lewis asked Prudence, speaking to her coldly, like an acknowledged enemy.

“No. Jackie was in here first, you know.”

“Mr Marryatt, why did you come to this house so late on Thursday night?”

“I didn’t come late. I came early, waiting for him. After I left him on the road, I thought a lot about what was the right thing to do. I mean my idea of what was right. It might not be yours,” he added indifferently. “I’d hit him once or twice. It gave me no satisfaction, or not much. I didn’t want to go on with it. Too much like pulping up a frog by hand. But I wasn’t letting him off. I tell you, I saw him on that train in London by chance, and I thanked God for the chance. I hated him. I’ve often dreamt of killing him. That’s why I followed him down here. You can use the information just as you like. I wouldn’t be giving it to you if I’d killed him.”

“So you thought of what was right – and you decided?”

“I decided I’d run him out of the country, without the Wades’ money to help him. I was waiting to get hold of him, and – and put my point. Then Miss Wade there got me kind of annoyed. I walked out of the house and went back to The Running Fox. I didn’t try to get in quietly. I shouted to the landlord to open up. You think that’s what I’d have done if I’d just killed a man?” He turned on Hester, challenging her to answer.

Moira jumped up. “Oh, do get a lawyer,” she said impatiently.

“You’re putting it too directly again, Mr Marryatt. No one has accused you of anything,” Inspector Lewis said.

“That’s not the way it sounded to me,” Marryatt said angrily.

“You’re quite certain you left the gun in this room?”

Moira arranged her hair with an absent hand, while she studied Marryatt intently. “Don’t answer that,” she advised. “If you’re not careful they’ll be saying you made that noise at The Running Fox, just for an alibi. They’ll be accusing you of coming out again quietly, a little later, of meeting Maurice, when you were supposed to be in bed.”

“Thanks,” Marryatt said. “I’ll remember you tried to help me, when I’m choosing my last breakfast. Have you got any little word of encouragement, Miss Wade?”

He turned his angry glance on her. It was as though he stood alone, hating everyone in the room, and caring nothing for any of them.

“Yes. I have something to say. I don’t know what all this talk of murder is about. I thought all we were trying to do was find out who didn’t fly on that plane. If it’s to be more than that, why shouldn’t you suspect me? I’d as much cause to kill Maurice.”

Sergeant Young turned away from the table and the roses.

“If you’ll excuse me, sir,” he said apologetically.

“Yes, Sergeant Young?” Lewis asked, not taking his eyes from Marryatt.

“There are only sixteen roses here, sir.”

“Roses?” Lewis repeated in amazement.

“Why is it all Maurice? What about Morgan?” Hester demanded. “He was the kind of man who might hide instead of flying.”

Moira shook a smile on to her face.

“What about Harry, while you’re about it? He was a man who never finished what he’d intended to do. He said so himself,” she said, smiling in a kind of triumph at Hester.

“Any minute, now, Mrs Ferguson, I’ll tell you what you should do,” Marryatt said. “Maybe you’re not feeling too good yourself. But lay off other people. And I’ll tell you something while I’m about it, Mr Inspector Lewis. Leave the Wades out of this. I saw him, Wade, crazy to ring the police and give himself up when he hadn’t even killed the man. As for Miss Wade, she wouldn’t have the heart to throw a stone at a rabbit. Another thing. What about giving us a bit of information? You must know something?”

“You’re not on trial, Mr Marryatt. I’m not obliged to produce any evidence.”

“Too right I’m not on trial. So you answer me just one question, not like a policeman, just like a man. You’ve been to that bar in Brickford, where they met. You’ve been to the airport. You’ve heard something. Are you telling me not one of these men has been identified? No one heard one of them call the other by name? I don’t believe it.”

“You’ll have to believe it. Some of their conversation was overheard. One of them did call another by his name. But the man who heard isn’t willing to swear to anything, except the name began with M. It might have been Maurice, it might have been Morgan, it might have been Montmorency, for all we can get out of the witness. At this point, he simply doesn’t know. Being a numerologist, he observed it was the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, and then he simply turned his thoughts away. So we know that either Morgan or Maurice was at Brickford, and presumably went on the plane. But that’s nothing. We know one of them went on the plane anyway. As only one man didn’t fly, the other three did.”