John Carr - The Plague Court Murders

He paused, and let out a sound resembling, "Haa-ah!" as of a man finishing off a deep drink that has almost choked him. "Now, Sir! Now! And here's what I wanted to ask you. You tell me you heard somebody walking past your door, when you were sitting in this room reading? Yes. Well, then: which direction was it going? Was it going out towards the back yard, or returning from there?"

The only answer was, or could be, "I don't know."

He wheezed. "Because, if it was coming back to the house - I mean this house; the big one here - after, say, `visiting' Darworth.... You see, I came round the side of the house into the back yard. I could see the back door, with the candlelight shining from here, I could even see the part of the yard towards me... Then what kind of hell-bound thing is it that can walk out a front door, round through a muddy yard without leaving footprints; can kill Darworth in a stone jug of a house, and return here by the back door, and pass through candlelight without being seen?"

During the ensuing silence he nodded curtly and went to the door. I could hear him addressing the constable he had sent up to the front room as a guard against the five suspects comparing notes. Vaguely I heard him giving instructions that Lady Benning was to be sent back here to our "council-room"; vaguely I wondered what my old Chief at the M.I.D., that rather great figure whom Featherton's remark had put into my mind, would have thought of this muddle. "What kind of hell-bound thing is it that can… .?" I looked up, to see Masters striding back.

"If," he said uncertainly, "the old lady goes to pieces again, the way you say she did before-"

He hesitated. His hand went slowly to his hip-pocket, and he took out that gunmetal flask, which in his own placid thoroughness he kept for the convenience of nervous believers at spiritist seances. He juggled it in his hand. His eyes wore a curiously blank look. Along the passage we could hear someone limping towards the council-room, and the booming tones of a constable urging caution.

"You drink it, Masters," I said.

X THE TESTIMONY IN THE CASE

IT IS to Masters' thoroughness that I am indebted for the actual word-for-word record of the testimony we received. Masters does not trust to brief notes. Into his fat notebooks you will find entered in shorthand every word spoken by the person he has questioned: except, of course, things obviously irrelevant. This is later deciphered, rearranged, and typed into a statement which he submits for the witness to initial. With his permission, I have got copies f these notes, filled in also with the questions he asked but did not write down at the time.

These, then, constitute mere extracts from that vast jumble of talk: they are designedly incomplete, but they are submitted because they may be of interest to the puzzle-analyst, and for the significance of certain statements among them.

The first is headed "Lady Anne Benning, widow; wife of the late Sir Alexander Benning, O.B.E." It does not convey the atmosphere of that bleak room, where the spurious Watteau marquise faced Masters across the candles; with the clock-hands crawling towards four, and the stolid constable looming in the shadows behind, and outside the noise of Darworth's body being dumped into a black van.

She was even more hostile than before. They had given her a chair; the red cloak-lining gleamed again, and she sat upright with her jeweled hands clenched tightly in her lap. About her there was a sort of evil jauntiness. She moved her head as though she were looking for a place to touch Masters on the raw; the pouched eyes were half shut, and you could see wrinkles along the lids; and she still smiled. They went through the formalities without clashing, though Major Featherton - who insisted on accompanying her-had to be rather forcibly urged from the room. I can see her yet, lifting an eyebrow or hand slightly, and hear the thin chill metal of her voice.

Q. Lady Benning, how long have you known Mr. Darworth?

A. I really can't say. Does it matter? Eight months, possibly a year.

Q. How did you come to make his acquaintance?

A. Through Mr. Theodore Latimer, if it matters. He told me of Mr. Darworth's interest in the occult, and brought him to see me at my home.

Q. Yes. And we understand that you'd been in what we'll call a receptive state for that sort of thing. Is that correct, Lady Benning?

A. My dear man, I am not going to answer mere impertinences.

Q. Just so. Did you know anything about Darworth?

A. I knew, for instance, that he was a gentleman, and well-bred.

Q. I mean, anything about his past life?

A. No.

Q. Did he tell you, in fact, something like this: That, though he was, not a medium himself, he was intensely psychic; that he felt you had suffered a great bereavement, and influences were trying to get in touch with you; that he was the patron of a medium who he thought could help you? Did he, Lady Benning?

A. (A long hesitation) Yes. But not at first, not for a long time. He was very sympathetic about James.

Q. And a meeting with the medium was arranged? A. Yes.

Q. Where?

A. At Mr. Darworth's house in Charles Street.

Q. Were there many such meetings afterwards?

A. Many. (Here the witness began to show discomposure).

Q. Where, Lady Benning, you `got through' - so to speak - to Mr. James Halliday?

A. For God's sake, will you stop torturing me!

Q. Sorry. You understand, ma'am, I have to do this. Did Mr. Darworth join the circle?

A. Rarely. He said it disturbed him.

Q. So that he was not in the room at all?

A. No.

Q. Did you know anything about the medium?

A. No. (Hesitation). Except that he was not altogether of sound mind. Mr. Darworth had discussed his

case with the doctor in charge of the London League of Mercy for the mentally deficient. He told me how highly the doctor had praised James, and how much they thought of him. James used to send £50 yearly to the League. Mr. Darworth said it was only a small piece of thoughtfulness, but it was wonderful.

Q. Just so. You made no inquiries about Mr. Darworth?

A. No.

Q. Ever give him money? No reply.

Q. Was it a great deal of money, Lady Benning?

A. My dear man, surely even you must have the intelligence to see that it is none of your business.

Q. Who first suggested that Plague Court should be exorcised?

A. (The witness spoke very strongly). My nephew James.

Q. I mean, who- Let's say, among people who can be called more easily as witnesses, who first put the

suggestion into audible English?

A. Thank you so much for the correction. It was I.

Q. What did Mr. Darworth think of it?

A. He did not wish to do it at first.

Q. But you convinced him?

A. (The witness made no reply, but used the words 'or said he didn't,' as though to herself).

Q. Does the name `Elsie Fenwick' mean anything to you, Lady Benning?

A. No.

This dialogue, as I remember it, contained nothing more than is set down in Masters' notes. She had not rambled or digressed, even when she faltered; and she had definitely had the better of the exchange. Masters, I think, was coolly angry. When he said, "Now we come to tonight-" I expected on her part a quick watchfulness or tension.' Nothing of the sort happened.

Q. In this room a while ago, Lady Benning, after Mr. Blake had been speaking to Joseph Dennis, you made use of the expression, `Come into the front room, you, and ask which one of us killed Roger Darworth?'

A. Yes.

Q. What did you mean by it?

A. Did you ever hear of sarcasm, sergeant? I simply supposed the police would be fools enough to think so.

Q. But you don't think so?

A. Think what?

Q. Frankly, that one of the five people in the front room murdered Mr. Darworth?