*Have you been in my house?"
*Answer the question, Ashby," Inspector Pound said, and the constable shifted wearily on his legs.
William Ashby looked about himself.
*Stay seated," the constable said.
*I don"t know. I just fell asleep."
*Can I say something?" I asked.
*Mr Grice"s presence is unorthodox enough." Inspector Pound looked at his watch. *If word got out we had a mere girl interrogating our prisoners we would be the laughing stock of London."
Sidney Grice handed me his pencil and I wrote on a clean page, The chair was rickety.
*Tell him that," Sidney Grice said, and the inspector huffed.
*The chair was rickety and not very comfortable," I said, and William Ashby nodded.
*I was a drummer boy in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment when I was fourteen," he said. *On a forced march I could fall asleep without breaking step. Sometimes the whole platoon would do likewise. If I can sleep marching up a mountain in driving sleet, I can sleep as well in a chair as you in your feather bed, miss."
*So you are a heavy sleeper." Sidney Grice slipped the coins back into his pocket.
*No, sir. Very light. I wake at the slightest sound usually. When you have been on watch you learn to sleep with your ears open."
*A drummer boy on watch?"
*I took the Queen"s shilling when I was sixteen."
*Why the Lancashires? You lived in London by then."
*It is a family tradition a my father and grandfather and-"
*I know what family tradition means," Sidney Grice interrupted. *How long were you in the army?"
*Fifteen years."
*And then?"
William Ashby"s left cheek ticked for a few seconds.
*I came to London to work in my Uncle Edwin"s shop and that"s where I met Sarah. We fell in love and got wed and then Uncle Edwin died."
*How convenient." Sidney Grice scratched his ear. *Was he stabbed to death as well?"
William Ashby shuddered and shook his head. *He was sixty-nine with a bad heart and weak lungs, and he left everything to us a the shop immediately and the rest of his estate to be put into trust for another five years."
Sidney Grice circled my comment and said, *Why were you so tired? By your own account you had not had a heavy day"s work."
*I slept badly on Sunday night. Something disturbed the donkeys stabled next to the shop. The rats, I expect. We get a lot since the sewer burst. And I can a.s.sure you, Mr Grice, if you have four braying donkeys on the other side of a lath-and-plaster wall, you would have to be a very heavy sleeper indeed not to be disturbed."
*So what woke you up on Monday night?"
*The shop bell ringing."
*How many times?"
*Just once."
*Then what?"
*I went to see if Sarah was all right."
*Why would she not be?"
*I don"t like her dealing with customers late at night. There is a public house either end of our a my street. We get drunks and troublemakers. Not often, but a woman by herself is fair game to a man with a belly full of ale."
William Ashby turned the mug slowly. It had a chipped rim.
*So you woke up and went into the sitting room immediately?" Sidney Grice asked.
*Pretty well."
*Did you do anything first?"
*No. I just didn"t see any reason to hurry a would to G.o.d that I had."
*Did you have your boots on?"
*Yes." The tic started again.
*And laced?"
*Yes."
*The same boots as you are wearing now?"
*Yes."
*Stand up and show me the soles."
William Ashby rose and turned away and lifted his feet up, one at a time like a horse at the smithy.
*Thank you."
*Sit," the constable said.
Somebody was shouting in the corridor a a woman a something about oysters, and a door slammed.
*What about your clothes?"
*His mother-in-law brought him a change," Inspector Pound said. *They were saturated in gore."
*And where are the soiled clothes now?"
*She took them to launder," the inspector said, and Sidney Grice"s hand shot to his eye.
*And you let her walk out with them?"
*No need to get upset, Mr Grice," Inspector Pound said. *We searched the pockets but there was nothing in them except a stained handkerchief."
My guardian ma.s.saged his closed lids.
*Stained from blood soaked through the pocket or from being used to wipe something?"
Inspector Pound shrugged. *Stained."
*And what of the bloodstains? Were they in pools or droplets? Were the knees of his trousers soaked? Was the jacket damaged a b.u.t.tons torn off or loosened, or lapels misshapen? Sleeves stretched? St.i.tching snagged? What of his shirt? b.u.t.tons missing, handprints, rips?"
*It was just a ruined old suit," Inspector Pound said.
*And quite possibly one of our most important witnesses," Sidney Grice said, and the constable chuckled.
*Be quiet," Inspector Pound told him.
*When G.o.d created fools he put the biggest of them into uniform and gave them helmets to prevent any thoughts entering their heads," Sidney Grice said, his face almost drained with anger, as Inspector Pound turned on him.
*I will not have you address one of my officers in such a manner," he said.
*When is washday?" I asked.
Inspector Pound stood up. *That does it," he said. *I will thank you both to step outside this room."
*I was only asking Mr Ashby when Mrs Dillinger does her laundry," I said. *Few women do it more than once a week."
Sidney Grice said, *I hardly-"
*Now," the inspector said and flung open the door.
15.
The Last Sigh Out in the corridor Inspector Pound waited for two constables and an old woman to go by.
*I am surprised at you, Mr Grice. I can just about tolerate the presence of a girl at an official interrogation, but I cannot have you insulting the force and one of my officers in front of my prisoner."
The woman was handcuffed and struggling.
*On a point of law," Sidney Grice said, *William Ashby is Her Majesty"s prisoner, not yours and-"
*And nothing," the inspector broke in. *It is completely unacceptable. And as for you, Miss Middletone-"
*Middleton," I said.
*Middle-whatever. I told you not to interview the suspect."
*No, you did not," I said. *You told me you could not have a mere girl interrogating him and, whilst I may be a girl, I a.s.sure you, Inspector, there is nothing mere about me."
The inspector looked at me for a while and laughed.
*Looks like I have met my match here," he said, and Sidney Grice smiled.
*If I have caused offence, please accept my apologies."
The woman started to growl.
*We will let it pa.s.s." Inspector Pound straightened his tie, and one of the constables screamed. The woman had dropped to the floor and was biting his ankle. The other constable hit her three times with his truncheon and she flopped to the floor. Inspector Pound shook his head wearily. *What do you make of Ashby then?"
*Guilty as Cain."
*Can you prove that?"
The injured constable kicked the woman"s stomach and leaped back as she snapped at him again.
*Given time," Sidney Grice said, and we went back into the room.
William Ashby was blowing his nose and the constable came to attention.
*So when is washday?" the inspector asked.
*She was going to do the clothes straight away," William Ashby said. *They had her daughter"s blood on them."
We sat at the table again.
*So what happened after you heard the bell?" the inspector asked.
*I went into the sitting room."
*The door opens outwards from the kitchen, does it not?" Sidney Grice asked, and William Ashby nodded. *I went into the sitting room, expecting just to pa.s.s through, but then I saw her."
*What part of her?" Sidney Grice said.