CHAPTER XIV
ON BOTH SIDES OF THE RIVER
The sun, trans.m.u.ted into Greenwich time, exercised an extraordinary influence on the seemingly humdrum life of Steynholme that day. A few minutes after three o"clock--just too late to observe either Winter or Siddle--P.C. Robinson strolled forth from his cottage. He glanced up the almost deserted high-street, in which every rounded cobble and white flagstone radiated heat. A high-cla.s.s automobile had dashed past twice in forty minutes, but the pace was on the borderland of doubt, so the guardian of the public weal had contented himself with recording its number on the return journey.
But his thoughts were far a-field from joyriders, stray cattle, hawkers without licenses, and other similar small fry which come into the constabulary net. It would be a feather in his cap if he could only strike the trail of the veritable Steynholme murderer. The entrancing notion possessed him morning, noon, and night. Mrs. Robinson declared that it even dominated his dreams. Robinson was sharp. He knew quite well that the brains of the London detectives held some elusive quality which he personally lacked. They seemed to peer into the heart of a thing so wisely and thoroughly. He did not share Superintendent Fowler"s somewhat derogatory estimate of Furneaux, with whom he was much better acquainted than was his superior officer, while Chief Inspector Winter"s repute stood so high that it might not be questioned. Still, to the best of his belief, the case had beaten both these doughty representatives of Scotland Yard; there was yet a chance for the humble police-constable; so Robinson squared his shoulders, seamed his brows, and marched majestically down the Knoleworth road.
He had an eye for The Hollies, of course, though neither he nor anybody else could discern more than the bare edge of the lawn from bridge or road, owing to the dense screen of evergreen trees and shrubs planted by the tenant who remodeled the property.
But the spot where the body of Adelaide Melhuish was drawn ash.o.r.e was visible, and the sight of it started a dim thesis in the policeman"s mind which took definite shape during less than an hour"s stroll. Thus, at four o"clock exactly, he was pulling the bell at The Hollies. Almost simultaneously, Mr. Siddle knocked modestly on the private door of the post office, to reach which one had to pa.s.s down a narrow yard.
"Mr. Grant at home?" inquired Robinson, when Minnie appeared.
Yes, the master was on the lawn with Mr. Hart. The policeman found the two there, seated in chairs with awnings. They had been discussing, of all things in the world, the futurist craze in painting. Hart held by it, but Grant carried bigger guns in real knowledge of the artist"s limitations as well as his privileges.
Hart was the first to notice the newcomer"s presence, and greeted him joyously.
"Come along, Robinson, and manacle this reprobate," he shouted. "He"s nothing but a narrow-minded pre-Rafaelite. A period in prison will dust the cobwebs out of his attic."
"h.e.l.lo, Robinson!" said, Grant. "Anything stirring?"
"Not much, sir. I just popped in to ask if you remembered exactly how the body was roped?"
"Indeed, I do not. Some incidents of that horrible half hour have gone into a sad jumble. I recollect you calling attention to the matter, but what your point was I really cannot say now. Perhaps it may come back if you explain."
"Well, we don"t seem to be making a great deal of progress, sir, and I was wondering whether you two gentlemen might help. I don"t want it mentioned. I"m taking a line of me own."
Grant repressed a smile. He recalled well enough the first "line" the policeman took, and the mischief it had caused. Being an even-minded person, however, he admitted that his own behavior had not been above suspicion on the day the crime was discovered. In allotting blame, as between Robinson and himself, the proportion was six of one and half a dozen of the other.
"Propound, justiciary," said Hart. "You"ve started well, anyhow. The connection between a line and a rope should be obvious even to a judge.... As a pipe-opener, have a drink!"
Robinson had removed his helmet, and was flourishing a red handkerchief, not without cause, the day being really very hot.
"Not for a few minutes, thank you, sir," said the policeman. "May I ask Bates for a sack and a cord?"
He went to the kitchen. Hart was "tickled to death," he vowed.
"We are about to witness the reconstruction of the crime, a procedure which the French delight in, and the intellect of France is a hundred years ahead of our effete civilization," he chortled.
Grant was not so pleased. The memory of a distressing vision was beginning to blur, and this ponderous policeman must come and revive it.
Yet, even he grew interested when Robinson ill.u.s.trated a nebulous idea by knotting a clothesline around a sack stuffed with straw, having brought Bates to bear him out in the matter of accuracy.
"There you are, gentlemen!" he said, puffing after the slight exertion.
"That"s the way of it. How does it strike you?"
"It"s what a sailor calls two half hitches," commented Hart instantly.
"A very serviceable knot, which will resist to the full strength of the rope."
"We have no sailors in Steynholme, sir," said the policeman.
"Oh, it"s used regularly by tradesmen," put in Grant. "A draper, or grocer--any man accustomed to tying parcels securely, in fact--will fashion that knot nine times out of ten."
"How about a--a farmer, sir?" That was as near as Robinson dared to go to "horse-dealer."
"I think a farmer would be more likely to adopt a timber hitch, which is made in several ways. Here are samples." And Grant busied himself with rope and sack.
Robinson watched closely.
"Yes," he nodded. "I"ve seen those knots in a farmyard.... Well, it"s something--not much--but a trifle better than nothing.... All right, Bates. You can take "em away."
"Have you shown that knot to Mr. Furneaux?" inquired Grant.
"No, sir. I"ve kept that up me sleeve, as the sayin" is."
"But why?"
Robinson shuffled uneasily on his feet.
"These Scotland Yard men will hardly listen to a uniformed constable, sir," he said. "I"ll tell "em all about it at the inquest on Wednesday."
"In effect, John P. Robinson he sez they didn"t know everythin" down in Judee," quoted Hart.
"You"ve got my name pat," grinned the policeman, whose Christian names were "John Price."
"My name is Walter, not Patrick," retorted Hart. Robinson continued to smile, though he failed to grasp the joke until late that evening.
"Did you make up that verse straight off, sir," he asked.
"No. It"s a borrowed plume, plucked from an American quill pen."
Hart gave "plume" a French sound, and Robinson was puzzled to know why Grant bade his friend stop profaning a peaceful Sunday afternoon.
"You"ll have a gla.s.s of beer now?" went on the host.
"I don"t mind if I do, sir, though it"s tea-time, and I make it a rule on Sundays to have tea with the missis. A policeman"s hours are broken up, and his wife hardly ever knows when to have a meal ready."
Minnie was summoned. It took her a couple of minutes to draw the beer from a cool cellar. So it chanced that when Doris led Mr. Siddle to the edge of the cliff about twenty-five minutes past four, the first thing they saw was the local police-constable on the lawn of The Hollies putting down a gill of "best Suss.e.x" at a draught.
"Well!" cried the chemist icily, "I wonder what Superintendent Fowler would say to that if he knew it?"
"What is there particularly wrong about Robinson drinking a gla.s.s of beer?" demanded Doris, more alive to the insinuation in Siddle"s words than was quite permissible under the role imposed on her by Winter.
She waved her hand to the party on the lawn. Grant, whose eyes ever roved in that direction, had seen her white muslin dress the moment she appeared.