"You were in the house at the time of the murder?"
"Yes. I was in the room next to this."
"Thank you," said the inspector, making an entry in his notebook. He glanced at Rosemary again. "Was anyone with you in the garden this afternoon, madam?"
"Oh yes!" replied Rosemary nervously. "A friend of ours called. I was sitting talking to him by the lake for quite some time."
"His name?" asked the inspector, pencil poised.
"Dermott-Mr. Trevor Dermott. A very old friend of ours."
The inspector looked up. "Is Mr. Dermott on the premises now?"
"No, oh no! He left some time ago. I mean, before I"d the least idea of this frightful thing having happened."
"Mr. Dermott did not, to your knowledge, see your husband this afternoon, madam?"
"No, I know he didn"t. He never came up to the house at all. My husband had a business appointment, and I walked down the drive to meet Mr. Dermott. He simply left his car down the drive, and we sat by the lake till he had to go."
The inspector looked at her. "You were expecting Mr. Dermott this afternoon?"
"Well, yes, in a way I was. I mean, he said he might look me up today if he got back from town."
"I see." The inspector closed his notebook. "Had your husband, to your knowledge, any enemies, madam?"
Rosemary did not answer for a moment. Miss Allison watched her with misgiving. Rosemary raised her eyes to the inspector"s face and said hesitantly: "I hardly know what to say. As a matter of fact, I do happen to know that he was having a good deal of trouble at the office with his partners. I don"t really understand business-I simply don"t pretend to-but I know his partners were absolutely set on doing something my husband wouldn"t agree to."
"Mr. Clement Kane was, I understand, the senior partner in the firm?"
"Yes, he was; that"s just it."
"You don"t know of any private quarrel Mr. Kane may have had?"
"N-no," Rosemary answered. "Not exactly a quarrel. Of course, I know his great-aunt resented his inheriting all Silas Kane"s property and loathed us being here, but they didn"t quarrel. I simply hate having to tell you this, but I do feel it"s my duty not to keep anything back. And actually it"s no secret that his great-aunt hated Clement. Everyone knows that James Kane is the one she"d like to have here."
Miss Allison fixed her gaze upon the prospect outside and thought of all the painful ways there might be of killing Mrs. Clement Kane. Rosemary"s voice flowed on, but at last the inspector went away, and Miss Allison was able to favour Rosemary with a pithy resume of her own character as seen through the eyes of Mr. James Kane"s affianced wife.
Her remarks, however, glanced off the armour of Rosemary"s superb egotism. Rosemary was grieved to think that anyone could so misjudge the purity of her motives. She explained earnestly that she had gone through the familiar processes known to her as Asking Herself What She Ought to Do.
Miss Allison, who knew that Rosemary"s mysterious Self, so often appealed to, so invariably in agreement with Rosemary, was divinely guided, at this point abandoned the argument and left the room.
The inspector, meanwhile, encountering James Kane in the hall, had requested him to accompany him to the study, whence Clement"s body had by this time been removed for the purpose of answering a few questions on his own movements during the course of the afternoon.
"You state that you were seated on the terrace in the company of the elder Mrs. Kane until about half-past three, when the shot was fired?"
"Yes," agreed Jim.
"When you left Mrs. Kane, where did you go, sir?"
"Up to her rooms on the first floor. She wanted her garden rug, and I went to ask her personal maid for it."
"I understand the maid was not in Mrs. Kane"s rooms at the time?"
"No."
"So what did you do, sir?"
"I looked round for the rug but couldn"t see it. I then came downstairs again and went into the garden hall, thinking it might be kept there."
"The garden hall? That is the room on the same side of the house as this?"
"Correct."
"With a way into the garden, I think?"
"Of course. I"ll show you."
"You were, I think you said, in this garden room when you heard the shot fired?"
"I was, yes."
"Did you form any idea of the direction from which the sound came?"
"I thought it came from just outside."
"What did you do, sir?"
"I went out at once through the door onto the path that runs down the side of the house and looked round."
"And you saw no one, Mr. Kane?"
"Not a sign of anyone."
The inspector moved to the window and looked out. Then he drew his head in again. "You stated a little while ago that you went out immediately you heard the shot. If that is so, it seems very strange that you should not have caught a glimpse of anyone on this side of the house. There does not seem to be any room for doubt that your cousin was shot from the window."
Jim frowned a little. "Yes, it does," he admitted. "d.a.m.ned odd. I can only suppose that whoever it was must have managed to get to cover in the shrubbery before I came out. I shouldn"t have thought he had time. He must have been darned nippy."
The inspector"s eyes measured the distance from the path to the shrubbery. Then he looked at Jim again and said: "When you failed to see anyone, did you make any sort of search in the shrubbery, sir?"
"No. I waited for a moment or two and then came into the house again. Then I saw this door standing open and heard the butler and Miss Allison talking."
"You waited for a moment or two? Why did you do that, sir?"
Jim smiled. "Well, to tell you the truth, I thought it might be my young stepbrother up to mischief. I shouted at him, but he answered me from quite some way off, and I realised it couldn"t have had anything to do with him."
The inspector made a lengthy note in his book and after an appreciable pause said: "Mr. Clement Kane had recently inherited a considerable property. I understand you are the present heir, are you not, sir?"
"I?" said Jim. "No, you"ve been misinformed there. I belong to the youngest branch of the family. After my cousin Clement, it would go to the Australian branch."
"Indeed, sir, is that so?" The inspector seemed interested. "Would you mind giving me the name of the present heir?"
"Sorry, I"m afraid I can"t. My great-aunt would probably know, though. I think it"s a female-but I"m not entirely sure. Perhaps you"d like to see Mrs. Kane yourself?"
"If you please, sir," said the inspector, standing aside for Jim to go before him out of the room.
In the hall Jim stopped, for Pritchard was standing by the open front door, speaking in a low voice to Joseph Mansell.
Joseph caught sight of Jim and came forward at once. "Jim! This-this appalling-- "Pon my word, I don"t know what to say! I came round to pay a call on Mrs. Kane and was met by-this shocking news. I-really, I"m so overwhelmed by it-so upset!-- Good G.o.d, it"s incredible, utterly incredible!" He wiped his face with his handkerchief as he spoke, and Jim saw that his hand was shaking a little. "Pritchard tells me he was shot in his study. I suppose you have no idea who can have done such a dastardly thing?"
"None at all, sir."
"No, no, naturally not!" Joe said. "It"s inexplicable! I shouldn"t have said he had an enemy in the world. Poor fellow, poor fellow!" He became aware of Inspector Carlton at Jim"s elbow and gave him a nod of recognition. "This is a terrible business, Inspector. It doesn"t bear thinking of. The loss to the firm too! A most able fellow, a splendid man to work with, just like his cousin before him! What a tragedy!" He shook his head and, fetching one of his gusty sighs, said: "I had better go now. I wouldn"t dream of worrying Mrs. Kane at such a moment." He glanced uncertainly at Carlton and added: "If there"s anything I can do, or-or if you want me, Inspector, you know where you can find me, don"t you?"
"Yes sir. I shall be wanting to ask you one or two questions."
"Certainly, certainly! Anything I can tell you-only too anxious to be of a.s.sistance!" Joe a.s.sured him.
"If you"ll wait a minute I"ll find out if my great-aunt can see you, Inspector," said Jim.
The inspector bowed and walked over to study a somewhat gloomy seascape hanging by the front door.
Jim went into the drawing room, where he found not only Emily, but Oscar Roberts, and Timothy, and Miss Allison as well.
Emily, having said that she saw no reason why tea should not be served as usual, was seated in her particular chair, eating a slice of bread and b.u.t.ter. Miss Allison, behind the tea table, did not seem to be hungry, but Timothy and Mr. Roberts were following Emily"s example.
"Well?" said Emily, glancing up at her favourite great-nephew. "Have they done yet? Your tea will be cold."
"Just a moment, Aunt. The inspector wants to ask you a question. May I show him in?"
Emily said in her most disagreeable voice: "I don"t know what he thinks I can tell him. You can show him in if you want to."
"It"s only about the Australian cousin," explained Jim. "He wants to know her name. It is a she, isn"t it?"
"What"s that Australian lot got to do with him?" said Emily, opening her eyes to their widest extent.
"I suppose he feels he must check up on everybody," replied Jim. He opened the door again and turned. "Will you come in, Inspector? Mrs. Kane will see you."
The inspector, in asking to question Mrs. Kane, was doing no more than his duty, but he came rather diffidently into the room and, confronted by the old lady seated so upright in her chair and holding in her hand a cup and saucer, at once apologised for intruding upon her. Emily nodded at him and stared in a way calculated to upset the coolest nerves.
"Very sorry to disturb you, madam, I"m sure. If you would just be good enough to confirm that you were seated upon the terrace with Mr.-er-Mr. James Kane up till, approximately, three-thirty this afternoon--"
"Yes, I was," said Emily.
"I understand you asked Mr. Kane to fetch a rug at about the time of the murder?"
"I dare say," said Emily. "Not that I know when the murder was committed, for I don"t."
"You did not hear the shot, madam?"
"No, I did not," said Emily. "If I"d heard the shot I should have said so."
"Yes madam-I"m sure." The inspector coughed and added tentatively: "I beg pardon, but are you at all deaf, madam-if I may ask?"
Emily, who, in common with most people afflicted by slight deafness, strongly resented such an implication being made, glared at him and said angrily: "There"s nothing wrong with my hearing at all! I hear very well indeed-as long as people don"t mumble at me!"
The inspector recognised this bitter rider. He had heard it from his own father many times. He made haste to a.s.sure Emily that he quite understood.
"If I didn"t hear the shot it was because I wasn"t near enough," said Emily. "I went for a little walk while my great-nephew was looking for the rug."
The inspector looked consideringly at her. She was a very old lady, he knew, and there was a cane leaning against the arm of her chair.
"Is there anything more you want to know?" demanded Emily.
"Just one point, if you please, madam. Might I have the name and address of the present heir to the property?"
There was a pause. Emily was still staring at the inspector as though at some irrelevant intruder.
She said at last: "I don"t know what you"re talking about."
Jim said helpfully: "The Australian lot, Aunt Emily. Isn"t there a cousin, or something?"
Emily transferred her gaze slowly to his face. "What about her?"
"Well, she must be the heir," Jim pointed out.
"Rubbish!" said Emily scornfully. "She"s no such thing. You"re the heir."
Her words produced something in the nature of a sensation. Even Oscar Roberts, who had been tactfully gazing into his teacup, looked up. Miss Allison gave a gasp, and Timothy summed up the situation by saying in an awed voice: "Gosh!"
Jim bunked. "But hang it all, Aunt, I can"t be! My grandfather was the youngest son, surely?
This Australian woman must be senior to me!"
Emily drank her tea and set the cup and saucer down on a small table at her elbow. "If you"d ever taken the trouble to read your great-grandfather"s will, which I"ve no doubt you didn"t, you"d know that while there"s a male heir living the property can"t descend to a female," she said.
"Good G.o.d!" said Jim blankly. "Do you mean Matthew Kane entailed it?"
"It"s no use talking to me about entails: I don"t know anything about them. But the property doesn"t go to a woman while there"s a male Kane living-that I do know."
An astonished silence fell. Oscar Roberts broke it, saying: "Well, I"ll say that beats all! Imagine you not so much as suspecting you stood next in the line of succession, Mr. Kane!"
"I"d no idea," said Jim. "I never even thought about it!"
"Why should he?" demanded Emily with a fierce look at Roberts. "He couldn"t expect both his cousins to die within a month of each other, could he?"
"I"ll say not, Mrs. Kane," replied Roberts, smiling. "But to find yourself heir to a fortune without having had the least suspicion of it coming your way-say, that certainly is romance!"