A Murder Is Announced

‘Well, of course it’s difficult to say-exactly-because I’ve not got, really, a very good sense of time. And ever since the war quite half our clocks haven’t gone at all, and the ones that do go are often either fast or slow or stop because we haven’t wound them up.’ Mrs Swettenham paused to let this picture of confused time sink in and then went on earnestly, ‘What Ithink I was doing at four o’clock was turning the heel of my sock (and for some extraordinary reason I was going round the wrong way-in purl, you know, not plain) but if Iwasn’t doing that, I must have been outside snipping off the dead chrysanthemums-no, that was earlier-before the rain.’

‘The rain,’ said the Inspector, ‘started at 4.10 exactly.’

‘Did it now? That helps a lot. Of course, I was upstairs putting a wash basin in the passage where the rain always comes through. And it was coming through so fast that I guessed at once that the gutter was stopped up again. So I came down and got my mackintosh and rubber boots. I called Edmund, but he didn’t answer, so I thought perhaps he’d got to a very important place in his novel and I wouldn’t disturb him, and I’ve done it quite often myself before. With the broom handle, you know, tied on to that long thing you push up windows with.’

‘You mean,’ said Craddock, noting bewilderment on his subordinate’s face, ‘that you were cleaning out the gutter?’

‘Yes, it was all choked up with leaves. It took a long time and I got rather wet, but I got it clear at last. And then I went in and got changed and washed-sosmelly, dead leaves-and then I went into the kitchen and put the kettle on. It was 6.15 by the kitchen clock.’

Constable Edwards blinked.

‘Which means,’ finished Mrs Swettenham triumphantly, ‘that it was exactly twenty minutes to five.’

‘Or near enough,’ she added.

‘Did anybody see what you were doing whilst you were out cleaning the gutter?’

‘No, indeed,’ said Mrs Swettenham. ‘I’d soon have roped them in to help if they had! It’s a most difficult thing to do single-handed.’

‘So, by your own statement, you were outside, in a mackintosh and boots, at the time when the rain was coming down, and according to you, you were employed during that time in cleaning out a gutter but you have no one who can substantiate that statement?’

‘You can look at the gutter,’ said Mrs Swettenham. ‘It’s beautifully clear.’

‘Did you hear your mother call to you, Mr Swettenham?’

‘No,’ said Edmund. ‘I was fast asleep.’

‘Edmund,’ said his mother reproachfully, ‘I thought you werewriting.’

Inspector Craddock turned to Mrs Easterbrook.

‘Now, Mrs Easterbrook?’

‘I was sitting with Archie in his study,’ said Mrs Easterbrook, fixing wide innocent eyes on him. ‘We were listening to the wireless together, weren’t we, Archie?’

There was a pause. Colonel Easterbrook was very red in the face. He took his wife’s hand in his.

‘You don’t understand these things, kitten,’ he said. ‘I-well, I must say, Inspector, you’ve rather sprung this business on us. My wife, you know, has been terribly upset by all this. She’s nervous and highly strung and doesn’t appreciate the importance of-of taking due consideration before she makes a statement.’

‘Archie,’ cried Mrs Easterbrook reproachfully, ‘are you going to say you weren’t with me?’

‘Well, I wasn’t, was I, my dear? I mean one’s got to stick to the facts. Very important in this sort of inquiry. I was talking to Lampson, the farmer at Croft End, about some chicken netting. That was about a quarter to four. I didn’t get home until after the rain had stopped. Just before tea. A quarter to five. Laura was toasting the scones.’

‘And hadyou been out also, Mrs Easterbrook?’

The pretty face looked more like a weasel’s than ever. Her eyes had a trapped look.

‘No-no, I just sat listening to the wireless. I didn’t go out. Not then. I’d been out earlier. About-about half-past three. Just for a little walk. Not far.’

She looked as though she expected more questions, but Craddock said quietly:

‘That’s all, Mrs Easterbrook.’

He went on: ‘These statements will be typed out. You can read them and sign them if they are substantially correct.’

Mrs Easterbrook looked at him with sudden venom.

‘Why don’t you ask the others where they were? That Haymes woman? And Edmund Swettenham? How do you know hewas asleep indoors? Nobody saw him.’

Inspector Craddock said quietly:

‘Miss Murgatroyd, before she died, made a certain statement. On the night of the hold-up here,someone was absent from this room. Someone who was supposed to have been in the room all the time. Miss Murgatroyd told her friend the names of the people shedid see. By a process of elimination, she made the discovery that there was someone she didnot see.’

‘Nobody could see anything,’ said Julia.

‘Murgatroyd could,’ said Miss Hinchcliffe, speaking suddenly in her deep voice. ‘She was over there behind the door, where Inspector Craddock is now. She was the only person who could see anything of what was happening.’

‘Aha! That is what you think, is it!’ demanded Mitzi.